Career Downloads

Career Downloads
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Manuel Martinez hosts the Career Downloads podcast where he interviews a different guest each episode to learn about their individual and diverse backgrounds, job history, and techniques they use to manage their career. So plug in and download the knowledge.

  1. May 19

    From PBX Operator to Chief Innovation Officer with Rachel Papka

    Episode Information Show NotesWhat do you do when healthcare is your calling but the patient side is not your path? Rachel Papka figured that out the long way.She started at a hospital as a PBX phone operator. Worked through ER registration, landed in radiology, and was asked to become a super user when the hospital adopted its first electronic medical record. There were no certifications for healthcare technology at that time. No clear career path. She learned on the job and never looked back.That first step grew into 15 years inside a health system, a three-year run overseeing Nevada’s health information exchange, and eventually the Chief Innovation Officer role at Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging. Steinberg is now part of Intermountain Health. Her title changed, but her approach never did: understand the process, understand the people, then match the technology to both.But as much as this episode covers healthcare technology, it really covers something else: learning to show up better when the pressure is on. Rachel talks openly about being “seen as difficult” early in her career, what a 360 assessment cost her when it was delivered without care, and the year her doctor gave her the evaluation that changed everything: “Rachel, you’re one of the most intelligent people I’ll ever meet. You’re great with technology. You have implemented and you’ve changed so much. Now it’s time to work on the people.”She shares how mentors and business coaches play different roles, why her emotional responses to feedback were not weakness but a signal about how feedback was being delivered, and the small specific practice she uses to keep herself grounded when a tough conversation is about to go sideways.WHAT RACHEL PAPKA DOES NOW:Rachel is the Chief Innovation Officer at Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging (now part of Intermountain Health), where she oversees change management, the contact center handling close to 3,000 calls per day, and the Health Information Technology department. She describes her role as having one foot in operations and one foot in technology.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Process first, people second, technology thirdBefore any implementation, Rachel asks: is there even a need for technology? She maps the workflow, identifies who the end users are, and only then matches the technology to that reality.Mentors and business coaches are not the same thingA mentor is like a cricket on your shoulder – deeply invested in who you are, growing with you over time, and available when you are in crisis. A business coach is trained, brought in for a specific event or goal, and gives you tools. Both serve a real function and they are not interchangeable.How feedback is delivered determines whether it can be receivedRachel broke down in early feedback sessions, which got labeled as being difficult or emotional. But the problem was not her. It was feedback arriving without context, care, or a path forward. Understanding that difference changed how she receives criticism and how she gives it.Finding your grounding tool mattersRachel worked with her coach for eight months before realizing that reaching for her water bottle was her natural grounding move in a high-stakes moment. Finding your own version of that is worth the effort.Reflect on what went well before building what comes nextRachel’s annual family practice is to review the vision board from the prior year and ask only: what went well? Not what didn’t. Then she builds the vision for the year ahead. She calls the whole practice reflecting and projecting.TOPICS COVERED:– Starting as a PBX phone operator and finding healthcare technology by accident– Why nursing wasn’t for her and what that self-knowledge gave her– Becoming a super user and training clinicians across the country– What workflow analysis actually means and why it must come before any technology decision– Moving from a health system to the health information exchange to outpatient radiology– The mentor who redirected her career and still connects with her today– The distinction between a mentor and a business coach and when you need both– Being called “a bull in a China shop” and what she has done about it– The 360 assessment that introduced her to her own patterns– The evaluation at year one: “Now it’s time to work on the people”– Why the way feedback is delivered changes whether anyone can receive it– Using water as a physical tool to ground yourself in an emotional moment– Asking “are you in a good mood today?” before a hard conversation– Vision boards, annual reflection with family, and building the year ahead– Manifestation as action, not just intentionWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:– Healthcare professionals who want to understand the technology side of their field– Tech professionals who want to work in healthcare– Leaders who are receiving feedback and struggling to hear it– Anyone who has been called “too much” and is working on channeling that instead of suppressing it– Anyone building their first vision board, or their tenth– People who don’t fit neatly in one lane and are still figuring out how to describe what they doCONNECT WITH RACHEL PAPKA:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-papka-31b7a48/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptRachel Papka: Do you have record on? Manuel Martinez: I do. I had been recording the whole time. So as soon as we stopped, I was like, I hit record right after that. Rachel Papka: Well, that’s where we should start. Do you have record on? Manuel Martinez: Look at that. I hit the button this time. So for those of you, this intro is going to be a little bit different. We just finished recording what I think was an amazing podcast. The good thing is, is I have the entire audio. But we do not have any of the video thanks to me not following my processes. Rachel Papka: So what we’re going to do here is we’re just going to say, first off, things happen. Life happens. We just spent the last hour and a half together really getting to know each other, getting to know our backgrounds a little bit more. And what we need for career downloads is to make this real. And this is real right now. Manuel Martinez: Definitely. It’s real. And it just goes to show things happen, right? Business, personal, just all the time. And I mean, we talked about it at the beginning of the episode. How many times did it take us to actually get to film this? And then we go and film it and record it. And it’s not filmed. Like, luckily, the audio is there. Rachel Papka: Yeah. Manuel Martinez: But that’s the extent of it. Rachel Papka: I think this just kind of again shows that life is going to throw things at you. And we talked about getting knocked down or we talked about things not working out. But you know what? It happens. This is fabulous. I’m again so grateful that I just got to spend this time with you. I got to learn more about you. I got to learn some history. We talked about vision boards and manifestation and the journey to becoming a chief innovation officer and your journey about TED Talks that you will, you will be on TED Talks for sure. Manuel Martinez: I will. And I learned that I just have to make sure to prepare. You can’t just, similar to what we talked about vision boards and manifestation, you can’t just say it and it’s going to happen. You actually have to put in the work. And I didn’t put in the work for the first time and I knew it. And now I will. And I posted about this and I said, it may not happen this year. It may not happen this year. It may take me 10 years. But I will make it happen. Rachel Papka: Yeah. And we don’t hit record. Manue: And when we don’t hit record, we go back, we update our process and says, hey, make sure we hit record. Not only did I not hit record on my primary device, I didn’t hit record on my secondary. So I talked about it once where this happened once before, where I only had one and I didn’t hit record. And then I was like, hey, you know what? I need to have a backup. I need to have the SD cards in the camera and hit record there just in case. And my primary didn’t, I didn’t hit primary and I didn’t hit the secondary. I guess I have the tertiary. At least I have the audio. Rachel Papka: So that’s okay. We’re unique. Yes. And we’re going to just move on from this. And I’m going to encourage everybody to listen to the audio. Manuel Martinez: Yeah. Well, thank you. And again, I appreciate your time and I will beam that you are the chief innovation officer. I’m going to take some of that energy that you bring and I’m going to innovate and find a way to make this work. Rachel Papka: Thank you. Manuel Martinez: S...

