Personal

Eventually I will put together a biography static page containing a reader’s digest version of the wonder that is Andrew Maxim. I will also likely include a copy of my professional resume, just to tout myself a little further. Arrogance really is a wonderful thing. In the mean time I thought I should throw out a little further information on the "where I am at" and "where I am going" aspects.

In January of 2005, after much procrastination, I finally decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree. Given the levels of experience I had already gained in the workforce I was, as previously mentioned, over qualified for many positions, but lacking a four year degree was under qualified for the remainder. I was never very good at pickle as a child, and figured it was time to rectify the issue. After my typical research frenzy, I enrolled into the Computer Science program at Excelsior College in March of 2005.

Pursuit of my degree can be described as sporadic, with long periods of inactivity followed by completion of far too many credits in the following few months. Mostly this is just me taking advantage of what free time I have, but I also enjoy a break between educational overload sessions. After two years of this I was nearing completion of my degree, three classes remaining.

Unfortunately, (didn't I already mention there was always an unfortunately?) Excelsior College was removing their Computer Science program and rolling it into a different degree. Those who were in the Bachelor CS program were given until November to have all credits submitted for a December graduation or we would be rolled into the Computer Technology major, with differing requirements. Given the course availability this was an impossibility for me (as I am sure others) to complete, as the courses I required ended in December, after the cut off.

I took this as an opportunity to change majors to something more suiting to my career and instead switched to the Management Information Systems degree program. A few additional business classes are required, but I believe the extra work will be rewarded in the long run. I hold a 3.75 GPA, with a 4.0 in my major, and currently am sitting at 131 credit hours completed while I wait for additional transcripts to arrive. I then have two classes to complete and expect to be part of the June 2008 graduation. Not quite the three years I was hoping for, but it is under the four years one normally takes.

Aside from working and college, my professional life also consists of maintaining current certifications, as well as certifying in new technologies. Most of the time spent in this category belongs to my beloved ISACA Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), which, unlike my Cisco certifications, I intend to maintain. And that is Andrew Maxim, the technology professional, in a nutshell.

I found that "something else" for myself in two parts. The first being Information Security. While a few might say that infosec is the reasoning behind the specializations that I dislike, segregation of responsibilities for security reasons really came much later (relative to I.T.), but I will save all that for another entry. What infosec did offer was the continued reason to learn and understand all of the systems within an organization. How each application behaves and relates to one another is just as important for security as the application itself, and for the record, it is just as important for the I.T. personnel who is an Expert in said application.

The second part of my solution was to step slightly away from the hands-on aspect of technology (at least in the work force) and push a little paper. Supervision and management became my primary new focus within the Information Technologies world. Although becoming a manager allowed a continued broad focus on technology and learning, it was not enough within many larger organizations as managers were department heads over specialized groups. Back to that again.

There was only one avenue to travel and that was Information Systems Director (similar titles included). Many groups, many specialties, many projects, many small pictures; one hat and a big picture view. My hands might not get so dirty, but they are definitely not manicured. With every project and every task I was able to explore the new systems and applications, and then have the luxury of taking a step back and seeing how it all relates. I was home.

As a good supervisor, I firmly believe I should understand everything my employees do, should be available to assist or provide information, and should never be willing to ask an employee to handle something that I, myself, can not handle. At least that is the stance I take and it is one that has allowed me to stay in touch with the technology I hold so dearly.

For my future, I can only see myself staying in the Information Technologies and Securities field. My soul burns for robotics, but I can never see myself inventing, designing or building someone else's vision or idea. It was the same, to a lesser extent, with programming and development for me. So I will continue to learn and grow in the I.S. industry, and devote my personal time and resources to fulfilling the whisper I heard when I was still so very young. And I will smile.