Growing up with emerging technology

Since I was a child, I've witnessed the tech industry grow beyond what I could have ever imagined. I had the pleasure of growing up alongside it and was fortunate enough to have any kind of technology in my life at a young age. Our generation's youth may not know about Microsoft's and Apple's origin story, for example. It was like watching two mountains growing rapidly in front of me. And now, in 2024, you give teenagers a floppy disk and most wouldn't know what it does or how it works. Every generation experiences this evolution equally but in different ways.

This is my story about growing up with a variety of emerging computing and gaming technologies and how those experiences led me to my technology career, years later...

---

1993: Planting Seeds

When Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog was released, I was only 8 years old. Little did I know that Sega nearly went out of business and the console almost never made it to market. But, wow, am I glad it did. And who showed it to me? My uncle. He was THE fun guy. He had all the toys a child could ever want. We'd visit his house a few times a year and I still remember a few moments from the first time he showed me his Sega and Sonic. I was immediately captured. The sounds, the colors, the speed. Those childhood moments planted seeds that would blossom in my future. Up until a few years ago, I had my own Sega Genesis console and the Sonic game but to save on space and have a more reliable connection, I traded it in. Check out the "Retron 5" - a console that is compatible with five game formats in one. NES, SNES, SEGA, GameBoy, and GameBoy Advanced. Boom.

1994: The Foundation

My first real experience with computing technology was with a Packard Bell Windows 3.0 PC. It blew my mind -moving away from the 5" actual floppy disk to the 3.5" hard disk and getting to play games like "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?", "Oregon Trail", and "Operation Neptune". It was a frequent pastime. My family had that PC for a couple of years and moved on to a Hewlett-Packard Windows 95 PC the following year when the USB port was first introduced into the desktop form factor. We'd end up using Windows 98, as well. Nothing much changed with that OS but hardware performance was better because memory capacity was increasing exponentially every year.

The concept of "gaming" was imprinted on my mind now. "Wow, I can play games with this? I thought this was just for work..."

1995: Getting Started

Windows 95 came with a lot of cool features but the best part for me was getting a PC that could support Microsoft Encarta. Encarta, a digital encyclopedia, was released in 1993 and came with an educational trivia game called "Mind Maze". The semi open-world nature of the game was really neat. I enjoyed that game for a very long time, until...

One Christmas, the family got a Super NES with Super Mario World. By this time it had been on the market for about 5 years. The SNES really changed things for me and further immersed me in the tech/entertainment world. Fast forward to those late nights when I would leave the console on while sleeping because the game didn't have a checkpoint. Ugh! Or I may be on a streak of wins, breaking personal records and couldn't afford to turn off the console. Dinner time always ruined it! My top favorite game on this console was Super Mario World but Mario Kart is a close second because of the racing, of course, and the weapons that came with it. It's a party game at any age!

Meanwhile, my elementary school bought the first gen iMac for a few classrooms. My classmates and I learned about science, math, and English through educational games. All of that stuff was great, but as a child I was mainly focused on the beautiful colors of the casing. It looked like candy! I wanted one so badly!

1997: The Nintendo 64

Soon after, I was introduced to the Nintendo 64.

My neighborhood friend had one and we'd play on it all the time. Four players in a basement for hours, eating Doritos, Twizzlers, and all the things. I learned a lot about gaming. I became better and better at mastering new concepts and gameplay. It became almost a new skill.

A few games I played: Tetrisphere (a hard game to find these days), Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, Mario World, 007, and Super Smash Bros. What makes this experience unique is that I had my first try at upgrading hardware. Nintendo sold a 4MB memory expansion pack for the console that simply added an extra memory chip. Not that special on paper but it was really cool for me to see a drastic improvement in performance with only an extra 4MB of memory. Now in 2024, we can fit 1TB of memory on a chip smaller than a fingernail. Unbelievable!

1998: Little Did We Know

Up until this point, "Yahoo! Search" was the more popular choice for searching the Internet. I remember seeing the ads for Google Search and immediately began using it. I left Yahoo! in a heartbeat and never looked back. The other competitor I used from time to time was Ask Jeeves, now known as Ask.com. But nothing compared to the almighty Google back then.

Of course, now we have GPT inside of tools like Microsoft's Copilot, so it's time to say goodbye to the days of manually reviewing search results.

2000: Long Lost Xanga

When I ask people about their experience with social media, most people my age start with MySpace. I did use MySpace for a very long time. But before MySpace was launched in 2003, there was a predecessor called Xanga.

Xanga was basically the original MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all wrapped in one. Completely customizable with HTML, you could easily create an expressive and unique profile. They are still around if you want to take a look at where they are now.

