Jimmy Tassin's guest appearances

Jimmy Tassin

Nerd Journey Podcast

Blake Johnson

John White

Andrew Miller

Brad Christian

Jon Hildebrand

Ramzi Marjaba

Don Jones

Chris Wahl

Steven Murawski

Ashley Connell

Josh Duffney

Scott Lowe

Tom Hollingsworth

Brad Tompkins

Joseph Griffiths

OwlTail

Welcome to episode 35 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we discuss how Minecraft influenced Jimmy Tassin’s career in the second of our two part discussion. Original Recording Date: 04-16-2019 Topics – Part 2 of Our Discussion with Jimmy Tassin – Minecraft and Building Community The articles of Jimmy’s we reference  * How Minecraft Made Me a Better IT Pro * Why I Put Minecraft on My Resume: Crafting a Better IT Career Block by Block  1:46 – Gaming Community Participation and Relatable Experience  * Jimmy’s articles in the Spiceworks community mentioned being a part of the Minecraft community. * He was first introduced into the Minecraft community while at his job with the healthcare company.  A co-worker got him hooked.  * It’s important to choose the right Minecraft server. * Within a year, Jimmy transitioned from player to moderator to admin to co-owner of the Minecraft server. * After a Mincraft server was shut down, Jimmy and other co-owners launched OmniKraft.* From the beginning, administering the server was basically a full time job.  It was essentially like running his own company.  * As soon as he got home from work, he would begin work on supporting the server.  This was 4-5 hours per day on average. * John points out what running a Minecraft server entails to clarify and why this is like running a business. * Jimmy had employees, had to manage expenses, do taxes, setting up the shop for players to spend money, figure out marketing, provided customer service, etc.  * The average player age was probably 13. * Managing users was like herding kittens.* Almost everything for Minecraft was Linux-based to make hosting cheaper.  * Finding a hosting provider, doing backups, and configuring firewall rules were all part of the administration.* At one point Jimmy’s co-owner suggested they purchase a physical server and co-locate. * Jimmy realized this experience was translatable and could help his career.  * During an interview with his current employer, Jimmy was able to provide evidence of his management experience to a C-level audience. * It’s difficult to get a job in management with no experience.  Jimmy wrote the articles in Spiceworks to help others realize the experience may not come from your day job. * "I was a gaming service provider / small business owner" vs. "I’m super into Minecraft" * "It’s all the same stuff…just a different wrapping."* The Spiceworks articles received a lot of comments and replies.  23:22 – Putting Something Down to Pick Up Something Else  * Jimmy eventually shut OmniKraft down after working on it for 4 years.

Welcome to episode 35 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [<a href="https://twitter.com/NerdJourney/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@NerdJourney</a>]! We’re <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vJourneyman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">John White</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/vJourneyman" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@vJourneyman</a>) and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkortenetworknerd/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nick Korte</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/NetworkNerd_/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@NetworkNerd_</a>), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we discuss how Minecraft influenced Jimmy Tassin’s career in the second of our two part discussion. Original Recording Date: 04-16-2019 Topics – Part 2 of Our Discussion with <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com/people/jimmy-t" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jimmy Tassin</a> – Minecraft and Building Community The articles of Jimmy’s we reference * <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/462311-how-minecraft-made-me-a-better-it-pro" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How Minecraft Made Me a Better IT Pro</a> * <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/569839-why-i-put-minecraft-on-my-resume-crafting-a-better-it-career-block-by-block" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Why I Put Minecraft on My Resume: Crafting a Better IT Career Block by Block</a> 1:46 – Gaming Community Participation and Relatable Experience * Jimmy’s articles in the Spiceworks community mentioned being a part of the Minecraft community. * He was first introduced into the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191119055112/https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/what-is-minecraft/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Minecraft</a> community while at his job with the healthcare company. A co-worker got him hooked. * It’s important to choose the right <a href="https://minecraft-server-list.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Minecraft server</a>. * Within a year, Jimmy transitioned from player to moderator to admin to co-owner of the Minecraft server. * After a Mincraft server was shut down, Jimmy and other co-owners launched <a href="http://omnikraft.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OmniKraft</a>. * From the beginning, administering the server was basically a full time job. It was essentially like running his own company. * As soon as he got home from work, he would begin work on supporting the server. This was 4-5 hours per day on average. * John points out what running a Minecraft server entails to clarify and why this is like running a business. * Jimmy had employees, had to manage expenses, do taxes, setting up the shop for players to spend money, figure out marketing, provided customer service, etc. * The average player age was probably 13. * Managing users was like herding kittens. * Almost everything for Minecraft was Linux-based to make hosting cheaper. * Finding a hosting provider, doing backups, and configuring firewall rules were all part of the administration. * At one point Jimmy’s co-owner suggested they purchase a physical server and co-locate. * Jimmy realized this experience was translatable and could help his career. * During an interview with his current employer, Jimmy was able to provide evidence of his management experience to a C-level audience. * It’s difficult to get a job in management with no experience. Jimmy wrote the articles in Spiceworks to help others realize the experience may not come from your day job. * "I was a gaming service provider / small business owner" vs. "I’m super into Minecraft" * "It’s all the same stuff…just a different wrapping." * The Spiceworks articles received a lot of comments and replies. 23:22 – Putting Something Down to Pick Up Something Else * Jimmy eventually shut OmniKraft down after working on it for 4 years.

