Milestones

My road in life has taken me all over.
First I secured a job climbing towers for an ISP... even though I was scared of heights!
Then I spent a lot of time learning how to run servers and setup wireless equipment.
Then I found out about Cisco Technology and began to self study the material.
After a year or so of self study I took a job with a company looking for a Cisco Networking Admin.
From there I developed my skills as a Cisco Network Engineer and began working with Cisco Voice tech.
After 5 years I began looking for a job that focused specifically on the Cisco Voice platform.
I now work for Capital One running all of the Cisco Voice services for over 200,000 voice endpoints!
Keep following my journey

Education

High School
Randolph Henry High School

Career

Cisco Network Voice Engineer

I help to build and maintain the Cisco voice network across numerous geographic locations.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Music
Problem Solving

Day to Day

I am in Voice Operations. My day is spent working through issues that may occur in the voice network. It is my primary responsibility to ensure that voice services are available to all of the Associates of Capital One at all times. The rest of my time is spent working on projects. These projects have me designing, testing and implementing new voice services in the environment.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for high school students

Take any and all Information Technology courses available. What makes a great Cisco Engineer is a fundamental understanding of all things tech from operating systems to programming and scripting.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Society in General:

"I grew up in a very negative and challenging environment. Rather than let my negative childhood dictate where I would end up I decided to take my own path. One can either choose to feed the negative or cultivate the positive in life. I chose the latter."

Challenges I Overcame

Financial
Gangs / Violence
Drugs / Addiction