Narrator: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast, where we
explore why IT matters and
matters pertaining to IT.
Keith Hawkey: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast number 15. I'm
the co host, Keith Hawkey. Aaron
is traveling. So I'll be manning
the ship today. And we have a
special guest, Matthew B. Parks,
Sr. is the VP of IT Security for
the Pace Center for Girls. He's
been working in the nonprofit
organization for over 10 years,
and has been saving the day in
IT since 1995. Matthew, how are
you?
Matthew Parks: I'm well, thanks
for the introduction. Pleasure
being here.
Keith Hawkey: Well, we're
pleased to have you on the
podcast and why don't you tell
us a little bit about yourself.
I gave a brief introduction but
love to hear a little bit about
your background, what you do for
the Pace Center for Girls and
how you got into IT. Okay.
Matthew Parks: So again, I'm
Matthew Parks. I was born in
Jacksonville, Florida, where I
reside presently. I've been in
IT, like you said, since 1995.
And I tell the story that IT, I
didn't choose IT, IT chose me.
It seemed to be a good fit for
myself. There were a couple of
divergent paths that I was
looking at when I was
researching what I wanted to be
in my early 20s and this one
seemed to be the best and it was
a good return on investment, I
would say. Occupationally, it's
treated me well, and has allowed
to have afforded me a pretty
good living. So not only do I
appreciate what IT has brought
to me, but I also evangelize to
others that it is a great path
if you want to pursue a career
that is going to benefit you.
For Pace, again, I'm the vice
president of IT and of security.
So it's kind of in the name, but
I'll go into depth a little bit.
So I have at present a team of
about 14. At the present we,
Pace Center for Girls is a
nonprofit organization that has
been around for almost 40 years.
And in that time, we've helped
40 45,000 young women reach
their potential. What we do is
we help young ladies who have
some type of trauma, and we help
them reach their potential and
fulfill their destiny, as is the
shortest and briefest way I can
put that. We help to you know,
right track them into better
opportunities. They come from,
you know, disadvantaged
situations, in some cases, not
all, but in some cases. And
again, I want to make sure I'm
clear about that because that is
a misconception. And trauma is
something that permeates
throughout all strata of
society. So it's not exclusive
to disadvantaged folks that have
trauma in their lives, I want to
make sure that I'm clear about
that. So in any case, we help to
right track them. And we help to
make sure that they indeed are
ready to meet the next
challenges in their lives. So
that's pretty much our mission.
So my part in that is that I
helped to make sure that the
trains run on time and that
they're safe. We make sure that
they that the network is there,
that we have a staff that can be
productive, meaning that they
are able to do their jobs every
day without having to compromise
from a technological perspective
that the technology isn't a
burden to them, that it's an
augmentation to the job in the
work that they do. And we do so
and we make sure that we try to
keep that in as secure
environment as possible. So
along with the virtual security,
cybersecurity, we also handle
great swathes of the physical
security as well.
Keith Hawkey: Well, I certainly
appreciate the good work that
you do, Matthew. And I'm curious
what got a burgeoning a budding
IT leader excited in 1995. What
was the coolest tech on the
block, what was the talk of the
town?
Matthew Parks: I'll tell you the
funniest story back in 1995.
Back when Discworld stone. No
seriously, the most exciting
thing innovations that came out
in 95 was obviously windows 95.
It just hit the market. And so
that was new. And one of the
things that came along With that
is there was a new storage
achievement that had been hit a
benchmark of the one gig hard
Keith Hawkey: One gig hard
drive. I don't think I could my
drive. Right? So I tell that
story because when I built my
first computer, I was working
for it when I say that, um, you
know, I was in tech,
professionally since 1995. I've
been in tech longer than that,
you know, having grown up with
the old trs 80s, from
RadioShack, and colecovision and
those type of things. So I've
been around technology for a
long time. But digressing. So
when I built my first computer
for myself, as a started off as
an assembly Tech and a wire
monkey, for a company down in
Clearwater, Florida, when I was
in school, I wanted to get this
magical mythical one gig hard
drive, because at the time, you
won't believe this, but we were
being sold that, hey, you'll
never fill this thing up. Right?