The key takeaways: I learned how to socialize online using Xanga and MySpace. It prepared me for the next leap in social networking. And I learned all about the basics of HTML and personal preferences for navigating the web. I didn't always enjoy the music autoplay feature...

2001: Let's Go Faster

Ah, Windows XP. The staple of productivity tools for business for over a decade, and even now for some businesses that don't know how to let go. I have so much to say about this operating system but it's simply too much to fit here. Windows XP was revolutionary. It had major performance improvements and a completely redesigned GUI. The iconic Start button has remained in different formats because Microsoft knew then and still now that it must stay. They tried to get rid of it in Windows 8 but that didn't go well! With Windows XP, I learned more HTML, learned to type faster, played better PC games, began using Hotmail, MSN Messenger, ICQ and more social tools. I was exposed to the Microsoft Office suite and used it for school often when writing essays.

And you didn't hear this from me, but I also learned how to hack my Texas Instruments calculator to install Tetris and Mario Bros. No one knew! I was introduced to many more concepts like USB ports, CD/DVD drives, Ethernet, file systems, and most importantly...Solitaire and Pinball. I also had to learn how to search for instructions online to make this hack possible.

The Windows XP release was followed by a bunch of game developers who were realizing the potential that comes with a better OS and improved hardware.

The original Need for Speed for PC was released in 1994, by Electronic Arts. With a good amount of memory and processing power, you could easily play the game on Windows XP. I indulged my passion for fast cars and racing every time I played. Not only did this game introduce me to advanced graphics, it also planted seeds for later in life when racing is now the top interest in my life. Multiple versions of this game have been released since and I've played most of them. What sealed my interest in this game was the online gameplay option. It did just fine with a DSL connection. So simple!

I had a brief stint with Starcraft, a real-time strategy game during middle school and high school. I learned about playing co-op (cooperative mode) and had a lot of fun with friends.

The online gameplay added a social connection to the experience. But I needed to learn about upload and download speeds, not using the phone while playing (newbie mistake), playing at night when the rest of the world wasn't using bandwidth, adding all of that knowledge to my bank of tips and tricks for gaming...or was it for my career and I just didn't know yet?

I met one of my best friends in 11th grade and we bonded through gaming among other teen activities. On weekends we'd stay up late playing pretty much all of the games, wind down with a late-night snack, sleep, and then wake up at 10am and continue. Yeah...I know, it's not healthy but I was a teen and had a well performing metabolism. My friend had multiple consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, NES, SNES, SEGA, N64), some of which I hadn't yet heard of, including Nintendo's Game Cube and Sega's Dreamcast and later down the road, a Nintendo Wii. His entertainment center was packed with cables and racks of game cartridges. I never had those in my home, so it was really cool to experience them and learn with a friend.

Most importantly, my friend was impossible to beat. No matter which game we played, he'd either already mastered it or he'd master it in the first 15 minutes of gameplay. He taught me how to play better every time because I was so motivated to beat him. I got a few jabs in there from time to time but he mostly reigned supreme. In the end, he made me a more competitive person. I learned to lose and win with grace. And from a technology perspective, I now knew about each console, its physical media, video connectors, and performance capacity. Queue the Mario Bros 1-up sound!

Next up...my very own desktop computer. My parents got me a Compaq desktop while in high school. It also came with Windows XP. This would be my PC for the next 5 years. It traveled with me to college where I used it only for school. Nothing else.

Just kidding...

2003: Leveling Up

Okay, let's talk about MySpace. It changed everything. Match.com was already around and no one used Xanga much. GeoCities was used but unpopular. Finally, here was MySpace, a new place to be creative and show the world who you are. It came with few rules, too, with design and content freedom. It shaped the way I see the Internet with features like music and video autoplay, custom background images and patterns, HTML coding, and a bunch of other bells and whistles. MySpace sat on its throne, proudly, and had its time in the spotlight. But the world was not ready for the next leap.

The arrival of MySpace came just in time for college. Remember that Compaq PC? It was about to play a big part in my technology journey. After I graduated from high school, I went to college 3 months later. It was an engineering school filled with geniuses, two of whom happened to be in my dorm.

My interest in Need for Speed was refreshed when I saw those two dorm mates playing the latest version of "Need for Speed: Underground".

It was by far the best version of the game with amazing lighting and colors. The visuals and sound effects were impressive. So, I asked them how to get it installed on my PC and what I needed to play it. My low-end Compaq PC was not ready to handle a high-performance game like this. So, I asked those guys for recommendations on upgrading memory and graphics cards.

