About this website - why we're here

Welcome to the site. 

I have been in Information Technology (IT) for over 35 years.  I graduated from Fox Valley Technical College in 1987 with an Associates Degree in computers.  I worked at three primary jobs in IT from 1986 (as an intern) to 2021 for just three companies as their IT manager. 

When COVID-19 came on the scene in 2020, the workplace changed.  People were told to stay home if you could, and more "work from home" jobs were created.  Due to the business I was involved in (tool distribution), it was a "hands-on" type job.  We still had to pull orders, pack them, and ship them.  The company I was working for was a small company, so when the governor of Ohio told everyone over the age of 65 to stay home, to slow the spread of the virus, our warehouse guy decided he would just retire.  I took on the responsibilities of warehouse manager on top of my IT duties, just because it needed to be done.  As time went on, and more restrictions came down regarding the virus, more businesses were tightening their purse strings.  Since more manufacturing plants were slowing (or closing), business began shrinking.  The government offered funding to help keep employees on staff, just so they wouldn't encounter large amounts of mass unemployment.  That being said, because our company was so small, and I was one of the higher paid employees, they let me go in February of 2021.

Now I found myself unemployed and my confusion began.  See, in the past, I had a job lined up before I went to a new job.  I hadn't experienced "down-time" between jobs.  I always knew where I was going.  Not this time.  I had to learn things from scratch.  I'm hoping that the things I've learned, with my own experiences, and help from a friend of mine that has "mastered the system" can help you as well.  We may not be able to get you a job directly, or get you housing directly, but we can certainly give you the resources you need to gain that achievement on your own.  This was very debilitating to me, made me feel like I was a failure.  I had no idea where to even begin to look for help.  I knew I had to file for unemployment, but now I had to rewrite my resume, review my work history, make sure I didn't miss any details when re-creating my resume.  I reached out to a local job service, and they helped me redo that, but it took me a long time to find that resource.  I was also able to find resources to give me additional education, to further my IT career and make me more "sell-able" on my resume.

Even though I had all of these things going for me, the software that my company had used, limited me in my opportunities in the Dayton area.  Even though I had other knowledge and experience on general IT practices, and practical business experience, they wanted more specific needs (and it didn't help that I didn't have a bachelors degree). 

Eventually, my unemployment ran out, I had to cash in my 401k and live off of whatever savings I had left.  I was able to survive on that for about 9 months.  I had to find help in a quick way to be able to stay in the house I was renting so me and my dog had a roof over our heads.

Because of this, I began to scramble even harder to find resources to help me stay in my house, but that plan failed miserably.  I wasn't able to pay my rent, my landlord sent me a 3-day notice letter, telling me that I had 3 days to get out, or he was going to evict me through court.  You don't want to get evicted because that ends up on your permanent record as a renter, and makes it difficult to get a place to live in the future.

I became homeless.  My really good friend took me in for a week, saying you can work on getting back on your feet.  I made several phone calls, not really knowing if I had been calling the right people.  I tried to call about jobs, to find housing, to find any kind of help I could.  I was blessed to get help from the United Way, and they were able to work with another organization to find me a hotel room.  They paid for 5 weeks for me to stay in a hotel with my dog, but I was still not able to find a job that would hire me.

Once my time at the hotel had run out, my friend let me stay another week at her house.  I sold as much of my stuff that was in a storage unit to be able to afford gas money, and I headed back to Wisconsin, Oshkosh, specifically, because that's where I grew up and most of my family and friends live.

I have now started this site, in hopes that if there's someone out there that struggles with the same type situation I had to deal with, you can see there are several resources available for you to succeed. 

I really want you to succeed.  Good Luck!