IT Profession

… and disability

Introduction

• Yong Kim

• Why Am I Here?– Pat made me do it– IT Professional – 23 years– Share Personal …

• experience as an IT professional, with disability• lifestyle issues• philosophy for managing and coping

DISCLAIMER!!!

PersonalAnecdotal

OpinionatedExperimental

UncomfortableProvide insight

Hopefully usefulFair Use for the graphics and video clips

Personal - Summary• Disability – Affect of Polio• 49 years old• Naturalized Citizen

– Migrated from South Korea 11yo (1971)

• Education– Elementary: Neighborhood school in S. Korea– Elementary: Burbank (CPS)– High School: Spalding (CPS)– Higher Education

• Northeastern Illinois University• Illinois Institute of Technology, BSEE

• IT Professional – 24 years– Consulting most of career

• Married: 24 years– Wife: K-3 Special Ed teacher at CPS 26+ years

• Both drive – vans with lift, adaptive equipment• Home – Living independently• Travel

– Venice, Greek Islands– Kenya– South Pacific Islands, Bahamas– U.S.: Hawaii, Alaska, San Diego, Disney World, Los Angelos, NYC, ...

Disability

• According to my wife: A real “mental” case• Polio during infancy• Post Polio Syndrome

– Progressive with aging– Loss of muscle mass– Fatigue

• Multiple surgeries: spinal fusion and 3 emergencies• Chronic discomfort – nausea due to adhesion• Chronic pain – sciatica• Light Post Trauma Stress Disorder (and depression

maybe)

Resume

Roles/Titles (*NIX Focus)• System Architect• Security Engineer• *NIX System Administrator• Application Integrator• Infrastructure Engineer• Programmer• Project Manager

ResumeProjects• Ameritech

– Bill Master – Telephone bill delivery via floppies– Extended Classroom - K12 BBS– Electronic Business Exchange – B2B in Automotive Industry

• IBM– Home Page Creator – Template based web site creator– Integrion Financial Svcs. - First generation online banking

• AC Nielsen– Category Business Partner – Grocery market data analysis product

• ABN AMRO and Bank of America– Business Continuity – Disaster Recovery– Internet Name Space Protection – Prevention and take down fake domain sites and protect trademark– IT Security monitoring, analysis and remediation– SOXA Audit and Remediation (Policy)– Organization migration and decommission – applications and systems when company is acquired

• Misc.– Open Source implementation

• FOG: PC and Servers Disk imaging• SQUID: Forward Internet proxy• SAMBA: Linux file server• RT: Help Desk Ticketing system

ResumeTechnical Skills• Systems

– Linux – Redhat, Fedora, CentOS, MS Windows (Active Directory) Integration– Open Source Integration and Packaging– *NIX tools for troubleshooting and monitoring– System Performance tuning– Virtualization– Solaris 8 and AIX 5.4, HP UX

• Security– Intrusion detection– Malware analysis– Penetration testing– System Hardening– Firewall rules– SSL

• Programming and Scripting– Perl, PHP– C/C++ Programming– Database and SQL– Data conversion and normalization

• Internet related infrastructure technologies– DNS– HTTP(S), FTP, XML, …

Resume

Clients• Ameritech* (1988 – 1994, 1996) • Motorola (1994 – 1996)• Monsanto (1996 - 1997)• IBM (1997 - 2000)• AC Nielsen (2001 - 2004)• ABN Amro (2004 - 2008)• Bank Of America (2008 - 2010)

Career

• Change in corporate climate in the ’80s (and ongoing)

• Routine “reorganization”• Stagnant technology• Compensation not in your control• Slightly better benefit• Sense of “Family”

• Lower “reorganization” impact• Exposure to various technologies• Frequent Job change = “OK”• Exposure to various corp cultures• Compensation depends on market• Lousy benefit• “Drifter”

Employee Consultant

Why Consulting?

Career

My First Real (i.e. Paying) Job

Career

• Is more than a sequence of similar jobs (employment)

• Owner of a business

• External subject matter expert– Cultural– Speakers (motivational)– Futurist– User Interface

There is more than one way to make a living. Be creative.

