At IT Insights, Jordan is known as the one to call for complex, seemingly unsolvable issues. He specializes in educating clients on how to understand current infrastructure better so they can confidently articulate their technology needs.

We sat down with Jordan and asked him a few questions we thought our clients and partners would like to know:

Q: How did you get to where you are today in your career?

A: I have 10+ years of experience in IT. I started at a co-op at RIT for a local startup, and immediately started learning about the different ways of managing internal IT. From there, I jumped into MSP work and managed a variety of customers. I was recruited to join the IT Insights team, so I’m told, for my customer-first attitude and my strong problem-solving abilities.

Q: What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned while working in IT?

A: The sheer amount of chaotic infrastructure out there keeping businesses running. I learned networking and server infrastructure by the book in college and was expecting a slight deviation from that. More often than not, it’s an IT version of “Chopped” where all of the “ingredients” are from the technology section of Goodwill. I’ve done my best to replace it when I can, but the amount of times I’ve seen it makes me wonder what critical business systems we don’t yet manage that are hot-glued together like that.

Q: What’s the most unusual or interesting tech problem you’ve ever had to solve?

A: I always find social engineering attacks the most interesting. If we’re lucky, we get called in before the damage is done and someone has already noticed something suspicious. Discovering the work done by malicious actors to impersonate personnel, hide messages, and retrieve sensitive info without being detected is very impressive to see when it’s done well. Also, it is super fun to completely ruin their plans, LOL. As for unusual tech issues, the amount of critical infrastructure I’ve discovered hidden above ceilings is a bit too much.

Q: How do you stay updated with the ever-evolving technology landscape?

A: My clients ARE the ever-evolving technology landscape. Finding them the right solutions is how I stay on top of things.

Q: What’s your approach when advising clients on technological solutions?

A: I always start the conversation with “what goal are you trying to achieve?”. This reveals a lot more about what the client actually needs. Sometimes clients get caught up in an advertised product or service and assume it is the solution to their current problems.

Q: What do you prefer to work on?

A: My favorite piece of tech to work on is routers and access points. They’re a behind-the-scenes piece and are absolutely critical to maintain. We have a lot of control over these and need to make sure they function correctly. At the end of the day, I find building and maintaining wireless networks to be a lot of fun.

Q: Speaking of fun, what do you do in your free time?

A: My hobbies include antique restoration, astronomy, and motorcycles.

Q: What is your favorite tech tool or trend you’d recommend to everyone?

A: Password Managers! Lots of large companies have had data breaches, so its always a good idea to never use the same password twice. Password managers help to keep your password different and easy to access. Bitwarden and 1Password are great options.

Q: What’s your go-to tech gadget or app that you can’t live without?

A: I cannot have this job and keep my sanity without my Fluke Network Toner. It helps me find a single network cable in a haystack of other wires. Plug the device in the cable I’m looking for in the network spaghetti room, turn on the wand and it will light up when I’ve found the other end. Hundreds of hours have been saved by this wonderful device.

Q: What advice would you give to someone getting started in the IT field?

A: Do not be afraid to mess around with tech. It’s harder to break than you think. Just because something doesn’t work the first time doesn’t mean its totally broken.

Q: If you weren’t working in IT, what alternative career path would you have pursued?

A: I really enjoy restoration work, bringing old things back to working order is a highly rewarding experience for me.