InMotion Hosting wants to see all of its employees grow and succeed in their careers! We are using our Career Path spotlight to showcase some of the amazing leaders within our company by letting them tell their story about how they got their start with IMH. This month we are featuring our Senior Manager, Erik, who is over our Tier 3 Operations group and our Corporate Support department. He currently has an open Tier 3 Systems Operations position! If you would like to apply to this position, please click here. We hope you enjoy!
Hometown: I grew up in a small town in New England called Dighton, Massachusetts which is about an hour south of Boston. I moved to Virginia Beach in 2004 to escape the frigid winters and purchase my first home.
Position: Senior Manager of Information Technology
Been with InMotion Hosting since: March 2009
What is your current role at InMotion Hosting? What do you like most about it?
I am presently the Senior Manager of Information Technology, which includes oversight of our Tier 3 Operations group and the Corporate Support department. I genuinely enjoy working through the unique challenges that each day provides in this role, but best of all, I get to do so alongside some of the brightest minds I’ve ever worked with.
What position did you start in with IMH? Tell us about your career growth since then.
I actually started with InMotion as a Tier 1 Support Representative in 2009. Being an avid Linux user and member of the Linux community since the early 1990s, I was excited to learn that a local Linux-based hosting company was growing so rapidly. Being a self-employed system administrator at the time, I was disappointed that there were not any openings in our systems departments. Nonetheless, still wanting to be a part of the organization, I accepted an offer for the Tier 1 position and quickly advanced as new opportunities became available.
Coolest gadget you own, want to own or have read about?
I have an affinity for all of my “geek toys” as my wife calls them, but if I had to choose just one, I would have to say it’s my Dell XPS 13. It’s hands down my favorite computer because of its lightweight design and small size, but yet it still does not compromise one bit on performance.
What would you like to tell us about yourself?
Over the years, I’ve learned through my own experiences the importance of maintaining a firm work-life balance. While circumstances in this industry can sometimes make it impossible to truly “disconnect”, I try to seize every opportunity to decompress when I’m able to do so. I also encourage the same philosophy for all of my team members, which helps to minimize burnout while maximizing productivity and morale.
Have you used our Professional Development Program?
Indeed, I have. For those who are unaware, our Tier 3 Operations team is responsible for the provisioning, administration, maintenance and security of all of our servers and networks. Upon being promoted to manager, I realized that I needed to expand my skills and knowledge of advanced networking concepts, routing protocols, enterprise routers/switches, etc. InMotion’s Professional Development Program was an extremely valuable resource for me, as it enabled me to travel and complete Brocade Certified Network Engineer Training in 2015.
