Part 3:

4 Key Lessons in IT – SOFT SKILLS

Compass’ mother asked “Well, didn’t you work at BMW? What did you do at BMW?” I said “Yes, I was a Network Engineer at BMW North America Headquarters, but before I get into that I had prior jobs where I showed initiative and went above and beyond to master my skills.” For example, I previously worked for a company that kept getting hacked over and over again. I was a systems engineer and had limited knowledge of networking and network security. As I was trying to help find out how we were getting hacked, I noticed that the office I was in didn’t have a Firewall. This is the importance of documentation [Link to note taking and documentation article], because it would have been clearly obvious that we didn’t have a firewall and a bad network design. All of the computers and servers had external IP addresses with no DMZ, so our systems were fully exposed to the internet. It also shows the importance of reviewing and updating your documentation as it was apparent that the network team didn’t do a review of their equipment and design.

So I told them that we needed to purchase a firewall, which they confirmed but they didn’t commit to anything. I let them know a few more times and then decided to map out the network myself and I saw there was a Cisco router. I did some research and asked them if I can have the password to just look around and was given read access. So I bought a Cisco CCNA certification book and started studying and learning. I was able to get my CCNA and learned how to create access lists and were able to get the enable access and lock down the actual router and blocked all non-essential access to the servers and the hacking stopped. Eventually, the company bought a Firewall and let me set it up and manage it. I saw a major problem and went above and beyond to help resolve it and as a result I learned a new technology while helping secure and protect the company’s digital assets. The regional director trusted me so much that he would bring me to meet with the largest clients and even take the largest customers out when he couldn’t make it.

Compass asked “What does that have to do with you working at BMW North America Headquarters?” I told her whenever I went above and beyond, I learned things that later create opportunities that I wouldn’t have expected.

I told her that I went to BMW mainly as a strategic move because it was a Desktop Support position. I was a System Engineer and this was considered to be a stepdown. But, this was BMW. I wanted to have a name on my resume that was recognizable as my last two companies were large but not well known. So, I took temporary position for Desktop Support which presented a challenge because everyone was getting malware and viruses a month into me starting.

The malware was causing havoc on many computers because it wasn’t mainstream at the time and there weren’t many vendors that had a strong product to remove it and would require multiple products. As a result they wanted us to go to every computer and manually check them and clean them which can take up to an hour depending on that malware. I knew this was going to take a lot of team effort, so in my spare time I was able to write a script using the skills that I learned at my last job to speed up the process. Instead of the whole team going to every computer and manually checking, the script would run the check and give us a report. This way we only need to send someone out to the systems that couldn’t be cleaned remotely. My manager asked me to send him them an example. The next thing I knew, my contract was extended and I was doing special projects which kept me in the contract for a few more months which opened up other opportunities where they ended up needing help moving switches 6509, 6513, and 6500 Series Cisco.

Being technically good at something doesn’t mean that you are trustworthy, loyal, dedicated, dependable, etc. Those qualities are hard to come by. I told Compass, that her energy level was low. I felt it was low because she didn’t show the initiative and learn more about the skills she was interested in. Once you have learned your skill it increases your energy, your comfort, your vibe, and people can feel that. You can’t get a certification in these core skills, you earn them with every interaction you have and the more they become habits the better you become as a person. Whether you are working with someone individually or in a team, you are building and developing interpersonal relationships. You can’t just get a certification in loyalty, persistence, perseverance, in trust. Those things are extremely important as well.