career timeline

Learning by making systems work.

A practical history across several eras of computing, from broken PCs and industrial controls to dealership systems, networks, data, and automation.

1. Early years

   First spark

   Broken computer, working lesson

   I did not go straight into tech after high school. I worked in drafting first, then got laid off. A tech school teacher pointed out that I had already been upgrading computers around the school and had a knack for it. That pushed me toward my first computer job.

2. Mid-1990s

   Computer Technician

   Computer and Copier Center

   My first tech job started with a pile of old computer parts and a simple assignment: make a working computer out of them. I learned which parts belonged together, loaded MS-DOS, built batch menus, and got machines ready for real people to use.

   Before long I was repairing customer systems and untangling software problems across DOS, Windows 3.11, and whatever else happened to be installed. Windows 95 arrived as a beta on a stack of 3.5-inch floppies, and I could tell computing was about to become easier for everyone.

   A lot of the work was practical detective work: dialing into bulletin boards, hunting for the right driver, and figuring out just enough to make the hardware work.

3. 1996 - 1998

   Senior Technician

   Advanced Industrial Systems

   I moved into industrial controls almost by accident. In the interview, they started asking electronics and controls questions. I told them I was a computer tech and might be in the wrong interview. They told me to work through the tests anyway. The tests were really logic problems: look at a control diagram and figure out what should be happening.

   I got hired and learned electronics, controls, ladder logic, safety, and industrial programming on the job. Some work was unusual, including old elevator control systems. One major project automated an older factory that had been manually controlling mixtures with levers, moving it to Paragon TNT and redundant control systems.

   That job made reliability feel physical. It was not just a computer failing to boot. It was chemicals, equipment, temperature, movement, and people working around the systems we built.

4. 1998 - 2011

   Network Field Service Representative

   ADP

   ADP happened through another coincidence. While doing website work on the side, I was at a Honda dealership showing them their first site when ADP was there installing a new DMS. Someone had a printer problem, I fixed it, and one of the ADP people asked for my resume.

   That became my first real exposure to how dealerships run. ADP touched almost every part of the business: accounting, parts lookup, service, financing, sales, inventory, and the DMS underneath it all. Early systems included Motorola and McDonnell Douglas servers, green-screen terminals, serial ports, and dealership users depending on them all day.

   As dealerships modernized, I moved with them: PCs, networks, Cisco, fiber, T1s, bonded T1s, and IP phone systems. I earned my CCNA, worked toward CCNP, and eventually managed the local office.

5. 2011 - 2016

   IT Manager

   Johnny Londoff Chevrolet

   After 13 years at ADP, the work was changing. Field and network engineering were being pulled away from the field, and technicians were becoming the hands and eyes onsite while the real engineering happened remotely. That was not the direction I wanted.

   Johnny Londoff Chevrolet, one of my ADP customers, was looking for an IT manager. It was my first time owning the full technology stack from inside the dealership. I learned vendor management, system selection, costs, digital marketing, Google, SEO, PPC, advertising vendors, and CRM from the customer side.

   The biggest lesson was seeing the dealership as a whole system. From the outside, I knew the technology. From the inside, I learned how the business actually worked.

6. 2016 - Now

   E-Commerce / IT Manager

   Weber Chevrolet Co

   I came to Weber after a contact from my ADP days retired and thought I would be a good replacement. I had installed Weber's networking and phone systems years earlier, so the environment was familiar. I started at the Creve Coeur location, then helped bring a commercial warehouse online.

   When Weber began consolidating business development across stores into one unified BDC, the work depended heavily on phones, networking, and how the stores connected. I took charge of the technical side, and that grew into managing IT across all the stores.

   Since then the work has been about scale, consistency, and efficiency: setting up a South City used-car location from scratch, taking over network management from CDK, moving phones to Webex, negotiating vendor contracts, and building systems that remove repeated manual work.

   That includes parts and LPO add-on tracking, plus reporting that combines CRM data, GA4 data, and vendor invoice costs so the business can see what is working and make better decisions.

Draft timeline. Last updated: July 2026.