{"id":9635,"date":"2016-11-08T18:10:47","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T01:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/?p=9635"},"modified":"2017-05-11T08:21:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T15:21:37","slug":"cloud-therapy-e028-aerocom-client-paul-lees-it-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-e028-aerocom-client-paul-lees-it-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Therapy: E028 &#8211; AeroCom Client, Paul Li&#8217;s IT Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9644 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/CT-E028-Paul-Li.png\" alt=\"CT-E028 - Paul Li\" width=\"810\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/CT-E028-Paul-Li.png 810w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/CT-E028-Paul-Li-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/CT-E028-Paul-Li-250x139.png 250w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/CT-E028-Paul-Li-600x333.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/>Learn how IT Professional and AeroCom client, Paul Li, has thrived for 25 years in his IT career. Paul shares his story with us, and tells us about his most difficult time in IT, how he approaches management feedback and much more!<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/4728136\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/87A93A\/\" width=\"640\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Which 3 telecom or cloud service providers does AeroCom recommend for your company?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/static.leadpages.net\/leadboxes\/current\/embed.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><button style=\"background: #f26e22; border-color: #f26e22; border-radius: 4px; color: #ffffff; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; padding: 16px 32px; min-width: 192px; border: 1px solid #f26e22; font-size: 1rem; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; outline: 0; line-height: 1; cursor: pointer; -webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 5px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);\" data-leadbox-popup=\"144249073f72a2:136337e37f46dc\">MY TOP 3<\/button><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>TRANSCRIPT:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mike: Cloud Therapy Episode 28.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, IT Nation, welcome to Cloud Therapy with AeroComInc.com where you learn about the latest cloud and telecom technology that is going to take your career to the next level. I\u2019m your host Mike Smith. Let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n<p>Hello, everybody. Welcome to another great episode of Cloud Therapy. Thank you for joining us. And I\u2019m super excited today because we\u2019re going to switch it up a little bit. Now, typically I have guests on the program that work for service providers, and they talk about technology so that you guys can learn about cloud and telecom technology and use that knowledge to elevate your career in IT. But on a similar token, I still want you to be able to listen to today\u2019s podcast in a way that will elevate your career, but instead of having in an employee from a service provider, what I wanted to do is have one of our customers come on who is one of your peers and have that person tell us their story of their journey in IT in terms of their human experiences because I think that is one of the most important things everyone can always improve in terms of elevating their career is their interaction with people at their job.<\/p>\n<p>So I asked one of our best customers, his name is Paul Li, to come on the program and tell us about his career IT journey and his ups and downs in relation to dealing with people, both people that work for him and the people he\u2019s worked for. So I hope you\u2019ll really enjoy this. It\u2019s a great story. And Paul has actually been in IT for twenty-five years, between IT and architecture, so he\u2019s been around a long time. He\u2019s interacted with a lot of people and he\u2019s pretty high up there. So it\u2019s a great person to listen to and obviously we don\u2019t do every single thing one another does, but we always learn a little bit every time we talk to someone else who is going or been where we want to go. So again, I hope you enjoy this. This is Paul Li.<\/p>\n<p>But before we get to Paul I just want to do a couple quick reminders. Number one, you can always find the transcripts to these podcasts on our website at AeroComInc.com. Just go to the Blog section and search for this podcast and you\u2019ll find the complete transcript of this episode there. And number two, I wanted to talk about a great giveaway that we have, as we always do. So if you are the lucky person who is going to purchase a phone system for your company \u2013 I know that\u2019s super lucky, right \u2013 so if that\u2019s you, you\u2019re going to love this giveaway.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"550\" height=\"309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l6aHC2jEd6o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So I decided to do some webinars, and these webinars are going to be called the Four Cornerstones of Buying a Business Phone System that makes everyone in your company happy. And the reason I\u2019m doing this webinar is because you know as well as I do that the hardest thing about buying a phone system for your company is you\u2019re trying to make everybody happy and it\u2019s pretty stressful and it\u2019s super hard because you\u2019re trying to make your users happy, you\u2019re trying to make your boss happy, you\u2019re trying to make people calling into your company happy, and you\u2019re just trying to do your job in IT, right? This isn\u2019t your normal day-to-day job, but all of a sudden you\u2019re tasked with doing this. Well, I can tell you that you absolutely can make everybody happy if you follow four simple steps, that\u2019s get the features right, get the voice quality right, get the pricing right, and get the provider right. And in these webinars I\u2019m going to go into detail on how do you do those four things, how do you get those four things right so that you can buy a phone system that makes everybody happy. So all you have to do to register, it\u2019s absolutely free, you just text the word \u201cVOIPWEBINAR\u201d to the number 44-222, and we will text you with instructions on how to reserve your free spot in one of these upcoming webinars that I\u2019m doing. Again, text the word \u201cVOIPWEBINAR\u201d to the number 44-222 and we will tell you how to claim your free spot in one of these webinars so you can learn how to buy a phone system for your company that everybody\u2019s going to love, which is going to make your job a lot easier.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, so let\u2019s get to the program. Here is Paul Li. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>Welcome, Paul.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And could you please take a moment to, kind of, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself, both professionally and personally?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Sure. Yeah, I\u2019ve been actually working in the field of architecture since 1988. So it\u2019s been a while. But I slowly actually transitioned into the IT field, probably starting about 1995, 1996, where we just started to blast off with the web and all that. And so, since then I start off actually doing half of architecture, half of IT, and now I\u2019m practically fully IT, so to the point where they\u2019ll need me to pinch hit on some architectural work at sometimes, very rare moments, but most of the time the majority of my time is really spent on research and development and see how we could improve our work in the area of technology and really take advantage of technology to help us to get more efficient and get a better turnaround for our clients.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome!<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Personally, I\u2019ve been married for almost twenty-five years.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow!<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s been a long time.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Congrats!<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And I have a kid who is almost twenty-one. I\u2019m glad she\u2019s not in the architectural field, let\u2019s just say. But she\u2019s also not in the IT field. She\u2019s an animal lover.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. I actually found out that animal lovers working in that kind of field with animals, dogs and cats, you actually make a lot less than with architecture.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, man.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That makes me wish she actually had gone in architecture would\u2019ve been better.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s so funny.