They looked up my specs and gave me the exact info I needed. My new CPU and graphics card barely fit in the case of my Compaq PC. Once I got it all in there the game performed perfectly.

I played online with those dorm mates for the next year while at that particular school. My familiarity with computing hardware and compatibility was growing quickly.

2004: Do you have Facebook?

2004, my late teens. Formative years. I'm so glad Facebook then was not what it is now. Life was much simpler when they launched all those years ago. It took me a bit longer than most but eventually I switched from MySpace to Facebook. I had both for a while but the amount of work that went into customizing MySpace made it kind of a drag. Also, because Facebook was growing so quickly, people were bailing on MySpace rapidly and participation came to a trickle. So, I closed my MySpace account.

Years later, if you didn't have a Facebook account, you were the odd ball out. I no longer have a Facebook account, but it served its purpose. The concept of tagging someone flourished on Facebook. The term "tagging" was added to my technology map.

2005: A New Plan

After I moved home early from college, I needed a new plan. I felt compelled to learn more about technology, especially because I had experience with AutoCAD and other graphic design solutions like Photoshop CS2. But I wasn't sure what I wanted to focus on so I took a semester to figure it out.

In January of 2005, I signed up for two technology classes, web design using Macromedia Dreamweaver (that's right...Macromedia, not Adobe) and Cisco networking. I knew about Macromedia but not much about Cisco.

Designing websites was cool but I knew right away that the coding aspect of the software wasn't my thing. Cisco networking came easy to me so that's the path I chose. I learned about PC hardware, IP addressing, network topologies, Microsoft products and services, Linux, routing, ISPs, PowerShell, and so much more. It was the beginning of my career. And I was finally able to toss my aging Compaq desktop! But I kept the video card and processor.

The best part: my high school friend and I attended classes together for the same degree during those 2 years. And as you might guess, the gaming fun continued. We had a blast!

Crank Up the Volume!

When I was 9 years old, my dad bought me a kid sized guitar. And when I was 13, I learned how to play the drums. Naturally, I wanted to record myself playing both. I had a band in middle school and again in 2005 after moving back home from college. My basement had a music room set up by my dad. The at-home studio had pretty much everything a recording musician needed.

You may not think that music and sound equipment would help me learn about technology, but it really did. I learned how to roll cables, hide cables, trace sound issues, set up and take down, recording software in Windows XP, track editing, microphone setup, file organization, exporting to physical media with CDex, audio plugins, Windows hacks, Audacity, Winamp, and more.

6 years later I released an album with my sister and my own solo album in 2017. It was a rich experience I won't forget. My passion for creating music kept me busy during school and sparked new friendships. Also, I created multiple flyers for shows where we'd play with Photoshop CS2.

2007: Time to Get a Job

After graduating, I had a hard time finding a job in my hometown. I had nothing related to IT on my resume except for my AAS degree. The two other jobs on my resume included photo services at Target and cashier/grocer at Sam's Club. I learned a lot at both jobs and picked up my existing photography hobby at Target.

So, with slim pickings in my hometown I looked out of state. Luckily, there was an entry-level position in Austin as a helpdesk associate. I had family in Austin, so it made sense to try. I hopped on a flight a couple of weeks later, nailed the interview and after 2 weeks of waiting I got the call that I got the job.

A month later I moved to Austin, TX with as much of my stuff as I could fit into my ultra-compact car. I hated that car so much, but it got me here. I found an apartment within a week and my "big city" life began. Not only did I pass my first ever technical interview, but I did it well - a process everyone goes through multiple times throughout their career. It was great practice! And I had taken a big risk by moving out of a safe place into the unknown. I was scared and excited about my future. And there was definitely plenty to be excited about!

The Unknown

Whenever IT professionals speak of their early career experiences, one phrase that comes up is "You gotta start at the bottom!" And it's true. On my first day my very first task was to untangle a giant ball of Ethernet cables. And they were all the same color. It took me a while to finish that up. It was not fun, but I was proud because I used my skills learned from rolling cables in the music room to roll up the Ethernet cables. I began fixing laptops and desktops, and got exposed to concepts like web analytics, helpdesk software, customer and vendor relations, DNS, DHCP, Active Directory, Windows Server OS, group policies, remote support, and screen sharing. I mean, the list goes on and on. My time was cut short when IBM acquired my company, and I was laid off. But that was also a valuable experience.

My supervisor in that role was cool. We got along well and had a good working relationship. Within the first few weeks on the job, he mentioned a little TV series, "Battlestar Galactica". No, not the '70s version. This was the 2004 reimagined series. Well guess what, video streaming wasn't popular yet. So, what did I do? That night I went to Blockbuster and rented every available season of the show I could find.