    1h 18m

  2. May 5

    From Air Force to Cloud Engineer with Jordan McConnell

    Episode Information Show NotesWhat does it look like to build a tech career when no one hands you anything?Jordan McConnell ran network operations at Langley Air Force Base with a top-secret clearance, supporting 100,000 people across 15 bases. When he left active duty, the civilian job market didn’t care about any of that. So he took help desk calls getting yelled at, rebuilt from the bottom, and funded every step of his own career development without waiting for an employer to do it for him. That journey eventually landed him at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas – where HR wrote a solutions architect role specifically for him – and later at New American Funding as a Cloud Engineer doing FinOps work he discovered at a dinner and taught himself on his own time and his own dime.This conversation also goes somewhere most tech career podcasts don’t. Jordan has lived with Crohn’s disease for 17 years, had multiple major surgeries, and still shows up every day. He talks honestly about how chronic illness shapes the way he works, why it became a source of fuel rather than a reason to stop, and what he wants other people living with invisible illness to know.WHAT JORDAN DOES NOW:Jordan is a Cloud Engineer at New American Funding, a nationally recognized mortgage lender based in Southern California. He holds FinOps Practitioner and FOCUS Analyst certifications along with several Microsoft Azure credentials, and he pitched a cost-savings plan to the company’s CISO within 90 to 120 days of joining.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Self-fund your career when no one else willJordan bought his own certifications and paid out of pocket to attend FinOps X in San Diego. New American Funding hired him because he showed up with six months of self-directed learning they hadn’t asked for.Closed mouths don’t get fedHe told the managing director of a Las Vegas news station that his childhood dream was to be a weatherman. His 11-year-old son got a full behind-the-scenes tour. He told a CISO at an executive dinner he was always looking for opportunity. That conversation eventually became a job offer.Ego is not your amigoAfter being laid off from MGM Resorts, Jordan posted publicly on LinkedIn asking for help finding a job. A month later he had one. Humility opened the door his resume hadn’t.People don’t earn your respect, they lose itJordan starts every relationship with trust and respect given. He keeps his baseline consistent, treats the CEO and the janitor the same way, and lets people’s behavior over time tell him who belongs in his circle.It’s easy to do hard things when you’re always doing hard thingsLiving with Crohn’s disease for 17 years has meant daily symptoms and multiple major surgeries. Jordan describes it as fuel – when you’re always uncomfortable, doing uncomfortable things gets easier.TOPICS COVERED:• Discovering FinOps through a dinner conversation and pivoting on the spot• Self-funding certifications and attending a national conference out of pocket• “Closed mouths don’t get fed” – how speaking up created real opportunity• Air Force career: top-secret clearance, Langley AFB, supporting 100,000 people• Going from Staff Sergeant to help desk calls getting cursed at• Day 91 of a 90-day contract: badge stopped working, week before Christmas• Getting 5 Azure certifications in 12 months without waiting for permission• Being the only engineer at a table full of CISOs and CTOs• The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas: becoming the first solutions architect• Living with Crohn’s disease for 17 years and choosing not to use it as a crutch• Building your inner circle through discernment and honest feedback• Character vs. reputation: you don’t control one, but you control the otherWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Tech professionals who are self-funding their own career development and want to know it pays off• Veterans transitioning from military to civilian tech roles who feel like they’re starting over• Anyone living with a chronic illness or invisible condition navigating a professional career• Engineers who want to move into leadership or management roles• People who’ve been laid off and aren’t sure whether to ask for help publicly• Anyone who wants to get better at networking without keeping it genericCONNECT WITH JORDAN McCONNELL:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanbmcconnell/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about the background and their experiences to help you pick up some actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. For today’s episode, I have with me Jordan McConnell. He and I connected recently through LinkedIn. I’ve looked at his profile, a lot of what he had doing. He is in the FinOps world now, which is something that I’ve been introduced in my current role. We got to talking. We met up in person. Great guy has his own podcast about something completely different, which we’ll touch on in this conversation, just the blend of your personal life and then your professional life. Just some of the challenges around that. With that, I’ll introduce Jordan. Jordan McConnell: Hey Manuel. Thank you so much for having me. I’m grateful to be here. Manuel Martinez: I’m excited to talk a little bit more about you. I know you and I have shared some of those details, but for you to share that with other people who may or may not be going through the same thing, but something similar. I think in every conversation, there’s always something we can take away from something that somebody said. Jordan McConnell: I definitely agree. Manuel Martinez: So if you can start by telling us a little bit about what your current role is and some of the responsibilities. Jordan McConnell: Definitely. So I work for a company called New American Funding. They’re a mortgage lender based out of southern California. They actually just won, I think – they won a lot of awards recently. They’re one of the best companies to work for in the United States. They’re one of the best companies for women to work for the United States. One of the best mortgage lenders to work for in the United States. I’m beyond grateful to work for them. I’m a cloud engineer for them. What that means is so when people go to their jobs and log in, like manual, password, those kind of things. I work on all the stuff, infrastructure behind that to allow people to do their jobs everyday. Manuel Martinez: And it’s – It’s interesting, right? Because a lot of times people don’t realize all the work that goes behind. They’re just like, “I log in. It either works or it doesn’t.” There’s so much more behind that. Jordan McConnell: Definitely. I’ve learned that throughout my career. There’s behind the veil, kind of a Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. There’s so much going on. For people that are interested in this career field, there’s so much to learn. That’s kind of why I got into FinOps, is that I was working on just regular infrastructure, like log into your computer stuff. I was really interested in the cloud. I worked on different certifications. I got – a little tangent, but I was introduced at a dinner for a guy from Salesforce. I learned that this person was managing $100 million, something like that, like a month in cloud spend. He was telling me, “Hey, Jordan, have you heard of FinOps?” I’m like, “No, I haven’t.” He’s like, “What is it?” That’s how to optimize resources and how to save money to provide the maximum business value to an organization. That sounds like something that, to me, saving money or making money for an organization is how you stay in business. With that person’s lead, I got my FinOps practitioner certification. I got my FOCUS analyst certification. I went to the FinOps X conference in San Diego last year. I met a lot of great people over there, too. This year I had a great time. I took all that knowledge. I took those certifications and all that knowledge with me. I was able to take that to a new American funding. I was given the opportunity about 90 days after, 90, 120 days after I got there to pitch, to propose, I should say, a cost savings plan to the CISO of New American Funding himself. Folks listening out there, and actually that entire journey was self-funded and believing in myself. That’s probably one of the biggest things I wanted to talk about is just having faith having faith in your own ability. Don’t let other people tell you what you can and can’t do. That’s what I did. The certifications, I bought those out of my own pocket. I funded the entire trip to San Diego out of my own pocket. Then when I left MGM ...

