George KalfasSystems Engineer, CCC Technologies Incorporated
A computer enthusiast and Japanese Anime buff as a teen, George Kalfas debated whether to pursue business or web graphics design in college. But a summer job working as an assistant to his high school's IT director piqued his interest in IT itself as a career.
"While the IT director was on vacation, I was in charge of the computer lab," recalls Kalfas, now 23. "I was helping with computer problems, working on laptop check-outs and started doing software deployment and work station refreshes."
He found he liked to help people with computer problems. "Helping individuals with issues that I felt were easy made my day." So he changed course to pursue a bachelor's degree in Network and Communications Management from DeVry University in Chicago, scoring his current job with the managed convergence services company CCC Technologies in February 2010, before he graduated.
Education: Bachelor's degree, Network and Communications Management, DeVry University, Chicago.
Certifications: CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, Fortinet Certified Network Security Administrator, Fortinet Certified Network Security Professional, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) Windows 7 Configuration.
Tell us about your current job.
At CCC Technologies, we manage anything with a blinking light—firewalls, servers, workstations and also high-definition video conferencing systems. Our clients are small- and medium-sized businesses, and some enterprise businesses. Essentially, we are a VAR. We mainly work on IT systems, but recently started working with LifeSize high-definition video conferencing systems and tools.
In my job, I wear a couple of hats. I work with a team of engineers to support our internal IT systems—managing servers, firewalls and higher-level email servers. The first-tier engineers diagnose the issues to see if it has to go to a vendor or a higher-level engineer. I'm about a second or third-tier engineer.
When I first came in I thought I would be mainly working on just firewalls and networks, but as the job progressed, I started to learn about and work on servers, workstations and virtualization software like VMware. I started to have the opportunity to see what breaks, and also what I could and could not do with the new technologies.
I also work on new projects. When a customer comes on board, I am involved with the pre-sales and answer any technical questions they might have. I also work onsite with the customer's managed service provider or its managed security service provider.
I can be in the office for weeks on end, working on tickets, or sometimes I will be booked to be outside the office, working at a customer's site. I travel about 50 percent of the time, as far north as Green Bay, Wis., and as far West as Rochester, Indiana.
What's the best part of your job?
Sometimes I get to work on the latest and greatest technology. I give it a try, see how it works, break it, and see how it functions, whether it fits with our other systems. We recently did this with the LifeSize (HD video conferencing) equipment — where you can call up an IP address and see HD-quality video. It's pretty cool.
What's the worst part of your job?
When an issue keeps reoccurring, and there's no solving it. It can be very frustrating when it seems like all the work you did trying to troubleshoot a problem is meaningless. Eventually, it does work out; there is light at the end of the tunnel.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest in IT?
I do a combination between reading email newsletters from different vendors, and some from CompTIA and also browsing blogs like TechRepublic. I jump around depending on what new technologies I want more information on.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue a career in IT?
Start early, and don't think just because you have learned something new, you are set for life. Technology just keeps changing, and you have to keep up with it.
Start off with the CompTIA certifications, which are a very nice baseline for IT. I earned the CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications while I was in school and looking for a job. They reinforced my understanding the basics of troubleshooting and improved my understanding of network systems work.
