Kelly Schroeder's guest appearances

Kelly Schroeder

Nerd Journey Podcast

Mind Your Own Business

Rodney King

Blake Johnson

John White

Andrew Miller

Brad Christian

Melissa Blair

Ryan O’Donnell

Jon Hildebrand

John Kenny

Jose Flores

Marc Demetriou

Lynda West

Ramzi Marjaba

Don Jones

Lisa Norman

OwlTail

Welcome to episode 59 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical 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 have part 2 of an interview with Kelly Schroeder about the technical management career and advice for the would-be manager. Original Recording Date: 10-15-2019 Topics – Kelly Schroeder Interview 02:19 – Kelly’s Current Role as a Manager – Observations and Lessons  * How is this role different than his previous positions?  * The organization is a different scale with over 2000 employees.  The IT Department is 80 people, and Kelly has 15 people under him (2 supervisors and 4 direct reports). * This is wildly different than what he has done in the past.  With a team this large, he cannot do anything technical (no room to fit into his day). * Kelly was hired into this job to replace someone on the way out.  He replaced a quality person who had built a great team and considers himself of a maintainer than a builder.  * Kelly realized the person he was replacing had truly cared about the wellbeing of her team.  She understood them, knew them on a personal level, and helped shape them to be better people. * John mentioned some of the great managers he’s had exhibited the same qualities.* At Kelly’s level, he can know all the people on his team and interact with everyone.  * Even though he manages managers today, the fundamental principle of caring for his people does not change. * If he was a level or two higher and over a larger team the connection with each person would not be feasible. * We’re not sure how more senior level leaders handle this, but maybe we need to have one on the show. * When managing managers, Kelly can set an expectation / vision and ask managers to communicate to their teams, but it’s extremely difficult to step back and avoid micromanagement. * John shares a fun anecdote about how to properly raise a flag in the military. * 12:44 – John White School of Mentoring Plug* Pulling back from micromanagement comes down to respect.  * It feels disrespectful for him to do someone else’s job.  When he gets the urge, he thinks about the way he would want to be treated and changes course. * Is managing like parenting?  Listen to Kelly give some great advice here.16:02 – Advice for the Would Be Manager  * Know what your leadership looks like.  * Some feel leadership looks like a charismatic leader of a large organization (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc.).  Because of this misconception, Kelly originally doubted his ability to be a leader. * Kelly took a StrengthsFinder training and realized he could leverage his relational strengths to lead instead of trying to be like someone who he thinks is a leader.  * The StrengthsFinder assessment is just another personality assessment that focuses specifically on your strengths rather than on what you lack.* The episodes on management with Charlie Nichol inspired Kelly to share his perspective with our listeners of coming from the SMB world.  * Episode 51 *

Welcome to episode 59 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 Pre-Sales Technical 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 have part 2 of an interview with Kelly Schroeder about the technical management career and advice for the would-be manager. Original Recording Date: 10-15-2019 Topics – Kelly Schroeder Interview 02:19 – Kelly’s Current Role as a Manager – Observations and Lessons * How is this role different than his previous positions? * The organization is a different scale with over 2000 employees. The IT Department is 80 people, and Kelly has 15 people under him (2 supervisors and 4 direct reports). * This is wildly different than what he has done in the past. With a team this large, he cannot do anything technical (no room to fit into his day). * Kelly was hired into this job to replace someone on the way out. He replaced a quality person who had built a great team and considers himself of a maintainer than a builder. * Kelly realized the person he was replacing had truly cared about the wellbeing of her team. She understood them, knew them on a personal level, and helped shape them to be better people. * John mentioned some of the great managers he’s had exhibited the same qualities. * At Kelly’s level, he can know all the people on his team and interact with everyone. * Even though he manages managers today, the fundamental principle of caring for his people does not change. * If he was a level or two higher and over a larger team the connection with each person would not be feasible. * We’re not sure how more senior level leaders handle this, but maybe we need to have one on the show. * When managing managers, Kelly can set an expectation / vision and ask managers to communicate to their teams, but it’s extremely difficult to step back and avoid micromanagement. * John shares a fun anecdote about how to properly raise a flag in the military. * 12:44 – John White School of Mentoring Plug * Pulling back from micromanagement comes down to respect. * It feels disrespectful for him to do someone else’s job. When he gets the urge, he thinks about the way he would want to be treated and changes course. * Is managing like parenting? Listen to Kelly give some great advice here. 16:02 – Advice for the Would Be Manager * Know what your leadership looks like. * Some feel leadership looks like a charismatic leader of a large organization (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc.). Because of this misconception, Kelly originally doubted his ability to be a leader. * Kelly took a <a href="https://www.gallup.com/press/176429/strengthsfinder.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">StrengthsFinder</a> training and realized he could leverage his relational strengths to lead instead of trying to be like someone who he thinks is a leader. * The StrengthsFinder assessment is just another personality assessment that focuses specifically on your strengths rather than on what you lack. * The episodes on management with Charlie Nichol inspired Kelly to share his perspective with our listeners of coming from the SMB world. * <a href="https://nerd-journey.com/individual-contributor-to-manager-with-charlie-nichol-pt-1/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 51</a> *

