“IT IMPACTS”

So far, I’ve had the good fortune to have been a Computer Operator, Programmer, Systems Analyst, Project Manager, Manager of Advanced Technologies and Methods (ATAM), Director of Applications, Manager of commercial software development, Director of Product Planning for commercial software development, Consultant, part-time college faculty, served on the Board of Directors as Vice-Chair and Chair for a non-profit, and a CIO multiple times.

I got into IT because I fell in love with programming. My first programming position was in a large mainframe shop writing non-Y2K compliant programs. I quickly found myself on a journey through a set of wonderfully rich experiences, for which I am extremely grateful. In many respects, I still consider myself a student of business, management, IT, and life in general, as I learn new things every day, and relish the experience.

I’ve always enjoyed learning new things and sharing them. Knowing this, the staff at my prior employer encouraged me to start a blog. The idea initially surprised me, so I asked, “What would I write about?” They responded with, “The things you share with us, but this way, everyone would hear it.” Okay, I was a tad skeptical. It sounded like what they were really trying to tell me was that if they had to listen to me drone on and on about things, then they wanted everyone to suffer through it too.

It also made me wonder. Who are these people that blog? Looking around, I was surprised to find I knew some bloggers, and these were people I had known and respected for years. I started reading their blogs, and much to my surprise, I caught the bug.

Before making the final commitment to doing a blog, I struggled with the truly important question: What should I call it? Since all the really good names were taken, I settled on a phonetic play on words adding “IT” to letters taken from my name to create “IT Impacts” (www.itmpax.com).

I hope that you find something of value here. If not valuable, I will settle for mildly interesting, enlightening, entertaining, or thought provoking. If this partially meets any of those, then these efforts will be validated. I also did not want to be the last person on my block to blog. Besides, I had heard a rumor that there was going to be a government subsidy for blogless IT-folk, and I really did not want to have to fill out all that paperwork.

Mark C. Paxton (mark@itmpax.com)