A Short Recap of my Career Thus Far

• 1984, I left the construction world, and playing in bands, for a job as a "apprentice drafstman" (board drafting, Mylar, Sepia and vellum).  I recall lettering 20 ANSI-F title sheets entirely by hand per week for several months on end (notes, references, materials, titleing, very little white space left).  My fingers had permanent dents from holding the mechanical pencils.
• In 1987 after switching jobs a few times (still drafting) I was dunked into building 3D shipboard engine room models using Computervision CADDS 4X.  I worked on that platform for several years.
• In 1990, I was sent to training on Intergraph EMS and VDS and worked on that for almost a year.
• I was sent to training on Bentley Microstation, but picked up a few books and taught myself AutoCAD R10 by staying late at work and sneaking into the AutoCAD drafting room.
• After convincing the CAD dept manager I could work on AutoCAD, I was moved into the AutoCAD group on R11.  The U.S. Navy had just issued an official approval for using AutoCAD to make title sheets and bills of material "only".  All detail design work was still required to be done by hand (plastic lead on frosted mylar sheets).
• In 1992*, the U.S. Navy finally issued an official allowance for AutoCAD detail design work for all contracts.
• After months of struggling with bugs in a custom add-on written in AutoLISP and ADS for our company (by a west-coast employee), I decided to learn AutoLISP and add my own workarounds.  I picked up a few books, but the best was "AutoLISP Programming by Example" by Gene Straka.  One of the best heads-down teach-yourself books I've ever owned.
• In 1994 I wrote my own 2D piping system for AutoCAD R12.  It grew into an HVAC system, and eventually into electrical and structural as well.
• In 1996, I was hired by a large shipyard to lead their first AutoCAD implementation.  It was (gulp!) AutoCAD R13 running on Windows NT 3.51.  It was a very rough experience, but we somehow got it working.  I was also introduced to Brett Rivers, who introduced me to SMS 2.0 and was generous enough to tutor me on how it works and how to use it for deploying AutoCAD and custom add-ons to roughly 3,000 desktops.  That eventually grew to 14,000 desktops.
• In December 1999, I graduated from Christopher Newport Univsersity with my BS in Information Science. 
• In February 2000, I was hired by an engineering firm to build a new shipbuilding CAD suite on top of AutoCAD 2000, and consolidate their standalone licensing under AdLM (prior to FlexLM).  That moved me into license management, including contracts, support, and auditing.
• By 2002 I was on version 2.0 of the new CAD system and had enlisted three team mates to help build out more functionality and features.  We joined the Autodesk Developer Network and the alpha "early adopter" program:  Pinetop, Tahoe, Banff, Kirkland, Red Deer, Neo, Rio (I left ADN before Postrio)
• By 2002 I had been building a lab to prepare for deploying SMS 2003 when the lead for our upcoming NT4 to Win2K Active Directory migration left.  I was asked to take over the project lead.  I ran into a friend who worked at Microsoft who asked if I wanted to join on Windows Server 2003 pre-beta and Microsoft Software Updates Services (SUS).
• March 2003 we completed our migration to Windows Server 2003 and implemented WSUS 2.0 soon after.  SMS 2003 was held back to test the forthcoming SCCM (beta program).  I began working with ASP, SQL Server, and Windows scripting more and more to automate monitoring and reporting.
• 2003 I released "The Visual LISP Developer's Bible, 2003 Edition"
• By June 2004 I was now wearing three distinct hats:  Active Directory Administration, CAD Administration, and CAD software development.  By 2006 I had offloaded my CAD software development duties to the team with only occasional involvement.  I was now focused on software deployment, patch management, auditing, monitoring and alerts, and SOX compliance.
• In Sept 2007, our company imploded when our CEO decided to fuck us all and leave with a smile.
• I was hired by a Microsoft partner and trained on MDOP, Softgrid (App-V) and doing odds-and-ends Windows engineering work for various small businesses.  I also deployed a full SCCM 2007 site for a city government, which had been a while for me, but it nonetheless went very well.  The biggest impact this had on me was getting my head into non-enterprise environments.  Until now, I had only worked in larger corporate environments with teams devoted to each role.  Now it was about individual services to small customers.  I learned 10x in only a few months.
• After a few months the economy tanked (early 2008), and we were laid off.  I was out looking for a job for several months, but nobody was hiring.  I put food on the table by building web sites for various small customers, and helping a law firm with patent application drawings.
• In June 2008 I was hired back at a former employer and taught the fine art of software repackaging to facilitate mass deployment (by now 18,000 computers, I think?).  Wise Package Studio and Wise Script.  I was also tossed back into FlexLM management and FlexNet Manager (which is pretty interesting).
• In July 2010 I was hired by a consulting firm and now I combine a lot of the above (sans CAD work) into a mash-up of projects and tasks:
• Windows Server 2008 R2 management
  