Management Career Observations, Lessons, and Advice with Kelly Schroeder Pt. 2

Welcome to episode 58 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical 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 have part 1 of an interview with Kelly Schroeder about the path to management and some hard-won resume advice. Original Recording Date: 10-15-2019 Topics – Kelly Schroeder Interview 03:09 – Kelly’s Background  * Kelly works for a city government as manager of help desk and all things end user related, overseeing a team of 15 people.  * He came from the small business world where one must wear all the hats. * Kelly has experience working in a number of industries including a government contractor, a 2-year college, a web development firm, and has even owned his own business.* Nick and John met Kelly through the Spiceworks community.  * After getting married, Kelly found a job through a friend.  He got started installing network wiring.  * This was interesting (being a part of the technology industry) but not a job he specifically wanted to keep doing.* Kelly started at a 2-year college with a very technical focus and later went to a 4-year college, landing on a degree in business.  * When people ask Kelly about the value of a 4-year degree, he says it depends.  The recommendation for most people if they have no career path in their current field is to get a degree in an area they care about or that really interests them.  * If you don’t know what you want to do, spend some time thinking about it.* Most employers just look to see if you have a degree.  The place it comes from is not as important. * Take some classes in business so you understand it and can communicate ideas well to other business leaders and professionals.  Many IT professionals do not understand business.  * It is challenging for technical people to communicate effectively with executive leaders. * John cites Sales training as opening his eyes to how business leaders think about technology.  * Do people in technical Sales have a better chance at getting what they want accomplished? * Maybe the gap in IT is effective communication with upstream management.14:14 – Paths to Management  * Does training in business / Sales naturally lead to being a manager?  * Kelly had no desire to go into management.  It just so happens that the technology curriculum at his college was inside the business realm.  He later realized the value of having all the business classes (Marketing, Sales, Accounting, etc.) in addition to pure IT curricula before starting in the workforce. * Managing people is an entirely different skill than business management.* Kelly’s original perception of people in management was tainted.  He viewed manager as a dirty word and people in management roles as sell outs.  * He never wanted to be like popular portrayals of terrible managers (i.e. something you would see in a Dilbert comic strip). * Kelly discovered at a previous job how much he loved being a manager.  * He was hired into a small business IT manager role. * The things he loved most were connecting people within the organization with ideas and solutions as well as developing the team (which sounds like...

Welcome to episode 58 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 Pre-Sales Technical 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 have part 1 of an interview with Kelly Schroeder about the path to management and some hard-won resume advice. Original Recording Date: 10-15-2019 Topics – Kelly Schroeder Interview 03:09 – Kelly’s Background * Kelly works for a city government as manager of help desk and all things end user related, overseeing a team of 15 people. * He came from the small business world where one must wear all the hats. * Kelly has experience working in a number of industries including a government contractor, a 2-year college, a web development firm, and has even owned his own business. * Nick and John met Kelly through the <a href="https://community.spiceworks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spiceworks community</a>. * After getting married, Kelly found a job through a friend. He got started installing network wiring. * This was interesting (being a part of the technology industry) but not a job he specifically wanted to keep doing. * Kelly started at a 2-year college with a very technical focus and later went to a 4-year college, landing on a degree in business. * When people ask Kelly about the value of a 4-year degree, he says it depends. The recommendation for most people if they have no career path in their current field is to get a degree in an area they care about or that really interests them. * If you don’t know what you want to do, spend some time thinking about it. * Most employers just look to see if you have a degree. The place it comes from is not as important. * Take some classes in business so you understand it and can communicate ideas well to other business leaders and professionals. Many IT professionals do not understand business. * It is challenging for technical people to communicate effectively with executive leaders. * John cites Sales training as opening his eyes to how business leaders think about technology. * Do people in technical Sales have a better chance at getting what they want accomplished? * Maybe the gap in IT is effective communication with upstream management. 14:14 – Paths to Management * Does training in business / Sales naturally lead to being a manager? * Kelly had no desire to go into management. It just so happens that the technology curriculum at his college was inside the business realm. He later realized the value of having all the business classes (Marketing, Sales, Accounting, etc.) in addition to pure IT curricula before starting in the workforce. * Managing people is an entirely different skill than business management. * Kelly’s original perception of people in management was tainted. He viewed manager as a dirty word and people in management roles as sell outs. * He never wanted to be like popular portrayals of terrible managers (i.e. something you would see in a Dilbert comic strip). * Kelly discovered at a previous job how much he loved being a manager. * He was hired into a small business IT manager role. * The things he loved most were connecting people within the organization with ideas and solutions as well as developing the team (which sounds like...

The Path to Management and Hard Resume Lessons with Kelly Schroeder Pt. 1

Scott interviews Kelly Schroeder, Owner of Blossom Health Coach

Ep. 15 – Kelly Schroeder