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As an undergraduate research assistant at the physics department of the University of Toledo, I spent most of my time programming spectrometer control and data acquisition software in Microsoft QuickBASIC for the solar cell group led by Dr. Al Compaan. I also had a few research projects involving determining thin film properties. In graduate school at Michigan State University, I worked as a teaching assistant, helping in the teaching of introductory astronomy classes by holding office hours, grading papers, writing homework assignments, and teaching "recitation sections" (smaller groups of students from the main class). I also taught one semester of an introductory physics lab on electronics.

My first "real", out of school job was working for GC Services, first as a computer operator, and later as the computer operations team leader for the State of Michigan. This is where I had my first real experience with UNIX (not including limited experiences in graduate school), and I loved it! I also dealt with an off-site mainframe. I was with GC Services for about two-and-a-half years when I decided to move on.

From there I began working at Plexus Systems as a system administrator. Plexus Systems is a wonderful place to work. In addition to my own projects at home, at Plexus I've worked with SCO UNIX (OpenServer 3.2v4.0 through 5.0.5 and UnixWare 7), HP-UX, Linux, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, PC's, Progress database administration, network equipment, Secure Computing Sidewinder G2 firewalls, Symantec Enterprise Firewall/SEF, Cisco PIX firewalls, Barracuda Spam Firewalls, and the Snort Network Intrusion Detection System, in addition to various other security software and systems (including building/physical security). I took on the primary responsibility of Chief Security Officer (CSO) in January of 2001. I find security and firewall administration the most interesting part of my job, and the most interesting thing I've done in the field of computers to date.