    1h 11m

  3. Apr 21

    From Trade School to Cybersecurity Sales Engineer with Juan Mazo

    Episode Information Show NotesAt age seven, Juan Mazo told his family he would bring his mom’s family to America one day. By 26, he had done it. His mom hasn’t paid rent since 2015. And then he fell into depression.Juan built a tech career that most people would call a success from PC repair out of his aunt’s restaurant in Connecticut to hedge fund IT support in New York, to running the IT department at a clinical trials software company, to spending two years unemployed before landing at Veracode, where he has been a Solutions Architect Sales Engineer for seven years. But the most important parts of his story have less to do with titles and more to do with understanding what work is actually for, how to know what your time costs, and why hitting your goals does not automatically mean you know what comes next.This is a conversation about career development that goes deeper than certifications and job titles. Juan talks about how seven years in application security sales taught him to tie tech work to business outcomes, why he reads and learns constantly but always asks himself what he is actually doing with that knowledge, and what he figured out about his own happiness during two years of reading, failing, and starting over.WHAT JUAN MAZO DOES NOW:Juan is a Solutions Architect Sales Engineer, at a company that scans applications for security vulnerabilities. He works with organizations to understand their security risks, connect security initiatives to business outcomes, and build the case for why secure code protects revenue. He has been there seven years and genuinely loves the work.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Security Must Connect to RevenueYou cannot go to a business and say you need something because everyone else is doing it. You have to tie it to a revenue outcome, shorter sales cycles, more audits passed, more customers closed. That framing gets initiatives approved.Your Time Has a Dollar Value Per HourJuan learned this early: when he found out his phone calls cost $200 an hour, it changed how he thought about meetings, decisions, and where to spend his energy. He applies the same logic to personal decisions.Failing Businesses Was the Best Education He BoughtHe came out of two years unemployed with $20,000 in debt and businesses that all failed. He compares it to an MBA that cost $400,000 less.Knowledge Without Execution Is Just EntertainmentReading, watching videos, going to conferences none of it builds a skill until you do something with it. The gap between learning and doing is where most people stay stuck.Achieving Your Goals Can Break You If You Haven’t Asked What’s NextWhen the thing you have been working toward since childhood is done, you will not automatically know what to do. Juan hit that wall at 26 and spent two years figuring out what actually makes him happy.TOPICS COVERED:– Building an IT side business as a teenager from a restaurant bulletin board– How a recruiter’s coaching before his first interview shaped how he shows up professionally– White glove IT service at a hedge fund and what that taught him about people skills– Becoming the first sysadmin at a 10-year-old company with no security policies– Writing security policies from a NIST framework for the first time– Learning to qualify sales opportunities and stop wasting everyone’s time– The million-dollar DocuSign that went directly to the CEO and what it cost him– Resistance to cloud in 2015 and resistance to AI now – same pattern, different decade– How he thinks about the cost of a meeting and whether it is worth the combined hourly rate in the room– Reading 26 books in a year at age 26– Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie– The businesses that all failed and what he learned from each one– Achieving his childhood goal of bringing his family to America and falling into depression after– What he needs to be happy: a good internet connection, working on cars, and family around him– Three things you cannot outrun: finances, health, and relationships– How he found his people at Veracode and later at Defcon– Using Facebook groups as a curated learning tool for cars, beer, and cybersecurity– Why community accelerates learning faster than any courseWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:– IT professionals wondering whether to move from technical roles into sales engineering or solutions architecture– People who feel like they are learning a lot but not sure what to do with it– Anyone who has hit a career goal and found themselves asking “now what?”– Security and IT professionals who want to get better at tying their work to business outcomes– Early-career tech workers building skills outside of their job title– Anyone who has started a side business or is thinking about it and wants to hear what failing actually looks like– People trying to figure out what happiness means for them before they spend another decade chasing the wrong thingCONNECT WITH JUAN MAZO:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juanmazo/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences. For today’s episode I have with me Juan Mazo. He and I met a few months ago at a government conference. We got to…he was working one of the booths near where I was. We got to talking, some shared interests outside of work. It just happened to be around the time that the NFR, so the National Finals Rodeo, was happening. So we started continuing that conversation. Had a couple of ones after that and discovered we have a lot of shared interest both from a tech side, outside of work. So again, this is going to be a fun conversation for me. So with that I’ll introduce Juan. Juan Mazo: Thank you for that. Thanks for having me over and my name is Juan Mazo. I currently work over at Veracode, I’m a solutions architect sales engineer, and I’ve been there for about seven years. I honestly love that job. It’s one of the coolest things that have happened to me. It’s a great opportunity for me. And one of the main reasons I want to say that is because when I actually started at that company, I was unemployed for two years. And the cool thing about it is I ended up in cybersecurity. Never really wanted to be in cybersecurity. I was always in IT though, right? So I ended up in this place. And the reason I really liked it is because it was a place where I didn’t think I had any real interest in it because I’ve always grown up around technology. But then when I got into application security, this is where you hear the stories of getting hacked, hackers, and things of that nature. And it really went down that route. And I’ve really enjoyed learning that for the last seven years. Manuel Martinez: Wow. So then it’s interesting. I know we’ll get to why no interest and some of the things that you did before that, which probably again, trying new things. So I’ve talked about it plenty of times where I thought I wanted to be a network person. I had no interest. Or I thought I had an interest, got into it. I’m like, “Yeah, this is not for me.” And I pivoted around. So then if you can tell us a little bit about where you grew up and then eventually what you thought you might do for a career and then what you actually did to start your career. Juan Mazo: Sure. So I grew up over in Connecticut, a small beach town called West Haven. And what was interesting there was I always knew I wanted to be in technology. An interesting thing that’s happened is ever since I was a young kid, I grew up with a really massive family. I have like 45 first cousins. And my family, when I was probably around seven, they would ask me, “What do you want to grow up to be?” And I would be like a cop, a firefighter, normal stuff. And then they said, “What would you want to do with your life?” And I was like, “I would always want to bring my mom’s family to America one day.” And they looked at me and said, “That’s really expensive.” And she’s like one of 10. So they always said, “You’re going to need to make a lot of money.” And from that point on, my answer to them immediately at that really young age was, “I guess I’ll just make a lot of money.” Now, I haven’t made a lot of money, but it’s relative, especially when you’re a kid, especially growing up. But then fast forward to around, I’m 14 years old and I go to trade school. And in trade school, you can learn to be a plumber, electrician, or work in technology, which is what I ended up doing. And I ended up picking a trade at 14. I remember we were all in an auditorium after going through every single trade freshman year of high school. And...

