Emerging Trends in Technology and IT
In this episode, Trevor Lothian shares his inspiring journey in the IT field, starting from his early days at a computer repair shop to working at renowned companies like SolarCity and Tesla. He delves into the challenges and rewards of progressing from entry-level positions to management roles, offering a candid look at the impact of technological advancements on the IT landscape. Trevor provides valuable insights into managing office builds and relocations, integrating IT systems and teams during mergers, and balancing professional and personal life. He also gives advice to IT professionals beginning their careers and highlights emerging trends in the industry.
Takeaways:
- Trevor Lothian's IT Journey: Starting at a computer repair shop, Trevor's career evolved through roles at SolarCity and Tesla.
- Challenges in Career Progression: Transitioning from entry-level to management roles involves navigating relationships with former peers and learning negotiation skills.
- Impact of Technological Advancements: Innovations in graphics and computing power have revolutionized the IT landscape, enabling high-definition video, 3D modeling, and special effects.
- Office Builds and Relocations:** Successful management of office projects requires careful planning, timeline understanding, and contingency preparation.
- IT Systems Integration during Mergers:** Effective integration involves assessing existing technologies, collaborating with various teams, and planning for unforeseen challenges.
- Balancing Professional and Personal Life:** Setting boundaries and maintaining open communication are key to achieving work-life balance.
- Advice for IT Beginners:** New IT professionals should seek mentorship, join communities, and remain open to learning and networking opportunities.
- Emerging Technology Trends: The competitive graphics card market and the influence of AI are notable trends in the IT industry.
- Effective Team Management: Treating team members with respect, fostering open communication, and leveraging individual strengths are crucial for successful team management.
- Building Positive Work Relationships: Cultivating a positive work environment and building strong relationships are essential for a fulfilling IT career.
Sound Bites:
- "I started really acting as a jack of all trades in my IT capacity."
- "Not having been promoted before, I didn't know that my moment to negotiate was right then."
- "Leading from the front, showing your team members that it's not 'do as I say, not as I do,' but 'let's do this together.'"
Connect with Us:
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- Subscribe to the Las Vegas IT Management Podcast** for weekly episodes and expert insights.
- Visit our website for more information and additional resources.
Transcript
Welcome to the Las Vegas IT Management Podcast.
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:My name is Shatoya Marie.
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:And today we have Trevor Lothian here with us today.
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:Super excited to get to know you a little bit today.
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:Trevor, how are you doing?
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:I'm doing well on yourself.
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:Pretty good.
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:I'm just living the life.
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:Trevor, can you just give us a brief overview of your journey in the IT field?
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:Yeah, so my journey in IT really started effectively when I was 18 or so.
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:I got a computer job at a former company called Computer Renaissance in San Diego.
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:It was a repair shop.
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:So I started there and
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:Worked there for a while.
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:I built out computers.
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:I sold computers, did a bunch of different things.
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:A lot of hats, no jack of all trades kind of thing is where I think I started really
acting that way in my IT capacity is small mom and pop business.
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:So I had to do a lot of different things.
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:So from there ended up moving to Las Vegas and moved out here.
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:Couldn't find a computer job close by.
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:There was a, I think it was comp USA before they all went out of business in the Henderson
area.
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:And I applied, didn't really go anywhere.
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:So I ended up working at Smith's.
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:I stepped away from IT for a while.
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:Did that try doing door to door sales for solar.
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:Didn't really like that.
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:And I eventually found my way to a rep for graphics firm where I was doing photocopies and
that progressed into doing coding and the proprietary legal software they use and
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:supervising and working with, you know, technical training for employees of the different
law firms you supported.
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:And after a while, about six years or so being there, there was a layoff.
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:So I left and a former colleague suggested I apply where he's at.
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:had an opening for a 90 generalist kind of position.
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:It was a rehab facility.
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:So I went there and some of the stuff I'd played around with as a kid, making my own like
Pokemon websites.
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:I ended up using those HTML and CSS skills to dig in and work in their Drupal environment,
you know, hanging security cameras, patching stuff in the network closet, rebuilding
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:computers.
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:After some time of being there, I found my way over to solar city in the interview.
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:It was a contract position, but the interview was kind of funny.
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:They pointed out a palette of monitors.
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:Like, so how you feel about installing a bunch of monitors?
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:Like, yeah, it doesn't sound like a big deal.
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:So they hired me pretty much on the spot.
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:knew later that afternoon, I was going to be a contractor there the next day.