Yeah, seems ridiculous now. But
you know, 30 years ago, that's
what we were telling people.
Because in fact, we didn't have
anything that could really fill
them at the time. But
programmers and others have
helped with that over time. But
yeah, I have files now that are
a gig, you know, PowerPoints, so
photographs that I have, but
anyway, so we, so I was building
my first computer and I walked
in, and I wanted to get this.
I'd save my money and I was
buying parts a little bit at a
time. And so I bought the Ram
had an old motherboard that I
put together it had a case. And
so the hard drive was the last
piece I wanted it was the most
expensive and I walked in and I
didn't account for the tax. So
because I was short by five
bucks, I wind up having to get
850 megabyte hard drive because
I couldn't quite afford the one
gig hard drive at the time. And
that was back then, that was
$285 as opposed to the $299 it
would have cost for the one gig
hard drive. So that's how much
times have progressed and
changed technology. We work in
an industry where things tend to
get better and cheaper over
time. So it's a it's an amazing
thing to look at when you look
back.
my phone could run on a one gig
hard drive. I mean, our phones
come with like 16 gigs now. It's
standard.
Matthew Parks: And small.
Keith Hawkey: Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. Well, that's let's,
let's get into running
discovery. This is a session, I
asked you three questions. So to
learn a little bit more about
yourself, and just get the
conversation started. So
entering running discovery. So
speaking of one gig hard drives,
what was your favorite video
game growing up?
Matthew Parks: Favorite video
game growing up? That's a tough
one. I think it was one that was
called in MDK. I have to go
back. Of course it was always
again, I'm older, so Space
Invaders and Galaga and those
type of things. Mortal Kombat.
Going back, Street Fighter,
those type of things. So those
were some of my favorites coming
up. But yeah, there wasn't one.
So yeah, I played even the mike
tyson knockout those type of
things. So those are some of the
ones that I grew up with, you
know, back in the day. And then,
like recently, I've been playing
Ready or Not, is one that I've
been playing a lot. Death Loop
is another one that I've been
playing a lot recently. And so
those are two that stick out in
my mind. Oh, and Gotham knights,
which I'm really enjoying a lot.
So those are two of the ones
those are three that I'm playing
currently. But yeah, I go back a
long way. I mean, I'm a kid of
the 70s so actually we actually
had a we actually played on
myself and my brother on
television. Yeah.
Keith Hawkey: Could you run MDK
on a one gig gig hard drive?
Matthew Parks: Actually, yes,
you could run MDK back then on a
one gig hard drive. Yeah, if it
was pushing it because I think
MDK was like a groundbreaking
graphics at the time, but it was
it was a was a was a pretty
decent video game. And it was
that was one of my favorites
that sticks out in my mind every
time.
Keith Hawkey: Yeah, back when
video games used to publish and
then that was the game. They had
finished the products.
Matthew Parks: Right and the
only thing you had to download
were patches and stuff like
that, but you didn't have a lot
of DLC and that type of stuff
like you do now.
Keith Hawkey: Back in the day,
yeah. There's a game called
Perfect Dark that when I was
growing up, that was more of a
in 64 game. But it was the first
shooting game that had bots, you
could fill that you didn't need
another player. So you could you
could put 30 different bots and
they all had different
personalities. One, one bot and
the match would hide and he
would be a coward, one would be
like really aggressive, one
would play defensive, one would
just jump everywhere. So they
tried to have these, you know,
bots, but yeah, Perfect Dark.
What, question number two, what
exciting personal tech are you
excited about on the horizon?