    1h 20m

  4. Apr 7

    Thirty Years In Consulting, And Nobody Wrote The Job Description with Kim Snyder

    Episode Information Show NotesKim Snyder graduated with three degrees in accounting, MIS, and entrepreneurship. Companies had no idea what to do with her. They weren’t ready for someone who wanted to do all three. So she built the career herself. Over the next 30+ years, Kim went from QA engineer to tech consultant to finance consultant to business owner, coach, and speaker. Her path wasn’t linear. It was strategic in some places and instinctive in others. She learned to read herself early knowing when she was bored, what she was actually good at, and how to ask for what she wanted before someone else decided for her. This conversation covers a lot of ground. How she navigated being a young woman in rooms full of skeptics. How she built a career through relationships she didn’t even call networking. How she still felt like a fraud 20 years in. And how she eventually figured out that holding back isn’t modesty, it’s selfishness. WHAT KIM SNYDER DOES NOW:Kim runs her own business focused on consulting, coaching, and speaking for corporate and small business clients. She also takes contract work in software test lead roles and mentors professionals through organizations like her local project management community and Startup Nevada. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Know your strengths then say them out loudIn corporate settings, people often stay quiet about what they’re good at. Kim learned that naming it clearly makes it easy for others to give you more of the work you actually want. The title/money/company ruleEvery time you consider a career move, at least one of three things should improve: your title, your compensation, or the company you’re joining. If a lateral move doesn’t improve any of them, it’s not worth making. Build your network before you need itKim’s entire career was fueled by relationships. Not formal networking just staying in touch. She recommends 30 minutes a week, five messages to people in your field. Most of the time, just checking in. Imposter syndrome doesn’t expireKim felt like a fraud walking into client sites 20 years into her career. What broke the cycle was catching herself giving other women the exact advice she wasn’t taking herself. “It’s not about me. It’s about them.”This is how Kim got past shyness in high-pressure client situations and on stage. She stopped thinking about how she was being perceived and focused on what the other person needed. Coaching vs. mentoring know the differenceA mentor guides you over time, often informally. A coach helps you move faster in a specific area and typically charges for it. An advocate inside your company positions you behind the scenes. Kim used all three at different points in her career. TOPICS COVERED:• Three degrees, one career: accounting, MIS, and entrepreneurship• First consulting role and what drove her toward problem-solving work• Being a young woman in tech leading with experience to earn credibility fast• The “title, money, or company” rule for every career transition• Switching from tech consulting to finance consulting over company objections• Using your existing relationships to find your next role• Why she preferred smaller companies that let her do more• Staying close to customers and avoiding the promotion-away-from-the-work trap• Why 80% across multiple things beats 100% on one• Imposter syndrome after two decades in the field• Toastmasters and the path from shy athlete to keynote speaker• Shyness as selfishness – a reframe worth sitting with• Coaching vs. mentoring vs. having an advocate in your corner• Paying for your own conferences and development when your company won’t WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Consultants at any level trying to figure out how to move from tech to business roles• Early-career professionals who aren’t sure how to advocate for themselves• Anyone who has ever felt like a fraud despite years of experience• Women navigating male-dominated technical environments• Professionals thinking about when to stay, when to move, and how to decide• Anyone who has been told to “just do the work” and wondered if there’s more to it CONNECT WITH KIM SNYDER:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimdsnyder/ ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday. Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez, and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences, to try and uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. I’m excited for the guests I have today. So I have with me Kim Snyder. Her and I met at a networking event, which is going to be a recurring theme that’s going to come up throughout this conversation. And it’s really just going to show the power. You know, I’ve posted a lot about this on LinkedIn, just meeting people. You never know who you’re going to meet. And again, it’s not for what they can do for you. A lot of times, as you might be able to learn from them, maybe you’ll be able to help them out and, you know, maybe even bounce ideas or worst case, you make a new friend. So with that, I’ll introduce Kim. Kim Snyder: Hi Manuel. Happy to be here. Do you like Manny or Manuel? Manuel Martinez: Either one works for me. Kim Snyder: Okay. I like just Kim. Manuel Martinez: You like just Kim. So Manny works fine, if you feel more comfortable. You know, I go by Manuel, Kim Snyder: Perfect. Manuel Martinez: but people that I know, they’re like, hey, Manny, it makes it – Kim Snyder: Manuel works. Manuel Martinez: a little bit more comfortable. Kim Snyder: Manuel works. Well, thank you for inviting me. And this is awesome. And yeah, the networking theme is definitely prevalent in my life. And we met in a women in tech event, which is kind of in line with both of us. We have a tech background, right? But it also was very entrepreneurial, which I also have that background too. So it was good to see there was a handful of men there. And I always love to see men supporting women. So thank you for that. Thanks for having me. I’m happy to be here and share anything I can to help somebody. So if they, if it saves them a day or a headache or something, I’m always happy to contribute, so. Manuel Martinez: Exactly. And that’s part of the reason – it’s one of the main reasons that I kind of started this podcast is just sharing other people’s experiences. Because I’ve done a lot of mentorship, I’ve done teaching, and people usually will ask like, hey, what do you recommend? Or you know, what should I do? And sometimes they’re going and asking questions that maybe I don’t have experience, but oh, I’ve talked to Kim. Kim mentioned this and they want more detail. And again, a friend of mine said, well, if you know these people, why don’t you just interview them instead of me having to be a third party or regurgitate, I can just share your story and your experiences? Kim Snyder: There you go. I love it. Yeah. So it saves you time and it helps somebody else. Right. Manuel Martinez: Exactly. So to start off, if you can tell me a little bit about your current role and responsibilities, just so that people get a sense of who Kim is today. Kim Snyder: Wow. So I am a business owner and I do contract work for corporate. And I also do speaking and coaching and consulting in the corporate space and also the small business space, which is probably a big turn from the typical corporate route that I was at, you know, five, 10 years ago, even a couple of years ago. So sometimes we have control over a career and sometimes we don’t, right? Manuel Martinez: Yeah. Kim Snyder: So I have a contract role with a former corporate client of mine and I’m in there and I’m a test lead for software, which is something I’ve never done before. But because I like to, I like to learn things and I’m like, sure, I’ll give it a try. I’ve been on projects for 20 years. So how hard can it be, right? Manuel Martinez: And of course, being able to pick up those skills along the way and you’re like, maybe I don’t know how to do this, but I have other relevant transferable skills. And maybe it’s even just the knowledge of knowing I figured out other things in the past. I’m going to do it again. Kim Snyder: Yeah. And I mean, so, you know, I’ve been on enterprise wide projects for the last 20 or 30 years. And in that, you know, even though they were smaller or a subset of what I’m doing now, you still pick up things, right? So it’s still running a large project at a company, um, products that I’m not as familiar with, but look, I’m resourceful. ...