Nerd Journey 035: Jimmy Tassin – Minecraft and Building Community

Welcome to episode 34 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we discuss career paths in the first part of our discussion with Jimmy Tassin. Original Recording Date: 04-16-2019 Topics – Part 1 of Our Discussion with Jimmy Tassin  * Nick and John know Jimmy through the Spiceworks community, and Nick had the opportunity to meet Jimmy in person at Spiceworld. * Jimmy is currently the IT Director for a bank near St. Louis and has been with the company for about 5 years.  * His focus is mostly on security, reporting, and keeping management happy.3:14 – Career History  * Jimmy got into computers in middle school when Macs started showing up in classrooms.  * The librarian noticed he was savvy on the computer and solicited Jimmy’s help with computer support.* Jimmy started taking computer classes in high school and ended up joining the Navy (worked with radar systems and combat control). * After that he went to college and majored in computer science.  * In high school he wanted to be a video game developer and at one point got into DigiPen Academy. * He got a bachelor’s and master’s degree in 4 years. * Jimmy came to the realization in college that programming was not for him.  * The life of a developer wasn’t what he had originally thought. * To Jimmy, programming was solving a puzzle and very enjoyable.  But doing this 8-10 hours per day seemed like a road to burnout.* He worked tier 1 / tier 2 help desk for a health group while going to school.  * Listen to his interview story and the perception of being "dressed up."  Has this ever happened to you?  * John gets on the soap box about company culture and appropriate dress.  See Episode 9 for more how to dress for an interview.* After a year, Jimmy switched to night classes and transitioned to full time with this employer.  * His approach to the role was to learn everything he could while supporting a user base of 2500 people.  * See Episode 31 on scaling for a new endeavor. * Jimmy gives some great advice on making the jump from hobbyist to professional.* Jimmy’s colleagues had experience he could draw from while he gained experience.  Google was also a great source of knowledge. * Many people in a help desk role got there because they enjoy helping people, but this role affords a great deal of problem solving opportunities. * The career path within the organization was unstructured. * At one point Jimmy took on PBX administration with a Mitel system (because he was thrown into it by the boss) and later learned VOIP technologies on a Cisco system. * He was also responsible for all audio visual support for staff training meetings.  * Jimmy volunteered to help with this effort and even led some staff training.

Welcome to episode 34 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [<a href="https://twitter.com/NerdJourney/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@NerdJourney</a>]! We’re <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vJourneyman/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">John White</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/vJourneyman" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@vJourneyman</a>) and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkortenetworknerd/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nick Korte</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/NetworkNerd_/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@NetworkNerd_</a>), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we discuss career paths in the first part of our discussion with Jimmy Tassin. Original Recording Date: 04-16-2019 Topics – Part 1 of Our Discussion with <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com/people/jimmy-t" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jimmy Tassin</a> * Nick and John know Jimmy through the <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spiceworks community</a>, and Nick had the opportunity to meet Jimmy in person at <a href="https://www.spiceworks.com/spiceworld/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spiceworld</a>. * Jimmy is currently the IT Director for a bank near St. Louis and has been with the company for about 5 years. * His focus is mostly on security, reporting, and keeping management happy. 3:14 – Career History * Jimmy got into computers in middle school when Macs started showing up in classrooms. * The librarian noticed he was savvy on the computer and solicited Jimmy’s help with computer support. * Jimmy started taking computer classes in high school and ended up joining the Navy (worked with radar systems and combat control). * After that he went to college and majored in computer science. * In high school he wanted to be a video game developer and at one point got into <a href="https://www.digipen.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DigiPen Academy</a>. * He got a bachelor’s and master’s degree in 4 years. * Jimmy came to the realization in college that programming was not for him. * The life of a developer wasn’t what he had originally thought. * To Jimmy, programming was solving a puzzle and very enjoyable. But doing this 8-10 hours per day seemed like a road to burnout. * He worked tier 1 / tier 2 help desk for a health group while going to school. * Listen to his interview story and the perception of being "dressed up." Has this ever happened to you? * John gets on the soap box about company culture and appropriate dress. See <a href="https://nerd-journey.com/nerd-journey-009-blowing-an-interview-and-dressing-for-an-interview/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 9</a> for more how to dress for an interview. * After a year, Jimmy switched to night classes and transitioned to full time with this employer. * His approach to the role was to learn everything he could while supporting a user base of 2500 people. * See <a href="https://nerd-journey.com/nerd-journey-031-scaling-for-a-new-endeavor/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 31</a> on scaling for a new endeavor. * Jimmy gives some great advice on making the jump from hobbyist to professional. * Jimmy’s colleagues had experience he could draw from while he gained experience. Google was also a great source of knowledge. * Many people in a help desk role got there because they enjoy helping people, but this role affords a great deal of problem solving opportunities. * The career path within the organization was unstructured. * At one point Jimmy took on PBX administration with a Mitel system (because he was thrown into it by the boss) and later learned VOIP technologies on a Cisco system. * He was also responsible for all audio visual support for staff training meetings. * Jimmy volunteered to help with this effort and even led some staff training.

Nerd Journey 034: Jimmy Tassin – Career Path