• Windows 7 deployment and customization
• ASP / SQL Server / AD systems automation
• FlexLM license services
• Autodesk deployment builds and distribution
• Repackaging with Wise Package Studio and InstallShield AdminStudio
• Scripting with VBscript, CMD and PowerShell
• SCCM 2007 process automation and custom reporting
• In 2010 I released more books, and again in 2011
• I have no idea why I'm bothering to type this.  It ultimately means nothing to anyone unless they're spilling food on my resume.  I guess the interesting part, to me anyway, is how my ball has bounced in a very unpredictable pattern.  Looking back, I can see the pattern emerge.  But from any one point along the way there was no discernible pattern or path to be seen.  I have learned from some of the brightest and most interesting people I've ever known, and am grateful and humble to having had those opportunities.  Every job change has been tough to handle since I hate parting ways with good people, but I've somehow managed to keep finding incredible people to continue learning.  If I had millions of dollars, I would love to be able to hire everyone I've known to build a "super team" and make incredible things happen.  I doubt that will become reality, but it would be cool.  I have no idea where my ball will bounce next, or if it will roll in front of a bus and that'll be the end of it.  One day at a time.

* I may be off a bit here, but it was somewhere between 1990 and 1992 as best as I can recall.

When 1 + 1 = 0

Once upon a time (uh oh, here goes another fairy-ish tale beginning?), there was a state government who, in their quest to cut expenses, decided it was time to outsource their IT operations to a commerical contractor.  Everything about it made sense to the financial folks, who, after all are the brains behind most corporate/government braintrusts.  The reduced benefits structuring costs, the eliminated pensions, the laisse faire employment tenants, all combined with an existing "work-at-will" legal framework, made it a no-brainer.  So the wheels were set in motion.

But there were two major problems this created, which led to yet more problems.

First, the financial golf-player suit guys didn't think it was necessary to involve the IT management folks in their decision-making process.  Technical folks obviously do not possess any useful wisdom for making decisions that impact technical operations.  That domain belongs to the MBA/CPA folks.  So they marched onward and when the plan was catalyzed into full momentum, they generously informed their propellor-capped brethren of their wonderous idea.  The net result of this was a mass exodus of those that were either ready to retired, or possessed the skills and experience to land another job quickly.  The life rafts were left with the lesser skilled and unlucky.  Floating adrift in a void economy as they watched their ship of achievements slowly sink below the rough seas.

Second, with the turmoil of the markets of the time (2007-2008), the chosen contractor was dealing with their own contractions in the Washington D.C. metro area.  Contracts were drying up faster than Joan Rivers' vagina in the desert, and jobs were being cut at a dizzying pace.  Ok, maybe that wasn't nice to say about Joan, but she's not known for being nice to anyone, is she?  And besides: they have medication for that now I'm told.  Ok, moving along…   So, when the last bastion of workforce in the DC area was staring into the abyss, they were calmly told to consider jumping onto the impending state IT contract, or close their eyes and jump, hoping for the best.  Again, those that had the skills and experience to market themselves were off to greener pastures.  The rest were left to consider relocation or sucking on the end of a double-barrel vacation.

The vortex this spun created a combination of the left-behind and the left-behind.  Those motivated by fear with those motivated by fear.  You get the picture.  What sort of "quality" meal might anyone with even an eighth of a functional brain expect to see from such ingredients?  Well, you get this.