Matthew Parks: Personal tech
that I'm excited about on the
horizon? That's a tough one. I'm
really excited. I'm really
excited about the direction of
this kind of sounds odd but the
direction or the evolution of
the small little the foldable
phone. I think that that is
something where it's still in a
very mansard state. But I think
it really gives it light lends a
lot of credence to productivity
like I use one for work I've
been using one for work for
several years now. And I've
recently just upgraded to the, I
had the first two iterations of
the Microsoft duo, which again,
from a productivity device, I
find, I think it's still the
best. And I've recently upgraded
to the Pixel Fold for work and,
um, like literally like
yesterday, so I'm still kicking
the tires on it. But it's really
has been from a productivity
perspective is really hard to
beat those form factors. Because
of the larger screen, the the
increased real estate, which,
you know, studies have shown
that increased real estate and
having multiple screens have
increased productivity in the
desktop. So it's a harder sell
for people to under to really
implement them from a personal
perspective and how this works.
And I think part of it too, is,
you know, the developers have to
get on board as far as being
able to make their programs or
applications or apps take
advantage of the extra real
estate. So those are two of the
things that but yeah, that's
that's one of the things that
from a personal perspective, I'm
excited about everything else, I
mean, I've kind of you know, I
kind of sit back and I want to
get a little bit more on but
that's something that really
appeals to me I'm in and to see
if there's something that I
would apply from a personal
perspective. I guess the other
one because I'm a movie guy is
too the increasing, the way that
the price is coming down on
larger screen televisions that
are higher quality, again,
taking advantage of that cost
curve that we have in technology
with things again get cheaper
and better over time. And I
think that's something where
post COVID More people are, you
know, taking advantage of using
their all of these streaming
services to have content so
having a nice theater theatrical
experience at home is something
that I think that I see. It's
something that excites me and
something that I'm constantly
playing around with and trying
to make sure we have the best
experience because we started
going back to movies and stuff
you know, and recently we just
saw Mission Impossible dead
reckoning. Oh, yeah.
Keith Hawkey: Can Tom Cruise
still do backflips and jump out
of planes?
Matthew Parks: Yeah, he's done
all of the areas. Yeah, he's a
60 something but yeah, he's done
the backflip jumping off
mountains and you know, the
fight scenes and stuff then, you
know, again, it is a he's he's
become the American Jackie Chan.
Right where he does his own
stunts for the most part. So
yeah, he's he you know, be it he
says it and you see it and it
shows up on film. That if it
looks like if you think it's
him, it's probably him. You
know, he's flying helicopters
and flying planes and just it's
really amazing that he's kind of
the last action last great
action hero of our time, I
guess.
Keith Hawkey: Yeah, I've heard I
heard that he's never done a
television commercial. He is
only existed in movie like he is
a through and through movie
star. He's only in movies. He's
never done ads for for any kind
of television commercial or
she's never been in a show I
don't think. I don't know if
that is 100% true, but I did
hear that and it sounded right.
So it must be true.
Matthew Parks: Strangely enough,
it does sound right. When you
mention it, yeah. Because even
the only ad I can think of is a
movie trailer for him so or
promoting a show, unless you
count like television talk show
appearances, right? Yeah. But
that's usually promotion of
something. But yeah, as far as
him being a serial television
show or an ad, yeah, I can't I
have no recollection of anything
like that. Even a lot of stars
do that the big stars like, like
Brad Pitt. And so I still go
over to other countries and do
the ads, they just don't do him
in the US.
Keith Hawkey: Oh, maybe there is
a loophole. Maybe he has. He's
the face of a soap brand.
Matthew Parks: In Korea or
something? Yeah, maybe? I don't
know. Yeah. But yeah.
Keith Hawkey: The last running
discovery question, what is your
worst day in IT? What has been
your worst day in IT?
Matthew Parks: I'll probably say
the worst day in IT for me was
the day that we I guess,
Presently, the worst day is
maybe about four years ago now,
three, four years ago now. 21.
So three, two years ago, when we
discovered that we had a
ransomware attack. That was
probably, and I it's one of
those things where at the time,
I didn't, I couldn't process
that because I had to go into
action. And my team had to go
into action. So we didn't really
process that as well. But that
and then learning some of the
mistakes that were made to allow
us to be so vulnerable. And
then, as we corrected those
mistakes, learning, also that,
you know, there was some level
of exposure of sort, there had
been some exfiltration of data
that we weren't aware of,
because we weren't set properly
through the security premises
that we had in place, or at
least we were told were in
place. And so yeah, that was
that was a that was a dark year,
I would say. And I couple that
by saying again, we just come up
with COVID. So COVID, we were
surprisingly prepared for the
technology piece, because we had
already migrated to teams, we
pretty much 98% of our our staff
have laptops, because we're
mostly mobile and phones,
probably about 40% of the staff.