    1h 15m

  5. Mar 31

    From Cold Calls To Consultancy with Parmjit Kaur

    Episode Information Show NotesWhat do you do when you get laid off at the biggest project management conference in the world? You work the room, go home, and build your own company.Parmjit Kaur did not set out to be a project manager. She wanted to be a Bollywood actress, then a doctor, then a teacher, then a radio host. What she became was one of the more interesting career stories you will hear – born in Scotland, raised in England, claiming New Jersey, and now running her own consultancy in Las Vegas. Her path moved from retail sales at Macy’s to door-to-door fragrance sales to healthcare IT to program management, and eventually to building and leading the PMI Southern Nevada chapter as president before a layoff at the PMI Global Summit pushed her to go out on her own. This conversation covers the career, the setbacks, the framework she built from all of it, and the community she has grown along the way.WHAT PARMJIT DOES NOW:Parmjit runs her own project management consultancy, where she takes on project management contracts across different industries. She is also an active public speaker and the host of the Your Life Projectized podcast. At the time of this episode, she is managing a large website modernization project for a community-facing organization.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Sales teaches you something a job description never willThe law of averages is real. Parmjit credits door-to-door and healthcare IT sales with building the resilience and communication instincts she still uses in project management today.The kindergartner test for communicationWhen sharing information with a team or stakeholders, ask yourself: could a kindergartner walk away understanding what you just explained? It is not about being simple. It is about closing the gap between what you said and what they heard.Stop waiting for the annual reviewParmjit applied the Agile concept of sprint retrospectives to her own career – seeking feedback at regular intervals instead of waiting six months or a year to find out she had been doing something wrong.The CPR frameworkCommunication, Project Management, and Resiliency. Parmjit says these three things are all you need to revive any project, any business, or any season of life. The framework grew directly out of her real experiences: a house fire, a misdiagnosis, three car incidents in seven days, and a layoff she did not see coming.Community is built on authenticity, not utilityPeople can feel when you only want something from them. Parmjit’s approach to building a professional community is rooted in genuine interest, servant leadership values from her Sikh upbringing, and the kind of human connection that does not start with an agenda.TOPICS COVERED:• From retail sales to door-to-door fragrance sales and healthcare IT• The law of averages and learning to hear no without stopping• Growing up in a conservative Indian household and developing her voice• How a coast-to-coast healthcare speed dating program became her entry point into project management• What the PMP certification formalized that years of experience had not• Failing the PMP in 2018 while also training for a bodybuilding competition• Passing the PMP during COVID after a month of daily study sessions with people from around the world• Her first speaking experience at a HIMSS conference for 200+ physicians – and the accidental laugh• Five years on the PMI Southern Nevada chapter board, including serving as president• Why she applies Agile sprint retrospectives to her own career development• Building a professional community through authentic human connection• Getting a layoff call while standing inside the PMI Global Summit in Atlanta• Launching her own consultancy and speaking business three years ago• The CPR framework and how it was developed through real-life setbacksWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Project managers at any level looking for a more grounded perspective on the career path• Professionals in sales or client-facing roles considering a transition into project management• Anyone who has experienced a layoff and is wondering what comes next• People who want to build a real professional community, not just a LinkedIn contact list• Career changers who came from a non-traditional background and are figuring out how to make it work• Anyone studying for the PMP who needs to hear an honest take on what the certification actually does and does not doCONNECT WITH PARMJIT KAUR:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parmjitkaur/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez, and this is another episode of Career Downloads. Where each episode, I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences. So for today’s episode, I have with me Parmjit Kaur. Her and I connected on LinkedIn, she’s somebody I had followed. I saw a lot of what she’s doing in the community, a lot of the speaking that she’s done, looked at her profile and there was just so much. We connected, I got to learn more about her. So again, I’m excited to learn more along with everybody else. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Parmjit. Parmjit Kaur: Okay, yeah, Manny, thank you. So firstly, should I call you Manuel or do you prefer Manny? Manuel Martinez: Either one works for me. So normally I, Manuel’s obviously my legal name, but as I get to know people, I just tell them like, “Hey, you can call me Manny.” So whatever you feel comfortable with. Parmjit Kaur: Okay, absolutely, yeah. I’m very big on what folks like to be called and how they like their names pronounced, so thank you. Manuel Martinez: Same, and that’s why I remember asking you, like, how would you pronounce your name? So I really tried to do my best to say, “Okay, how do you like your name being pronounced and help me pronounce it properly?” Yeah, and I really appreciated the question, thank you. Manuel Martinez: So if you don’t mind, tell me a little bit about what your current role and responsibilities are so that people can get an understanding of who Parmjit is. Parmjit Kaur: Sure, sure, absolutely. So right now my current role, I have my own business, so I have a project management consultancy, and so I take on different project management contracts. I’m not at liberty necessarily to say who. I’m working with currently who my client is, but currently I’m working on a very big website modernization project. So I’m working with an organization. They have a great website, but that website hasn’t necessarily been maybe revamped in some time, and so we’re looking to modernize that website to ensure not just a great experience for employees that utilize the website, but community members who access that website. Manuel Martinez: And I know that there’s a lot of skills that kind of go into project management and things of that, so I’m excited to get into that and how you develop those skills over time. Parmjit Kaur: Yeah, absolutely, I look forward to talking about it. Manuel Martinez: So now if you can tell us a little bit about kind of where you grew up and then eventually what kind of got your career started and what you thought you were probably gonna do and then eventually how you started. Parmjit Kaur: Sure, so this is gonna be a little bit of a long story. Manuel Martinez: Even better. Parmjit Kaur: So you might be surprised to know I’m actually born in Scotland, so that is where my life started. I’m born in Scotland, I moved to England. I lived with my grandparents for quite some time. So my father’s side of the family is from the London area of England, and then my mother is, her family’s from the West Midlands. So I lived there for about six, seven years before we migrated to the US. First to Pittsburgh and then we went to New Jersey. So I lived in New Jersey for a majority of my life, but I moved around a lot. I’ve lived in California, I lived in Florida, I lived in Kentucky, I lived in Connecticut. I feel like I’m missing a place in there somewhere, but yeah, that’s for the most part, I grew up in New Jersey. So that is what I claim, I’m a Jersey girl through and through. Manuel Martinez: That’s gotta be, at the time you may not enjoy kind of moving around, but at the same time, I would think that just in the little bit of experience that I’ve had traveling within the US and to other countries, like it brings you a lot of exposure that probably we don’t realize it at the time, but later influences how we approach people, our careers and things of that nature. Parmjit Kaur: Oh, sure, absolutely. I talk about that a lot. Being exposed to, well, travel...