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Because she loves dogs and cats so much, I mean, it should be something that she does and enjoy doing, it\u2019ll be great.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, that\u2019s awesome. Yeah. One of my daughters is twelve and she loves animals and she\u2019s always saying that she wants to be a veterinarian because she loves animals. Ironically, we don\u2019t have a single pet in our house. So we\u2019re sitting there going, ah, well, we\u2019ll wait and see how much you love animals once you have to clean up and do all that stuff. But it\u2019s funny that that definitely strikes a chord with me when you have a daughter that loves animals.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Oh, yeah. We have a seventy pound dog. That\u2019s what we have.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Holy cow! What kind of dog is that?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: It\u2019s a mix between a Shepherd and a Lab. But we\u2019ve had her for twelve years now and just love her to death. I think my wife wants to be buried with her, not with me. What\u2019s the deal with that? So I guess, you know, having a dog or a cat or whatever pet animal you have, it\u2019s very different than raising a kid, let\u2019s just say.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, how so? What have you experienced with that where it\u2019s a little different than parenting?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So, like, have you experienced some differences there?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Oh, yeah. I mean, with raising a daughter she\u2019ll talk back to you, she can take the car and leave on her own and you can\u2019t stop her. You want to just tie her down. You talk back to me, you\u2019re not getting dinner tonight.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: I love it. I love it. Cool. And what struck me when you were talking about your IT career is how you transitioned to architecture to IT, that the question I had for you was, how did you start making that transition? Was it, you know, were you with the same company and just started asking them if you could dabble in the IT side or did they ask you, or how did that materialize?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Actually, it really started way back when I was in college, and I took a programming class and I loved it. I love being able to program and customize and it\u2019s immediate gratification, something has changed and you created that program and you see the effects of it. And then when I was hired by this small firm in Burbank, my first job out of school, and they were I always think the cutting edge or the leading edge, you call it, where they want to transition everything from hand drafting to computer drafting. And for the first two weeks he just let me in there in front of a computer and say, \u201cHere, here\u2019s the computer, here\u2019s some books you read and then see what you can learn.\u201d So from that point on I realized that I actually love the computer, using with the computer for drafting, more than drafting itself, and designing. Then I was hired by a bigger firm, the firm I\u2019m with now, and at first it was all architecture because that\u2019s what they need me to do, design and drafting and drawing everything up, but still in the computer. But then I think they realized that as they asked me questions about the computer and I would be able to give them answers. I\u2019m not afraid to, like, open the box up of the computer and unplug this wire and plug that wire in and I\u2019m not afraid of being electrocuted so they realized that that\u2019s something that I enjoy doing and I would like to pursue, so I would talk to them, they would talk to me. And so slowly, it\u2019s not like, oh, tomorrow you can do all computer work, it was a slow process where every year they would review, have performance reviews, what do you think now, are you sure you want to do computers, you know, you\u2019re sure you don\u2019t want to stick with architecture? I\u2019d go, yeah, I think I\u2019m really interested in computers. So slowly, you know, we had an IT guy that was here full time, and I would be, like, under him and learning from him and see what he\u2019s doing and how he maintains our firm. And it got to the point where he was let go and I took on the full steam, head on on the computer stuff. And since then we also hired out computer consulting firms to help us to manage many of our servers. We have so many servers now compared to when we first started back in the early \u201890s. So it\u2019s a slow process, but it\u2019s something that you have to really love and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And you show that and they see that that is something you can do and effectively, and not just like you love it but you fail.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: You love it and you succeed.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. That\u2019s cool. So I think that\u2019s great for the listeners to understand that, you know, if you have a passion for IT, and even though you might be doing a different job right now, that you can still get into IT. You don\u2019t have to start, necessarily, in IT, that if it\u2019s something you enjoy doing, you can actually integrate that into the current company you\u2019re working for if you just show a little interest in it. Sometimes that can materialize into a full-time job even with the same company. That\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s great. Okay. Well, let\u2019s jump into this. I think, you know, we\u2019re definitely going to talk about some fun stuff here, but the first question I always like to ask is, it\u2019s more of a nice human question of saying hey, not everything has gone well, there\u2019s always been something that\u2019s gone bad in everybody\u2019s career, but can you take us to one of the most difficult moments you\u2019ve faced in your IT career?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: There are so many that it will take a long time to name. But let me start off with the very beginnings. I think a real hard time was when we first started this web thing, and email, and I had no idea what that was. My boss would say, hey, you go and find out more about setting up an email address for our company, and I go what is that? Why email? Why not just pick up the phone and call?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: What do you mean, writing emails? But then as I read up more about it, and I had to do a lot of reading because, I mean, it was so new, back in the mid-\u201890s, where except Windows \u201895, you know, browsing the web first came on and everyone was like crazy about it, being able to see graphics on the screen and use your telephone line, you know, American Online and that kind of stuff \u2013 or America offline, I should say. Using dial-ups. It was a crazy time.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And until I tried it, until I tried emailing and setting up an email, going through an internet service provider, it wasn\u2019t until after I did all of those steps that I realized, oh, that\u2019s why we should email instead of picking up a phone and call. I can hit so many people at one time. And it\u2019s all logged electronically. I have a file here that I could go back and say, hey, this is what I\u2019ve done in the past, this is what you responded. It\u2019s a thread of a legal documentation. So that was a real difficult time just to start off because it was something new. No one\u2019s really know that much about it or basically talk that much about it, and I had to do a lot of research.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And even recently, as more new technology comes out, it\u2019s always a challenge because, you know, my bosses would be, we want these new gadgets like the iPhone when it first came out. I was like what is an iPhone? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Actually, I\u2019ve got to say, to this day I don\u2019t have much of a leash. My wife and I don\u2019t have a cell phone because we\u2019re on the computer all day long and we\u2019re on the web and getting emails online that I happen to be offline most of the time except when I\u2019m driving.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So these new gadgets that come out, it\u2019s always a challenge for me, especially when they first came out and had no support. The iPhone way back when it came out was really not for business. And there was really no support for the exchange server, which is something you use a lot if you use Microsoft to do business emailing. And we just had to find so many different ways around and had to do research online, how to get an email from your exchange server into a little gadget like the iPhone, which everybody wanted. And it took time, and there were these services we paid for to get going, and it\u2019s never perfect. Sometimes, you know, one of the bosses called me up said, I didn\u2019t get my email. Well, I don\u2019t know why. We\u2019re paying for it, this other service to get it done, when it\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So it took some time before finally, obviously Apple then made it possible for the iPhone to get email from the exchange server directly without paying a third party.