Why is this blog site even here?

Kids love to ask the question “why?”… and they ask it a lot! It can frustrate adults, but often that frustration is because we sometimes have difficulty answering the question. I don’t know why the sky is blue, alright?!

So why this blog site?

Growing up I remember countless times while sitting in the family car with my siblings, waiting to go into some event (birthday, grandparents, etc), my mother turning and asking the question: “why are we here?”. In unison we replied “to be a blessing”. My parents always enforced the concept that we are here to be a blessing.

While younger, I didn’t quite grasp the full meaning. The older I get, however, the more I understand. In modern terms, this means to think of others before myself and try to make their day a little better.

I know that might sound corny, but start asking what my mom asked before you go somewhere (into a meeting, event, etc). It will change your perspective. This doesn’t mean I am some perfect guy – oh no, I fail often. But I do have this as a guiding principle.

As I mention in the About page, I have been in IT for over 16 years. At first, like many geeks, I focused only on technology. To me, Active Directory was fascinating, servers were fun, scripting was empowering, and network stuff was just plain cool.

As my career progressed I was given the opportunity to manage a Support Center team. Talk about a learning experience! All the skills that made me a good technologist were suddenly not as important.

I had to learn how to manage, be a good leader (there is a difference), understand technology at a higher level, and look at process and how to be more productive. During this time I reached out to every person and trade organization I knew of to help me – and thank goodness they did!

I am so very grateful to everyone who took the time to mentor me, teach me, or point me in the right direction. Many people have influenced my life, and thought I am far from a finished work, I want to return the favor and share what I have learned so far with others.

To that end, this blog is here to help you be better. Better individually, as a team, and as an organization.

I know somewhere out there is a new IT Professional or new IT Manager. If you are anything like me, I bet you are both excited and scared. Excited at what you can do and scared of making a mistake and “blowing” it.

I hope some of what I write about here can help you navigate your new role and avoid some pitfalls.

Let me know what you think! If you are a new IT Professional or new to IT Management, what is the one thing that excites or scares you the most?