Born and raised in southern Virginia is where the journey began. Getting into the IT field was never in the plans. During high school I worked for Winn Dixie Grocery Store and, like most in this area after high school, on to the furniture factory. One day while reflecting on life, I made an abrupt life change. I joined the Armed Forces, a couple months later I was heading to Okinawa Japan, a U.S. Marine. I worked as an Aircraft Maintenance Administrative Specialist and for the next four years I toured the world, from Africa to Australia, South Korea to the Philippines just to name a few.
Life after the Corps was challenging with just a high school education. Finding a job was stressful. I worked at a lumber yard for a while then as a custodian. Eventually I got into the construction field. I was hired to be a flag man and after just 3 years I managed to work my way up from flag man to foreman. At this point in my life, having a family now, I decided I needed more than a job I wanted a career. I enrolled at Skyline College to get a degree in Electronics Engineering but the classes were not going to start anytime soon so my advisor convinced me to start in the Networking classes. Great advice.
I started with Safer Network Solutions in July, 2013 as an Extern and was assigned to a customer site in Danville working on that site for about 6 weeks, I fulfilled my obligation to school. I graduated from Skyline College in Roanoke with my Bachelor’s Degree in Network Security. While at Skyline, I was Student Veterans of America School President. I became a full time employee at Safer in August and since then I have gotten certifications from Cisco, Microsoft, CompTIA, Symantec and Citrix.
I currently live in Martinsville with my girlfriend, two daughters and nephew. My hobbies include producing and engineering music and DJing.