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So that, again, is a challenge that I had to face because of new technology, and the partners want us to jump on board right away, and I really had to spend some time doing research of my own.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. That\u2019s awesome. A couple things that came to mind there, the first being that, like, when your boss first came to you about email, and I know it\u2019s been twenty years or so, so it might be a little bit fuzzy, but like, did they give you a timeline? Did they say, okay, we want you to figure this out within a certain amount of time? Or did they tell you like, hey, we want to implement this company-wide? Or was it just kind of like, hey, you know, can you figure it out here and there, and we\u2019d like to get maybe a couple email accounts set up? Or what was the directive you were given?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, and this is very interesting for a lot of bosses, you know, they will tell you I want this to be done, but they will tell you when they need it, but obviously they want it like tomorrow or yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So I would have to like get on board, drop everything I\u2019m doing and immediately tackle this problem, which is what I remember doing. And this particular partner I had at the time, he was in charge of technology, a part of our firm, he really wanted to get an email for himself, just for himself, you know, because, well, just because.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So he wanted me to find out more about it and once I found out that you could get an email for yourself, you really need to then get additional emails for everybody else; other partners who were also would be wondering, hey, what about my email? So we had to actually spend money to pay for the internet service provider to get an email for every partner. And back then we had like five or six partners. So we had a lot of partners that wanted their personal emails. And getting it to them directly was also a challenge because unless they had their own dial-up, back then there was no, like, T1.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: There was no cheap way of getting everyone internet access personally from their computer at work.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So everyone would be paying, again, each partner would pay for their own personal dial-up, and the speed of that was really slow, as you know. And everyone had to have a modem on their computer and so they should all have computers, whether it was a laptop they could buy, it was usually a mobile workstation that the partners would use would have a built-in modem so that they could dial out. So that wherever they go, they could dial and get a connection. But it mostly streams WiFi because wireless was like still not a thing that like everybody uses, unlike now. So it was a challenge back then. But once everybody started kicking in and then the technology started catching up to the gadgets that are out there, then we started to, you know, get some really cheap T1 access where everyone in the entire company was able to get email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And basically you\u2019d pay for a domain and everybody could have their own individual emails based on their first and last name, or however you do the conventional email naming convention, and everybody was happy at that moment. And then, of course, you know, after they get their emails, like, are they really working or are they actually sending emails and stuff for themselves?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Getting forwards, all those forwards from family members that we all remember getting.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, because you could be emailing pictures from everybody and go oh!<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Everybody got distracted. They\u2019re forwarding it on to everybody else.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Pictures of my dog! Here!<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Absolutely. Absolutely. The other question I had is you brought up something that just floored me. You said you don\u2019t have a cell phone? Is that what you just said? That you and your wife do not have a cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: What? Wait. You\u2019re an IT professional. You do not have a cell phone. I mean, I don\u2019t even know where to start with that. How does that work? So, you know, so obviously, you mentioned leash. I mean, I\u2019m assuming you mean like so that you don\u2019t have to be worrying about receiving emails or anything, that once you\u2019ve left work, that\u2019s it. So the only way people can get in touch with you is at your desktop, when it comes to email and that type of thing?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s right. So, I mean, I see it as an advantage because my wife and I have been carpooling ever since, even before we got married. I would drop her off at work. Right now we only work about a block away. So we\u2019re always seeing each other, there\u2019s very rarely we\u2019re apart, so we don\u2019t need to call each other, we don\u2019t need to email each other. My daughter does have a phone of her own. She does own an iPhone. So we\u2019re able to keep track of her or we can get in touch with her.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: But we don\u2019t want our bosses to get in touch with us.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Like, we\u2019re off, we\u2019re off, okay? Unless we choose to check our email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Then we\u2019ll respond.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So you have just the old-school fashion, you have a home phone at home.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And, you know, you have a line at your office, and just like we did, you know, ten, fifteen years ago if someone needs to get a hold of you, they need to call you at your desk; if you\u2019re not there, they need to leave a message and wait, and just kind of the basics, huh?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s right. Now again, I do have internet access at home, so I can choose to check email, which I do. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m not going to stop checking my email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So if they were to email me, and then I will respond, but they can\u2019t call me if I don\u2019t have a cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. I love that. I love the discipline. I think that\u2019s fantastic. I think there are so many downsides to, you know, the so-called leash that we have that I think that\u2019s great. I think just the fact that you guys have thought it through and chosen to kind of stay away and buck the norm, I think that\u2019s great. Because, you know, I think all of us can relate to the advantages that must bring you and the peace that must bring you at times.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Just not having that distraction at all times. Now, did you ever have a cell phone and go away from it?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Or, you know, is it you\u2019ve never adopted it?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: We only got a cell phone that one time when we drove cross-country from California to Georgia, and that was actually a gift from my sister-in-law, she says, \u201cWell, you know, since you\u2019re driving and we don\u2019t want anything happening to you, so we\u2019ll let you have a cell phone during that time that you travel cross-country until you\u2019re back.\u201d But that was only time I got a cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, wow! So you\u2019ve never even really, like, gone that route and tried it out. It\u2019s just you\u2019ve seen it materialize and continually communicated with your wife, that, hey, nope, I don\u2019t like it, I don\u2019t like the idea of that.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. I mean, it\u2019s convenient. Like, for example, my wife tells me, you need to go buy me something at the store. So I go to the store and I don\u2019t find it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So then I don\u2019t have to call her up on the cell phone. Hey, it\u2019s not here, you know?