  6. Mar 24

    From Zoology Major to Tech Sales Executive with Rodney Detrick

    Episode Information Show NotesHe has spent 30 years in tech sales. He has almost never gone through a formal interview.Every major opportunity in Rodney Detrick’s career came from a relationship he had already built. Not a resume. Not an online application. Someone who knew him, trusted him, and opened a door. This episode is about how that happens – and what else Rodney has learned in three decades of selling, leading, and teaching others to do both.Rodney is the Executive VP of Growth at ConnectOn, a cybersecurity company with 40 years in the space. He has been a trainer with the Dale Carnegie organization for nearly 20 years. He started his career as a zoology major, found his voice competing on a college forensics team, and stumbled into tech sales through a family connection in the early 1990s. He has never looked back.WHAT RODNEY DETRICK DOES NOW:Rodney leads growth at ConnectOn, a Tampa-based cybersecurity company specializing in ransomware remediation, data governance, and compliance. He also actively trains professionals through the Dale Carnegie Nevada team, working with companies on human communication, leadership, and presentation skills.KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Your network is your career infrastructureIn 30 years, Rodney has almost never gone through a formal interview. Every major opportunity came through a relationship he had already built.Giving people the leash is how they growIf someone is struggling, jumping in and doing it for them doesn’t develop them creating the conditions for them to figure it out does.Dale Carnegie works because it starts with people, not processMost training starts with tactics. Dale Carnegie starts with human communication, and after nearly 20 years as a trainer, Rodney keeps seeing the same thing: the principles stay in people’s heads long after the program ends.Common sense is not common practiceKnowing Dale Carnegie’s principles and actually applying them every day in how you interact with your staff, co-workers, and clients are two very different things.Scripting is about structure, not readingA professional magician taught Rodney this lesson. Performers who wing it often sound like they are, and the same goes for sales calls and presentations.TOPICS COVERED:• Going from zoology major to competitive speaker to tech sales• The family connection that opened his first tech door• Working at a rhino sanctuary in South Africa with his daughter• What his first mentor told him six months into the job• Walking past your predecessor on day one carrying their boxes• Moving from inside sales to management without the traditional path• Why giving people autonomy beats delegation• How to have difficult coaching conversations when you’ve already built the relationship• Dale Carnegie, why it’s different from other training programs• The “incident, action, benefit” formula and how to use it off the cuff• What amateur magic taught him about professional preparation• Why mentors matter at every stage – including year 60• How to approach professional networking without an agendaWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Early-career professionals trying to understand why relationships matter more than applications• Sales professionals who want to sharpen their communication and preparation• Tech leaders who were great individual contributors but are still figuring out the leadership part• Anyone who has heard of Dale Carnegie but never understood what makes it different• Professionals at any stage who want to think differently about building a networkCONNECT WITH RODNEY DETRICK:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneydetrick/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads Where each episode I basically hit the refresh button bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences To help you uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career So for today’s episode I have with me Rodney Dietrich him and I connected over LinkedIn and We got talking about technology and Dale Carnegie and Toast masters, which we’ll get into in the conversation but again there was just a lot of Great conversation that came out of that a lot of tie-ins into just dealing with your careers So I thought he would be a great person to come in. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Rodney Rodney Detrick: Thanks, Manuel. Appreciate you having me today looking forward to it Manuel Martinez: Yeah, it’s gonna be a great conversation Especially just based on the ones that you and I have had in the past Manuel Martinez: Yes, they seem to come very naturally. We had lots to talk about right out of the gate. I love that. Manuel Martinez: Exactly. So if you can just, so that people get a sense of who you are If you can tell us a little bit about what your current role is and some of the responsibilities In that role. Rodney Detrick: Sure my current role is Executive Vice President for Growth With a company called ConnectOn we’re cybersecurity company long practice with ransomware remediation, but we also have practices around data governance and compliance Pretty old company been around for about 40 years and based out of Tampa, Florida But I’m here Local in Nevada recent transplant from Southern California Manuel Martinez: And you know I remember that was kind of one of the things that we kind of bonded over is just meeting people in the local community Which was fantastic. Rodney Detrick: Yeah, absolutely and and this is you know, 30 years plus of being in the tech world and And all of that my entire Life has been in Southern California I’ve never lived anywhere but San Diego and Orange County and finally I Lifted the anchor and my wife and I decided to make a move and and moved to Nevada so been here since last April and Been and found the the area very welcoming and and folks like you or like, yeah, let’s get together Let’s have coffee and get to know each other. So it’s a great new place to be and to reestablish fresh network here. Manuel Martinez: So now if you can tell us a little bit more about you know, you already mentioned you’re from Southern California But just a little bit about like where you grew up and then eventually, you know kind of what? Maybe what you thought you were gonna do as a child and then you know, eventually what got your career started. Rodney Detrick: That’s a loaded question Yeah, as you can imagine so and some of this I don’t know that I’ve even ever shared with you before but I grew up in San Diego born in Orange County, but grew up for the most part in San Diego and Between those two areas You know grow up all the way through high school that ended up in Orange County and then started my college career also in the in the local area and So and then you know after that got married Had all the kids all three kids or all, you know adults now also in that same area But growing up and going into college and my initial Start was I was a zoology major Yeah, I had every intention of You know being a veterinarian or you know being the first Steve Irwin or something something like that working with animals. I pictured myself doing something like that. My dad was a Biology teacher and professor for many years early in his career. And so, you know growing up we had a lot of vacations that were very very outdoorsy and You know focused on wildlife and biology and so I just grew up loving those types of things Yeah, so it was between zoologists and I was thinking about maybe Really focusing in on herpetology, Manuel Martinez: which is what? Rodney Detrick: the study of reptiles and amphibians always been a big reptile person So yeah, so that was the initial thought so I did about my first year of college was as a zoology major and then that shifted to speech communication and that’s because I got involved in forensics program Forensics in the college world is competitive speech. So it’s debate other more kind of artsy or Almost like artistic type Like prose and persuasive speaking and other types of competitive speaking events. So my next couple of years in college I spent on a forensics team and traveling all over the country and competing in in speaking events Not debate. I wasn’t much of a debate person But I did a lot of the other events and that really really had a big impact on me and where I thought I might end up career wise I just not only was it a lot of fun and it was like being on a sports team except without all that sweating and working out and And it was a great, you know social place and if I look back on my college years I think I’m probably lear...

