An interview with our Account Manager, Matt Beikirch. “Listen and absorb as much information as you can.”
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An interview with our System Administrator, Amy Nowakowski. “Keep an open mind and always accept the knowledge.”
An interview with our Manager of Procurement & Vendor Relations, Teresa Cologgi. “Love what you do. Otherwise, it’s just a job, not a career.”
An interview with our Client Technology Support, Brandon Session. “It’s not as hard as it seems. If you are willing to learn, your potential is limitless.”
An interview with our Client Technology Support, Jonathan Pinto. “Don’t be too worried if you don’t have much formal training in IT… try to network with people in the industry to make opportunities for yourself.”
An interview with our Operations Manager, Tony Mangiola. “The best way to put a puzzle together is to have all the pieces.”
An interview with our System Engineer and Service Manager, Jordan Simpson. “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.”
A love for technology has lead to a diverse background in the tech industry for Taylor, spanning from IT to programming. His unique skill set allows him to connect and communicate with clients effectively to deeply understand any issues they may be having. With a passion for problem solving and emphasis on client satisfaction, Taylor will make sure every detail is covered to provide the best service!
We sat down with Taylor 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’ve always loved technology and been amazed at the capability of some tech and all the innovations along the way. It started with home gaming consoles growing up, then that progressed to our home computer when family would call on me to fix it when something broke. When I was using tech for fun or fixing things when they broke, there was a part of me that always wanted to go deeper and really figure out how everything worked. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being able to understand and manipulate a piece of tech to get it to do what you want. That led me to having a wide path in tech and learning coding and networking in addition to the support side of things. I wanted to find a place where I can use my knowledge and background to help clients achieve that same sense of satisfaction.
Q: What do you prefer to work on?
A: I wouldn’t say I enjoy one area more than others. It all boils down to finding out what needs to be done or fixed and then working toward that solution. For me, having a wide variety of problems is great because it keeps you on your toes having to work with multiple machines, systems, and ways of thinking.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: My kids keep me busy, so there’s a lot of chauffeuring happening. Apart from that, I enjoy all kinds of games, golf, hockey, football, and playing music (mostly drums). I love food so I also take a lot of joy from making my family try new places to eat and recreating the dishes at home.
Q: What advice would you give to someone getting started in your field?
A: Don’t be afraid to ask questions, get your hands dirty, and make mistakes. Technology is always advancing and asking questions is a great way to learn something new or gain a new perspective.
Q: What advice would you give to businesses who need IT support?
A: Don’t be afraid to get involved. Hearing your insights can help us tailor our approach to make sure you get exactly what you need!
Nick has nearly 20 years of experience in the IT industry and brings a strong background in networking and security to the team. He has worked in various roles over his tenure including help desk support, project engineer, security engineer, and solution architect. His passion is helping clients meet their business goals empowered by their technology adoption.
Nick helps provides strategic guidance as well as comprehensive engineering and operational support to our clients. He excels in solution architecture design of various technologies including networking, wireless, security, systems, and cloud. He takes the time to fully understand the client environment and their business needs. Then he comes back with the right solution and can clearly articulate the solution to the client and stakeholders within the business. Due to his background in cybersecurity, every solution is designed with a security-first approach. He also assists clients with development of more security centric services including policy and procedure development, tabletop exercises, and disaster readiness.
In addition to the client facing roles, Nick also holds some internal roles. He helps provide input and strategic direction on new technology adoption to better serve IT Insights and our clients. He is an escalation point for our engineering team and will frequently jump in to assist with project deployments and troubleshooting as required. He also provides on demand training to our technical team and operates in a true mentor capacity.
We sat down with Nick 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 always thought I wanted to be an airline pilot growing up. I started working on my private pilot certificate at the age of 17. Paying for flight lessons and college was going to be very expensive so I started a job working on PCs and cleaning printers. I noticed that I picked it up very quickly and that it was something I was actually pretty good at. Eventually my flight instructor asked me one day what I was going to do for a career. I told him about my desire to be an airline pilot. He liked the idea but asked me a question that ultimately changed my career path. He asked if I was comfortable with taking on this career path knowing that it might change my view of aviation from a hobby that I love to eventually a career that I need to do every day. I pondered this for a period of time and ultimately I decided that he was right. I think I would get tired of flying because its typically a very routine job and I like a little diversity.
At the same time, I had really grown fond of working in the IT field and found new and exciting challenges to overcome on a regular basis. From there, my career focus shifted and I dove in head first to information systems, telecommunications, and cybersecurity and I couldn’t be happier. Luckily, I still hold a great deal of love for aviation, probably due to the advice from my instructor.
Q: What do you prefer to work on?
A: My background is very strong in networking and security. Of the two, I think I still gravitate more towards networking. Within the networking realm, I really enjoy wireless networking. Whether it’s design, implementation, or post installation support, wireless can be very challenging and I embrace these challenges.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: It is probably easier to list what I don’t do in my free time but here is a condensed list. I spend time with my wife, two kids, and dog. I hunt, fish, golf, camp, scuba dive, volunteer, hike, swim, reload ammunition, kayak, go boating, do anything aviation related, play paintball, fly drones, and travel.
Q: What advice would you give to someone getting started in your field?
A: Personally, I’m very much a hands-on learner. Reading books and taking tests in my college courses was great for regurgitating information I had read, but for me, I learned the most through on the job training. Now for some, that could be a challenge to land that first job with no experience. My advice would be to invest in yourself. Purchase some gear and set up your own lab. I still do this and I’ve been in the industry since basically 2005. You can never stop learning in this field.
Q: What advice would you give to businesses who need IT support?
A: Businesses need to understand that cybersecurity tools and professionals need to be right every single time to keep the environment safe. The attackers only need to be right – or lucky – once. Cybersecurity is a vicious cat and mouse game and the worst thing a business can do is not allocate the proper funding to keep the business protected to the best of their abilities. It’s not a question of “if,” but “when”!
Alex is extremely experienced in the IT space; in small business, enterprise organizations, and managed service providers. This experience lends itself to a robust knowledge set to better guide clients through their own IT experiences.
Alex has been working in IT since before some of the IT Insights staff were in high school, and uses those decades of experience to better predict outcomes and plan long term strategies for our clients. Alex’s experience with the development of technology and tools means a great understanding of foundational principles of IT and systems that will remain true for years to come, while knowing what new developments can have an immediate impact.
We sat down with Alex 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: Interest in technology started with playing games on our store-bought home computer and learning how to install upgrades to accommodate the requirements of more modern programs. This evolved into researching and building my first custom computer with all the latest components. The passion to research and choose the perfect, or as close-to-perfect, solution continues to this day. I try and apply that effort to my customers’ needs to truly understand and design the most appropriate solutions.
Q: What do you prefer to work on?
A: Customer relationships and trust that we have their best interest in mind.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Free time consists mostly of socializing with friends and neighbors, projects around the house, and playing golf.
Q: What advice would you give to someone getting started in your field?
A: Effective IT support comes from building a good communication with people you are supporting. Understanding how they learn to utilize technology helps us be more effective in supporting them.
Q: What advice would you give to businesses who need IT support?
A: The cheap, off-the-shelf option is not always the right solution. Investing some resources to find the best-fit solution will yield savings and efficiency down the road.