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: But I looked for that and forget it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, no, that\u2019s true. And payphones are disappearing, so that avenue is slowly disappearing for you because I\u2019m sure for a while there you were like, oh, I could always find a payphone but now you\u2019re like, now I don\u2019t know if I can find a payphone anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And it\u2019s very important you have a very reliable call. Because someone especially in Southern California drives so much that if something breaks down in your car, then you\u2019re stuck without cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. No, absolutely. Man, you are one of the last of the Mohicans, I think. That\u2019s awesome. I learned something about you. That\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Well, you know, hey, I think that\u2019s inspirational to us all. So that\u2019s great. So, awesome. Well, switching it up. You know, even though I could probably talk about that from the next half an hour, I think we should probably move on.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: But I think one question I always like to bring up is that, a question surrounding your boss and feedback. And the reason why I bring this up is because I think that everyone is always working hard, trying to figure out what things do their boss want them to do, what things does their boss think are the most important things they should be working on. So the way you obviously know what things are the most important are the things that your boss responds to you about and gives you some positive feedback about. So I always like to ask the question, what is a scenario, or can you give us a time where you got positive feedback from a boss and what provoked it?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, especially, I think maybe in this culture, our corporate culture in this particular firm that I\u2019m in, it\u2019s kind of hard to get positive feedback unless you pursue it. Usually it occurs at the annual performance review where you sit in and then you talk to them and hopefully they give you positive feedback and not negative. But there was one time recently, actually, where I was involved with an associates meeting where associates of the firm would gather together and talk about how we could be a better leader for junior staff and newly hired staff in the firm. And the partners were there and they were sitting in and we were talking and getting responses. This was actually from an annual survey that everyone fills out, and so we\u2019re trying to look and see what the feedback was with the entire staff and the partners were trying to understand why they\u2019re answering the questions the way they are and how they needed really the rest of the group, the associates group, to help them understand the rest of the staff. And then my name is popped up. I don\u2019t know what to do, one of the partners says, look at Paul, I mean, it\u2019s great that how he not only emails us with problems but he emails us and provides us options, different solutions to the problems. So that was like a positive feedback to me, right there, out of the blue. So that happens every so often where I won\u2019t expect it, but usually it would occur more often during a review process.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. I think the great takeaway I\u2019m getting there for our audience, and let me know if you agree, Paul, is that bosses like it when you not only just bring up a problem \u2013 they don\u2019t necessarily like when you bring up a problem \u2013 but if you are going to bring up a problem have a couple solutions in mind and you\u2019re just asking for approval for one or two solutions so that you\u2019re not throwing that problem on the boss\u2019s desk and walking away. You\u2019re actually taking the initiative to come up with solutions and just say, hey, I\u2019m just checking to make sure that these solutions are good.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Exactly.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. I think that\u2019s great advice. That\u2019s advice that I think my first boss gave me and he said, hey, don\u2019t come and throw a problem on my desk and walk away and leave me with the problem. You know?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Just, hey, come up with a couple solutions. And, you know, the counter to that is that it also, I guess I should say the added benefit to that is that it also shows your boss that you\u2019re capable of thinking about great solutions and that you\u2019re intelligent, you\u2019re coming up with awesome solutions. But even though you might know the solution in your head if you don\u2019t express it, then your boss is left wondering if you have the ability to come up with solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. That\u2019s also one of my first boss told me, too. You know, you come to me with problems, if you don\u2019t give me any solutions, it doesn\u2019t help me.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: You know, it\u2019s giving me more problems.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So, yes, that\u2019s what I also learned, too. It\u2019s important to provide different solutions. It may not be a great solution, it may not be the ultimate solution, but at least it tells them that you\u2019re thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. Awesome. Very good. Along the same lines, my next question for you is regarding communicating upward to a boss. I think this is always important because, especially in IT, IT can sometimes become separated from the rest of the company and their work, and they\u2019re working super hard doing a lot of great things, but a lot of people in the company don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re doing. They don\u2019t understand the IT department that much, or they don\u2019t understand what, you know, the IT department is actually up to every day. Especially that becomes a problem when that person is your boss who doesn\u2019t really understand what you\u2019re doing. And obviously, in order for your boss to promote you, give you a raise, things like that, it\u2019s important for them to know the good things that you\u2019re doing. So if they don\u2019t know those things, trying to find a way to communicate those things upward to your boss without looking like you\u2019re brownnosing is really important in navigating your career. So, can you think of a time where you\u2019ve actually had to communicate upward about something great that you did just to let your boss know that it happened?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Again, we have to do that a lot because, like I said, it\u2019s very hard, and we have so many things going on, they would not remember what I did for them yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So other than the times during the performance reviews, that\u2019s where you really write down very clearly that this is what I did for this past year, you know, number one, number two, number three. So those really are, for me anyways, the really good times where I could tell them and document for them, and then remind them this is what I\u2019ve done. But also other times, I mean, I have one particular boss who has been really good at communicating. He would not be sitting inside his office, but he\u2019d actually come out and he loves to talk. So I would have no problems approaching him and telling him, hey, this is what I\u2019ve done yesterday, I mean, is it something that you think is worthwhile thinking about it, remembering about. So communicating with some bosses in here are very easy because they\u2019re not someone who would be sitting in the office and seems like they don\u2019t want to talk to you. And even those who do sit in their office, they would tell you, you know, it\u2019s okay to come in, but it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s very difficult to go in there, walk in there while they\u2019re in their office. But for them to come out and sit with you and talk with you, just talk about the wind, and that will be the time that I will say, okay, I\u2019ll ask you questions or I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019ve been doing. And this particular boss has been very good at doing that. So I think it helps to have someone who\u2019s in charge, who\u2019s willing to come out and just chat. Not necessarily talk about work.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Nothing that\u2019s billable, let\u2019s just say. But those are the opportunities where I found that was really good just to say, okay, I mean, we talk about anything, but at the same we talk about work too, and it made me very comfortable talking to him during situations like that.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Is there a specific moment that you can think of, like, a recent one where you think of, you know, you brought up something that you\u2019re working on outside of a review? Because I\u2019m just thinking some of the listeners may not have reviews, maybe their bosses aren\u2019t even doing reviews with them and so they\u2019re thinking, gosh, well, I don\u2019t have a review. Like, what\u2019s something specific? Like, is there an example that you might have?