Certification - September 2008 - (Page 32)

JOB ROLES Network Administration: Working From the Ground Up LINDSAY EDMONDS WICKMAN Network administrators have a lot on their plates, tackling everything from network security to VPN connectivity. That’s why when an issue arises, they need to know how to find a solution quickly and efficiently. At the age of 10, Matt Hiltner took on his first IT job as one of the “computer boys” in Mrs. Turek’s sixthgrade class. Little did he know that this foray into technology would ultimately shape his future. It just took a while to get there. Hiltner went on to study photography and accounting in college, but he failed to find his passion in either discipline. It wasn’t until he was working as plant manager at Step Industries, a cardboard company, that Hiltner unwittingly fell back into IT. His boss asked him to grow the company’s technology platform, which then consisted of a laptop and an inkjet printer, into a full-fledged, five-person workstation with a server. During his 15-year tenure at Step Industries, Hiltner used his spare time to develop a personal Web site called “Miscellaneous Debris,” on which he and his friends posted jokes and pictures to pass the time. But once he realized the large amount of traffic the site was getting, Hiltner decided it was cheaper to begin hosting it himself. “I picked up a couple of workstations, turned them into servers and did my own hosting,” he said. “That was me getting involved in networking technologies. One thing led to another, and I started hosting for multiple people. And that’s that.” With no formal computer training, Hiltner made the transition from hosting Web sites to servicing networks. As a result, OliveJar PC and Network Services was born. “I didn’t contact anybody to set things up for me or fix my problems,” said Hiltner, owner and president of OliveJar. “I sat down and figured it out myself. I read what I needed to read, went through manuals or picked up books from the library. With [this] massive amount of information floating around in my head, I decided to see if I couldn’t make a dime off of it. That’s when I started up OliveJar as a full-fledged networking servicing business.” Atypical Days Hiltner has about 24 clients in and around the Chicago area. His job is about as conventional as his path to networking was. The only typical thing about his workweek is a morning cup of coffee and dinner at 8 p.m. Everything in between is up in the air. “Rarely do I have two days that are the same,” Hiltner said. “I get up and usually I’ve got an e-mail sitting in my inbox saying: ‘Hey, I’ve got this problem. What do you think?’ Usually it’s something that I can guide them through via e-mail or a quick phone call. Sometimes it’s not, and it involves me either connecting remotely to their servers or actually going on-site [to deal] with the problem. That’s how it starts, and that’s how it goes all day.” Because his clients are geographically dispersed, Hiltner can end up spending an inordinate amount of time sitting in his car fighting Chicago traffic, driving as many as 400 miles in one week. “There are days when I wake up in the morning and I’ve got a panicked phone call because someone up in Gurnee has their server down. So I drive all the way up to Gurnee, which is an hour-and-a-half drive,” he explained. “I get up there, and halfway through that project, I’ve gotten a phone call saying: ‘Hey, we’ve got an issue where employees are not able to connect remotely to the server in Joliet,’ so I’ll need to drive out to Joliet.” But this laid-back network administrator takes it all in stride. He tackles any number of issues from troubleshooting to network security and sometimes dabbles in computer hardware. 2 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE September 2008 http://www.stepindustries.com/ http://maps.google.com/maps?q=gurnee IL&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=42.451835,-87.912598&spn=1.908936,3.405762&z=8&iwloc=addr http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Joliet, IL&ie=UTF8&ll=41.570252,-88.085632&spn=0.96781,1.702881&z=9 http://www.olivejar.net/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - September 2008

Certification - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Troubleshooting Academic Connection What We Like Look Ahead So You Want to Be an IT Major The Title Is Information Officer… Chief Information Officer Interface Network Administration: Working From the Ground Up Inside Certification Ad Index Endtag

Certification - September 2008

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