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:So it was a bit of a struggle.
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:I ran through that.
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:I was at solar city.
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:and Tesla combined for almost eight years.
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:Ultimately, Tesla acquired SolarCity.
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:But while I was there, I went from contractor to IT engineer to supervisor to operations
manager.
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:And then when Tesla acquired us, they call it leveling and then moved back down to an
individual contributor role.
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:Yeah, I did a lot of things there.
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:Managed printers, made cell phone accounts, did burger and acquisition projects, office
builds, office tear downs, office, you
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:expansions, anything that didn't have a home typically found its place onto my plate.
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:So I did a lot of different things and left from there to go to emotional for a couple of
years.
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:Emotional is a self -driving car company and they are based out of Boston, but they had a
branch out here in Vegas and worked there for a while to go back into a managerial role as
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:an IT ops manager was promoted there to senior ops manager.
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:And my team there, we ran the imaging process and a lot of things like that.
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:And after a while, I had received about three different phone calls over time from my
former manager at Tesla saying, when you're to come back, please come back home.
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:So I did at the beginning of 2024.
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:And during the most recent round of stuff that's been going on with Tesla, I left again in
May.
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:So right now I'm currently between jobs, but that's that's been my journey so far.
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:Awesome.
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:That's crazy how life can take us in many different directions.
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:So it's just amazing how
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:kind of things like that work out.
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:And could you share with us, because I know you did mention that you've got into different
things within the IT industry when you turned 18, but what sparked that interest in this
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:technology world?
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:So it's really a couple things.
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:As a kid, very young, we had hand -me -down computers for my grandmother's business.
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:So the first computer I remember having was in 8086.
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:It was all a tech space, monochrome monitor, and we would play tech -based games.
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:Eventually there was some like really basic blocky graphics and stuff that were there, but
it was all just like ASCII characters.
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:So that was a joy of computers I had from a very young age.
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:And that continued forward as we went through from 8086 to 286, 36, and we went through
the different technology as it came out and as it was handed down to us, of course, you
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:know, but I always had that fascination and that joy there, right?
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:My brother and I, we were the nerds and we wanted to go and play with computers.
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:So when I saw that there was a posting for a position at this computer store,
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:I applied and I was quite excited when I got the position because I got to play with
computers for a job and being my second job in the workforce, it was really nice to have
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:something that was kind of, or not just kind of, but very familiar to me at home.
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:So there was that.
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:And in the few years down the road, my brother had passed away on his motorcycle.
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:And when that happened, he was much
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:the IT guy at the house than I was.
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:So he was the one doing the coding.
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:He was learning Linux and doing all this stuff.
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:And I was playing video games.
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:That's, what my job was to do was to play video games.
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:So I ended up being asked to do quite a bit more with that and found myself in position
where I was using some of those skills that I didn't really hold near and dear.
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:So I like to tell people, I kind of more or less fell into doing IT related stuff.
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:And it's not really the thing that I would say I ever looked from the outset that I was
going to do as a
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:or career.
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:I'm very mechanical, very handy, know, whether it be woodworking, or wrenching on a car.
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:Those are all things that are near and dear to my heart as well.
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:But I fell into it doing that.
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:So the spark really comes from a young age being around technology that I was lucky to
have around at a very young age.
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:Got it.
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:I feel like a lot of us kind of go into the direction just because of experiences.
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:Yes, and I totally get that.
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:And Trevor, you've held various roles from entry level positions to management.
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:What are some of the things, the key challenges that you've, and rewards of this
progression?
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:So one of the biggest challenges I found in actually moving on to leadership is if you're
moving into leadership from a role where you were not in a leadership role and those
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:employees that were your peers are now your subordinates or are now, you
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:looking to you for that leadership capacity, not all the time, but sometimes there has
been some animus there where some employees might think that they're more deserving, that
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:they've got more of a tenure.
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:So they should be more deserving instead of going off of the merit.
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:you know, there's some challenges there that can present themselves.
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:And those are things that are most, most carefully navigated.
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:There's a lot of personalities and sometimes those, those can lead to some conflict.
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:So I've experienced that myself in my career and it's just one day at a time and you know,
working with those individuals and eventually you get through it.
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:So it's a bit of a struggle there, but you know, that that's probably the biggest
challenges that I had.
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:One of the other challenges I had too is not having been promoted before until I was it.
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:You can leave some things out.
