How the tables have turned and Hallelujah! IT, I made it. This feeling is such a rush. The thrill of catching up to your hunt, cornering it, and watching it walk right into your trap.
So that’s how I was going to start this–the latest installation of Worst IT Blog Ever!–back in May of 2017. Wow, was I looking through some lovely rose-tinted glasses!
Hello y’all! Or…To whomever this may concern?
I really hope I’m not narcissistic enough to believe the Dashboard Statistics Graph conveniently showing record high website traffic these last few weeks. Stats shooting up like Bitcoin’s recently ridiculous rise to Wall Street infamy. As if somehow the crickets taking up residence in my Feedback tab (where messages from my site’s form go) weren’t loud enough! Let’s be real now, folks:
(1) I haven’t posted, so be it logged in, to my portfolio in well over a year, (2) the only consistent “main” in my inbox is an automated weekly message confirming completed site backup and uptime details, (3) ain’t nobody trying to keep up with all my first round of depressing posts, and (4) my website is two years out of date! That’s IT taboo.
In all honesty, I have been meaning to spruce this domain up for quite some time now (as my very alliterated and very dramatic post title announces), but I can’t take all the blame now. Allow me to explain.
May 2017
For those that do not know, my birthday is May. Last May, I saw it as a special gift to me landing my first official IT role. I was so excited to show off all my knowhow and willingness for all who would sit at my table. At the IT Service Desk, my main functions were picking up phone calls and responding to emails focused on remotely remedying any and all patient or employee technical needs. If I was not able to, then a ticket would be created and a tech or analyst would take over assisting in the field. Simple enough, right? To be fair, it usually was. For the most part, about 70% of call volume was password resets. Now remember the inner development and design implementation in my blood is already starting to sizzle. If you cook, you know that pivotal moment when the onions and garlic cloves begin searing in oil and spices to a perfect golden color, and the kitchen is instantaneously overwhelmed with their aroma. That’s where I was. Naturally leading me to snoop and poke around anywhere I had access to. Every monotonous phone call was an opportunity to build some automated, one-click resolution to get in and get out quick–so to speak.
So I’ll gratefully admit my lead supervisor and (fellow Puerto Rican) manager had A LOT of patience with all my child-like wonder and curiosity in clearly established practices. It’s not that they didn’t approve, but what I didn’t know about IT and the Service Desk–SD for short–was there is a time and a place and a process for such application.
Rule #1: NEVER build in production.
I know I’m getting a little off topic here, but hear me out. I was swept up into this new atmosphere. I was already eager to make use of my analytical and critical thinking skills. I finally reached a place I could work passionately and enthusiastically about resolving issues or requests that challenged my abilities. Not to mention I’d ideally be amongst competitive, like-minded peers, right? Follow me a year down the unpaved road at the SD.
Let me tell you. How the challenges came! Some days in droves; like nonstop waves crashing on the shore. And I’m sure this is the part I’m supposed to retrospectively tell myself, “Be careful what you wish for!” but I was lucky. I have to shout out my immediate leadership again. Normally, where I might use a more logical (correction: naive) approach to assume some problem’s solution. It is because of these two mentors, I was not chewed on and digested by the reality of our customers and co-workers. I learned way more than technical skills or people skills or even obscure computer literacy. They taught me character and patience, and how to mesh that with respect towards Information Technology as a whole operation. It was never about solely connecting with presumably compatible employees. Instead, IT realizes and endorses interconnectivity between all titles knowing it can only function as well as its weakest link.
Analogy time! By building and testing in all environments and with all teams, opposed to independently making risky or unverified changes, we make way for all around harmony and performance improvements.
Rule #2: NEVER lose sight of yourself or where you want to go.
I am back on the site. Finishing a year and four-month old post just a little bit wiser and a ton more grateful to have gone through what I have, yet continuing to believe in a future with web design. By the way, for you Curious George’s out there, I am proud to announce I am en route “up the ladder.” A little over a month ago, I made an unimaginably difficult decision–one with which I still struggle–to let one part of me go in order to start moving forward with another. In my opinion, self-discovery and change will always be constants in the algorithm of life and love; so long that it always equals Rule #2 above. I personally believe witnessing that truth garners courage and inspires hope to others.
Without going too much into detail about that, I digress! Coming off the high of my first, real “work trip” last week, let me introduce to you the healthcare systems software application I will imminently be certified, building in, and hopefully not breaking! Mount Sinai Medical Center staff and providers join thousands of hospitals and speciality clinics nationwide to improve, innovate, and deliver healthcare through Epic. I, technically, will be working behind the scenes helping build, organize, and implement seamless, department-specific workflows. It’s all really exciting stuff. Sooner or later, I’ll be Analyst II and III, moving onward hopefully influencing younger generations the delicate harmonies of IT.
So, I sign off. No melodramatic goodbye or heartfelt lesson. See ya soon!