My IBM Story

In what might be the quintessential IBM story, "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?", former IBM CEO and Chairman, Louis V. Gerstner Jr. shares an often fascinating and almost always interesting story of an iconic American corporation that was foundering and near extinction. According to Gerstner, the 'old IBM' of 1993 was heavily mired in traditions, policies, procedures and organizational structures that made it the antithesis of an agile company. He recounts how, in his nine years as CEO, his leadership turned an inwardly-focused and failing company into the #1 worldwide provider of IT services, hardware, enterprise software (excluding PCs) and custom designed, high performance computer chips. In words supportive of his 'dancing elephant metaphor', Gerstner's concludes his personal IBM story by stating, "As long as IBMers remain focused outward, the world will keep them on their toes."

I too have an IBM story. My story is likely similar to the stories of a great many other current and former IBMers, I'm guessing... A bit more modest than Chairman Gerstner's, perhaps, simply because... well... He'd already taught the elephant all those cool new dance moves. Just riding a dancing pachyderm is not without it's challenges though - or its accompanying rewards - as I hope my own story illustrates.

On the road

I received my first IBM ThinkPad PC in April of 1995, along with my first IBM ID badge and a stack of 'greensheets' (old 'IBM speak' for hardcopy-based, three-part expense reports). I filled out and submitted my first 'greensheet' just a few weeks later, after flying from northern California to Atlanta to help staff a network support helpdesk.

Over the next four years, I worked on projects in [mostly]well-known destinations like San Francisco and Seattle, Detroit and Dallas, Portland and Poughkeepsie. I also worked in less well-known places like Jamestown, ND, Seven Points, TX, Worland, WY and Clovis, CA. In the process of leading installation teams, troubleshooting servers and networks, managing roll-outs and more, I picked up numerous tips and tricks. More importantly though, I learned a great deal from the colleagues I worked with and the clients I served. 

I also enjoyed experiences and places I never before imagined... A massive, stucco buffalo in North Dakota, the special-of-the-day at a roadside Texas diner called "Cheyenne's Roadkill cafe", a nurse's office in Wyoming with hunting trophies on every wall, an outdoor church carved into the living granite of an Oregon cliff face. New sites, new people, new experiences... A wealth of memories I'll carry with me to the end of my days.

(I)'ve (B)een (M)oved

As interesting as the years of travel were, each project took me away from family, including a young daughter who often seemed to be growing up without me. Living in rural northern California, most of the projects I worked on required either a five-hour commute or a plane flight. In August of 1999, an opportunity arose that enabled me to finally get off the road... Though it also required that my family and I relocate more than two-thousand miles away from northern California.

After building-out the server and network infrastructure for a new IBM Innovation Center in Chicago, I spent the next five years supporting independent software vendors (ISVs) as they ported their applications to IBM platforms. The new position came with a host of new experiences... Daily commutes via mass transit into one of America's largest and most vibrant cities, exposure to Linux-based computing grids and other new technologies,  the opportunity to teach classes to ISVs and mentor Chicago Public Schools students, and occasional business trips to a parent center in Boston.

A community-focused career

A passion for writing and creative projects led me to marketing and new opportunities. From June, 2004 to October, 2010, I wrote copy for internal and external web pages, collaborated with internal and external agencies to create compelling print and digital materials, and otherwise worked on internal-, IBM Business Partner- and IBM client-focused projects and materials that successfully supported seven major product launches. I also helped staff various local and national events where I presented on new product releases, demonstrated new products, answered questions and captured leads. In October of 2010, I moved into my most recent marketing role, where I've designed and distributed a range of internal and external communications to audiences as large as +30K subscribers, with industry average-breaking open rates of +45%.

In addition to new professional opportunities, 2004 was the year I discovered IBM's On Demand Community and the many rewards of volunteerism. An IBM-sponsored program called Mentorplace provided my first volunteer opportunity. Through Mentorplace, I had the pleasure of serving as a volunteer mentor to a number of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students from October, 2004 to March, 2012. My introduction to volunteering inspired me to search out additional opportunities, including recording textbooks for blind and learning-disabled students, and helping fight homelessness. Related to my volunteering, I began tracking my volunteer hours in IBM's On Demand Community, enabling me to earn a number of IBM Community Grants that further supported the missions of the charities I worked with.

A life spent living and learning

Professional growth aside, perhaps the greatest benefits of being an IBMer are those I realized outside of work. IBM's relocation investment allowed my family and me to move to a very family-friendly community where my daughter attended some of the country's best public schools. A special IBM program enabled me to go back to school myself and earn a graduate degree. Most importantly, IBM's compensation helped me put my daughter through an excellent college where she earned two degrees, well-positioning herself for a promising career of her own.