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. One of the situations that comes up is, like, I guess that we\u2019re just talking there or chatting about the wind, and then I will say, you know, hey, if we spend this amount of money on this particular gadget, well, we\u2019ll save us so much more. For example, one of the products that bought is a very small laptop, it\u2019s called the Spectre, and HP made it. It was probably about two or three years ago they start shipping it out. And my boss was very interested in having a small, little gadget to carry around, not something heavy. So I told him that, okay, it is possible for you to get this product, okay, but it\u2019s from what HP called the home side of the product, not the business side. So there\u2019ll be certain issues with buying it from the home side, of course, if you listen to them. So he bought it anyway because it\u2019s cheap. It\u2019s less expensive buying from the business side. And then the first issue that obviously that comes is, like, it stopped working. What did we do? So right away I told him that this is what you can do, this is basically the only thing you can do is ship it back to them to have them replace and repair. So we went into whole process of doing that and so he was happy that I knew how to get a way around the problem, which is not who I am, okay? We\u2019re stuck with this, we can\u2019t do anything with this, what do we do now? So he\u2019s happy that I was able to right away give him a solution and he saw that I was prepared. We got the product shipped back and he got it back and he\u2019s been using it since. No problem.<\/p>\n<p>So I think, again, it\u2019s that openness. You know, you need to have to have boss that\u2019s willing to talk to you, come out and not be to the point where, you know, you do what I say and that\u2019s it. I\u2019m not going to listen to your feedback. And in this case, I have a boss that\u2019s willing to listen to feedback.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, that\u2019s great. And just trying to creatively thinking about it from the listener\u2019s perspective, I mean, a nice strategy might be if you have a boss that maybe isn\u2019t that open or isn\u2019t communicating that much, you know, something that Paul brought up that I think is interesting is, hey, maybe put yourself in your boss\u2019s shoes and think, okay, what are they doing every day that I might have an idea about, or I might be able to affect. Whether that\u2019s cost, you know, managing cost for a company, like finding a less expensive way to do something that your boss is involved in so your boss definitely feels the cost benefit of you bringing an idea up that might save them some money.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Or something that your boss uses on a daily basis. You coming up with a creative way for them to improve the technology that they\u2019re using is obviously a great way to communicate to your boss some of your capabilities and your intelligence and the things that you\u2019re doing on a daily basis, is first of all think of your direct boss and think of what they\u2019re involved in on daily basis, put yourself in their shoes and think, hey, how can I help them. And it may be a little bit outside of your day-to-day, you know, whether or not you\u2019re working on servers or helpdesk or whatever it might be, but if you could take a minute to think of a way you might be able to help your boss, that\u2019s a great way to at least start the upward communication. That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome! Okay, now those are the good things. But what I also like to bring up is a time where a boss has given you some constructive criticism or negative feedback. Although it might be painful for you to recount, can you take us a time where you\u2019ve gotten some negative feedback from a boss or a little constructive criticism, and tell us, you know, the situation and how it kind of came about?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I don\u2019t get negative feedbacks. I\u2019m perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: I like it. I like it. Stay positive.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Actually, something that happened again very recently, usually we have staff that leaves and when staff leave we have to take care of what did they do with their email. You know, people have to be monitoring their email still in case we still receive emails from the clients that are directed to staff that\u2019s no longer here. So one of the minor responsibilities is to find out from the partners and associate partners that are here, who should be managing that email box? And typically, we\u2019ll leave it open for, like, thirty days so that in case we lose emails, we don\u2019t want that to happen. So we capture any emails that still comes in from clients and directed to ex-staff. So I\u2019ll send an email to the partners and associate partners and say, hey, who should be checking out and monitoring this particular ex-staff\u2019s email? And one of the associate partners responded right away and said, ah, I think this particular person should be taking care of it. Okay. And I didn\u2019t receive any responses from anyone else. Usually, when I don\u2019t receive a response I\u2019m thinking that means they\u2019re okay with the initial recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: From one of the associate partners. So I proceeded in assigning that particular staff to check email for someone who\u2019s no longer here. Since that person is working the project, I didn\u2019t think that would be a problem and had gotten a great recommendation by an associate partner. Then suddenly I get this other email from one of the partners says, what? What did you just do? I go, wow, this is from one of your buddies here who says they recommended that this person should be checking the email. And then I get this message, I was in a meeting, I didn\u2019t get a chance to respond to emails. So he came in and he chatted with me, and it was something like, you know, it was my mistake for not waiting a little longer to hear more responses from more of the partners and not just immediately jumping the gun on one single response. Usually I will wait, but this time I thought it was just email, checking on email. It shouldn\u2019t be a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: But apparently to him it was a problem. So he would talk to me and say, you know, this is the reason why I don\u2019t think this particular person should be checking the ex-staff email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And I agree. Okay, I don\u2019t see it as a problem, I mean, if you want someone else to check, that\u2019s okay with me. But that helps me remember that, well, again, I\u2019m not perfect, unfortunately, and I need to remember too that they\u2019re the bosses, they probably know more than I do, obviously, as to what\u2019s going on with projects that are here, that we\u2019re working on. And I need to allow them time to respond because they could be in a meeting or they could be busy and tied up and cannot respond immediately. And since then he has not brought it up. I mean, again, he\u2019s comfortable to the point where, you know, when the problem occurs and a mistake is made, he\u2019ll point it out and then he won\u2019t bring it up again, which is I think very good for me because then I won\u2019t be reminded constantly see you made that mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: You blew it. That means I think you\u2019ll blow it again, but he doesn\u2019t have that mentality. So for me, I\u2019m fortunate to have a boss that\u2019s like that, that doesn\u2019t constantly remind me of the mistakes I\u2019ve made in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, that\u2019s great. So if we were a fly on the wall in that meeting when he brought that up, if you could take us inside that meeting when he brought that criticism up to you \u2013 now, in hindsight it seems like you definitely have clarity on it \u2013 but in the moment, was your first gut reaction to be defensive or did you immediately know he was right and you\u2019re more contrite about it at that point?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Well, it came through as a forewarning thing because I really could see the email first when he said, what?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I mean, that was like, uh-oh, what did I do?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Then I look back, oh, that\u2019s right, I didn\u2019t give him the chance to respond. And then the second email he says I was in a meeting, I didn\u2019t get a chance to respond. So I knew what was going on because I had a chance to think about it, okay, I blew it. So that\u2019s when he approached me. I\u2019m ready to say, okay, I blew it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I\u2019m not going to be defensive about it and say it wasn\u2019t my mistake, you know, my bad. So whatever he says, I go okay. You know, whatever you decide to do, I\u2019m fine with it, you know.