Background
Number 6
Lockheed Martin
Be Inspired!
On occasion people come into your life at just the right
time. I am dedicating this article to
two of the IT rock stars in my career that kept me moving forward.
Number 6
The first IT rock star that I will mention in this article
is a fellow by the name of Brian Lyons. Brian was the CEO of Number 6 software. At the time that Number 6 hired me, I was
seriously considering leaving IT. I had
recently received my MBA and was looking to do less technical work. Then I was hired by Number 6 and all of that
changed. It was a small company run by a
bigger than life super-nerd by the name of Brian Lyons. Brian challenged us as individuals to be
better. He’d often spark lively debates
on IT topics and was a Unified Modeling Language (UML) ninja. His challenges inspired me to take a closer
look at some of the newer methodologies and to become proficient in UML and
Object-Oriented analysis, programming and design in general.
Brian was also supportive in other ways. He encouraged us to share our knowledge with
each other and with others. I wrote my
first blog entry while working at Number 6.
It was an internal article on the basics of Object Oriented design for
those who were new to it. I received
positive feedback from my peers and this inspired me to write another article
on Security. Not only did I receive
positive feedback for that article, but Brian had the article placed on our
public site. My confidence in my IT
chops was renewed and I rededicated myself to my chosen profession.
The day after Labor Day 2007, we received an email that
there would be an all-hands conference call that day at noon. We dialed in and one of our Senior Managers
notified us that Brian had been killed in a motorcycle accident the previous
day. I never got to thank Brian for what
he did for me. But I credit him for saving my IT career, just by being
him. Thanks Brian.
Lockheed Martin
Ironically, the IT rock star that made the biggest impact on
my IT life at Lockheed Martin, didn’t actually work for Lockheed Martin. Dennis
Lamarre was a sub-contractor to Lockheed Martin. He is one of those guys where you know that
is just the smartest guy in the room without him even saying anything. When I first started at Lockheed Martin, also
as a sub-contractor, we were supporting the Social Security Administration and
I was assigned to an “ugly baby” project.
Having read the background and vision of the project, I peppered Dennis
with questions. Apparently, they were
the right questions. Dennis, a rather
excitable guy, admitted that the project was a bad idea and we went on to discuss
the many ways that it was doomed to failure.
However, he also explained to me that the way things worked there was
that consultants were to be seen and not heard.
Basically, we had to use the “smile and nod” management style. No matter how ugly SSA’s baby was, we were
just to smile and nod and try to make it work.
Dennis told me that he started out as a construction worker
and that one day he had received a copy of DB2 for home use and became
emotional when he recalled that the label on the box said “What is in this box
will change your life”…I’m paraphrasing here.
He opened the box and never looked back.
He earned a degree in Cybernetics and has been working on software
architecture ever since. Many of the
developers and architects that I run into do not appreciate the work that the
analyst has to do to lay the groundwork for what they build. Dennis not only understood it, but worked
closely with the analysts because he knew we could make his job easier.
One day, in a meeting at SSA, we were discussing the
processing of claims and one of the SSA analysts said something that I knew to
be incorrect. I corrected her and sited
where I had gotten my information.
Another of the SSA analysts said something to the effect of “I’ve been
working here for years and didn’t know that, how did you know that?”. To which Dennis replied (in what had to be
one of my proudest moments as an analyst) “Because she’s a good analyst”. This, again, inspired me and I learned as
much as I could about SSA’s processes and procedures that were non-IT related
because we knew that SSA was going to be automating as much as they could in
the future, so it could only help to know how they handle things manually…you
know…just in case. This had the
immediate effect of helping me to stand out and helped me to be offered a
full-time position with Lockheed Martin, and few years after that I was hired
on at SSA.
Dennis left Lockheed a few weeks ago to continue to build
his own consultancy. Thanks Dennis.
Be Inspired!
I just wanted to take some time to thank the IT rock stars
in my life that have helped me move on and continue to inspire me. Tony Robbins was a big proponent of mentors
and in their own way, these two guys mentored me and helped be to be a better
IT practitioner. Do not have too much
pride to learn from someone else. We are
not too afraid to go to school to learn when it costs us thousands of dollars
to do so. So, don’t be too proud to get
a little free education and inspiration from those around you. Find a mentor, model them and learn. They don’t even have to know that they are
mentoring you—if you like the way that someone does something—Observe, Learn,
Adopt and Adapt. Be inspired!
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