Which brings me to the present and the end of the ride. Tomorrow, July 12, 2013, will be my last official day at IBM, a bittersweet reality accompanied by a fair share of uncertainty. Still, +17 years of living and learning as an IBMer continue to remind me of all I've gained along the way. Riding a dancing pachyderm is not without its challenges, nor is it for the faint of heart. I'd be lying though if I didn't admit that it's been one wild ride.

Note: If you'd like to connect with me professionally, you can do so via my LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/trnunes. This blog posting was authored on a Yellow Dog Linux-powered Apple iBook G4. All graphics were edited in a Linux version of Gimp.  

Recycled

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time...

I recently took a personality survey. I typically don't take such things unless forced to, as I last was twelve years ago at a leadership seminar. That particular survey had been the Myers-Briggs, a survey focused on personality traits that [supposedly]indicate leadership ability. The Holland survey I took the other day was specifically designed to help students select complimentary careers, and I took it in support of a Chicago Public School's student I'm currently mentoring. I mention all of this because the result of the Holland survey, "artistic", was somewhat ironic when taken in the context of this morning's events. You see, this morning I recycled a significant part of my past... A past founded in Information Technology (IT), which some might argue is anything but artistic.

I once wrote a blog entitled "Career Day", wherein I detailed how my first computer, a Coleco ADAM, set me on a path that eventually led to my career in IT. Everything in that past blog was true, though I omitted certain finer details not related to my ADAM. One such detail relates to another computer that also contributed significantly to my career path... My Atari ST.

After graduating from college so deeply in debt I was unable to do my student teaching, I worked in several 'blue collar' jobs, the last of which was as the rental manager for a Bobcat tractor dealership. That job was an extension of my college job as an appliance parts clerk at Sears. I started at the Bobcat dealership as a parts clerk, then accepted a promotion (of sorts... A salaried position with no overtime) to rental manager. Unrelated to the new job, I'd also bought a new computer while working at that Bobcat dealership... An Atari ST.

The ST, like the Commodore Amiga, was based on the same microprocessor as the original Apple Macintosh, a Motorola 68000. Unlike the Mac though, it had a color display... And, unlike the Amiga (at least initially), the ST had both a Mac and a DOS emulator. It was via my ST that I learned how the Apple System/Finder operating system (OS) worked, and also how to use common DOS commands. Such knowledge built upon the CP/M OS experience I'd gained using my ADAM, which then made me the de facto 'go-to guy' for system administration tasks at the Bobcat dealership where I worked. If a problem arose with the DOS-based Melroe DealerNET PC, I fixed it. If new devices needed to be configured/defined on the dealership's IBM System/36 mini-computer, I took care of that as well. I even gained my first network cabling experience there, learning how to solder connector pins onto IBM Twinax cables.

In other words, my experiences were recycled. My early experience with multiple operating systems provided the basis for my later understanding of Unix/Xenix/Linux, OS/2 and Windows. What I learned while networking the System/36, I built on to learn and support Netware, OS/2 LAN Server, NT, LocalTalk, Arcnet, Ethernet, Token Ring, etc. Each experience provided me with the 'raw materials' with which to build an understanding of the next technology... And then the next. And many of those experiential 'raw materials' were learned, or 'mined', on my second computer, my Atari ST.

Which brings me to the sad events of the day. Unused and collecting dust in my den, my ST was but one example of the mountains of clutter I've accumulated over the years... Old and obsolete monitors, hard drives, cables, expansion cards, PDAs, joysticks and mice... Boxed and bagged up in the basement or otherwise taking up space on desktops or in hutches. And old computers lacking basic Internet connectivity aren't exactly in high demand. Which is why today I packed up all the boxes and bags into my Civic, along with the system that gave me so many hours of enjoyment and provided me with experiences I'm still building on to this day, and drove all of it to the Village's recycling center.

I know it was the right decision, a small but significant bite out the suffocating 'elephant' of clutter that surrounds me. Though my trusty old ST still functioned perfectly after all these years, it was simply an obsolete, inanimate object after all. I still can't shake the feeling of guilt I've carried with me all day though, ever since a recycling center employee dumped my ST into a bin of other electronic flotsam and jetsam, like so much old garbage... Which, again, I realize most people would rightly consider it to be.

Logic aside though, I still feel like I've killed an old friend... A friend who helped me become who I am today... And a friend I'll never, ever forget.