Streamland Media had been making acquisitions to grow its brand and in that process purchased SIM Post & Technicolor Post. This allowed for an interesting IT perspective because only part of each company was purchased. Once fully integrated we should be around 2400 employees in the US, Canada, and England. This process of merging company parts I have compared to an avalanche as so many things are changing and moving at the same time it can feel like complete chaos. To help as many users as possible during the changeover I created a custom AppleScript application that automated the uninstall of SIM software and the install of Streamland software. The conversion app was paired with a 3-part video series: What is happening & timeline, Converting your computer, Your First Login. The videos were written, acted, recorded, and edited all by me alone, it was a fun but challenging project. The app and videos were so successful I am in the process of developing a Windows variant of the application that also handles the domain flip. This is all done in PowerShell and with a user-friendly GUI. I very much enjoy working for Streamland as the problems are challenging and ever changing, I have yet to be bored, which I love. I look forward to what the future will bring with Streamland!

SIM International when I joined in 2020 was an investment firm owned end-end production for hire business in the US and Canada and had about 1500 employees. The four major divisions of the company being: Camera, Studio, Lighting & Grip, and Post. This was my first experience with Azure, SharePoint, teams, active directory, and such a large interconnected network, it was fantastic. As I found the pace to be much different from Geek Squad there was plenty of time for me to learn and document processes for the knowledge base. The location I operated out of had several systems that were my responsibly: HVAC, Building Access Control, VOIP, & Security Cameras. I complied all my processes and notes into a comprehensive 50 page ‘IT Location Manual’. I reach for it regularly for reference in my day to day since. This is when everything shifted into migration mode because Studio and Lighting & Grip had been sold to MBS. I learned what it takes to pack up and migrate users to another Microsoft tenant. This became useful very quickly because the Post division was sold but this time, I was going with it, to Streamland Media.

Geek Squad is technical support at a lightning pace, we would sometime have 60+ computers in the queue with a 3-day turnaround time. During my 3-year tenure I assisted an estimated 3000 clients with problems from basic OS corruption all the way to full data recovery and drive failures. It was like a crash course in every personal computer and cell phone problem you can think of simply because of the verity of our client base. Something that is often overlooked is the soft skills needed to provide quality technical support. At Geek Squad this meant being able to de-escalate clients when they might be upset and making sure their concerns are addressed clearly, confidently, and concisely. I have had Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Teenagers, Professionals all in tears or very upset in front of me and I have been able to talk the situation to a productive resolution. While sometimes the most challenging it was always the most rewarding. I had the opportunity to become certified through Apple for iOS (ACiT) and MacOS (ACMT). At the West Hollywood location this, as well as my repair experience, led me to lead Apple repairs as the, Apple Master (bad name). Under my leadership I made the Apple repair program profitable for the location through better training and a new operating process of my own design. Very grateful to Geek Squad as it provided me the concrete knowledge base and experience I needed to build my IT career as it stands currently.

I was a computer sales associate for a short time ~6months before I decided that Geek Squad was a better fit for me. Thankfully my manger at the time, Ricky Lonitz, was very supportive. Here I spent my first year with the Geek Squad really learning the ropes and finishing my first Apple certification (ACiT) for iOS devices.

Worked closely with the engineering department which recently changed the standard on how they designed their open front paint spray booths. The other intern and my self were given the task of updating all CAD (Autodesk Inventor) models to the new standard which normally included starting from scratch. The drawings paired with these units also had to be updated and I helped establish a standard for drawings for the whole department because there were some inconsistencies depending on who did the drawing. I also worked on the shop floor troubleshooting an issue with their CNC plasma tables THC (Torch Height Control) which had not been working for some time. After 3 days of working with it I was able to get it working properly. Lastly I worked with the companies vinyl plotter to create templates for the etching of logos into their glass and the application of vinyl logos to some of their paint spray booths.