Mentor interview

NBC’s computer whiz teaches four young interns how to be tech savvy.

By: Osamah Elhams

Off of 225 Broadway, I jogged across Broadway Circle, dodging the incoming taxis. I jump over the corroded red curb and onto the sidewalk. I think to myself, “Is this really it?” 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. I passed 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. I thank him. Inside the building, the cold brown pale marble covers the entire lobby way. I immediately sprint towards the stainless steel elevator in a hurry as the doors begin to steadily close shut. The elevator was crowded with people. It gets stuffy inside and I slowly take off my leather coat. I arrive at the 3^rd floor lobby. The 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. He gives me a firm hand shake accompanied with a smile. Words begin to slip off my tongue, “Do you mind if I interview you for a school project… do you have time?” He replies enthusiastically, “I’ve got time for an interview, she’ll we?” Craig quickly reaches into his light brown khakis and grabs a badge with the words, “NBC” imprinted on the card. He guides me into this peaceful room, with piles of machinery lying onto of the desks. It was kind of like a garbage dump. He carries a cup of coffee from Starbucks in one hand. We walk straight in front of the cubical offices. Craig then slips the plastic badge into his pocket and grabs a hold of his blackberry cell phone. He walks in front of me along the blue hallway and blissfully greets, Bill, the head of technical operations. Then he takes his leisurely walk into the 3^rd floor cubical offices. As Craig continues his pace and stumbles upon Dave McKinnon. The portraits of NBC’s critically acclaimed hit drama shows, Chuck, ER, Seinfeld, The Office and Heroes line the ocean blue halls as we walk by.

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 news 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.

Interview with Craig Merry

What skills are necessary for your position?

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.

What exactly do you do?

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.

Did your interns help you with your daily work?

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 clients down there that have the machines been very happy with the process. I would say this was a success.

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

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.