Jet Mariano

Tag: Learning IT

  • Understanding IT Career Paths — Part 1

    Early days of curiosity. Learning computers one screw at a time on an IBM PS/1. Hard disk 170MB, Memory 4MB, AutoExec.bat and Config.sys

    From Telecommunications to Modern IT

    When I first entered the IT world, technology was explained much more simply than it is today.

    Back then, we called it Management in Telecommunications. The field was divided into three areas:

    Voice
    Data
    Video

    That was it. No cloud titles, no DevOps, no cybersecurity specialization labels. Just three pillars that kept organizations connected.

    I remember sitting in a statistics class at Los Angeles College when my professor encouraged us to look toward the future of computing. He told us to pay attention to companies like Microsoft and suggested pursuing certifications like the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). He even mentioned Bill Gates as someone shaping the future of technology.

    Around that same time, I kept hearing the phrase “information superhighway.” Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is widely credited with coining and popularizing that term, describing a future where computers and networks would connect people and information across the world.

    At the time, it sounded ambitious — almost futuristic.

    Today, we simply call it the internet.

    Life during those years was not easy for me.

    I was attending Los Angeles College full-time during the week and Devry University full-time on weekends, while raising three small children — my son was four, my eldest was five, and my daughter was only two years old. I relied on scholarships, government grants, and student loans to survive those years.

    There were nights when exhaustion felt heavier than hope, but I kept moving forward.

    What little free time I had, I spent helping others.

    I volunteered in our community and helped small businesses by repairing computers, fixing networks, and troubleshooting systems for free. I didn’t do it for recognition or money. I did it because I believed that learning technology meant using it to serve people.

    Those experiences became my real classroom.

    That was when I began to understand something important about “Data.”

    Data eventually split into two different paths:

    Programming
    Infrastructure

    Both are part of IT, but they require different ways of thinking.

    Some people build software.
    Some people build and maintain the systems that run software.

    Both are necessary. Both are honorable careers.

    Over time, technology evolved — cloud computing, automation, cybersecurity, DevOps — but the foundation stayed the same.

    Looking back, those difficult years taught me more than technology. They taught me discipline, patience, and service. I didn’t realize it then, but those were the beginnings of what I now call portable virtues — things you carry with you no matter where life takes you.

    Today, when I mentor others entering IT, I often start with this simple idea:

    Before choosing a job title, understand which path fits you best.

    Programming or Infrastructure.

    In the next post, I’ll talk about the Infrastructure path — the side of IT that focuses on systems, networks, and reliability.

    © 2012–2026 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • My IT Journey – 2026

    It Wasn’t Easy, But It Was Worth It

    Intro
    From the streets of the Philippines to enterprise systems in the United States, my IT journey has been shaped by work, faith, and persistence.

    If you are starting from nothing, keep going — progress often begins long before anyone notices.

    Early Grit

    At twelve years old, I helped support my family by selling newspapers at midnight, shining shoes, washing dishes, and doing whatever work I could find. I didn’t know what IT was back then. I just knew how to work.

    Early 1990s at All Electronics. Long days, multiple bus rides, and the first spark of curiosity about computers.

    From Survival to Skill

    When I immigrated to the U.S. in 1990, survival came first. I worked warehouse jobs, midnight shifts, and eventually landed a customer service role at All Electronics.

    This photo was taken during that time.

    From 6:30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, I answered calls nonstop — sometimes hundreds in a day. Getting to work meant taking multiple buses across the city. After my shift ended, I took another bus to my second job — either working the drive-through at Taco Bell or selling auto parts at O’Reilly in Reseda.

    It was exhausting. But those years built my endurance.

    That computer behind me was just part of my job then. I didn’t know it yet, but it would become the doorway to my future.

    Later, I bought my own computer and started learning the only way I knew how — by breaking it and fixing it over and over again. Windows 3.0, autoexec.bat, and config.sys became my teachers. Night after night, I stayed with problems until they made sense.

    Breakthrough

    No one wanted to hire me without experience, so I created my own. I fixed computers for neighbors and small businesses for free. That’s how I learned.

    In the early days of IT, skills were learned the hard way. There were no structured learning paths — just curiosity, manuals, broken machines, and persistence.

    Eventually, USC took a chance on me — and I made sure I was ready. I supported hundreds of users, worked on migrations, and found my place in IT.

    From USC, new doors opened quickly. I was recruited by GTE — now known as Verizon — and not long after, an aerospace company in Carson offered me a six-figure role. It was a moment that reminded me how far persistence can take you.

    But in 2003, I made a decision that shaped the rest of my career. I left corporate America and built my own IT consulting company.

    The City of West Covina became one of my first major clients — along with firefighters and the police department. USC later brought me back as a senior consultant. Opportunities followed: Microsoft projects, the Claremont Colleges, law firms, American Samoa, and Fortune 500 environments.

    Over time, I expanded the business by hiring developers, engineers, and support staff — building not just systems, but people.

    Back to Corporate America

    The 2008 recession changed everything. It was a time when, as they say, big fish eat small fish. Consulting work slowed, and I knew it was time to pivot again.

    My first step back into corporate America was Payforward, a startup company where I helped migrate infrastructure to Amazon Web Services during the early days of cloud adoption. Working in a startup environment sharpened my ability to move fast, solve problems with limited resources, and adapt quickly.

    From there, I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Support Email Engineer — a worldwide organization operating at global scale. It was there that my PowerShell scripting became more refined and reliable. We supported enterprise messaging systems while the organization expanded into Azure and AWS, strengthening both my automation skills and my understanding of cloud infrastructure.

    After that, I moved into the financial sector at City National Bank. That environment introduced me to enterprise-grade infrastructure and security architecture — multiple datacenters, blade server systems, layered “brick-by-brick” firewall protection, application performance monitoring (APM), and the operational discipline required to keep banking systems secure and resilient. It was where infrastructure stopped being just systems and became architecture.

    Later, I joined PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company), one of the most demanding global environments I had experienced. Technologies like Citrix VDI, AWS, Azure, and enterprise security platforms such as Duo, CyberArk, Arctic Wolf, Palo Alto, and SIEM monitoring were part of daily operations. Mailboxes could reach sizes close to 1 TB, and migrations happened across global regions — North America (NA), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

    Like Payforward, these environments required regular PCI-DSS and HITRUST audits. My PowerShell automation matured even further, and I learned how to operate inside highly regulated financial systems where security, compliance, and reliability were non-negotiable.

    These experiences prepared me for the infrastructure work I continue to do today.

    Where I Am Today

    Today I work as an Infrastructure Engineer in Utah. I automate with PowerShell, document systems, support enterprise infrastructure, and mentor others who are starting their own IT journeys.

    My work now includes provisioning ERP computers into Intune, managing VMware environments, and maintaining a Cisco Meraki network with a 10GB fiber backbone across MDM and multiple IDF locations. I also support Cisco UCS, Fibre Channel connectivity, Veeam backups, end-of-life transitions, Microsoft Defender, and Azure infrastructure.

    Looking back, nothing about this path was easy. But every long bus ride, every second job, and every broken computer taught me something I still use today.

    I didn’t fall into IT. I worked my way into it.

    Everything I document today in my technical notes traces back to those early days of learning by doing.

    © 2012–2026 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

error: Content is protected !!