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I think at the same time he was telling me this is a discussion, okay, it\u2019s not just me telling you what to do. So he\u2019s trying to tell me that at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And I\u2019m like, I\u2019m aware that I made the mistake and if you believe there is a better solution, I\u2019m okay to accept it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So that particular situation I was not defensive. There were other situations that this occurred probably a year ago where I was setting a luncheon for the staff to learn more about the product that we\u2019re using. And this is during the lunchtime, staff time.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: But for some reason the same boss responded in an email and said, what are you doing? You know, why are you wasting staff time on learning about this product? I\u2019m like, this is lunchtime, okay? They don\u2019t have to come.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: They bring in their own lunch. We\u2019re not wasting company time. There shouldn\u2019t be a problem with that. So in that case I defended what I was standing for and it was all via email. And unfortunately, we didn\u2019t get a chance to talk face-to-face because he was away from the office. I was away from the office. And of course, the learning session proceeded as planned. It did go overboard, by the way. It did go beyond the hour of lunch. But I think he saw the importance of having the staff learn about a product that we\u2019re using in the office even though it\u2019s, you know, a little bit beyond the lunch period.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. So it sounds like in that scenario you had thought in advance that, okay, you know, if my boss objects to this, here\u2019s why he\u2019s probably going to object and then I already know that, you know, hey, we\u2019re doing it at lunch and so you\u2019d kind of thought through that.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: A little bit in advance, probably, huh?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yep. That one I think I won that one.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, yeah. That\u2019s good. Well, yeah, and I think that\u2019s important, you know, that the boss isn\u2019t always right every single time they say something, but at the same time, you know, in the first scenario you brought up how you\u2019d, you know, been given a moment and just admitting, saying, you know what, I was wrong and I think that goes a long way too. I think, you know, from my perspective having managed people, you know, there\u2019s definitely some people who will never admit that they did anything wrong because they\u2019re scared of repercussions or they\u2019ll just avoid the conversation completely.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: But they\u2019ll never say you\u2019re right, I shouldn\u2019t have done that. I made a mistake. And it won\u2019t happen again. And I see what you\u2019re saying that it\u2019ll just be like, okay, let\u2019s move on, I don\u2019t want to talk about it. But just even those words of saying I made a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: You know, and just admitting, oh, yeah, that was a moment of poor judgment on my end, I shouldn\u2019t have done that, you know, usually they just want to skip that part and go to, okay, yeah, I won\u2019t do that again, but they won\u2019t say the words I made a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And I think that that\u2019s a huge takeaway for everybody listening, that just even saying those words goes a long way with your boss.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Cool. Alright. We\u2019ll move into a little bit of a lighthearted moment here. This is one of my favorite questions I like to ask. I hope you have a good story for us. What is the strangest or funniest thing you\u2019ve seen at work?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I think this is a guy thing.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh. I already like it. I already like it.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: You know, we\u2019re an office that\u2019s pretty large in size, meaning spacious. So it\u2019s hard to talk when you\u2019re sitting at one end in the office to the other end of the office. However, the strangest things happened in the men\u2019s restroom. You can be standing there and doing your thing and then you go, hey. And another guy walks in and you\u2019re like we were just talking. The boss will walk in and we\u2019re just having a conversation right there and start a meeting in the restroom. Because again, the office plan is a little bit large and they\u2019re in their office and we\u2019re in my workstation and we don\u2019t see each other to talk, but in the men\u2019s restroom you\u2019re stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And again, it happens with guys because you just have a partition, right?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: We\u2019re standing there. You know, hey, we do like to do multitasking.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. No, absolutely, there is always that moment there where you\u2019re going, is this just awkward for me or is this awkward for both of us?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And you\u2019re like, I don\u2019t know if this is normal to be talking right now, but, you know, hey, this is what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s awesome. Yeah, I think all of us guys can definitely relate. The female listeners are probably listening and go that\u2019s the weirdest thing I\u2019ve ever heard of. You guys are strange. But yeah, I\u2019ve been there, done that. And like you said, it\u2019s one of those moments where you\u2019re kind of second-guessing whether or not this conversation should be talking place, if this is appropriate or not, and you\u2019re kind of going, well, okay, do I end it now because I need to wash my hands and get out of here?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Or do we continue having this deep conversation in this echoey bathroom? It\u2019s kind of weird.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: But yeah, so that\u2019s funny. Okay, last question of this section, Paul, is tell us a little bit about your next career goal and, you know, if you have a strategy on how you\u2019re trying to chip away at that?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I mean, if I had it my way, I wish I could actually transition out of the architectural field and just dive into other fields and use my computer expertise and learn from those fields. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll have that luxury. So most likely I\u2019ll continue to be in the field of architecture doing computer work. And I\u2019m sure that there\u2019ll be different technologies that will come up that I will have to learn more about and probably in the future focus on what that is. But currently, the strategy really is to just stay on top of the different things or gadgets that are coming out. Because technology is just changing so fast. It\u2019s hard for me to predict what\u2019s going to happen even a year from now because a year from now there could be something new invented where we\u2019re not using now. And I may be just totally immersed into that field.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Whatever that might be.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So I\u2019m leaving it pretty open for myself. I\u2019m not going to fix myself on a goal which I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s going to be, especially in the computer field.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure. Now I know there\u2019s a lot of avenues out there, but, you know, that you bring up a good point in talking about keeping up to speed on things that are coming out. What is your preferred method of keeping up to speed with new things that are coming out? Do you have a certain publication that you read or anything that you use to help you out when it comes to that?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: There are so many different online avenues I get into other than the regular newspapers that are online. There are also discussion groups I\u2019m very heavily involved in, especially in the area of the software that we use in the office. That\u2019s one avenue where I\u2019ve learned a lot from other people, the things that they\u2019re using and the challenges that they have and perhaps solutions I can provide for them. And even talking to you, I mean, in your company, and what you guys do and I\u2019ve never encountered a company that does what you\u2019ve done. I mean, this is like four or five years ago that there\u2019s someone actually out there who\u2019s studying up and knows all different plans for internet service providing and as well as, you know, telecommunications. I didn\u2019t know that kind of company existed. So just being exposed and being out there, just getting my hands wet on everything, anything that I can, and that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been in learning so much more.