Chris Fischer

SimAuthor

Systems administration + network engineering / 2004

SimAuthor made aviation software. My part was the network and data center behind it: systems administration, network engineering, and making the pieces work together. Praxis continued on the side. The posts from this stretch include mail tests, VPN tools, and trying to work from a network in Italy that allowed web browsing but blocked nearly everything I needed. A lot of the story is in those small, practical problems.

All the endeavors

From the archive

  1. The Server Racks WonI studied molecular biology but spent most of my time learning Linux, Unix, storage, and distributed systems on hardware in my basement.
  2. Praxis Kept GoingPraxis was entering its fifth year of systems and network consulting beside my full-time work.
  3. Answer by MondayA Friday company visit turned into a written systems-job offer with a Monday deadline.
  4. Ride to Work. Run Leadville?I was biking to work, training for a difficult marathon, and considering the Leadville Trail 100 run.
  5. The Resume, TwiceI applied through Dice, then sent the network-administrator resume directly because I did not trust the automated system to deliver it.
  6. Denver Was HiringA Dice employment report arrived while I was applying for network, Linux, Unix, and systems roles around Denver.
  7. Chicago Was on the CalendarI booked a May trip from Denver to Chicago and filed the confirmation with the rest of the travel mail in my new Gmail account.
  8. $8 Million LaterWestar Aerospace acquired SimAuthor for $8 million while I was responsible for its network, systems, security, and in-house data center.
  9. The Data Center Came HomeI rebuilt SimAuthor's network and moved the aviation software company's data center back inside its sixty-person office.
  10. Linux Jobs. All of Them.One Monday produced a pile of resumes for Linux support, network administration, and consulting work.
  11. Still Testing EmailRepeated test messages between my personal Gmail and SimAuthor account show a month of checking the mail path in both directions.
  12. Back to CU?While working at SimAuthor, I sent my resume to former CU colleagues and asked them to keep me in mind for administrator roles.

5 more in the archive.