So we were able to handle the
stay and work from home orders
pretty well. But it brought in
new challenges and, and brought
in new things. So that was a
dark time because it really
stressed out the team because we
really pushed the limits of a
lot of different paces from a
security perspective. And from a
connectivity and productivity
perspective. It pushed us
really, really stressed us out.
And then coming out of that. And
then you had the ransomware
attack that happened that it was
a I'd say 20 to 21 and probably
you said dark day I probably say
it was probably a darker period
that I had that we came
throuhgh. But you, know just
like anything else, you don't
really appreciate the light
until you've gone through the
dark. So having all of that come
to come to fruition and you
know, coming out on the other
side cleaner, is something that
I really look at and celebrate.
Keith Hawkey: It's, it's an
episode all too familiar with a
modern day IT leader. And if you
haven't gone through one,
Matthew Parks: You either don't
know it or it's coming. So it's
one of those
Keith Hawkey: That's true. So
awesome answers let's uh like to
change gears here. And one of
the qualities that you've been
able to build upon and deploy in
your IT department is how to
recruit and develop a diverse IT
force and benefits it yields are
tremendous and from gaining
different points of view, having
a force that has exposure to
varying degrees of technology,
what does a diverse IT force
look like? In your mind? What
does that mean to you and how do
you go about recruiting?
Matthew Parks: You know, I think
part of it and I think you hit
it on the head with the by
defining it is that the most
important piece of the diversity
is the the diversity of thought
than anything else because by
bringing in people from
different backgrounds, you have
a diversity of thought, a
different, a diversity of
exposure and diversity of
experience that helps to make
for a more rotund and more full
picture of the environment that
you're working in and the
environment at large. So that's
a very important piece to me is
to make sure that we do that. So
in the recruiting part of it is
just making sure that there's a
level of exposure to in your
application, or in the job
description that you post that
is, I guess, more friendly, so
it will be more open to bring in
more candidate. So working with
the, you know, either recruiting
company or your HR to tell them
that, I want to make sure that
I'm getting resumes and
applications from a wide swath
of what America looks like, I
want something that's
representative number one. And
number two, you know, I want to
make sure that we reach out to
whether it be colleges or
schools that we may not have,
that may not be traditionally on
your list of your, from your
candidate pool. Because, to me,
those are opportunities that I
want to at least afford. And
when I say that, you know, it
is, um, I'm going to hire the
best candidate, regardless of
your skin color, regardless of
you know, experience, regardless
of acumen, I want to hire the
best candidate, that is also the
best team fit, right. But part
of that in something that I
learned in my personal life is
that, personal professional
life, is that the interviewing
process is also a learning
experience also, because there
are times when you know, I know
that I may have been
under-qualified for position,
but I was able to get in front
of the recruiter or in front of
the hiring manager, and I was
able to sell myself and my
skills and through that
interaction that was able to
convince them to look at a
different direction to go in a
different target than they may
have already had in mind. So the
opportunity itself, opening the
opportunity, to me is an
important part of the equation.
I also think that from the
candidate perspective, it helps
them so that they have a diverse
experience when it comes to job
searching. And they're asked
those questions, you know, the
live fire questions, you can
simulate this but you know, it's
hard to do when you're when
there's nothing really on the
line. Whereas, you know, when
you put it out there, you know,
is you've got that's your shot,
right, you've got to shoot a
shot. And it's really a thing
helpful for beneficial so even
if we don't bring them in, I
feel that that's something that
helps enrich the candidate for
the next opportunity is that
they were able to sharpen their
iron against our iron.
Keith Hawkey: Yeah, yeah, I I
couldn't disagree with anything
that you said. And especially
what was stuck to me is that the
the computer science departments
differ university to university.
