Welcome to episode 129 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 share part 1 of our interview with Jon Towles in which we talk through his journey into the mobility field and his challenges and openness with ADHD.
Original Recording Date: 06-08-2021
Topics – Working for Blackberry, Sharing Your Work, ADHD Challenges and Openness
3:30 – Meet Jon Towles

* Jon Towles started in IT around the age of 29 and has been through many places in the mobility industry. He now works in the IT wing of his wife’s company, working with different clients on unified endpoint management related to iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.
* Jon didn’t really want to be in IT. He grew up nerdy and a bit of a gamer.
* Jon was in retail for a long time. After meeting his wife, she helped him refocus, encouraging him to get out of retail.

* In the process he got healthier, achieved an A+ certification, and landed a job working for Blackberry.
* This team of peers were very experienced (some had been Principal Engineers at Microsoft, for example).
* Jon’s ADHD gave him the energy to work harder than anyone else to make up for his initial lack of experience.
* That 5-6 year stint of extreme effort got him to the point to where he can understand just about anything in technology now.

6:34 – Working for Blackberry

* The last retail job Jon had was at Verizon (back at the time when Verizon first got the iPhone – 2009).

* John was teaching customers how to use Blackberries, sold Blackberry training, and during that time worked to get his A+.
* It’s hard to get someone to give you a shot in IT with no experience.
* Additionally, being overweight made landing new opportunities a challenge. Jon has had a significantly easier time after getting down to 200 lbs. (previously 300 lbs.).
* In IT you need to get that one person to give you a shot and take advantage of it.
* A company called On Demand Communications hired Jon to do Blackberry administration. The company had some financial issues, and he transitioned to contract work.
* After one contract job he applied at Blackberry and was fortunate enough to get hired.
* Everything in Jon’s life is about effort. He loves to mentor people, and if they show effort, he will do whatever he has to in order to help that person be successful.

* If you have the right mindset, even if inexperienced, you can be very good.
* Mobility is one of the few things in IT that you cannot learn about in school (no formalized program).
* John makes the point that there is not really a Sysadmin degree.
* Jon believes having a bachelor’s degree is good but is not necessarily a requirement in IT and that there may be diminishing returns in higher level degrees.
* The last book Jon read for enjoyment was from The Dark Tower series.
* Jon wrote about how his brain works in this article.
* Much of IT was descended from telecom. Jon did a stint there too (telecom expense management).

* The Blackberry job was in Texas.