    1h 33m

  7. Mar 17

    From Secretary to Cloud Director with Rhonda Lemke

    Episode Information Show NotesThe people you least expect are watching your career. Rhonda Lemke built nearly 30 years in technology on that truth.Her career started at Arthur Anderson, where she worked as a secretary and executive assistant. A mentor asked her at 19 to quit her job, move in with her, and go to college. That moment set everything in motion. From there, Rhonda worked her way through help desk management, 15 years at Accenture in IT consulting and change management, network operations at cars.com and Sears.com, director-level roles at Arthur J. Gallagher and Culinary Health Fund, and eventually Director of Cloud Infrastructure at a healthcare AI company and Caylent, an AWS partner. She earned her MBA at 52. She is now in real estate in Las Vegas.The through-line in every move was not technical expertise. It was the ability to read a room, communicate across teams, and earn trust before she needed it.WHAT RHONDA DOES NOW:After nearly 30 years in technology, Rhonda recently transitioned to real estate in Las Vegas. Her technology career spanned help desk management, IT consulting, network operations, service management, and cloud infrastructure. She holds an AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification and an MBA.KEY INSIGHTS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:Advocacy Works Both WaysThe people who moved Rhonda’s career forward weren’t her closest work friends, they were the ones quietly watching her work ethic from across the room.Soft Skills Are Harder to Teach Than Technical SkillsShe was hired into technical roles without the technical qualifications because hiring managers knew she could communicate under pressure and translate between engineers and the business.Ego Can Block Your Best OpportunityPride almost stopped her from taking a step down in title at cars.com, the one move that opened every director-level role that followed.EQ Is a Skill, Not a GiftShe learned to read rooms, manage tension, and stay observant growing up in an unpredictable home and didn’t realize until later that those were professional superpowers.The Machine Behind the LeaderLooking like the smartest person in the room has nothing to do with being the smartest, it’s about having the right people around you and knowing how to activate them.Never Disqualify Someone on Paper Credentials AloneThe Pizza Hut manager who couldn’t fill her Sears.com night shift on paper ended up being one of the best hires she ever made, because he was building Linux servers in his basement.TOPICS COVERED:• Starting in tech as a secretary with no technical background• Building a help desk and ITSM system from scratch in Lotus Notes• 15 years at Accenture – internal mobility and consulting work• Why soft skills open more doors than technical certifications in leadership• Overcoming ego to take a step down in title• Developing emotional intelligence through childhood adversity• What real mentorship looks like (Marine boss, Friday affirmations)• The polar vortex that triggered a move from Chicago to Las Vegas• Navigating organizational politics in unionized environments• Hiring the Pizza Hut manager who became a NOC team leader• Getting an AWS certification and MBA later in career• Why the people you least expect are watching your career• What the job market in 2025 actually looks like for experienced professionalsWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• IT professionals trying to move from technical roles into leadership• Anyone considering a career pivot later in life• New managers who are still too technically hands-on• Professionals navigating politically charged organizations• Job seekers trying to use soft skills to compete in technical interviews• Anyone who has let ego or pride block a good opportunityCONNECT WITH RHONDA LEMKE:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondalemke/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptionManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences to help you find some actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. For today’s episode I have with me Rhonda Lemke. Her and I were connected through Chelsey Bonilla who I’ve had here on the podcast before. Rhonda and I got on a couple calls. We hit it off great. I learned more about her background and was just excited for her to talk about all the things that she’s done, the things that she’s accomplished. So with that I’ll go ahead and introduce Rhonda. Rhonda Lemke: Thank you Manny. Thank you for having me here and this is quite the honor because usually I’m having people on my real estate podcast so it’s great to actually be the guest and share my information. Manuel Martinez: Yeah and I’m excited especially when we talked a little bit about the things you’ve accomplished throughout your career. It was very – I found it fascinating. So – and you shared a lot of insights with me that I know that if we go in a little bit greater detail, you know, it’s going to be very helpful for other people so that they can kind of go through and say, Oh I didn’t think about it that way or, Oh that’s how she you know, how she goes and handles challenges that come through and you know – things that a lot of times we may not think of in the moment but later on you might be – Oh wait a minute, this scenario is familiar. I remember somebody – and hopefully they’ll remember – Oh, I remember Rhonda had gone through this type of scenario, or had to make this type of decision and I can use some of what she did in the past to kind of help me. Rhonda Lemke: And I think that this – so today one of the reasons I chose today as my podcase date is because today is – one year ago today I was laid off from Caylent, and Caylent is an AWS partner and it was probably the best role of my entire career and it’s been one year of just complete pivoting and after almost three decades in technology I said well let me try real estate I’ve always wanted to sell real estate in in Las Vegas you know like selling real estate in an international tourist destination it is a blast and – but I will also say, the job market and the real estate market in 2025 have been soul crushing, and so I’d love to just kind of share my experience, because it’s not easy. It’s not easy, you know, you watch the LinkedIn feed, and you see everyone, I’m open to work, can anyone help and make a connection, so I just want to be out there, like I understand it and I can also help make connections. Manuel Martinez: Right, well that’s awesome. So if you don’t mind kind of start and tell us a little bit about where you grew up and then eventually what you thought you were going to do for a career and then what actually got your career started. Rhonda Lemke: That is so interesting because – well first of all growing up in the 80s you know we had the best music and I’m sorry they’re remaking our music now and you know like Tracy Chapman and her Fast Car song like that was our that was our childhood and so I grew up in a town called Lansing Illinois and it’s a south suburb of Chicago. Blue collar community, kind of tough you know, I got beat up a little bit here and there. And so growing up when you say what did you want to do like you know what was your career, I didn’t know like honestly at 16 years old I was working at McDonald’s thinking oh maybe someday I’ll be manager and at the time my second dad he said well Rhonda if you would like to go to beauty school or secretarial school this is a thing so college wasn’t really like – my brother and I are first generation college graduates and both of us have our advanced degrees you know masters and whatnot. So growing up in that environment it really – what influenced me is when I got – so I said well I’m not going to go to secretarial school I was in the work program in high school and I typed faster than anyone – I got a job as a secretary at Arthur Anderson before Enron ever happened right so I was 18 years old commuting downtown Chicago. I had mentors, right, that taught me how to commute that said well Rhonda why aren’t you going to college? And you know my peers and so there was sort of that pressure from my peers to actually do something more than the Lansing, Illinois environment if that makes sense like Chicago you know commuting downtown Chicago you are exposed to to everything, right? So that’s kind of where I started. Manuel Martinez: And that’s interesting because again not knowing and having those mentors and having people that said hey you can do more than this right so a lot of times some of us may or may not have that so I know for me I went through and we’ve talked about this a li

