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I am a computer and technology hobbyist, and I plan on being one for the rest of my life. I
started by playing around with computers before I was even in kindergarten and haven't stopped since.
And since I know my field of interest is constantly evolving, I know that my hobby will never be boring!
My life began in a small city in Wyoming, and I held a few positions working in the Information Technology
(IT) sector - while at the same time doing a little bit a college along the way. Although this was fun,
I felt I needed some change in my life to make it really go somewhere. So soon afterwards I enlisted in
the United States Marine Corps and have never regretted it since. It was probably the best decision of
my life as it opened my eyes to a world I had no idea about.
I've had many rewarding experiences beyond just becoming a Marine, a title few achieve, as I've held a position
where I was the main coordinator for an entire unit's IT assets being transitioned from military control
to government contractor control. This was not an easy task, as many other units were suffering from lack of
knowledgeable coordinators to handle all aspects of migrating their unit's IT assets (which included everything
from hardware, to software, and the network itself) to the new contractor's control. In a nutshell it was a
massive IT upgrade for the whole Marine Corps, but I had a lot of fun with it and learned a lot along the way.
Beyond that, I've been always seen as a IT "guru" in my command for answering simple questions, to helping fix
or implement new IT solutions, yet this was not even my job! I enlisted in the Marine Corps as an Administrative
Clerk, which normally only deal with making personnel and the command itself happy with all the paperwork that
is required for both (which is surprisingly a lot). I chose this field as my recruiter informed me that all the
computer MOSs (a.k.a. "jobs") were already filled up, which I later found out was correct from that major
transition I spoke of earlier; but he said that he himself [when he was an Administrative Clerk], had opportunities to work with
the IT side of the house, which for him, allowed him to be a beta tester for military software. So, as you can see,
it has also worked out similarly for me.
Past work experiences, I have also had the chance to travel abroad, which includes all across the continental United
States, from both coastlines, to all parts of Japan (including Iwo Jima), and the opportunity to work and play in
Australia (sorry, no Iraq or Afghanistan deployments). Honestly though, I think it was a blessing in disguise
that all of the IT jobs were taken when I first wanted to join, as it has allowed me to think like an Administrative
Marine, which in civilian lingo is somewhat equivalent to a Human Resources representative, and this has given me certain
"traits" or "qualities" that I would have never picked up just by working within an IT job alone. Since I dealt with
people everyday (including the command's top brass), I have acquired some excellent communication skills, which I doubt I would have
picked up by playing with computers alone (or at least more directly). My communication skills alone I thank in part to earning a honored
title by becoming a Meritorious Sergeant (E-5) in the Marine Corps. And by "Meritorious," I mean that I was basically hand selected
for promotion (with review and approval of multiple senior leaders) after a face-to-face competition involving a select group of my peers from the whole Battalion; vice a paper-record competition against all of the other Marines in my career field as it is normally done.
So for those who read this and have been wondering if joining the military is something they may enjoy, take my
examples above into consideration. Though, personally I did not stay in the military past my first enlistment, but nevertheless I think my experiences from the military are worth much more than any college degree could provide. Don't take this as a
recruitment line for joining, as I think every individual needs to weigh their own options on considering what to do with
their own life, but I think if you decide on joining, it has the potential to be a good choice. Yet, you will have to work
harder, and make smarter choices, in a military environment to avoid getting in trouble. Which ultimately may make the whole
experience a bad one if you don't know how to be a responsible person. I've seen a few of my peers get in a lot of trouble from the stupid choices they make -- which can affect how fast you get promoted and so forth. Simply stay out of
trouble, and it will reward you in the end! Though of course joining the military could obviously be the most hazardous career you'll ever work in: so think carefully before
signing that contract!
After my military career, I continued on with my geek'ness and now deal solely with supporting computers and network systems.
I definitely owe my current civilian career to my military background, as the company I work for (like most others) loves to hire former military members. Though, I still take on the Marine Corps philosophy of "Once a Marine, Always a Marine," so I still (and always will) see myself as a Marine no matter how old I become. This means, I'll always work and think like a smart Marine would, even in the corporate environment. Whereas, this does not mean I'm going to "order" people around like you can in the military, but simply that I will do my best at all times.
Above is a basic summary of my life so far, though as for my computer and technology related interests are concerned, I am focused
on learning about the current, future, and even past technologies. Humans so far have achieved unbelievable progress with
technology, so I hope to become a strong force in that field. As similar to my website's vague description, I myself can
vaguely describe my interests with technology. I love to learn about the common things, such as programming, networking, and
computer administration; to also learning about related technologies, such as electronics, to radio and television equipment. I
believe any true "IT specialist" shouldn't have a set limitation of which knowledge to learn, as everything usually ties in
together anyways.
However once again, I hope you find my website useful in some manner, and if you would like to contact me further for whatever
reason, you may do so by e-mailing me at: webmaster {AT} junktext.net [typed like this on purpose to hopefully evade
Spam-bots].
Thanks for reading!
-- William Liggett
(a.k.a. "junktext")
Updated: 14 September 2008
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