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:I mean, it's it's that inexperience where you don't know that your moment to do A, B or
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:was right then, like Valerie negotiation or talking about what you'll be doing or some of
the expectations and making sure that if you have any opportunity to have a voice in
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:what's going to happen, it's right there.
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:And if you don't do that, then you can kind of shoot yourself in the foot unknowingly
unwittingly, just because you don't have that experience to tell me I should have
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:negotiated this.
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:And I've I personally have missed out on those opportunities that first time around.
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:And then, you
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:talking to some folks that who had been promoted before and had been in the workforce for
quite a bit longer after the fact found that, you know, that's something to do better with
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:next time.
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:And I had those opportunities.
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:Thankfully, I was promoted again in the future and took those opportunities to negotiate.
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:that's something that I kind of kicked myself about for a while.
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:was like, how did I not know this?
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:But you don't know what you don't know.
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:Right?
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:No, that is so true.
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:And thank you for sharing Trevor.
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:And I also know, as you mentioned, you know, you've worked for companies such as Tulsa and
solar city.
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:Can you just share a note notable experience or lesson learned from these high -stake
projects?
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:Yeah, so a lot of the product I engaged in were not just me by myself.
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:There's a lot of people, a lot of different teams, team members you work with.
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:And one thing to make sure that I think you always keep the front of your mind is that
everyone you're working with is human, just like you and
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:They have their own motivations.
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:have their own likes and dislikes.
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:And if you can keep that stuff in mind, it's much easier to work through anything, any
challenge, any problem.
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:It's much easier to come up with solutions when you have people wanting to work with you.
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:So the idea that you're always right, this should not be something that you have percolate
to the surface.
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:So for me, it's really just it's that takeaways, you know, keep that human element.
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:first and foremost in front of you when you're working with everyone.
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:There are going to be things that you can read into.
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:And if you don't know for sure that that's what someone meant or that's the intention they
had, ask the question.
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:Don't assume.
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:Got it.
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:Well, thank you for sharing that Trevor.
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:And then with your combined technical and people management skills, how did this dual role
shape your approach to leadership and team management?
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:It allowed me to do a lot more.
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:Trevor for whatever reason, I can't hear you.
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:I don't know what happened.
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:And you hear me now?
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:Yep, sorry.
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:So for me it's it's leading from the front, you know, so being able to show your team
members and other teams that it's not a do as I say, not as I do, but it's a let's let's
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:do this together.
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:Let's work together.
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:I'm happy to lead the charge and actually work there with you.
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:Work in the trenches.
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:I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty.
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:So it's that kind of opportunity that presented itself that really allowed me to meet with
the team and meet them more than halfway in some cases.
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:And I think it helped to garner respect in a faster rate than I would have otherwise.
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:I was just like, hey, Bob, can you go take care of this?
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:If it was, hey, Bob, let's go work on this together.
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:It was was much more effective.
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:Got it.
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:And I've been there as well.
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:So I totally understand just the importance of willing to do the things that you're asking
for.
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:So that's just an
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:so important.
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:you you have having started with an 8086 PC, you've seen some significant technology
changes.
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:What advancements are most exciting?
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:And how do they impact IT landscape today?
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:I think it's the graphics and the computing power that we have available today, hand in
hand.
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:I mean, really, the computing power lends towards the graphics.
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:So they're basically just another type of CPU.
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:But those two things together.
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:really have changed everything.
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:Right.
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:And we've got, high definition video stuff that we can play around with now, AutoCAD, all
kinds of 3d modeling programs, or the special effects that we have in movies that we
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:really enjoy seeing like iron man with his, you know, his, his blasters on his hands and
stuff like that.
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:And stuff wouldn't exist without the computers we have today.
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:So I really feel that those things together have really just changed the way that we
perceive the world.
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:and what we can do and speed things up, make things more interesting.
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:Yeah, no, totally.
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:A lot of things that we're doing nowadays we couldn't do without technology.
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:So it is such a blessing.
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:And then can you share your insights into the evolution of networking equipment over your
career and how modern advancements have influenced IT infrastructure?
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:Yes.
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:So I still recall what the dial -up modem sounded like as I was getting on to some of the
AOLs
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:Prodigy and other types of, you know, first few steps on the internet, you know, for me in
the nineties were like, and businesses have changed dramatically in what they do with the
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:consumption of data.
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:And as those internet connections have gotten faster, you know, things have just, it's
opened up a lot of possibility.
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:So I think that the internet connections have been a huge thing.
