About Me:

I was born at the very end of the 80’s in Nacogdoches, TX to a loving couple. I was the first born to my mother and father and would become a brother to a wonderful sister about 2 years later. Around the age of 3 my family moved to Magnolia, TX for my father’s work as a Sawyer. My family eventually laid its roots in Magnolia and later flourished in our new home, where we continue to reside today. At the age of 5 I started my Primary Education in the Magnolia Independent School District (MISD). At the same time my mother decided it was time for her to reenter the work field and went to the largest employer in the city, MISD. She took a job as a substitute teacher and continues to work for them today, eventually finding her calling in the Special Education Department. Having lived in Magnolia my whole life I attended MISD for all my Primary Education and Secondary Education. Having the benefit of a continued time in the same organization I was able to make some good acquittances and a few close friends over that time. I graduated High School in 2008 with a solid education, a bright future, and some good personal friends.

After Graduating High School in 2008 I was accepted to the community college, Lone Star College (LSC; Formerly Tomball College). I received a small Scholarship for the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce to help me on my first semester. This scholarship, combined with money saved from working in fast food during high school, allowed me to start my education off on a good foot. After finding my footing, I worked hard pursuing my education, discovering a love of history during that time, and graduated with an Associates of the Arts in Spring 2011. After graduating from Lone Star College, I transferred to Sam Houston State University. I was pursuing a Bachelor of History with a Minor in Education. I studied at a local Branch in The Woodlands, TX that was much closer to home than the main campus, or any other university for that matter. I attended for one semester and complete all my required History courses for a Bachelors, but still had many outstanding hours on my degree and none on my minor yet. At the end of that Semester I found that I had completely ran though my savings, racked up $2,500 in student loans, and had no way of paying for the next semester without taking larger loans, which I was not comfortable doing. Lacking money, combined with a messy end to a long-term relationship, I decided it might be time to take a break from my formal education that I had been pursuing for 3 ½ years. As of today, I have yet to resume my formal education. I still believe I made the right choice from a cost/benefit ratio perspective. I am currently studying for many technical certifications in my spare time. I recently acquired my A+ Certification.

At the age of 16, in 2005, I got my first job working at Subway. I feel like this was one of the best first jobs that I could have, and I learned a lot of important skills working here. This job allowed me to really exercise and gain interpersonal communication skills that came in invaluable. It also helped me to learn how to work with occasional difficult work situation. After 1 year and 3 months I left Subway as I felt I had outgrown it and needed better compensation, so I went to work for McDonalds in 2007. Over the short 8-month time I worked for McDonald’s I was promoted to Crew Trainer and was Employee of the Month. Before I left McDonald’s, I was offered a manager position, but felt college having my full attention was much more important. I learned supervisory skills and efficient multitasking skills at McDonald’s, among others. My multitasking skills have been one of the most important skills throughout my life. Throughout my formal education I tried to focus on my education and avoid work distractions, but I did once again take a job at Subway early in 2011 for a short time when education funding ran low. After leaving University I turned my sights on employment with higher wages. I came across a courier service called Data Rush that hired Independent Contractors. I took a position with them specifically as a Night Courier. This position paid commission, allowing dedicated workers to make large amounts of money in a short amount of time, which I needed to begin to repay my student loans. At this job I learned to push myself harder in order to complete a goal, and I learned to work independently with virtually no supervision and little guidance. While this was a profitable venture, 4 months after starting with Data Rush I become too exhausted to keep the pace and, after my vehicle malfunctioned, I felt it was best that we part ways in April 2012. After leaving Data Rush I began to look for a career I could see myself doing for at least a couple of years. I wanted to find a stable job with dependable pay compared the volatility of commission-based work. In October of 2012 I Applied for and was hired to work for Macy’s as a Holiday worker. It was my plan and hope that I would impress them enough over the holiday time that they would want to hire me as a full-time employee at the end of the holidays. That is exactly what happened. I started off selling luggage, moved to housewares, became the cookware expert, then got prompted to the position of “Housewares Specialist” which I held for 6 months. This was all within the first year of my employment at Macy’s. Shortly after the first year of my employment the Luggage Specialist retired, and I was asked to take the position. In that position I helped reach the yearly sales goal which was a new high for the department. Over the years of working at Macy’s I had made it clear that I would like to be moved into a manager position. I had also shown my ability to do so by picking up some of my managers duties for a 3-month period of time while they were out due to personal issues. I was made clear to me, however, that I was not going to be able to move into a management position due to the hierarchical setup of the company. Managers come in through another route. After I came to this understanding I asked to be transferred to back of the house operation in order to learn a different aspect of the business. I worked in Order Fulfillment for the Fall of 2014, and Signage in Early 2015. I learned many things working at Macy’s. It is where I fine-tuned my interpersonal communication skills and learned how to provide high quality customer service. Macy’s also allowed me to sharpen my supervisory skills though limited supervisory responsibility. Macy’s helped me learn how the world works and I consider it my first work “Career”. In Spring of 2015 I was presented with an opportunity I could not pass up. An old friend of mine contacted me and made me aware of a position available in the Tech Department at Lone Star College, from which I had graduated from 4 years prior. My friend knew that I had an interest in tech and was confident that with their recommendation I would get the job. With my combined dissatisfaction with my position at Macy’s and my interest in tech I applied for the position and was hired as a PC Tech III. In my position I have learned so much about tech and love to learn more every day. I love being presented with a problem and using my skills to solve it. I love working directly with the users to resolve their issues. I get a sense of accomplishment by finding the source of an issue or solving a problem. This is made even better when a customer is happy that you were able to help them. Knowing that I made that person’s day better gives me pride and joy. I have been at Lonestar ever sense I was hired. I feel like I have finally found my true career calling in tech support and want to continue to learn more and advance my career in the future. I recently acquired my A+ Certification and look forward to working on more certifications.

In my personal time I enjoy being active in online community message boards where we regularly discuss the latest in video games and technology, current events, and share cat pictures. Offline I have a few close friends, some from my school days, that I like to have dinner and catch up with, or just generally visit with and talk about life. I recently acquired my A+ Certification and am looking into taking MCSA for Windows 10 and ITIL Foundations afterwards. Also, after creating this website, I am considering looking into HTML and CSS certifications. To relax I will normally watch something on a streaming service such as Netflix and Amazon or watch something live online such as found on Twitch.tv. I occasionally play video games but I have always enjoyed watching other people play them instead of playing them myself.

In the future I hope to continue to move forward in my Tech Career. I plan to obtain more certificates to accomplish this. If, however, in the future I reach a point where I can only move forward in my career by attending college I will do so. I hope to be able to remain in the area that I call home, but I am not opposed to leaving it in order to pursue my tech career. I hope to continue to maintain my good friendships and continue to forge new strong relationships in the future. I have the highest hopes for the future and I see nothing preventing those hopes from becoming a reality.