Blog# 2 mentor interview

Craig Merry

Off of 225 Broadway, I jog across Third Avenue, dodging the incoming yellow taxis. I jump over the corroded red curb and onto the sidewalk. I think to myself, “Is this really my site”. On the gigantic grey slab of concrete stands the enormous NBC building. I could feel the freezing cold temperature from the air touching my soft skin, as I pass by businessmen, investigators, and lawyers walking casually in and out of the building through the glass paneled doors. A nice bespectacled old man kindly holds the door for me. Inside the NBC building, the cold brown pale marble covers the entire lobby way. I immediately run towards the stainless steel elevator in hurry as the doors begin to gradually open. The elevator crowed with people. It gets stuffy inside and I slowly take off my leather coat. I arrive at the 3rd floor lobby. A tranquil place, I look around and see college interns staring directly at me. I could already feel the tension stirring up in the room. I finally see a familiar face. An elderly man in his mid 30s befriends me. The first question I ask him was, “Are you ready for the interview”. He replies, “I’ve got time for an interview, she’ll we?” He guides me into this peaceful room, with piles of machinery lies on the desks.


Craig Merry, gently reaches into the pockets of his light brown khakis and pulls out an NBC 7/39 badge with one hand. He carries a cup of coffee from Starbucks in the other. He walks straight in front of the cubical offices. He then slips the plastic badge into his pocket and grabs a hold of his cell phone. Craig Merry then walks along the hallway and blissfully greets, Bill, the head of technical operations.
A tall, clean shaven man in his mid 20s with a buzz cut hairdo takes his leisurely walk into the 3rd floor cubical offices. Craig Merry is formally considered the head honcho of the technical department. With his open personality, Craig entertains people with his entire arsenal of enthralling stories about the NBC 7/39 new station. Stories like working with incompetent people in different NBC news stations across America. Merry has an understanding of the hardware aspects of manufacturing. Craig normally wears a stylish dark brown sweater with diamonds and a white collar sticking out. His NBC 7/39 badge hangs from the right side of his olive colored khakis. With a degree in computer manufacturing, Craig Merry is more than capable of productively repairing CPUs and all sorts of computer equipment.


As Craig continues his pace and stumbles upon Dave McKinnon, the technical manger. The portraits of NBC’s critically acclaimed hit drama shows, Chuck, ER, Seinfeld, The Office and Heroes line the halls as he walks casually by.


OE: What skills are necessary for your position?


CM: My background is in manufacturing, it is not in IT. I got started because the manufacturing company I worked for needed an IT guy and they didn’t want to hire one. I got skills in IT just from on to job training. What is required to keep my job is you have to have PC upgrade and build up skills. You have to have the ability to analysis network operations as far as how computers attach together. You have to the ability to integrate software into PCs and into the network and be able to understand the hardware aspects of all that.


OE: What exactly do you do?


CM: My core responsibility is to make sure all that all of the clients which are all of the users on the machines here have everything they need for day-to-day operations. Keep the servers running, the network running and software upgrades.


OE: Did your interns help you with your daily work?


CM: You guys did a couple of good installs. All of the machines that we installed and upgrade downstairs in the news room were up and running. They had no problem with start-up and I’ve done a check of the the clients down there that have the machines were very happy with the process. I would say this was a success.


OE: Is there anything you would do differently knowing what you know now?


CM: Yeah, knowing what I know as far as education goes, I probably would have got a degree in technology because my degree is not technology. Another thing I would probably do is gear up more for software.