Interview

Interviewees experience in field: Shane (my interviewee) has experience in the field because he has been building and working with computers for a long time. He’s even owned small computer businesses.

Q: So how did you first get into the computer business?
A: Around 1990, a good friend got me into computers. First we started out selling and building computers for big name companies, and then we got into a small company that built computers.

Q: Did you ever have a certain interest in computers?
A: No not really. I mean I used computers in school, and I kind of liked programming. But I’m not what you call a nerd about computers.

Q: Where did you work?
A: I first worked locally up here in salt lake for a small company, then I moved to a Seattle based company called Hewitt Rand. They managed there money poorly, so my friend and I bought the interest and started our own small company.

Q: What kind of jobs did you first start doing?
A: Primarily, it was to help build computers so I would know what I was doing. Also I had to do a lot of learning.

Q: Is the technology completely different then it is today?
A: Extremely different. I remember when people would get excited about getting a 4 gigabyte hard drive. They would be like, oh wow what am I going to do with 5 gigabytes. Now there are 500 gigabyte hard drives.

Q: What did you do from when you got to, and left work?
A: I was always calling companies. On the phone asking different companies what there computer needs were so we could supply them. I even built some computers form schools.

Q: Did you ever face any big problems in the computer business?
A: We had problems all the time when different companies had different needs. Like if one company was doing memory archiving, and anther working on increasing memory like RAM. We would always have to find a compromise for both companies.

Q: Do you think being in the computer business paid off?
A: Absolutely! I learned so much about computers which is especially helpful now days: just a real good industry. It’s also a great job to have because other guys are going to get laid off before the guy who keeps your network running will.