My career took several turns over the years; related to economy

Over the Years

Schooling and  second real job was for Residential & Commercial Architecture; which took a dive during the economic downturn - thus other employment was needed.

Being a draftsman, it was an easy transition into the Oil & Gas industry, primarily with geophysical topographic and lease maps.

Shifting from the previous O&G drafting position into O&G drafting position, designing equipment in oil & gas production, for onshore & offshore locations.

Still in the oil & gas industry, my schooling and continued interest in designing equipment moved me into the Engineering field. I continued schooling and learned programming to aid in the tedious, repetitive tasks involved with designing equipment; saving countless hours of tedious calculations and such.

The oil & gas was hit by a downturn, and the company owner offered me an opportunity to transfer from engineering into IT managing the department, Series 1, System 38 and PCs. A few months into it and IBM convinced us to migrate to an AS/400 and new Mapics software, With my small team, some assistance from IBM and long hours, we finished the migration 3 months earlier than they expected.

The company was hit economically with a leveraged buyout and filed bankruptcy, when brought us back to TX as an IT Manager for a sprocket, gear and conveyor company.

IT Consulting was my next opportunity which lasted until I was positioned as the onsite engineer for GTE. After a couple of years they transferred me as a full-time employee which lasted thru the mergers where it became Verizon. 

Current Career

Sr Architect for Exemplar Luxury Group (Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman & Saks) with a primary focus on Mobility, specifically around Mobile smartphones / tablets and Ruggedized type devices. This includes the enterprise infrastructures necessary to manage these devices around the US & beyond.. 

We have a wonderful family with two Married Daughters, five Grandkids and one Great Granddaughter

Hobbies are more of what makes life fun. Over the years I have (and still_ do enjoy several of them.

Art - I studied art in school and painted in Acrylic and Oils for years. Competing in Art Shows, Fairs, and sold numerous paintings over the years.

Automotive - has been in my blood since before driving age, not only as a drive but in creating & painting custom vehicles. We also enjoyed competition with our Corvettes for 20+ years. We still enjoy cruising and being members of a local Corvette Club

Camping and the outdoors - being an Eagle Scout helped with this love for the outdoors. In my adult years these invovled camping with our daughters over the years along with spending week-long horseback trips into the Colorado mountains.

Photography - I've enjoyed doing photography at auto racing events, all kinds of sporting events, even being the sideline photographer for two local High Schools.

Woodworking - Over the years, mainly watching stuff my Dad created in his later years, became interested in this hobby.