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. As much as I\u2019d like to focus in on what our company does, but I\u2019m like, let\u2019s talk about that for the next half hour. No, just kidding. But as far as when you mentioned forums, you know, like online discussions, for the IT professionals listening in, you know, are there one or two forums in particular that you found really useful that you can share with everyone?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Oh, yeah. Again, in our field the software we use is created by a company, they\u2019re very well-known, a large company, called AutoDesk. And a while back they basically grabbed all their forums that they had allowed others to control and they now basically took it under their own wings and had their own AutoDesk forum where they\u2019re taking care of and discussing and looking at all the software suites that they have. And a lot of people have provided feedbacks. And that\u2019s where I\u2019ve been a lot and I will get on there every day and read other people\u2019s problems and solutions that come up. And sometimes I will have a solution or I will search online, Google.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Do a Google search for what others have done and see if there\u2019s a way I could clip to change the solutions a little bit to match with the problem that others are facing just to make it work for them. So that keeps my mind thinking, exposed to what is out there right now with the software that I\u2019m using for the company that I\u2019m working at.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s awesome. Yeah, thanks for sharing them. I\u2019m sure others are listening in, they could benefit from that.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay. So that concludes that section of our interview and onto the next, which I call our flash memory section. So in this portion of the interview, Paul, I\u2019m going to throw out a few questions and we\u2019re looking for short answers, but I have basically structured these questions so that the answers are jam-packed with value to the listeners. So with that said, are you ready for the flash memory section?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Alright. So what part of your daily routine is most vital to your success?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay, email. So, is it like in the morning do you check it, or like, how do you use email in your daily routine?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, I would definitely check it every morning almost as quick as I can is when I get up because, like I said, I don\u2019t have a cell phone, so they can\u2019t reach me. I would have to check immediately to see if there\u2019s anyone that either going to get in touch with me during the evening, during the night time I\u2019m asleep because our office has two other offices in other continents of the world. So I maybe sleeping when they\u2019re awake and they need help and need assistance, they will send me an email overnight and I\u2019ll have to check right away. And throughout the day I\u2019m actually constantly on the computer all day long, except right now this is the only time I\u2019m not checking email and of course, when I go to take bathroom breaks.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: The rest of the time my computer is on. Outlook is always on. Checking email.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. The bathroom breaks is that\u2019s when you have your big power meetings. Yeah, we get that. Alright. And then what is your strength?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I will say my strength is definitely analyzing, you know, analyze and take a problem and find ways to solve it and not just necessarily one way but like I said, multiple ways and see what is the best way to present it to the bosses here and let them decide because it\u2019s really ultimately their decision, not necessarily mine.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. What would you say is your biggest weakness?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That I\u2019d have to say that my biggest weakness is probably my desire to please. I\u2019m definitely a people pleaser. I don\u2019t want to necessarily face conflicts. So when another staff would come up to me and be very angry, I would very rarely, very seldom I will be angry yelling back to them. I would rather find ways to appease them.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: To find ways to calm them down to hopefully understand what the problem is and find ways to resolve the issue without causing a bigger conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Absolutely. I think a lot of listeners as well as myself can relate to you on that one. That\u2019s definitely one of mine as well. What single training has impacted your career success the most?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, this is what I\u2019ve mentioned earlier. I did take that computer class when I was at college. Although, it was not my first computer class. I got to say that my first computer class training was basic programming. I hated that class. So I had to learn how to type really fast, and not fast but also correct.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: And if you\u2019re off by one letter, the whole program does not run. But on my second programming class, Fortran, then that\u2019s when I realized that I have a mind that\u2019s very different than everyone else\u2019s. I really enjoy that kind of challenge. And that thinking process that I go through to logically use programming language and come up with solutions, I think that was so impactful for me because as I graduated and came out to the workforce I realized that designing, being creative was really not that kind of creativity I like. The kind of creativity that I like is finding ways to program something and immediately get to see the results. That\u2019s the kind of design work that I enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Very cool. What is an online resource that you can\u2019t live without?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Facebook. I mean, two years ago if you ask me that, it would not have been Facebook because I did not jump on the Facebook until, like I said, two years ago where I thought, you know, what are my alumnis doing, where are they? You know, I graduated from college back \u201888. What are they doing now? How could I get in touch with all of them? So I got my picture, we all took pictures, class pictures. So I went back and try and find them all. This guy, what is his name, what is he doing now? And one of the ways I found out you could find people is on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: So I signed on to Facebook. And from then I\u2019ve not left.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: I tell you what, this is a good thing you don\u2019t have a phone because, man, that is an addiction that will not go away.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, if you like Facebook and you have a phone in your pocket where you could check that all the time, it is a good thing you stay away from that phone. Forewarning. I\u2019m speaking from experience. Stay away from that. I had to remove that app off my phone and then I find myself going online, you know, through just the web browser and finding Facebook online.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Even though I don\u2019t have the app on my phone. I go, this is stupid. I took the app off and I\u2019m still going to the website. But yeah, so that\u2019s funny, though. I never expected an IT professional to say that Facebook was an online resource they couldn\u2019t live without. So that\u2019s a fantastic answer.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I work in an architectural firm. We\u2019re a little more creative there.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, I like it. I like the transparency there. What telecom or cloud service provider have you had the best experience with? I throw this in there because obviously this is what our website\u2019s all about, so I like to ask that question.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Well, again, it happens to be the company that you introduced to us, Level 3. This was TW Telecom and Level 3 bought them. And they had been really good to us. And of all the other previous internet service providers we had, they had been the most stable. I mean, we\u2019ve been with them for now \u2013 TW Telecom at first were, like, three years and then now Level 3 for another two years, so of the downtime we\u2019ve had while we\u2019re working during the workday was probably about a couple of minutes. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: A minute here, a minute there, that was it. So, of course, right away people are sort of complaining I can\u2019t Skype. Skype is down.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: What are you Skyping? You should be working. But they\u2019ve been really stable and it\u2019s been our best internet service provider yet.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Fantastic! And I think you have left a review on them on our website, correct?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome! Awesome. So all of you listeners out there, that is a good provider that Paul\u2019s had a great experience with, but if you have a provider that you\u2019ve had experience with, go to our website and leave a review as well. That\u2019s awesome. And then lastly, Paul, what are you passionate about outside of work, and then not only that but for those of us who might be a novice in that area, can you give us kind of a first step to start exploring that as well?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah, actually I have enjoyed playing music. In this case, my guitar. And that was something I picked up back in college again. I was in this Christian group where they had a very bad guitar player. And I\u2019m like, I think I can do a better job than that. So I got into taking classes at a trade school during the summer, very cheap, you know, a city college. And learned how to play guitar at church. And just was thrown out there and just playing, and singing and playing at the same time. I think it\u2019s just the time you spend and you have to really enjoy again what you\u2019re doing. In this case, I really enjoy playing guitar and singing along with it. So at church that\u2019ll be something I\u2019ll be doing. We have a little band that we\u2019ll just keep practice when we have our opportunity to sing in the worship time. So that is something that I enjoy doing when I\u2019m not at work, is music. There was one time I even downloaded the piano. But I realized that the piano was really not something that I can\u2019t do that well.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Because I can\u2019t read music, the notes well at all. I\u2019m really into playing with chords and guitar chords are just so much easier than playing notes on a piano.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right. Now when you go to play guitar, are there any types of music that you really enjoy playing, like, you know, more than others? Do you like writing your own songs? Or do you like, you know, doing kind of more cover music of other types of music that you really enjoy?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. Writing my own songs, I actually did that way back when I was serenading back then my girlfriend, who\u2019s now my wife.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, right.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: She really inspired. I actually wrote five songs.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow! That\u2019s awesome!<\/p>\n<p>Paul: I should have not written a thing.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And it worked, though, it served a purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah. So the songs I like to sing are like contemporary Christian songs, very modern. And I\u2019ve not tried to do any of the other songs that are more of rock based. But I will listen to them, but they seem very complicated to play. So I\u2019ve not challenged myself to do that yet.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Now, are you more of an acoustic guy or an electric guitar guy?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Oh, definitely acoustic.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: It\u2019s just so much easier. And I like that tone. I don\u2019t have to plug anything in.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: To get that electric effect.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it\u2019s funny you bring this up because I was thinking about taking that up with my oldest daughter and saying, you know, I wonder if we could just look online, if I could buy, you know, one or two guitars and I can look online if we could, kind of, teach ourselves. If that was possible, would that be something you\u2019d recommend? Or would you say, like, definitely have someone teach you how to do it versus going onto YouTube and taking some lessons or something, you know, on your own?<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Well, actually I think it\u2019s a mixture because this is what I do with my daughter. I taught her how to play the guitar, but she only learned the basics, the basic chords. But then she\u2019ll get online to YouTube and learn what other people have done and just taught her through YouTube, so she would do that. And then, of course, you know, going to a church where you have other people playing, that\u2019ll also teach you and do more. So it\u2019s a mixture of everything. It\u2019s good to be able to have one-on-one, but then, you know, you can\u2019t be one-on-one all the time.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Sure.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: You have to really go out and explore on your own.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. So that was kind of my opinion, is that that\u2019s where the passion really develops is that when you get to kind of do things on your own \u2013 she\u2019s taken piano lessons for quite a while, but after a while that just kind of gets boring.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: People telling you to learn a certain song and you get bored with it. It\u2019s fun when you create stuff or you decide to learn something new or you decide to do a cover song of your favorite song that you like or things like that, I think that\u2019s when it comes alive.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Right. Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, that\u2019s fantastic. Awesome. Well, thanks. That\u2019s it, Paul. That\u2019s our interview and I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us and share some of your insights.<\/p>\n<p>Paul: Thank you, Mike.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And that\u2019s a wrap. Thank you for listening everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the little switch-up today and hearing Paul\u2019s story. I think I\u2019m going to do that from time to time. I think it\u2019s beneficial and I hope everyone got a little bit out of that. Maybe got a little bit inspired about his interactions and his little strategies in terms of dealing with people. I think it\u2019s valuable for everyone. I know I learned a lot. So thanks for listening and a couple of quick reminders before we leave. Number one, don\u2019t forget our transcripts. If you liked part of this program and you want to revisit it on a little bit slower of a pace so that you can read through it, go to AeroComInc.com and then go to the Blog section and then just search for this episode and the full transcript of this podcast episode will be there. We pay for these to get done just as a resource to our listeners. So make sure you take advantage of it. And the second thing I wanted to remind everybody to do is sign up for one of the upcoming webinars that I\u2019m doing, the Four Cornerstones of Buying a Business VoIP System that everyone in your company is going to love. It\u2019s a fantastic webinar. I have put a lot of time into it and I know you\u2019re going to get some great information on really how to do a great job purchasing this upcoming phone system and cover all your bases so that everyone\u2019s happy with your decision at the end of the day. All you have to do to find out how to register is text the word \u201cVOIPWEBINAR\u201d to the number 44-222 and I will see you on that webinar hopefully.<\/p>\n<p>Alright, have a great day everybody. Hope you enjoyed it and I will talk to you soon.<\/p>\n<p>IT Nation, thank you for joining us on Cloud Therapy with AeroComInc.com. Visit us at AeroComInc.com, that\u2019s A-E-R-O-C-O-M-I-N-C dot com and head on over to the Blog section for notes on everything we talked about today as well as our blogs, provider reviews, and of course the best quotes for any technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how IT Professional and AeroCom client, Paul Li, has thrived for 25 years in his IT career. Paul shares his story with us, and tells us about his most difficult time in IT, how he approaches management feedback and<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-e028-aerocom-client-paul-lees-it-journey\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more &#8250;<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[371],"tags":[441,422,429,426,424,428,440,423],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}