So if you have a handful of
universities that are your
favorites that you select from,
you're going to be receiving a
handful of thought patterns that
are derived from these
universities and B if the
different personalities the
different exposures yet widen,
widen the scope of the
universities that you're
selecting from, widen the scope
of the geographies and you're
going to have a team that has
more experience and exposure to
a wider swath of IT and
technology and cultural
experience which I think is
applicable to IT as well. It's
almost like it's like those
people that know multiple
languages are able to think and
cross pollinate ideas perhaps
more effectively than those that
know a single language like me,
for the most part. Yeah, I
completely agree. So after you
have on-boarded a, one of your
new IT employees, what, so much
of the IT role today is
developing people skills and
it's communicating a vision to a
board, communicating not just
the bits and the bytes and the
the technical know how of of how
this is going to optimize a
computer process. It's this
affects the bottom line at the
company, it's developing a
relationship, it's understanding
the politics of the situation,
how do you go about training a
traditional, more technical
minded, from a diverse
background individual into a
well rounded leader that can
communicate a vision to the
likes of a board?
Matthew Parks: Now that's a good
question. I actually do a talk
on that. It's called from the
from the Help Desk do the Big
Desk. And we actually go
through, it's the actual name is
from the Help Desk to the Big
Desk, started from the bottom
now we're here type of thing,
right? So we, what we talked
about in that is we go through
that path, because what you said
is something that's very
important that people don't
really consider, there isn't a
direct business correlation to
leadership in IT, there just
isn't. Where if you think about
the accounting department, for
example, there is a direct link
because of the way that they
interact with the business. You
can go through a myriad of other
departments, you know, whether
it be HR or any of those and
those actually have a more
direct path to that leadership,
business leadership than it does
in IT. So it does take
additional cultivation, because
most of the IT folks are,
overwhelmingly, I don't want to
over generalize. But
overwhelmingly, the numbers show
that we're mostly introverted,
that we mostly myself included,
it also shows that we tend to
not, which means we don't tend
to naturally build
relationships, which is an
important piece of the business
piece. It's something that if
it's that question, I always get
asked a What would you tell your
younger self? Networking and
relationships, do it earlier.
Learn that. Something I'm trying
to help, you know, my son and
others who are coming into this
to understand. So yeah, well, as
we talked about, that we
discussed, the relationship
piece, we talked about the need
to learn how to zoom out and
look at it from an
organizational perspective,
because again, we're task
oriented, right, we have a
ticket comes in, and we need to
solve this for this ticket. And
we tend to zoom in from that
perspective, and we have to be
able to zoom out and look at it
of how this one ticket affect
this much of the productivity,
and this productivity affects
this particular location. And
this location affects the rest
of the region and the rest of
the organization. So being able
to zoom out and know that, you
know, this one thing that you're
doing today, contributes to the
greater productivity of the
organization, the greater health
of the organization. And then
from that perspective, looking
around and saying, how do I, my
first you have to understand,
how does your IT department,
what cog on the wheel are you?
How do you fit into the
organization past, present and
future? Then where do you fit in
your IT department in your
contribution to the department's
greater contribution. So those
are the things that you have to
learn from a leadership
perspective, because you have to
think beyond yourself beyond
that ticket that you're working
on today. You have to be able to
think more organizationally. And
then you the other piece is
learning that, you know, you
have to go from that operational
to tactical to strategic, to be
able to move into the different
strata of leadership in
organization. One of the thing,
you know, Admiral Grace Hopper,
she had a quote that says that
you manage things but you lead
people. And you know, that's one
of those important distinctions
that you don't, all managers
aren't leaders. You can have
great leaders that were great
managers, but inherently all
great employees don't make great
managers. And all great managers
don't make great leaders,
because it's a specific skill
set. Is there some innate
qualities about leadership that
are there? There are, I think, I
think that you can make a good
leader, but I don't know if you
can make a great leader because
I think that You know, it's kind
of one of the examples that we
talked about in there as we we
use, but I juxtapose Michael
Jordan and John Elway, and we
talk about their careers and you
know for who they are in their
respective sports, they are
considered some of the best if
not the best at their position.