To be fair, it's incorrect, inaccurate and illogical to extend the blame of this on other parts of either of these institutions.  The storm is relatively focused and distinct.  It resides in Richmond.  Unfortunately, the ship captains have not yet realized the detrimental impacts this boondoggle has had on their respective marketing efforts.  Their credibility is being picked apart by their competitors, the media, and to some extent the public.  For example, even today (January 2, 1011) the Virginia Dept of Motor Vehicles (DMV) web site is out of commission, as it has been for quite some time.  The reduction in DMV brick-and-mortar locations was pushed by the demand for cost reductions and increased leverage of online services.  Now that these online services are offline, and there are fewer physical locations across the state, the net result is an ugly day at work for many DMV workers.

So, I ask that - whether you are yourself a financial MBA/CPA golfer suit wearing person, or if you know one, that you print out several copies of this article, roll them up into a tight bundled tube, encase it with several turns of duct tape, grip it tightly and beat the living shit out of anyone who says the word "outsource" in a positive tone.  Be sure to follow that up with "and a Happy New Year to you!"

Be Right Back

Fighting a Cold while working insane hours on a big project.  Need sleep.  Need to recover.  I’ll be right back.

Meanwhile, I watched “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”.  It boils down to this, at least from the perspective of how this impacted ME personally…

• Government was strong-armed by lobbyists (Ken Lay, Abrahmson, etc.) to relax Federal oversight (aka “de-regulate”) over energy markets.
• Enron and companies like Worldcom, Tyco and others drank their own Kool-Aid and grew into the Hulk, pushing stock prices higher and higher, artificially.
• They in-turn gave hand-jobs to accounting firms like Arthur Anderson and others to help them inflate market prices and in-turn share in the artificial margins of trading on them.
• Californians got raped like nobody’s business
• The market turned out to be a house of cards and imploded
• People at all levels of the market, the auxiliary markets, and their families and communities were pulled down in a spiral of 401-k meltdown.  Some even killed themselves.
• The government finally stepped in and realized the car was spinning off the road and nobody was behind the wheel.  Investigations ensued and eventually it was “discovered” that oversight isn’t such a bad thing.  Gee. (Personal note: If you have teenage kids, and they want to throw a party at your house, and they say to you “hey, go see a movie, you guys can trust us”, what would you do?  Ok, now imagine those teenagers are drunk on the lust for outrageous profits, insane CRAZY-ASS profits, and they want to party inside your bank account)
• The fallout yields a determination to lay down some new rules on behalf of the two folks Mr. Sarbanes and Mr. Oxley.
• IT folks are left holding the bag to implement and enforce a tangled mess of who can do what and see what between various segments of their financial departments.
• IT folks suffer with SOX compliance and no sleep.  The financial department managers go to Vegas, Orlando, or Honolulu to attend conferences, but tell the IT department there isn’t enough budget to attend MMS or TechEd, sorry.

What a sad story.  Remember to have my part played by Brad Pitt.

Now, think about this: Think that’s all behind us now?  Think again.

Dear Mr. Prez-o-dent

Politically speaking, because I once read something with the word "politics" in it years ago, it seems like a very bad idea for a president to endorse a Mosque at ground zero for two reasons: it only helps polarize and anger an already divided constituency, and it doesn't help already-strained relations with Israel, one of our only real allies in the Middle East.  At best, I would think he should have stayed clear of the whole issue.  


But regardless, I say again: Is this the most important issue we have to face right now?  I mean, is the economy all patched up and looking good?  Are we safe from terrorism yet?  Are we driving electric cars and trucks yet and giving the middle finger to OPEC?  Are our kids graduating from school at pace or ahead of other countries?


All of this stupid concern over gay marriage, health care and bank bail-outs seems to give the message that all of the other issues are done.  There's nothing else more important, or even AS important to address?  Really?!


Don't get me wrong. I'm sure gay marriage and health care are important to a lot of people.  But when there's not enough jobs to keep us moving forward it seems like we're worrying about a split toenail when we have a gaping wound and losing blood.  Let's fix the BIG issues FIRST, and THEN move on to the lesser issues.  It seems we are letting the news media dictate what WE feel is top priority, rather than assessing the issues OURSELVES and making this determination.  Our priorities are upside down.