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:The, the WAN technologies that exist out there for, you know,
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:connecting our businesses together or different locations together to allow for resiliency
and redundancy has been a tremendous benefit.
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:I remember early on in my IT career, having a single internet circuit, you know, was
eventually it was going to go down.
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:And if you didn't have something as a backup, it was, was going to be a problem.
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:And now it seems to be much more of the norm than to be a, the niche case to plan for
something like that.
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:So I think that those, those things together, the networking design to allow for
resiliency and redundancy.
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:And then the internet speeds have been huge.
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:Got it.
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:And I'm a 90 baby myself.
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:So I remember that whole dial tone.
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:If you were on the computer and someone was calling, it was a hot mess.
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:So I remember those times.
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:But I was a young child at that time.
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:So I do remember.
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:And so what are some of the critical considerations when managing office bills and
relocations?
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:Any tips for ensuring a smooth transition?
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:Yeah, I think I can keep this one.
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:Fairly short so knowing the timeline is critical you need to know when you're starting and
when it's supposed to end.
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:You also need to have the experience or be able to get the experience and how long things
are going to take so you think about like you go to mechanic and you say I want to get my
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:spark plugs changed they have a book that quotes them out of time that it takes them to
get that done and they charge you for that mechanic may do it in a quarter that time but
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:they're still paid.
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:even though it for the full time, even though it's faster and for a office move, you need
to assume the worst.
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:You're going to be working with a ton of different people and not everyone's going to be
operating at your speed.
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:You're not dealing with one mechanic.
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:You're dealing with a bunch of different people.
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:So understanding how long things are going to take to happen, you have to plan worst case.
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:So you keep that in mind, then it works a lot better.
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:The timeline going back to the first point, if it's too short, you need to push
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:You need to have reason to push back to here's why this is not going to work.
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:Here are all the things that have to occur.
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:Here's how much time those things are going to take.
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:And we can try our best to squeeze it as fast as can.
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:But you know, it's, one of those things you really have to be able to push back and going
back to knowing how long things are going to take.
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:You can plan for contingencies that way.
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:If you know that your staffing agency you're working with can give you four people, but
they've got another four people available.
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:That helps you to know if those four people aren't
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:pulling out all the stops for you, you can either get more bodies or possibly replace some
of the people who've been assigned your project.
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:So there's things like that.
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:There's no level of overthinking you can do on an office move.
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:Think about it, work through it, plan for it.
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:Got it.
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:Understood.
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:And I'm sure sometimes things don't go as planned.
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:I'm sure that's important.
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:I just like anything.
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:And then how do you approach the integration of IT systems and teams during mergers and
acquisitions?
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:and to minimize disruption and ensure a cohesive environment.
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:So you need to take stock of what's there.
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:What are they using?
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:What applications are using?
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:What hardware are they using?
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:And then you need to work with those teams.
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:got to talk with them.
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:And there's a lot of conversations you're going to have, understanding what it is they're
doing.
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:Shadow them.
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:Talk to them.
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:Figure out what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how that's going to integrate
into the landscape of the company that's acquiring
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:So let's say this is SolarCity gobbling up another company.
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:When SolarCity does that, SolarCity is likely, if they're the parent company buying this
other one, they're not going to say, I'm going to use their technology.
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:They're going to look at what they already have in their stack and say, how do I take that
round peg and fit it into our square hole?
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:So they're going to rely on someone like myself to say, hey, all right, so what are you
doing with that?
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:And how am I going to take that and move that
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:And if I know what I need the end part to look like, and I know the start and I go to the
end and I work backwards from there, I can figure out what those steps look like.
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:Come up with a plan, present that plan once I've had those initial conversations and then
start, sanity checking it, talking to everybody, making sure that it's going to actually
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:work the way I believe it's going to work.
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:Because I'm not going to, you know, be completely correct in everything I do.
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:I'm going to make mistakes.
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:And that's where I, where this is a team
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:So I talked to everybody, make sure we kick the tires and make sure that car is going to
roll down the hill successfully.
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:So just planning, lots of planning.
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:And then you need to be prepared for back out plans, roll back plans and things like that,
because even the best planned out thing, there could be some unforeseen circumstance and
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:you cannot plan contingencies for everything.
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:I mean, we could have everything nailed down to a T, but we didn't talk about NV energy,
not having an outage.
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:or brown out at that point in time, because that's not a consideration that we're making.