And not just the position, you
know, some of them are
considered, you know, Michael is
considered the greatest
basketball player by many. John
Elway is considered one of the
greatest quarterbacks, which is
the top position in football.
And so there is that argument
the whether he can be considered
among the best ever. And you
look at their transition into
the executive part of the game.
So that's one of the things that
I take apart is, you look at
Michael Jordan's path to that.
And, overall, overwhelmingly,
he's been one of the worst
executives in the history of
basketball. And that is not you
know opinion, that is something
you can look at every level he's
participated in, and his level
of success or lack thereof. Then
you take John Elway, and you
look at what his level of
success, to where he was able to
build a team, got it to a Super
Bowl, and the sport that he
played in respect. And so as you
look through that, you look at
how they were able to achieve
that. And what that means is
that just because you had
someone who was great at their
particular field of study
doesn't mean that that
translates to them being able to
bring others along, because
that's what leadership is.
Leadership is that you have to
convince others that this is the
path you have to provide a
vision for others to follow. And
yes, there may be times when you
have to jump off that horse, and
you may have to go fight
yourself. But for the most part,
you're actually now in a
position where you have to lay
out the plan, and a vision for
others to follow. And then you
have to track and project
manage, if you will, how well
that vision has been followed.
Keith Hawkey: I love what you
said, I wonder, I'm going out on
a limb here, if any of that has
to do with the role of a
quarterback on a team, compared
to a point guard on a basketball
team. If the skills that you you
gain, being being the
quarterback of a football team
where you, you're now making the
calls, but you are calling
audibles. A lot of times you are
the center cog of the offense,
you have to earn the respect of
of your linemen who are
protecting you, they have to
have an emotional connection to
protect you in a lot of ways
rather than mechanically just
doing the job. You have to build
relationship with your
receivers, you have to have a
different type of relationship
with the running backs that
you're handing the ball over to.
That idea popped in my brain. I
don't know if it transists at
all. But it is interesting to
think about if you're a career
quarterback, you are in some
ways, having to manage a
multitude of relationships on a
Matthew Parks: Yeah, you do annd
I think that's part of it. But I
team.
mean part of it also, because,
you know, one of the other
things we talked about is, you
know, in a smaller degree, it
depends on you know how long
I've been paid to do this talk.
So you know, it goes from an
hour to 75 or 90 minutes. But
when we talk about this, but,
you know, we also talk about,
you know, someone like Matt
Millen versus someone like Jerry
West, and again, flipping the
basketball football analogy, if
you will, and even comparing,
you know, someone like Jerry
West and Michael Jordan,
because, you know, Jerry West
Hall of Famer, world champion,
greatest point, one of the
greatest point guards of all
time, transitioned into building
one of the greatest teams of all
time with the Lakers, and then
went to other teams and was able
to help build them at least into
into competency if not
proficiency and relevance. So it
is a thing where there there are
some there are some innate
qualities to that position, if
you will, but in fairness,
Michael Jordan was a shooting
guard, not a point guard, but he
was the undisputed leader on
that team. You know, they all
look to him and they follow his
ethos into the battlefield or
onto the court. So, when we look
at those things, you look at it
again, even in the same sport,
you look at someone like Jerry
West versus Michael Jordan, or
you look at someone you know,
who was a leader in his position
from a Matt Millen who's you
know, again, Hall of Famer, that
type of thing. Terrible
executive with the Detroit
Lions. I mean, they had a what's
called the Millen Man March in
Detroit to fire him. Those type
of things. Versus again, someone
like an Elway and it So, you
know, trying to pick those
analogs, where you have some
successes and some failures.
And, you know, breaking those
down and seeing how, what were
the commonalities of why they
were a success, and what were
the commonalities of failure. So
bringing it all back in, part of
it is that with us, I'll use
myself as an example, I honed my
troubleshooting skills,
troubleshooting skills, to a
very fine point. So that means
that I had to have that ability
to remove everything else, and
you know, identify what the
problem is. So through all of
the noise to hear the signal. So
that's an important piece. But
going and ascending into a
leadership perspective, that's
not necessarily a skill that is
a translatable skill per se.