Career

My choice of IT

• More flexible career option for my condition

• I was a lousy Electrical Engineering student

Career

Traditional Approach: Employment

(FT or Contract)

• Sell the Fad

• Learn (and retain) the fundamentals

• Recognize the value of Experience

• Think “Brochure” rather than “Resume”

Career

• Why make money?– In the beginning, to prove myself (money =

measure of success)

• How much?– New Objective: freedom to live my life

• Ease physical difficulties (e.g. home mods)• Relieve points of stress

– Comfortable vacations– Retirement– Not balance checkbook

Challenges

• Asian– Shame and

Embarrassment

• Western– Tolerated, with

discomfort– Helpful– Sympathetic

Cultural Attitude re: Disability

Challenges

• Issues– Fears and Anxiety

• Failure• Judgment• Unknown

– Lack of confidence in ability to accomplish

• No experience– Embarrassment of Disability– Love = Dependency

• Assets– Fears

• Motivator– Ignorance

• Use cultural “cookbook”– Persistence– Belief in ability to accomplish

• By indoctrination– Love = Feeling of Security

Source: Family

Mental Baseline

Challenges

• Schools in S. Korea– No special education program at the time– No socialization– Academic (Rote system)

• Special Education in the U.S. (better)– Legal requirement; less concern about education

• Teach minimal and not excellence (no expectation)– Protected environment

• Lacks exposure to the larger culture• Little or no concern about competition

– Current mainstream trend is financially driven• My Higher Education Experience

– Northeastern Illinois University• Dean’s List: Moved from Top to Bottom

– Illinois Institute of Technology, BSEE• Disaster

Education

Solutions

Definitions• Understand the difference

between Possibility and Probability

• Define Success and Failure at a personal level

• Ideals = Default position; not cast in stone– Never go to extreme

Life Framework of Forward Motion

• “Manage” Issues vs “Resolve”– Some things must be resolved

but many can be managed

• Transform rather than Change– Change may happen

• Motivations– Replace negative ones with

positive

• Control things within my control

PossibilityQ: Does my disability stop me from achievement?A: No. It’s my “thinking” that stops me.

Attitude and Philosophy

My Main Advantages

Disability

Immigrant

Attitude and Philosophy

• Father with encouraging indoctrination– Gave me personal time that my siblings did not have

• Parents “different” enough to migrate in their mid-life– A tough move and I was one of the considerations– Attitude: Deeply religious but changed religion often

• Various points of view• Sometimes atypical within the Korean standards

• Parents brought me to the U.S.– U.S.: More advanced attitude on the subject of disability– Opportunity to view the old and new culture as a 3rd person

Positive Family Influence

Attitude and Philosophy

Family, Friends

MeSocialNorm

Negativeattitude toward

disability

Social Value Chart

Shared values

Attitude and Philosophy

• Ideal vs Reality– Ideal: I should be treated as a equal– Reality: Everyone has bias, many discriminate– Ideal is the direction and Reality is the road

that I am on

• What is Equality: What should be equal?– Opportunity: I entitled to it as a human being

• The world owes me nothing

Equality

Attitude and Philosophy

• Be gracious

• Figure out a way to even out the field. Don't wait for someone else to do it

World Owes Me Nothing

Attitude and Philosophy

• External– What are the things that I can push this

culture to accept or tolerate?– What are the things that the culture is

susceptible to or appreciate?

• Internal– What are the values that I can embrace?– What are the values that I contribute?

Leverage The Culture

Attitude and Philosophy

When I embrace a value, I adapt it.

Leverage The Culture

Problem

Cultural Solution

My adaptation

Attitude and Philosophy

Study other discriminations

• Yes – a lot of work to achieve

• Benefits of trying• Even if not “Twice as good”, I

am still above average• "...I don't have to be faster than the

bear, I only have to be faster than you."

• The extra edge provides value that people appreciate

Be Twice As Good

Attitude and Philosophy

Recognize

• Portrayal

• Meaning of cultural humor

• Power of humor

Humor

Career

What do all these things get me?• Above average skills

– Confidence– Credentials

• Soft skill (Very, Very, … Important)• Real higher probability of “success”• Financial Independence

– More balanced life– Lower stress

Home

Front picture

Home

• Kitchen

Home

• Bathroom

Home

• Closet

Travel