From Bus Boy To Tech Sales A Journey In IT And Cybersecurity with Matthew Wedlow | Episode 003

Episode Information

Show Notes

Description: In this episode of Career Downloads, host Manuel Martinez sits down with Matthew Wedlow, a seasoned IT professional with a diverse background in networking, cybersecurity, and technical sales. Matthew shares his unconventional path into tech, from working as a bus boy in Las Vegas casinos to becoming a published author and pre-sales engineer at F5 Networks.

Key Topics: – Matthew’s early career struggles and multiple attempts at college – How shadowing an IT professional at a casino kickstarted his tech journey – Certifications can be a powerful tool for breaking into tech and moving up – Tips for interview preparation and overcoming imposter syndrome – Don’t be afraid to job-hop if it means advancing your career and skills – Soft skills and networking are crucial for long-term success in the tech industry – Always have a career plan and be proactive in pursuing your goals – Embrace challenges and opportunities to learn, even if they’re outside your comfort zone

Highlights: – Matthew’s unique approach to job hopping for career growth – The value of soft skills and networking in the tech industry – Insights into the world of technical pre-sales – How to balance technical knowledge with business acumen

Quotes: “I would say try to learn as much as you can for the different things because it’s all similar and it’s all connected in different ways.” – Matthew Wedlow

“Have a plan, like you’re not going to get jobs aren’t going to come to you, you got to go to them, promotions aren’t going to come to you, raises aren’t going to come to you, you have to go get it.” – Matthew Wedlow

Resources Mentioned: • CompTIA certifications (A+, Network+, Security+) • Cisco certifications (CCNA, CCNA Security)

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Tags: #CareerAdvice #TechCareers #Cybersecurity #NetworkingJobs #ITCertifications #CareerGrowth #TechSales #PodcastInterview

Transcription

Manuel: Welcome everybody, my name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads where I hit the refresh button every week and bring on a new guest to have them talk about their career, lessons that they’ve learned, any tips and tricks that they’ve learned along the way and today I have with me Matthew Wedlow. So Matthew has a background in networking, he’s co-authored a book, he’s also done a little bit of teaching at some point during his career. So thank you Matthew for coming on.

Matthew: No, thanks Manny, I’m glad to be here.

Manuel: Appreciate it. So get started so what I’ve been kind of asking a couple people is just give me a little bit background on you and kind of where you grew up and are you originally from Vegas?

Matthew: Okay, yeah, yeah. So I’ve lived in Vegas most of my life. I’ve been here since I was a little kid but I was born in Japan, I come from a military family. So family worked overseas, went to Korea, went after Japan and then we came to California and then we came to Vegas. But since then I’ve been here for most of the time. I did leave for a job for a few years in North Carolina and came back. But yeah, that’s the skinny.

Manuel: All right, cool. So and when you started out, did you go to college for IT or did you even go to college at all?

Matthew: Yeah, yeah. So I went to college four times, dropped out twice. [Laughter]

Manuel: and finally decided to complete it.

Matthew: And then at the time, you know, pressure, society, teachers, everyone pushes you to go to school. But even if you don’t know what you want to do or if you don’t have any aims or goals like school, school, school, no matter what. So I went to school and hated it. I think the first degree I picked was just computer science, which I love the computer science part of it. I like the math. I like the tech part. But there’s all this other education that is completely unrelated. You have to do Philosophy, you have to do English, you have to do, you know, all these prereqs. And that that killed it for me. And I just lost motivation and two separate times I dropped out. I did end up finishing eventually, I did go back, I did get a Bachelor’s in IT and even I have Associates on IT as well. But it took me a while to get there. [Laugher]

Manuel: And so when you, you said, you know, you dropped out, did you, what were you doing in between there? So you dropped out and decided to start working or?

Matthew: just working normal jobs like here in Vegas. So working at the casinos, I think I was my longest job at the time was a bus boy where I was at one of the local casinos for like four years, which at the time was that was like four that was a dedicated job. And it was really easy and it paid the money was good enough where I was, you know, at that age was good enough to pay for my toys and living at home, living the good life. And I actually met an IT guy at the casino and funny, you know, as well, one of our mutual friends over the years, he was in IT, started talking to him. And he sent me down the path. And I didn’t even know what IT meant until I started talking to him. And he let me kind of shadow him at work. And I think that’s what really kickstarted it. And that’s when I went back to school, got my got some certs and history from there.

Manuel: Nice. So when you were shadowing him at work, is this during your working hours? Were you doing this outside of?

Matthew: A little bit of both actually?

Manuel: Oh, really?

Matthew: It started just being curious. We had the same the same coworkers. So a bunch of guys like the Engineering guys, the we were the Food and Beverage team, the Food and Beverage guys, and then the IT guys. But I didn’t really know what they did. They go in and out of secret rooms that are unlabeled. [Chuckle] They always had like they had every key to the whole building that that giant like janitor key ring. They always look clean. They dressed up. They were just different. Like what are the what do those guys do? So I just one day his name was Chance talk to Chance. Like, what, what do you guys do? And he’s like, you know what? Like, when are you off? I said, whatever, you know, whatever day it was, he’s like, just come in. Just come in when I’ll be there that day. I’ll let you follow me around. So he just let me follow him around on one of my off days. And he’s shown me like all the MDFs, the data centers, all the stuff. And I don’t understand anything. It’s all over my head, but I’m pretending like, oh, yeah, yeah, I get it.

Manuel: This is easy stuff.

Matthew: I do this stuff all the time. And then he kind of let me know that, “Hey, I’m going to quit. I’m actually quitting this job in like six weeks. So if you want, like I can tell you you’re interested. If you want, I’ll I can’t get you the job, but I can get you an interview So if you want to just shadow me until I quit on your own time, like, you know, you can work your job, but then come over here and work with me.” I was like, hell yeah. [Laughter] Like, again, I didn’t even know what he did. I didn’t understand it. He was, he was, you know, logging into switches and routers and stuff and making configuration changes. And he’s right over my head. But I could, it seemed interesting. And it seemed real versus the stuff I was even in school was like programming, coding for boring apps at the time. It just, it didn’t have the same immediate effect. Like you make some configuration changes and you can see it in the casino, something changed. Those slot machines now all report differently, or they were all, they had that red light at the top. Now that’s gone. I don’t know what he did, but he fixed it. [Laughter] And yeah, so it was like, it was basically an internship unofficially.

Manuel: Okay, nice. And then so you were you able to pick up enough skills during that six weeks for the interview or?

Matthew: I got the interview, but he didn’t hire me.

Manuel: Got it.

Matthew: So yeah, that was my first, my first letdown of many, you know, jumping, I was jumping in too deep. He was right. I didn’t have, I didn’t have the skill. I didn’t, I still didn’t know very much at all. I had started studying for the Net+, the CompTIA, like one of the, you know, the big three, A+, Net+, Security+.

Manuel: Right.

Matthew: And I hadn’t gotten it yet, but interview, I thought it went well, but he’s like, you know, I just, you’re just, he told me right away. Like he didn’t, he didn’t make me wait. He’s like, you just don’t have enough experience. Like, you know, if you can go out and get some experience, we’ll hire you because you already worked for the same company. So they hired some other guy, something happened with that other guy. I don’t know what, I don’t, I don’t think I’ve ever met him, but he ends up quitting about three months later. And that manager said, you know what, let’s take a shot on, on, on Matt. So he gave me a call one day, has he been studying? Did you get that cert