    1h 24m

  8. Mar 10

    From Casino Floors to Cybersecurity at 38 with Michael Steffen

    Episode Inforrmation Show NotesWhat does it take to walk away from a 20-year career in hospitality and start over in tech at 38 with no degree, no certifications, and no hard skills? For Michael Steffen, it started with a jiu-jitsu training partner telling him he was miserable and handing him a Security+ study guide. He passed. He volunteered at DEF CON for three years. He’s now in targeted account sales in cybersecurity and he got there without ever applying for a single tech job.Michael spent two decades inside some of the biggest casino openings in Las Vegas history. The Wynn, Cromwell, Linq, and the Palms and opened a $7 billion resort in the Philippines while raising a daughter by FaceTime. He sat in boardrooms with the Fertitta brothers and learned what it means to know your numbers and say the hard thing when everyone else is hedging. When the Palms closed and left him without direction, he didn’t go back to hospitality. He went to TryHackMe instead.In this conversation, Michael breaks down the skills that actually got him into tech: how meeting people where they are became the throughline of his entire career, why organic relationships built over years beat transactional networking every time, and why volunteering at DEF CON opened every door a resume never could. He’s blunt about what the industry is missing. Tech has no shortage of people who can execute. It’s short on people who can actually talk to other people.TOPICS COVERED:• Growing up between Connecticut, California, and Las Vegas• Learning HTML and building online communities as a teen• 20 years in Las Vegas hospitality: restaurants, the Wynn, Caesars properties• First leadership role and the hard lessons of ownership• Three years opening a $7 billion casino resort in the Philippines• Raising a daughter by FaceTime• The Fertitta boardroom and what it demands• Why the Palms closing pushed him into tech• Getting Security+ and TryHackMe at 38• Volunteering at DEF CON with CTQ• The difference between organic relationships and transactional networking• Soft skills as a career advantage in tech sales• Parting advice: do the hard thing even when you can’t see the payoffWHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• Anyone considering a career pivot into tech from a non-technical background• Hospitality, marketing, or sales professionals wondering if their skills transfer• Tech professionals who know they need to get better at the human side of the job• Career changers in their 30s or 40s who think they’ve missed their window• Anyone who has ever felt like the wrong person in the right roomCONNECT WITH MICHAEL STEFFEN:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myksteffen/ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 TranscriptionManuel Martinez: Welcome, everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez And this is another episode of Career Downloads, Where each episode I Basically hit the Refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences to help you uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So for today, I have with me Michael Steffen. He and I have met through a… mutual– I’m going to say colleague Through Dennis, who I’ve had on the show actually right before this one. I got to talk to Michael, learned a little bit more about his career into tech, and just fascinating everything that he has done beforehand. So I think there’s going to be a lot of transferable skills, a lot of kind of what he’s doing. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Michael. Michael Steffen: Hi, I’m Mike. Manuel Martinez: Appreciate you coming on and being open to telling your story, so times that we talked prior to this, prepping forward, there’s a lot of good information. And I was like, I want to dive deeper, but- Saving it for today. So to start off, if you can just tell us what your current role is and some of the responsibilities, and then we’ll work our way there. Michael Steffen: So I’m on a targeted account sales and a little bit of marketing support as well. I like to think of it as a good mix between understanding the tech side of it but not being a sales engineer, because those guys are… and gals are light years smarter than I ever will be on that side, but at the same time, be able to blend some of the soft skills too, and still know what I’m talking about, and be able to hang with CISOs or otherwise. Right. Manuel Martinez: So now, if you can kind of bring this back a little bit, and tell me a little bit about where you grew up, and eventually what you thought you were going to do, and kind of what led you to start in your career. Michael Steffen: So I grew– I was born in Ohio. I lived there for about six months, four days, and like 13 hours, according to my parents. We got out of there. Moved to Connecticut, was raised there for most of the time. Spent a lot of the time in the late 80s and early 90s, going to the city a lot starting to understand- by city being New York City. Boston as Well. Really getting to understand the East Coast and my formative years. Then we moved out to California when I was about 12. Lived there for two and a half years. Everybody always asked, hey, was your family in the military? It’s like, no, they were in health care. And health care, at that point, you bounce around just as much sometimes. So back then, my mom was– she was a VP at one of the health care companies. She had worked her way up from being left with nothing, when my dad left, to having a real job, and breaking the glass ceiling. So that, I think, set me on a trajectory to know there’s something always out there, and you can always pivot. And there’s still a chance, no matter how far down you think you are. We went to California. We stayed there for, again, I think two and a half years. Went back to Connecticut, culture shock in the beginning of high school, coming from Southern California at leaving in eighth grade and coming into ninth grade in a small town in Connecticut. Truly night and day. For six months out of the year it’s gray. You never see the sun. You have to dig your car out. Where before, it’s 65, 70 degrees all year round. The worst thing you have to deal with is a 40-degree morning. And I was this skate surf and snowboard guy. I don’t know what that is, but I’m here for it. So it’s like, hey, that was a lacrosse soccer football town. Night and day. And I didn’t have a lot of friends. I was the weird guy who didn’t grow up there. They all knew each other from kindergarten on, or their parents were relatively high up, or they all worked together. I was the odd man out. So I kind of realized too that, hey, if I’m going to be the odd man out, I might as well just kind of embrace that and see what’s out there for me. And I realized too, my stepdad at the time, he was big in the computers. I mean, the old big monitors. And every single year, we got a new box. And I was pumped about learning it. I gravitated towards that. So in high school, freshman year, it was M-I-R-C, and it was the Wares groups, and I was learning all that. I was big into gaming, not just in the video game stuff, but like tabletop stuff too, because again, I was a typical nerd, right? Not the sports guy. Not the sports that you could do 12 months out of the year, at least. So I found people online and I was like, hey, this is a play by post kind of thing. Later era BBSs kind of thing, play by post, whatever. I needed to learn how to develop HTML to create these pages to keep these stories moving. And I think really the formative thing for me was like, hey, go figure out how to do markup, do HTML, go get a book, HTML for dummies. I think everybody had one of those at one time. I think people still probably have it, I hope. And it kind of just opened my eye, I can create something, we’re just sitting at this machine that I’m gonna sit at anyway, because I can’t seem to socialize, and kind of create my own world. So it did. And that led into, I would say a passion of four years of that while still, you know, a lot of snowboarding there, did a bunch of competitions, skating every time, the weather wasn’t absolutely atrocious. And I gravitated to those cats. And I found a little friend group there, and I was really, really lucky. But they were also really accepting the fact that I was different than them. You know, they were the punk rock kids, and sure I was in and out a little bit, but I was mainly coming home, and I was just in front of my box, and I was enjoying the worlds that I was creating with my friends there too. So I had that kind of duality, and it kind of made me, I think, it really formulated, or formed a love of the opportunities online and in the tech space, without even really knowing what that was at the time, Manuel Martinez: you mentio...

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Manuel Martinez hosts the Career Downloads podcast where he interviews a different guest each episode to learn about their individual and diverse backgrounds, job history, and techniques they use to manage their career. So plug in and download the knowledge.

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  • Creator
    Career Downloads
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    71
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Copyright 2026 Career Downloads
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    Career Downloads