What I do for work
2022 Update: I changed employers after working in the financial/insurance industry since 2001. I now work for a N.A. energy provider and I commute into the office. This office however is a much better environment than what I’ve witnessed in other places – we actually have offices as opposed to being jammed elbow to elbow in the ‘open office’. Again here I work with SCCM (MECM) with an initial focus on the infrastructure. I really enjoy it here, everyone is smart, it’s quiet, and we are all working away – and if I have any questions I’m surrounded by very smart co-workers in the same time zone, in the same building, and usually on the same floor even!
Previously…
In 2020 my employer ‘re-badged’ many of us in corporate IT. We were all transferred to a IT staffing and solution provider and we continue to do our jobs as contracted resources. In 2021 I was promoted to manage the team of of people in the U.S., U.K., Singapore and India. I will also soon include resources in South America.
For many years I specialized on the ‘back end’ of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM) aka Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM.) I began actual production use with this in 2001 when it was called Microsoft SMS.
We use MECM as the Windows platform software and asset management solution for systems on the Intranet
and Internet. It is used to deploy software, updates, antimalware policy & engine/definition updates,
configuration baselines, Windows 10 Edition Upgrades, OS images and to implement complicated task
sequences. It also collects hardware and software inventory of every system which is used for reports
and targeting deployments of software and/or policy. MECM also provides a Remote Control agent
which allows connecting to the console session remotely which is helpful when applying updates and
Windows RDP is not yet available or RDP is broken. We also have “CMPivot” to query real-time data from online clients to quickly answer questions, troubleshoot issues and respond to security incidents.
In this job I maintain a single primary site with nearly 70,000 endpoint devices and servers around the world. I manage about 200 distribution points globally and a few secondary sites (EMEA, APAC, India). This allows us to send content to each hemisphere then allow those secondary sites to distribute to the DP’s in their hemisphere. I stay busy with over a thousand subnets in ConfigMgr that are associated with a few hundred boundary groups.
I tend to do a lot of problem solving automation with PowerShell. Sometimes it’s a ConfigmMgr change that needs to occur on all boundary groups, or a behavior or problem that needs to change on 50,000 end points. PowerShell and ConfigMgr is wonderful for this.
What I do for fun
I have always been interested in technology, machinery, and speed. Today’s hobby is Arduino and Raspberry Pi and how they can be used with my main hobby Amateur Radio. Unlike many, I’m not a chin wager – I prefer to make contacts with people outside the continental US, from Canada and Mexico to New Zealand and the Antarctica! It’s fun to say hello to another Amateur Radio operator like myself in another country using my radio, an antenna, the Earth’s Ionosphere, and skills. It’s even more fun when it’s only 100 watts on voice mode (PHONE) or 30 watts in data mode.
Family
Lisa and I are married and we have a lot of common ideas. Also I understand that what is hers is hers and what is mine is hers. 🙂 I love her and my daughters and they have really shaped who I am now that I’m grown up (at heart i’m still 12, a predicament of all men until they die as Father Bright would jest).
Civic Duty
I believe everyone owes a duty to the community and the country in which they live to leave it cleaner than they found it, and to contribute some personal time to improving the community.
One civic duty I perform is with the HOA I live in. I’ve served as an board member, VP and president for a few years. In 2019 I also took on gate maintenance (programming, greasing, etc).
Another I provide is with my Amateur Radio club. We assist the City of Edmond during a monthly storm siren test. I volunteer as a medical tent radio operator for the annual OKC memorial marathon. I also teach classes to the public and hopeful future licensed radio operators. I also share things I learn with my fellow amateur radio club members and at our regional convention by teaching an occasional class.
Politics
I hate having to spend time on politics. I would much rather be learning something new.. but again I believe in everyone having a responsibility to civic duty. With faith in democracy, hope and belief in government and the ability of everyone to come together to do good, all races and religions working together can improve life for all.