Netflix was up and running with their DVD rental plan so when Blockbuster was no longer reliable in terms of available seasons, I signed up for Netflix and finished the series that way. Now I was locked into Netflix forever. They got me! For the next few years, I watched Netflix grow and even invested in their stock. I finished the series in 4 weeks. The original binging. I realized in this experience that renting physical DVDs wasn't sustainable for binging, and thankfully Netflix's streaming services began earlier that year.

2008: What's an Intranet?

In 2008, my company decided to adopt the 2007 version of Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint has a long history, going back 24 years when it was known as SharePoint Portal Server, then WSS 2.0, WSS 3.0, SharePoint Foundation, and eventually SharePoint Online as part of Microsoft 365 cloud services. I had no idea what this software did at first. And once I found out that it's an intranet productivity tool, I still didn't know what that meant. I attended a training on the software and still didn't understand. I wasn't ready for that. But I used SharePoint a few years later and then started to maintain it for clients at my second job in Austin. Only then was I aware of its potential.

What's an iPhone?

When I began my IT career, I needed a business phone. So I went with the Blackberry Pearl. Remember Blackberry? It's okay if you don't. Apple was innovating quickly. They released the first gen iPhone in 2007 and it made big waves. Once I had one, I was hooked. I still use an iPhone to this day. Apple was untouchable after the iPhone dropped. The battle between Microsoft and Apple was heating up more and more. I still live in both worlds and appreciate both brands equally. Sorry, I won't get sucked into the debate about which one is better.

2009: The Last Resort

After my release from IBM, I was unemployed for 3 months, with only one IT role on my resume. Thankfully, I found a role in a local IT consulting company for Texas businesses. It was not my best role, but I survived my layoff and that's what mattered. One golden nugget was my relationship with one of my clients, Sharie. We got along very well, and I was responsible for maintaining her SharePoint intranet. Her questions helped me dive deep into SharePoint and I added those skills to my arsenal. After a year in this role, I was ready for something more.

2010: Greener Pastures

My next role was at a company that made manuals and training programs for airlines like Delta and Southwest. I was the IT specialist supporting the Austin office. I continued applying my acquired skills from years past. I learned about Exchange, Office Communicator, launched server monitor software, learned how to e-cycle hardware, and upgraded our helpdesk system. I got my Security+ and Server + certifications. I was in this role for about 2 1/2 years before being laid off due to an acquisition, again! I was confident I could find another role quickly. And I did...8 days later.

2013: Career Highs and Lows

My next company was also in the aviation industry. I applied the previous 6 years of knowledge quickly. 3 weeks after I started, one of the sys admins left and two solutions were left without an admin - Symantec Antivirus and WSS 3.0. Since the company was unable to backfill that sys admin position, I took over the management of both. After 2 years of being on the helpdesk team, I was promoted to Systems Engineer.

Finally! My first role not on helpdesk. That went straight on my resume the same day. I wanted to boost my market value so I could eventually keep climbing. In 2015, my company acquired another that was also in the aviation industry. That company also had SharePoint, but it was the 2007 version. Cut to early 2016 when I was assigned the task of moving both WSS 3.0 and 2007 to SharePoint Online in 4 months. Whoa! That's intense. But it was a success, in the end. Both older farms were eventually retired and that felt so good.

With a full migration under my belt, I was ready to move on and my resume had tons of marketable skills. It didn't happen right away, but I left when the time was right.

2019: I've Made It

It wasn't until 2019 that I found the most satisfying role of my career. Leaving my role of 5 years was scary. I'd never done consulting before, and that skill was essential in this new role. But I adapted after about 3 months of daily "sink or swim" moments. I like to help people learn to enjoy technology more. What better way to do that than talk with them every day? Coaching customers is rewarding, especially when the client says things like, "This is amazing! My day is so much easier now." Those reactions motivate me and reinforce my passion for technology. I have wonderful coworkers and leaders who truly care about the wellbeing of their teams. I never pictured myself getting this far with the hardships I endured throughout my career.

What's next?

I'm in the greatest phase of my career thus far and I couldn't have done it without the support of many people over the years - my friends, the caring teachers at school, my first supervisor, and anyone else who ever gave me a chance. Of course, my family played the biggest role in my story. Imagine if we didn't have that first computer or the Super Nintendo at home back in 1995. I think my life would have been much different without exposure to those technologies. I still have a long way to go, of course.

What's next? Holograms in malls? Self driving cars (already out there)? My mind spins when I imagine the possibilities and I'm so excited to be part of it.