O.K. Well, Let's get started.
What particular skills, education or knowledge are necessary to be effective at your job?
I think from an educational standpoint a business degree, a technical degree -- either or both -- are a good start.
It gives you the background you need to get started in this field.
Umm.. In my particular role, 15 years of IT experience and most of that in management was a requirement and I think it's a good requirement.
Having about 10 years of infrastructure background, knowing how to manage operations, a technical staff, people management skills.
Having a background in convincing senior management that we should be going down a certain path
or doing a certain thing, and knowing how to sell ideas with them is a good set of skills to have as well
I also think strategic planning - being able to understand where a business is going and translate that into an IT environment
is a skill that you develop over time and that's a very valuable skill in this role
Knowing project management, what it takes to implement a big project, what the components are
how the people, the technology, need to intertwine in order to be successful
and having a background in successful implementation of big projects is also a good background to have for this role
What parts of your job do you find satisfying and unsatisfying?
I think from a satisfaction level I really enjoy managing the people and the organization.
Helping them plan out their careers, what kinds of skills they need to build,
and motivating them to deliver good things for the organization
I like planning an agressive set of projects for the year and seeing them all accomplished
and making sure that those projects are things that help drive the business and make a difference
I also enjoy changing 'business as usual' to continuous improvement, continuously advancing our operational environment
and decreasing the cost of technology and complexity, and making that a good thing to happen for business every year
and that ... that's what we try and keep the people focused on here as well.
As far as things I don't enjoy I don't know what it would be. Everything has a challenge to it and it's fun.
Probably looking at, reviewing contracts is not the thing I enjoy the most, but it has to be done
but negotiating them is a fun thing to do .. so ... anyway that's the good and maybe the downside might be the contract aspect
but for the most part I enjoy all aspects of my role here.
What jobs and experience have led to your present position at Blue Cross Blue Shield
I have about 36 years of experience in the IT field
and started in 1972 ... believe it or not they actually had computers then
and half of that time I've spent in developing business applications, financial systems, banking systems, transportation systems
Probably the last fifteen years I've spent on the infrastructure side of IT
Operating, building, developing the infrastructure it takes to run the computing systems
So, I've had exposure in pretty much every aspect of IT
And I've had a lot of opportunities in various industries to do a lot of different things
So everything kind of led me here.
And having a great deal of experience across this field has prepared me for this role.
What were some keys to your career advancement?
One thing I've always tried to do is continually advance my knowledge of this field.
And I can do that through being a member of some local groups here in the twin cities,
taking classes, taking all of the training opportunities that I could
and going to different professional association meetings such as Gartner Group.
There are all sorts of opportunities to gain knowledge in this field
and you can do it every day just by reading articles out on the internet for that matter.
I think another thing that's helped me advance my career is taking risks.
I took risks like moving across the country a couple of times.
Moving my family ... taking jobs I wasn't quite sure I was totally prepared for
but I took them and kind of grew into the roles
and also working in several industries
I've been in dairy business, I've been in banking, I've been in transportation, I've been in the food business
and here in the insurance company, so all sorts of different career fields,
different industries, but the IT jobs are fairly consistent across all those industries
And another thing I think is really important is building a network of professional people that you can call on
People that you get to know
And they know what's going on in their particular companies
or for that matter in the profession
and maintaining that network.
It's difficult to do.
But it's probably one of the best things you can do for your career.
And when people network with me and ask me to help them I always try and take the opportunity to do so
and it pays itself back many times over.
Those are some of the things I think I've done to help my career.
In upper level administration are you expected to work outside of your regular hours?
For instance attending social events? Or expected to join organizations? Or work much overtime?
I think you'll find in the senior roles there are no regular hours.
And a forty hour work week is probably unheard of. You work more hours than that, typically.
And there are meetings outside of work. There are early morning late night meetings, that sort of thing.
It's not every day, but certainly there are situations that call for you to be there early and late.
I think meeting with vendors ... sometimes that occurs after work
I don't think anyone expects me to join a professional association and spend time there
but I do it for me and I do it to make my skills better.
and to stay connected so I don't think anyone actually expects that but I think it's important to do for yourself and your career
Why did you decide to work for Blue Cross Blue Shield?
Well I think one of the things that drew me here was the fact that I'd be working for a not-for-profit organization
with the purpose of making a health difference in peoples' lives.
I think for me that was much more motivating than enhancing share-holder value
which is really the purpose of a -driven for profit company.
and those are the ones I've worked for in the past.
Also the ethical behavior, the community involvement also attracted me here.
The scale and the scope of the role that I have today was broader than the ones I've had in the past
and it enabled me to call on my experiences and
to come in and make a real difference here and that attracted me as well.
So .. I love the job. I love getting up and coming into work and I love what we do here.
I've had 6 months experience as a help-desk analyst and desk-top support technician. How would you assess my experience for advancement in IT?
In my opinion you have a very good start.
You're getting the education and you have some experience
and to me the experience entails dealing with people, dealing with technology, solving a problem.
You have to solve problems every day that you're doing that job.
And, you're also learning to put the pieces together. How does the business function?
How do they use this particular device?
What software do they use?
And how do you make it work for the people in the business?
So, I think you're getting some really good experience.
And I would say you'd be ahead of someone coming in here with solely a degree.
Where might I find upper level management announcements for CIO's or CTO's?
Well as the name implies those are Chief type jobs, Chief Technical Officer, Chief Information Officer.
They are officer level roles.
And those jobs are typically not advertised in the open market.
They're usually given by a company to an executive recruiter.
And the recruiter finds you.
Now, this is where it's very important to have a network of people in this profession
because those people are the ones who hear about these roles
perhaps in their own companies
perhaps in another way through their networking
and sometimes you can get a leg up by having your network tell you about positions as they are created
and as they are given to an executive recruiter so when the recruiter calls people in your network they give them your name.
and then you get contacted ... so that's how that works.
Those roles are typically for people with several years of experience.
Nonetheless, that's how those roles are typically filled in the industry.
For my last question, I would like to know, which organizations or journals would help me in the IT field?
In journals I really can't recommend one over another.
There's a wealth of journals available. It depends on what your interests are.
There's some industry specific groups that if you work for a company that has a subscription say to Gartner, Gartner Group
That is a .. that's a company ... it's an industry organization
They follow all of the IT aspects
business direction, and they understand where this profession as well as the technology is going
but the Twin Cities have a wealth of groups that you could look at and become a part of
And as an example, Minnesota High Tech Association, MHTA,
There's ISSA which is a group for security
and several others ... Minnesota IPS which is Information Professional Society
There's lots of groups. It depends upon what your interests are.
But you should become a member of one or more of those groups because it helps you build a network of professionals that you can call on. People that can help you with your career.
And it really keeps you appraised of what's going on in the local area as well as in your profession.
So, any of those groups can help.
And I would encourage you to become a member of one.
O.K. Thank you for this information.
You're welcome. Glad to talk to you today.