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:And, you know, even if we did take that into consideration, are we going to buy temporary
generators for this?
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:Probably not.
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:Because the tiny chance that something could happen.
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:But things do sometimes line up and crazier things happen.
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:Got it.
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:And when you mentioned that, I just thought of, you know, I've done marketing in the past.
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:And I know a lot of times when you're doing marketing, it's more of kind of, you you kind
of see what works.
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:Would you say IT is something very similar?
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:I would say that IT is one of those things where at times it can feel like whack -a -mole.
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:So you could, like you said, see what works.
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:It could be process elimination or whack -a -mole.
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:I've referred to it multiple ways, but it's, hey, how does this sound?
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:And sometimes it could be in the way that you're actually just selling it, right?
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:So speaking of marketing, packaging something one way and selling it to a consumer versus
repackaging it, selling it another way.
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:You could have the same exact product and sell it a separate way.
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:Like Zima has become Smirnoff ice, right?
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:mean, Zima, you don't sell it sold anywhere, but it's effectively, or a lot of people joke
about it being the same thing, but there's a lot of ways you could package something.
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:And in it, a lot of it really comes down to this sounds like this will work.
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:And sometimes it's not till you get to trying to do it in practice that you know that it
doesn't work on paper.
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:Everything seems great.
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:fielding the ideas with your colleagues and your management team like, yeah, that's great.
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:And you go to do it.
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:That was a terrible idea.
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:Okay, lessons learned.
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:Let's not do this again.
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:So you don't always hit the nail on the head every single time, but we try and do it more
much more often than not.
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:Got it.
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:No, totally get that.
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:So thank you for sharing that with us, Trevor.
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:And within your bio, you did mention you enjoy tinkering with technology at home.
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:Can you share a recent project you've worked on and what you learned from
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:Yeah, so 3D printing, I've got a couple of 3D printers here at the house.
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:It's been a little while since I poked at them, but they're very finicky.
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:There's a lot there to learn and unpack.
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:I feel like you could spend as much time learning how to do stuff with a 3D printer.
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:And when they're all mostly, you know, the mechanical movements and all that stuff and get
everything aligned just perfectly and everything looks great.
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:And then suddenly things still aren't working right.
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:The medium is not adhering to the bed.
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:you know, your prints not quite right.
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:So there's a lot of nuance, and a lot of things there.
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:It's, it's one of those things where patience goes a long way.
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:And it's a reminder to me about the technologies that we have in the IT field, right?
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:IT and technology do not stop.
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:They're constantly evolving.
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:There's new technology that's not released, that is going to be released in a couple
weeks, a couple months, a year from now.
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:It's a constant
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:release cycle.
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:And because of this, there's new features, there's new things to be concerned about, new
bugs, new vulnerabilities, all kinds of stuff to work on.
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:And the same thing applies to 3d printing.
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:So to me, it was, it was kind of a reminder to me in playing with that and working with it
that you never know everything.
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:And you've got to stay hungry and want to keep learning.
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:So that's, that's been the kind of a takeaway for me with a 3d printing.
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:It's, it's enjoyable, but it's also annoying.
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:Got it.
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:I get it.
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:A lot of things that we do can be that way sometimes.
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:Yes.
323
:And then how do you balance your professional life and IT with personal hobbies and family
activities, especially I know in your bio, you did mention that you do have young children
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:at home.
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:Yes.
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:So my kids are very interested in technology as well.
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:So they're constantly curious about what's going on.
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:And to balance
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:We, we've gotten a bit lucky.
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:The kids had come into a house full of movers and shakers as we like to put it, you know,
our house, the normal is busy.
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:there's not normally a day where there's nothing planned.
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:There's almost always something going on, going to the library, going to a concert, going
to a show, going to the park, going to the gym, multiple things, you know, but when it
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:comes to work, it's trying to figure
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:how I can get everything scheduled in there and squeezed in there really to work with them
to do my stuff that I need to do at the house.
335
:know, the dishes aren't going to do themselves.
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:So it's, it's really a bit of a challenge, but I have to apply some level of project
management to the stuff that goes on here as well to squeeze everything in.
337
:try and get the kids set up to be able to take care of themselves as best as possible with
certain
338
:especially now that they're getting a little bit older, they're seven and 10.
339
:So we're starting to lean on them having, you know, responsibilities and taking care of
stuff.
340
:But a lot of it really is just making sure that work is not impacting so much of our time
that we aren't there for them when they need us.
