The Foundation
Three roles that built the instincts - system administration, network operations, and enterprise software deployment.
Northville Public Schools
Started doing system administration for the school district. DOS through Windows NT, Novell NetWare, Token Ring networking. Built and repaired PCs, ran Ethernet cabling, deployed OS images via Ghost multicast, and wrote early programs in C and QBasic.
Merit Networks
Monitored backbone infrastructure for Michigan's primary research and education network - connecting universities, municipalities, libraries, and K-12 schools statewide. First exposure to Cisco networking, Sun Solaris, circuit diagnostics, and mission-critical operations.
Innoveda at Ford Motor Company
On-site at Ford deploying TransDesign - wire harness design software that took engineers from schematic through to manufacturing data. First exposure to the intersection of software and physical engineering - seeing how software becomes a physical product.