Kicked in the Nuts: Many Borrowers Getting it from Both Sides

I must apologize in advance for this one.  I promised my next post would be positive, uplifting, maybe even jovial. But a “man in the street” segment on one of the lame-ass cable news channels ticked me off and I have to vent.  Next one will be more jovialistic.

Begin:

I've had it with the narrow-minded bullshit talk from economic “gurus” about homeowners defaulting because they either "overborrowed" or "couldn't afford" their house in the first place.

Hello?  Anyone out there still actually reading the news?

There is this thing called UNEMPLOYMENT.  That's right.  It's basically a tally of those folks who WERE working a steady job, but are now NOT working.  The VAST majority of that tally consists of persons who were laid off.  A HUGE portion of them were from downsizing.

So, using the rationale I hear from the suit-wearing pundits on Fox, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN, they are saying that those people should have known they were going to get axed and shouldn't have bought a house at all, or should have bought a $50,000 shack when they were pulling down a $100,000 income.  Yeah.  That makes sense.  We’re all just a bunch of idiots.  I mean after all, YOU obviously know when you're going to be downsized, right?  So, why did YOU buy that nice house or condo then?

In fact, I've actually seen this entire concept debunktified (my own word, you like it? ha ha) on CNBC and MSNBC and Fox.  Whenever they have a "panel of experts" on to blabber about how the economy tanked, and what needs to happen to "fix it", they invite the most flaky person to represent the homeowners.  Then they use them as the entertainment punching bag.  That person will TRY to suggest that maybe a lot of the borrowers didn't buy too much of a house for their income, or that they weren't late on their payments, but were just caught off-guard by a sudden lay-off.  And that a lot of those unlucky folks happen to live in places where there is NO other employment (think Michigan, Arizona, Tennessee) and so on. That person might as well walk into a redneck bar and ask if anyone wants to buy a Toyota pick-up and a CD of Kanye West to go with it.  They commence to mocking and verbal beating and all the brainwashed viewers cheer them on like it’s a football championship game.

I know quite a few people in this boat.  They were fine and doing well until they got downsized.  Now as they struggle to keep up on their mortgage, support their families, and pay their other bills, they get to enjoy the constant bombardment with insults, mockery, blame and harrassment, all focused on THEM being the cause of the problem.  "Yeah, Mr. Homeowner!  It's YOUR fault!  You should've known you were going to be axed, and you shoulda bought a cheaper house ahead of it!"

So, to all those "pundits" like Larry Kudlow, Squawk Box goons, and all you conservative financial gurus that smirk at the thought of someone NOT having a country club membership: F-OFF.

I'm Back!

I was trying to post a mix of personal and professional (well, sort of) crap on my other blog (www.blogcastrepository.com/blogs/skatterbrainz) but that was causing some issues with trying to focus on the goals of that site in general. I was trying to post more content to promote the video learning sessions I've posted on the Level 5 IT Guides section, but that effort has been painfully slow to take off. I still have more work to do on it, but my time is becoming increasingly limited.

After two months without a job, I started my own business and that's been consuming all my time now. My kids each have their own sports things going on so that eats the remaining time, in between starting a new day job, eating, sleeping and commuting. The commute to the new job is about 30 minutes in the morning, and one hour in the evening. On Fridays it's 2 hours. I've got to trade my truck in for something smaller and better on gas.

This whole ordeal has been a life-changing event for me. When you get laid off you really discover things about yourself, your goals and beliefs. You find out who your friends are. I was amazed who stuck their neck out for me to help me through this period, and who simply talked or those that just went silent on me. I've been re-evaluating everything and have decided to reign in my efforts and focus on my job and my family for now. The time I was spending trying to swim upstream and "get ahead" was doing well for me for years, until this year. This year I've discovered that many of my expectations were simply wrong. I had aspirations to be much more than God set me up for. The skills I thought had value turned out to have zero value. I've spent years building up nothing and now I'm going to stop and change directions. Keep things simple. I could be bitter or depressed, but I'm not. I've just realized at 44, finally, that I'm not going to be a wealthy entrepreneur or "successful" visionary that I always thought I would be. I'm just Dave.