341
:And when it comes, when it comes to that work -life balance is critical.
342
:And if you allow it to, I've found in the past that work can be very consuming of your
time
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:I think that having boundaries and making sure that you set those and continue to reset
those over time because things tend to creep, you know, work or even hobbies, you just
344
:have to make sure that you continue to re update those.
345
:Got it.
346
:No, I totally get it.
347
:I have a two year old and a now five year old.
348
:wow.
349
:Yeah.
350
:And, you know, running a business and a few other things.
351
:I totally get it.
352
:It can be a balance that you have to learn.
353
:But yeah, I totally that's pretty awesome.
354
:Trevor.
355
:So thank you for sharing that with us.
356
:You you're currently, you are currently exploring new opportunities.
357
:Like what type of roles or projects are you looking for within the next adventure?
358
:So I'm really open at this point, as I mentioned, work life balance is an important thing
for me.
359
:And I think that employers and employees alike need to find the right set.
360
:So I'm looking to find the right fit there.
361
:I hold myself to be quite technical in different areas and I definitely enjoy technical
stuff.
362
:I also really enjoy working with people and having that, that, that person to person
interaction.
363
:So as a project manager, I really enjoyed getting to meet with all these different teams.
364
:had no direct reports, but I had all these folks that I need to ask them to do things for
me on these projects or for the company.
365
:Right.
366
:So I enjoy all that.
367
:I get to meet everyone, get to have all these different personalities that I interact
with, go to lunch and stuff with them.
368
:I really enjoy that.
369
:I also enjoy mentoring and tutoring and training people
370
:seeing that they can do more than they thought of in themselves.
371
:So I'm really just looking for a next opportunity that allows me to have that work -life
balance and either an individual contributor or manager, I'm open for whatever the next
372
:direction comes for me looks like.
373
:I'm very flexible in that regard.
374
:I've been blessed with the skillset that I have and a lot of the opportunities that have
come my way.
375
:So I'm really just anxious to find a good fit.
376
:Got it.
377
:And so when it comes to a good fit, are you more looking to be like a contractor or
employee?
378
:Are you kind of open?
379
:I'm open.
380
:It really depends.
381
:mean, of course, it would be great to be full time so I could have benefits and stuff like
that.
382
:But right now, pretty open.
383
:Got it.
384
:Awesome.
385
:Well, thank you for sharing that with us.
386
:And what trends are emerging technology in IT?
387
:Do you think professionals should keep an eye on and why?
388
:I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens with the video card market and
not just for discrete graphics cards, but also the ones that are built on the motherboards
389
:because we've seen a huge battle back and forth for a long time between Nvidia and AMD.
390
:And most recently Intel has been doing their own discrete graphics cards.
391
:They've had their own inbuilt graphics into their processors for quite some time.
392
:But I think that there's going to be a bit of a shakeup in the graphics market
393
:as Intel, mean, and they've got a ton of money to do it to, really start to be more
competitive in that space.
394
:We've seen AMD do a lot with AI, their stock has gone bonkers.
395
:I mean, I made a mistake personally, where I sold off some stock thinking, it's not going
to go above $15 a share.
396
:Of course, right after that, it ramped up quite a few times.
397
:And I felt a bit silly for having vacated my positions.
398
:But I truly
399
:that there's going to be a bit of a shake up there where people are going to be vying for
more dominance in the AI field through the graphics processors and stuff they're making.
400
:And I think Intel is taking their first entry steps into that with some of the graphics
that they're doing.
401
:It's cheaper and it is competing with some of the lower tier cards from both AMD and
Nvidia.
402
:So I think that there's going to be a bit of a shake up there in the future.
403
:Got it.
404
:And for some of our audience that may
405
:understand exactly what you mean by that?
406
:Could you just explain a little bit more?
407
:Yeah, so competition is good.
408
:And when there's not a lot of competition, I think that the different companies they can
rest on their laurels, hey, I don't have to pardon me, do much more to improve this or
409
:make the next generation that much better.
410
:But if Intel enters the ring, and there's now a three way race instead of just AMD and
Nvidia,
411
:I think it'll get more interesting.
412
:We'll have potentially prices stagnate or hopefully lower as opposed to discontinuing to
increase.
413
:Like some of the high end graphics cards now can cost upwards of $2 ,000.
414
:They're absurdly expensive.
415
:So I think that it could be good for consumers.
416
:And I think in the business market, we're going to start to see changes in the offerings
from Dell, Lenovo, and some of the other OEs in terms of what they're packaging and
417
:devices you're able to purchase.