Directly translatable skill, we
talked about that too, as far as
you know, is that what skills
are transferable directly, and
which ones are indirectly which
ones you may have to push back
on? Because, again, I don't do
board level circuitry anymore,
going back to you know, that
level of troubleshooting? I
don't, it's not part of my role.
So how do I keep my razor sharp
for the next haircut, then, you
know, I had to figure out those
type of things. How do I
continue to cultivate that in
myself? But also, you know, what
skills do I transfer? You know,
do I transfer? Yes, I don't
necessarily have to troubleshoot
those type of problems, but the
troubleshooting skills, I
learned, they're transferable
into corporate and
organizational issues, that if
there is something coming up,
you know, listening to what
people were saying, because
again, that's something you
learn from the Help Desk. If
you're effective, you have to
learn effective listening. So
part of the effective listening
is listening to what folks are
saying, discerning what the
signal is, versus the noise,
trying to get to root problems,
root causes, and then solutions
that will help to and not
treating, not treating symptoms
but treating causes, all of
those things can translate into
how you can operate a business.
And so those are the pieces that
you have to take with you.
Unfortunately, there are other
pieces that you will that may
attribute a little bit, there
are pieces that may get dull
over time, and you'll have to
find ways to sharpen. So for me,
that's my research time. So I
bring in new products to the
organization and I, you know,
may purchase them, and I'll
experiment and try them out to
see because it's been an
overwhelmingly that's benefited
organization, because when
something comes up, or we go
into this type of thing, oh,
yeah, I have a hardware solution
for that. So I find ways to keep
that sharp in mind, because
that's just a desire that I
have, because I get that
question a lot. Well, you don't
troubleshoot anymore. So yeah, I
don't, but being able to look at
these new technological
innovations as they come in and
new solutions as they come in.
It also helps with something
else that is beneficial is, it
helps with my discussion with
vendors. Right. Because when I
deal with vendors, a lot of
folks that sit in my chair, they
don't have the same ability to
really discern what they're
being asked or what they're
being told or what they're being
sold. And so being able to ask
deeper, more probing questions,
being able to push them into
more comfortable positions to
have to answer. And then being
able to really evaluate whether
I'm getting that value. That's
something again, that I picked
up from my days at the help
desk. That helps me to now
perhaps, move the organization
toward or away from particular
vendors, because of the acumen
that I've built over time. But
again, those are those skills
that you have to figure out that
okay, I have this set of
particular set of skills to
quote taken, and now I'm going
to apply those here and how do I
apply those and where to apply
those. And so that's where, you
know, the whole leadership thing
though, so you have to find it
in you folks to and your people
and give them and stretch and
challenge them to see where they
have opportunities because
again, you know, we have someone
who may just be on the help
desk, but putting them on
projects, will give you an
opportunity to see okay, can
that person manage the project?
That is an important skill that
is and that is not cultivated
enough in IT presently from my
humble opinion, if they can, you
know, can they self manage, how
was your time management? So
that's what you see what those
things are. And those are all
translatable skills that can
help them ascend from the
management and then later into
the leadership. You know, it's a
long winded answer, but,
Keith Hawkey: It's all valuable.
And, you know, in the same
stroke of explaining, you know
how to conceptualize and view
the IT role today, we're coming
up toward the end of the podcast
and before we leave, I like to
ask one question, I'm actually
going to flip it around a little
bit than the traditional way we
ask it. In the same vein of what
you should be doing, as you want
to develop your IT career, if
you could display a message on a
billboard, around the world,
that's IT, the industry, middle
of the road, and yet towards the
end of the career, would be
disseminated to everyone in IT
of what to avoid? What not to
do, that can get you into
trouble. What would your message
say?
