United States Navy Veteran
Prior to my graduation from high school I had already decided that I would join the Navy. I graduated at the end of May of 2016 and started basing July 6th of that same year. After basic training I went to San Antonio, Texas for my occupational school which was Law Enforcement. After a few months I was sent to my first permanent duty station in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In Bahrain I had the privilege of experiencing a very different culture than the only one that I had known prior in life. Working directly alongside the local law enforcement on access control points gave me ample time to develop a deep understanding of those who were native to the country. Exploring outside of the base was equally rewarding as I had the opportunity to see things such as the King’s camel farm, the Bahrain National Museum, and the Al Fateh Grand Mosque. On the professional side of my time in Bahrain I also excelled as I was able to get promoted to MA3 (Petty Officer 3rd Class) on my first promotion cycle. With this promotion I was granted a leadership position as a squad leader of five junior sailors. As a squad leader I maintained the qualifications, appearance, and general well being of those sailors who were entrusted into my team. All members of my squad including myself consistently qualified beyond expectations.
After my time in Bahrain my next and final duty station was located in the countryside of Romania. While in Romania I was promoted again, this time to MA2 (Petty Officer 2nd Class). This accomplishment took me two tries instead of just one like my previous promotion but climbing from E1 all the way to E5 in just three and a half years is still an accomplishment that I take a lot of pride in. Prior to the COVID-19 lock-down I was also able to explore much of Romania from the small town and its culture where the base was located to the nearby city as well as the capital of Bucharest there was more to see than I could have ever managed in the little bit of time that I had but I did my best and loved all of the history and culture that was present. My all time favorite trip happened while I was in Romania as well. I orchestrated myself as well as my four friends in my squad to visit Bran’s Castle for there annual Halloween Party. This was an absolutely incredible experience which I will hold closely to my heart for the rest of my life. After 4 years of service I decided to not reenlist and pursue a career outside of military service.
In between Careers
After my military service I did not know what I was planning to do next in terms of career outlook. My love of computers pulled me one route, my deep interest in reptiles pulled my towards herpetology, what I did know was that I needed to do something while I figured out what was next. Between my time in the Navy and my current employment I filled many forms of odd job style employment. I cleaned construction sites, did work as a mover, and bartending. Not yet knowing if college was right for me I decided to apply to some trades through ‘Helmets to Hardhats’. I ended up receiving the call from the Elevator Union Local 10 and that leads to my current career.
Elevator Technician
Currently I work at Schindler Elevator Corporation as an elevator mechanic apprentice. I began with Schindler doing safety inspections on escalators and elevators in the greater Washington D.C. area. After doing this for about a year I was moved to an in-house route at Dulles International Airport. I remain at the airport performing repairs and maintenance on escalators, elevators, and moving walkways. I also halfway through my third year of the union’s four year apprenticeship program. There are some aspects of this career field that I really enjoy such as having the ability to repair broken machinery and troubleshooting to find what is causing a problem to begin with. Additionally, I enjoy the electronic side of the field such as wiring machines and control boards. I have even had influence in two major efficiency improvements. Some of the airports older units utilize mechanical missing step switches consisting of a wheel on a rod pressed against a micro-switch. These mechanical switches are prone to wear and within a year or so begin to send false positive safety faults. Me and the mechanic that I worked with proposed upgrading to proximity sensors which have practically no wear and maintenance beyond initial installation. Since the upgrade these units have dramatically increased uptime. The second proposal to improve unit uptime was for the airport to remove carpeting from the walk-on side of escalators and moving walkways. All units had carpet and the fluff from the carpet would frequently pile up on the greased chains of the unit and impact chain life longevity. The airport has begun replacing the carpet with hard flooring and unit uptime has already increased from this change as well.
What’s Next?
After reviewing my career experience you may find yourself wondering: “Why is he applying to a tech career?”
While working in the elevator field I have found that the technical side is what really makes me excited. I understood this fairly early on which is why I began looking into IT careers around the new year of 2023. Not wanting to be rash though I have taken a slower approach of beginning school while working to make sure that the field truly interests me. As I near the completion of my A.A.S I know understand that this field deeply interests me from many angles. Firstly, and most importantly to me, the cybersecurity field offers me a chance to begin making an impact on something much larger than myself which I have missed sense leaving the military. Secondly, this field offers me the ability to implement my security and defensive mindset that made me so successful as military law enforcement. Thirdly, this career would allow me to turn a life-long hobby of tech and IT into a career. Being able to work on a topic that I genuinely love everyday would boost my productivity a dozen times.
This all being said, I would love to transition into the cybersecurity field because I have discovered that the cybersecurity field is perfect for me