418
:We know that, you know, for enterprise grade computers, there's a lot of asks from a lot
of different parts of the business, whether it be graphics power, RAM, processing power,
419
:there's a fit for all different types of folks.
420
:And it comes down to price point and the portability and package and that you're receiving
it in.
421
:And I think that that's going to change too.
422
:I think there's going to be more competition.
423
:Got it.
424
:Now that's awesome.
425
:And then for those who are just starting in the IT and IT,
426
:What advice would you give to help them navigate their career paths and achieve growth?
427
:Let think of that one for a second.
428
:I think it would be a good idea if you can, if your network allows for it with people you
already know, talk to someone who's been in it for a while.
429
:If you don't know anyone, join a group and talk to someone there that you don't know.
430
:Reach out blindly on LinkedIn.
431
:LinkedIn's a great place for this.
432
:Strike up a conversation.
433
:You never know when someone's randomly going to respond to something you send.
434
:What I would suggest is say more than just, Hey, I'd like to connect.
435
:there's a lot of cool people on LinkedIn.
436
:And it's, a good social media platform.
437
:I think that there's a lot you could do there.
438
:For example, my, my wife is part of culture.
439
:First is a group that she works with out here.
440
:She does different training from the HR side and going out to some of those events and
meeting different people.
441
:There's stuff like that for it.
442
:There's stuff like that for maker spaces, stuff like that for car stuff and car stuff is
very, very quickly becoming more of an it related thing to where everything is on the
443
:canvas.
444
:Everything needs to be done through the cars computer.
445
:So getting to know these people who have been in the industry for a while and learning
from their experiences and hopefully maybe even avoiding some of their mistakes.
446
:There's a lot of mistakes you can make like the one I mentioned earlier about negotiating
at that point in time, but there's others too, like training paths.
447
:You could talk to one person, they say, certifications are terrible.
448
:They don't prove that you know anything.
449
:Whereas someone else might say,
450
:get all the certifications you can, it's not going to hurt you.
451
:But it all depends upon the perspective.
452
:Get lots of perspectives.
453
:Got it.
454
:No, that's that's excellent advice.
455
:And you did mention communities.
456
:Is there any communities that you can recommend just thinking are offhand?
457
:So one thing I think was really neat for me to do and I need to get back into it was the
first community for the robotics competitions.
458
:I was doing that while I was working at Motional.
459
:My next door neighbor, Matt, the office down the hall from me, he was very, very good
salesperson at getting people from the office to come and volunteer.
460
:So I got to be a robotics judge there for the competitions for some of the high schoolers
out here in Vegas.
461
:And that was really rewarding experience.
462
:But beyond getting to do that, that hands on part and talking with the kids about the
robots, everything they
463
:It's all the other people from all over the place that I got to talk to and find out about
their work experience, what they've done, their background.
464
:And not everyone was, you know, an expert in their field.
465
:had kids who were fresh out of college who were coming and helping out with some of these
things too, and getting to just talk with them.
466
:So any number of different things exist, you know, but I haven't looked for any computer
related clubs in Vegas for a while.
467
:I know there, as I mentioned, maker spaces, there are some maker groups.
468
:I typically align in my personal time or car groups.
469
:So, you know, going to cars and coffee on Saturday, every Saturday and Henderson on
Eastern.
470
:That's a fantastic place to go to just meet tons of people.
471
:So that's something I always recommend.
472
:If you like cars, you never know who's doing what with computers, even if it's not car
related.
473
:So anywhere you go.
474
:Got it.
475
:And that sounds pretty, pretty exciting.
476
:Just, you know, being part of those communities, especially the one that you talked about
with the kids with the robots.
477
:I'm sure that was a pretty amazing experience.
478
:And as someone who has transitioned into leadership, what are your top tips for effective
team management and fostering a positive work environment?
479
:So this one's going to sound a little funny, I think, but think of your working family as
a family, right?
480
:And the reason I say that is you spend so much time at work, eight plus hours a day with
these people, oftentimes spending more time with them over the course of the day than you
481
:do with your own family, at least Monday through Friday or Monday through Thursday, if
you're local government employee, and some respects.
482
:So you spend a lot of time with them, but there is different things where they're not
family to these are your coworkers, we're not going to treat them and talk to them the
483
:same way.
484
:So I think respect goes a long way.
485
:And if you treat people with respect, and you
486
:Stay humble.