Matthew Parks: The motto that I
live by personally and
professionally is "If you stay
ready, you don't got to get
ready". So the other side of
that, I would say is that, you
know, don't stop evolving, is
what I would say, because this
industry, the one thing about
this industry, unlike a lot of
industries that are present is
that, you know, for the most
part, there are new challenges,
and maybe new grants and maybe
new roles. But you know, and
again, this is no disparaging
against accountants, but pretty
much that job is the same. They
have new things that they have
to learn over time, new tax laws
and that type of thing. But the
actual day to day thing, right,
is the same. We don't teach
technology the same way we did
you know, when I started. When I
started, we were doing board
level troubleshooting with logic
probes and stuff. And then once
I got into the workplace, in 95,
we were swapping out those same
boards that we were trying to
troubleshoot. We don't solder
onto motherboards, for the most
part for not in a commercial
environment. You may do that in
personal or research, but not in
a commercial environment, you
don't do that anymore. So just
thinking in my own past of the
things that I've had to learn
and change and evolve and adapt,
I would encourage anyone to, to
not stop evolving to, to not be
stagnant. And because if you
are, this train is going to
leave you it is definitely going
to leave you and you're going to
be in a in a much less
successful place than you
intended when you started.
Keith Hawkey: Matthew Parks,
thanks for joining the IT
Matters podcast, how can our
listeners find you?
Matthew Parks: Hey, I tell you,
first of all, LinkedIn is a
great place. I'm there. So you
know we connected. There's also,
well, it's not Twitter anymore,
right? It's X.
Keith Hawkey: Why? Why?
Matthew Parks: Fun fact, by the
way, that X that logo, if you
look at it, and you've been in a
game as long as I have, that X
logo showed up, you asked about
95, there was a program that
Microsoft used to use and they
still made but it was a scaled
down version of Windows that was
intended it was kind of their
version of a version of the
Windows and Windows server
called X server. Yeah, yeah,
it's the if you look at the
logo, it's the same logo. When I
looked at it, I was like I've
seen that before. And then I
started looking at other folks
who are gray beards like myself,
and we're all like, yeah, that's
the X Window logo. But I
digress. So Twitter is a great
forum to find me there. And of
course, LinkedIn is also a great
place that you want to hit me
up. And, you know, those are two
main places I would say, to look
for me.
Keith Hawkey: Well, we'll make
sure to include those in the
show notes description. Thanks
again, Matthew.
Matthew Parks: Thank you so
much, Keith.
Keith Hawkey: Continue saving
the day and IT. The job you do
is invaluable and really
appreciate what you do on the
nonprofit side. It takes a
special type of soul to help the
youth in our very young woman,
so.
Matthew Parks: I appreciate it,
but Keith if I can get a couple
of seconds just to wrap up on
something that we discussed
earlier. Again, when we talk
about you know bringing in
disadvantaged populations of
minorities into IT, I think,
just really brief. One thing we
need to do is we need to
redefine STEM and we need to
embrace vocation, again, because
the vocational jobs that we have
thrown our nerves up at, a lot
of those are STEM jobs. Right?
You know, you have to know a lot
of math, a lot of engineering,
to be a carpenter, to be a
plumber, to be a mechanic. And
those jobs are very high paying
jobs. Also, we need to expand
that umbrella in IT because I
mentioned earlier project
management, that is a very
crucial role to IT, and to
organizations in general. So we
need to do that. Representation
is important, exposure of our
young people to the field is
important, and investment both
at the governmental level for a
lot of these disinvested
environments that folks are
coming up in, that will be
helpful and of course, the
business community because
again, there are almost a
million IT jobs that are open
today and we don't have enough
people to fill them. So
businesses and government
investment into that because
when we talk about not only IT
we talk about cyber, it's
becoming a national security
risk now not having enough cyber
people, not having enough people
in IT in general because we're
losing, we're stagnant in our
lead in the IT space. So I just
wanted to throw those up before
we leave as just another aside,
sorry to take up that time.
Keith Hawkey: Yeah, no, all
great points and well received.
We'll post where to find you,
Matthew, in the show notes and
hope to have you back. Thanks
for joining.
Matthew Parks: Anytime. Thank
you, Keith. I appreciate the
time.
Narrator: Thanks for listening.
The IT Matters podcast is
produced by Opkalla an IT
advisory firm that helps
businesses navigate the vast and
complex IT marketplace. Learn
more about Opkalla at
opkalla.com.