It is nice to be remembered.
So I have been doing some work for a company that I worked for before in America.
When I started there I was fresh out of computer careerer training and had only passed a couple of tests and gotten Microsoft Professional Certification. Which was pathetic even at the time. When I think how now I am Unix Administrator for the second largest ISP in all of Japan..... man how things have changed.
I started at the golf company with out a clue, and through allot of hard work and help from others, I built what is still one of the strongest standing testaments of my ability.
But this is not really about me .... it is about how it got done.
My old boss got fired and my new boss came in .... I did not meet him on the first day cause my newborn son and wife were leaving the hospital and I wanted to take them home. When I did meet him he layed it all out.
"We are behind" Bubby said "We need to connect these 2 sites to our ERP app by the end of the month. I hear we have Citrix and Citrix Licenses, you should look into that."
With that he went back to reading his e-mail and sending instant messages.
Over the next couple of days we decided on Citrix and got the routing setup via frame relay. This was particularly funny, cause I had never worked on a actual router in my life and was still having trouble setting up Windows in some situations.
I went to my boss .... "Bubby I do not know how to configure these things."
He looked at me "Well 2 are already configured set up one and ship the other to Utah." He paused with the phone in the crook of his neck. "Eh before you do.... make sure you copy that config ... cause you will need it for the other 3 routers" I stared at him ... he just put the phone to his ear dialed a number. I stood there with my mouth open staring at him. He tapped the face of his watch and this was how most of our meetings would end for the next month.
2 weeks later the routers were in place and I was able to connect to the remote locations.
During that time I was in constant communication with our ERP provider with hopes of getting their app to run on Citrix.
My first conversation went something like this:
Me: "Hi this is Erin I want to get your app running on Citrix can you help me? "
Person on the other end: "No it wont work"
Me: "Augh is Robin there, she was helping Jeff and Chris with something else here and they say she knows the most?"
Person on the other end: "No she is busy."
Me: "OK... "
I hung up and went into Bubbys office and explain ....."they say it can not be done". To which he does what I will remember for the rest of my life .... He picked up his phone, dialed a number and while it was ringing raised his sleeve and pointed at his the face of his watch and tilted his head down and looked at me over his glasses.
Some how over the next 3 weeks between Chris, Jeff, Robbin, and Mike..... we got it working. Seriously, the impossible was actually possible with less leadership than usual and more team work than expected.
Recently the same company invited me back to work on there system again. There was allot of the same hardware but some of the services had been changed and either downsized or upscaled, but mostly ... it was the same. I looked at the whiteboxes I had used as servers still running strong and some of the systems that ... needed love but were still going.
And I was happy. A computing system that last more than 3 years these days is so rare, 6 years ..... man I am proud.
In addition to that I needed to contact the ERP provider about some changes I was going to suggest making. I mailed their help desk and got a response back from no one else but Robbin her self.
I mailed her back to make sure it was the same Robin.
This was her response:
"Topic: it's ME!!!
When I started there I was fresh out of computer careerer training and had only passed a couple of tests and gotten Microsoft Professional Certification. Which was pathetic even at the time. When I think how now I am Unix Administrator for the second largest ISP in all of Japan..... man how things have changed.
I started at the golf company with out a clue, and through allot of hard work and help from others, I built what is still one of the strongest standing testaments of my ability.
But this is not really about me .... it is about how it got done.
My old boss got fired and my new boss came in .... I did not meet him on the first day cause my newborn son and wife were leaving the hospital and I wanted to take them home. When I did meet him he layed it all out.
"We are behind" Bubby said "We need to connect these 2 sites to our ERP app by the end of the month. I hear we have Citrix and Citrix Licenses, you should look into that."
With that he went back to reading his e-mail and sending instant messages.
Over the next couple of days we decided on Citrix and got the routing setup via frame relay. This was particularly funny, cause I had never worked on a actual router in my life and was still having trouble setting up Windows in some situations.
I went to my boss .... "Bubby I do not know how to configure these things."
He looked at me "Well 2 are already configured set up one and ship the other to Utah." He paused with the phone in the crook of his neck. "Eh before you do.... make sure you copy that config ... cause you will need it for the other 3 routers" I stared at him ... he just put the phone to his ear dialed a number. I stood there with my mouth open staring at him. He tapped the face of his watch and this was how most of our meetings would end for the next month.
2 weeks later the routers were in place and I was able to connect to the remote locations.
During that time I was in constant communication with our ERP provider with hopes of getting their app to run on Citrix.
My first conversation went something like this:
Me: "Hi this is Erin I want to get your app running on Citrix can you help me? "
Person on the other end: "No it wont work"
Me: "Augh is Robin there, she was helping Jeff and Chris with something else here and they say she knows the most?"
Person on the other end: "No she is busy."
Me: "OK... "
I hung up and went into Bubbys office and explain ....."they say it can not be done". To which he does what I will remember for the rest of my life .... He picked up his phone, dialed a number and while it was ringing raised his sleeve and pointed at his the face of his watch and tilted his head down and looked at me over his glasses.
Some how over the next 3 weeks between Chris, Jeff, Robbin, and Mike..... we got it working. Seriously, the impossible was actually possible with less leadership than usual and more team work than expected.
Recently the same company invited me back to work on there system again. There was allot of the same hardware but some of the services had been changed and either downsized or upscaled, but mostly ... it was the same. I looked at the whiteboxes I had used as servers still running strong and some of the systems that ... needed love but were still going.
And I was happy. A computing system that last more than 3 years these days is so rare, 6 years ..... man I am proud.
In addition to that I needed to contact the ERP provider about some changes I was going to suggest making. I mailed their help desk and got a response back from no one else but Robbin her self.
I mailed her back to make sure it was the same Robin.
This was her response:
"Topic: it's ME!!!