by I want to thank those who asked me to run again for the LOPSA Board. The last election process was an education for me. One thing I got a baptism of fire og IRC. Also those lopsa-live sessions bolstered my feelings that lopsa members are an informed group and can ask the tough questions.
If you want to look up my statement from 2011 here is the link to my blog: https://lopsa.org/content/2011-candidate-statement-john-boris Hopefully I don’t repeat everything I said then. I have been a member of LOPSA since the split from SAGE. Until the PICC’10 LOPSA-NJ conference I was just a reader on the Email list. Following threads and finally got to attend LISA when it was in Philadelphia in 2002.
At first I thought I was alone as a single administrator shop but since my involvement with PICC I have found that there are more people in my situation than one would think. Although I was given the “demographic” tag in 2010 I think I could have tagged a few more of my peers at PICC’10.
If I were to look at where I am today I can safely say I could never have gotten this far without the guidance and tutelage of seasoned professionals in System Administration, my time as a Management/Program Analyst and my early years as a Machinist. That is where I see LOPSA stepping in and being one place for System Administrators to turn to for education and honing their skills.
I see this happening through PICC and Cascadia/IT. These efforts are continuations of the early SySadmin days. Those were a start that planted the seed for what we have today, a product that is growing each year and it is also spawning more conversations and talks for more education. At PICC’10 the Mentoring seed was planted and from that we have a Mentoring process in place.
Besides my feelings toward education I bring a years of experience in Organizational skills to the board. Fifteen years as a Supervisor/Manager with the Defense Department laid down a solid background in these skills through use on the job and training to achieve them.
Outside of work I have been involved in Youth Football Organizations as a Board member (21 years) and a coach (32 years). This year I raised my hand to be the chair for PICC’12. It gave me a chance to utilize all the training and experience I have had in those previous areas and use them to help put PICC’12 together. I have to say that the job as Chair is one that doesn’t mean I have to do it all. Over all those years in the Defense department I was told by my mentors that good managers have good people under them and the manager keeps them motivated and working together. This is what I hope I have accomplished as the Chair of PICC’12. No one person can do it all themselves. I am very proud to be leading that great group of volunteers this year.