About Terri

It all started in 1980 when my mom was working at Radio Shack as a trainer and brought home a TRS-80 color computer.  I wrote programs in BASIC and played with Eliza.  After high school I went to college for programming.  COBOL made me switch majors and I didn’t finish.  A few years later, after the death of COBOL and having a kid, I went back to school at a community college and learned to program in Visual BASIC and C++.  My favorite class was Novell where we had to design networks.  I graduated with honors with an Associates degree in IT.  That’s how you know it is your true passion in life.  When you excel at something and it excites you then that is the field you need to pursue.

After college my first job was a Systems Administrator for about a year.  I then had an opportunity to work as a technician for the school system where I graduated high school.  This was the start of great things to come.  I worked my way up to the networking side of the house.  I had the pleasure of assisting my boss with replacing our Token Ring network with Ethernet.  I can still hear that click click pop that occurs when a Token Ring network is down.  We were all in with Novell Netware 5 back then and I was very knowledgeable and comfortable in my Novell world.  It was my first certification.  Then the day came when my boss, Tom Waller, walked into my office and handed me a Microsoft Active Directory book and said we are converting our network.  After a bit of panic, I started reading due to my loyalty and trust in his judgement.  I began studying and acquiring Microsoft certifications.  When I was one test away from my MCSA a new operating system emerged which meant all new tests.  That’s when I decided to give up Microsoft certifications due to the stress of it.

Then the need for wireless came along.  We put HP wireless access points in the libraries and conference rooms of our schools.  That was the priority then back in the days of needing to support a few laptops for a meeting.  Then I met my husband and switched to a different school system closer to where I moved.  I again started out as a school technician but once again wound up in the networking side of things.  We evaluated several wireless solutions and decided to go with Aerohive.  I designed my first wireless network with Aerohive.  Back then it was line them up in the hallways and hope they cover the classrooms.  The great thing about building an Aerohive wireless network is I had the need and pleasure to attend classes taught by David Coleman.  His classes were life changing for me.  Although there were times I thought to myself “what is he saying” because I struggled with some of the concepts, he inspired me to want to learn more about wireless and how it works.  He even guided me toward the best path to obtain my CCNA.

The next chapter of my wireless career starts with an amazing job opportunity at a great school system as a Network Engineer.  I had been involved in too much administration and paperwork so I felt I was losing my technical skills and my passion.  This job involved improving and growing my technical skills and no management or administrative.  I really had to sell myself in the interview as there would be a BIG learning curve as this school district was all Cisco.  Cisco is a different language but thank goodness it was easier than learning French.  Phil Folmar, my boss, took a chance on me and hired me.  Next thing I know I’m learning Cisco.  Sam Clements visited and I will never forget our first meeting.  I listened and absorbed everything he said.  That was when I knew wireless was my true passion and I needed to get more serious about learning everything I could.  I then began to implement his suggestions.  He is my wireless mentor and when I get stuck with a design or an issue he has always been there to help me through it.  I am now pursuing my CWNE.  I currently have CCNA Wireless, CWNA, and CWDP.  I have a great support system to pursue my dreams with my supportive husband, Robert Haviland, who encourages my path because it is cool to come home and talk about wireless issues with your spouse.  Did I mention he is a Wireless Network Engineer and is part of the reason I got into wireless?  I have a great support system to pursue my dreams to know everything about wireless thanks to Robert Haviland, husband; Sam Clements, aka wireless mentor; and my wonderful friends Brian Powers and Joshua Gochee who are now CWNE!  How can a woman fail with all that support?