487
:I think that things go a lot easier for you in the working environment.
488
:Things, as I mentioned earlier, can be taken out of context.
489
:And I think it's a good idea to just be open and have communications.
490
:You don't know someone's motivations.
491
:You don't know these people other than what they've allowed you to know or what you helped
promote them to be comfortable talking to you about.
492
:You're that standoffish person who's giving one answer responses like how was your
weekend?
493
:Good.
494
:You know, like don't expect a whole lot to come from those relationships.
495
:And I really think that cultivating good relationships is a huge part of who we are as a
species.
496
:And in the workplace, it's incredibly important to connect.
497
:And I think that that is a huge part is just making sure that you can have those
interpersonal relationships really build.
498
:as much as you're willing to do.
499
:I think the more you're able to do that, the better.
500
:You don't need to share every last detail about your life, medical history, or anything
like that.
501
:But you can definitely, you know, have a good time getting to know some of the people you
work with and it could make working a whole lot more fun.
502
:Sorry, a call is coming in.
503
:But no, that is, I agree with you.
504
:I think building relationship is the key with anything that you do.
505
:We mentioned LinkedIn, I mean,
506
:we got this relationship from a LinkedIn message that I sent over to you.
507
:right.
508
:I just think that's a starting process of a relationship.
509
:Who knows where this relationship goes to?
510
:Of course.
511
:Which is awesome.
512
:Any final thoughts or advice you'd like to share with our listeners?
513
:Yeah.
514
:So I think when it comes to working on a project or a team, something that I've, I've had
some time coming to grips with too, is not everyone is going to work the way you do.
515
:So you may think something is normal when it's not.
516
:Someone else may think something is normal when it's not.
517
:So a case in point being, you know, you may think that you're normal and then everyone
should operate the way that you do, how fast you do at, at these different things,
518
:That's probably not normal.
519
:You're probably working fast.
520
:You're probably going faster than the curve.
521
:You're probably taking on more than someone else is either willing to or is able to.
522
:And that's not a bad thing.
523
:Everyone's different in their own ways.
524
:One of the things that has stuck out a lot to me in my career in the customer service side
of IT, which is a large facet of it, is that you'll get those employees who are in front
525
:of you.
526
:One second.
527
:who will say things like, my gosh, I can't believe I'm so terrible at this.
528
:I'm bad at IT.
529
:I can't do these things.
530
:And these self -deprecating remarks.
531
:And I think it's critical to remember that we all have skills that we hold onto and that
we found that work for us.
532
:And let's say that person who made that comment is a salesperson.
533
:I'm in IT.
534
:I don't do a whole lot of selling.
535
:I don't really sell much of anything other than maybe a project or an idea I might have to
get it executed.
536
:But these people are selling day in and day out.
537
:And it becomes your responsibility in that, that in your job capacity to take care of them
and help them out and allowing yourself to remember that part of it can make your
538
:interaction that much better because you're not pitting them or anything like that.
539
:You're helping them using your skillset.
540
:They're helping the business using theirs.
541
:Everyone's slice of the pie comes together to make the full business picture.
542
:And I think that that's something that is critical to remember.
543
:I may not have done the best way of describing that, but that's kind of how I look at it
is we all have our unique thing that we bring.
544
:And as long as you can remember that I'm doing what I need to do.
545
:And it's part of the collective group and they're doing that too.
546
:No, I, everything you said, I agree with you.
547
:So that was awesome.
548
:And thank you so much, Trevor, for joining us today.
549
:Your inspiration that you shared with us was very valuable.
550
:I'm excited for this podcast to come out live.
551
:Is there any way that people should connect with you?
552
:LinkedIn would be great.
553
:So if you want to reach out on LinkedIn and say, Hey, I saw the podcast.
554
:Love to connect.
555
:Or if you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
556
:do my best to answer.
557
:I can't answer all questions.
558
:Like if you ask like what companies did you acquire?
559
:I can't answer those questions, but you know, anything that's, you know, more vague to
like topics like we talked about today.
560
:or specifics about things going on in the industry with IT stuff or my opinions on things.
561
:I'm happy to give opinions, but just be aware.
562
:I may not be able to answer everything, but I'm happy to talk.
563
:Got it.
564
:Awesome.
565
:And I'll be sure to put that in the bio.
566
:But Trevor, it was a pleasure and we'll talk soon.
567
:Thank you so much.
568
:Thanks, Shatoya.
