Raptor
01-30-2005, 12:24 PM
Well, I am not going back into the last 20 years of job experience, but I will hit the basics if it interests anyone. I was welding when I was 10, building motors when I was 15 and worked at a garage when I was 16 till I got out of HS. I also worked as a fishing guide at my family's resort and in our resteraunt since I was 12. Went to Dunwoody for welding after HS, worked 10 hours a night welding at the same time, got burned out after the first year and moved to Brainerd, Worked in service shops up there for 3 years. Moved to washington, worked at many welding jobs and was foreman or lead in over half at the age of 21. Met my first wife, started a machine and welding shop which grew to a max of 8 employees, sold it for health reasons 3 1/2 years later and moved out here. Got into Linux when it first came out on floppy disc and tought myself programming. Started building computers on the side while working at a metal fab company in Elk River. Started working for Guidant, programming and DB management for a few years then did some consulting, was a huge part of the local hacking groups for 4-5 years (good education) and got a job at a medium sized ISP as a network admin. after 2 months, was promoted to head admin, worked there for 5 years built it to one of the biggest ISP's in the state, quit, started a consulting company. Hired tom for a job, laughed at that stupid mistake for a while ;)
Did on call support for the ISP for about a year and decided to start this place.
Now, what isn't mentioned is where I gained a lot of the experience etc for what I do now. Some of it was from previous jobs, at least the basic repair and troubleshooting skills. The engine building and more technical stuff comes from a passion for speed. When you have an interest in something that is that strong and you commit to it, you dig in and remember every little detail of every experience you have available. So, all the years I have been working, at any job, I have been building something fast, helping someone else build their beast or just learning everything I could. I tend to push things a little harder than most since I have been told my life would be considerably shorter than most, I don't generally plan things out for more than a year in advance. I have to make things happen sooner than that which helps explain the businesses I have started etc. That is a really basic non detailed overview of a lot of my work history. I don't want to type all the weird little experiences scattered amongst the years, but they are there, building blower manifolds, back halving a rail dragster etc. Most people would probably never guess I built about 20 hydro lowriders at my first shop either. Just a lot of varied experience and you learn from all of it, combine it and use what you can.
That should be as clear as mud :D
Did on call support for the ISP for about a year and decided to start this place.
Now, what isn't mentioned is where I gained a lot of the experience etc for what I do now. Some of it was from previous jobs, at least the basic repair and troubleshooting skills. The engine building and more technical stuff comes from a passion for speed. When you have an interest in something that is that strong and you commit to it, you dig in and remember every little detail of every experience you have available. So, all the years I have been working, at any job, I have been building something fast, helping someone else build their beast or just learning everything I could. I tend to push things a little harder than most since I have been told my life would be considerably shorter than most, I don't generally plan things out for more than a year in advance. I have to make things happen sooner than that which helps explain the businesses I have started etc. That is a really basic non detailed overview of a lot of my work history. I don't want to type all the weird little experiences scattered amongst the years, but they are there, building blower manifolds, back halving a rail dragster etc. Most people would probably never guess I built about 20 hydro lowriders at my first shop either. Just a lot of varied experience and you learn from all of it, combine it and use what you can.
That should be as clear as mud :D