Ben Slagle:
CLASS OF 1997
South Range High SchoolClass of 1997
North lima, OH
ITT Technical InstituteClass of 2008
Youngstown, OH
Mahoning Joint Vocational High SchoolClass of 1999
Canfield, OH
Ben's Story
Same as ever, building electronic things nobody else understands. I'm a North Lima resident now. In order of appearance:
1998: Went back to school. JVS. Electronics. Working at Naz Inc., a local internet provider
1999: Lost job at Naz because they shut down due to fraudulent activities committed by the phone company. But the phone company can do whatever they want, so goodbye Naz.
2000: Worked for Computer Parts Etc. in Salem. Had a hard time getting paid, and hours weren't processed correctly, so I quit. Started ConnectOhio.Net, a high quality internet provider based in Salem.
2001: Started driving pilot car behind oversize loads. Was making $160 a day. Still Systems Administrator at ConnectOhio.Net
2002: Started computer store in (limited) spare time. Still driving pilot car and Systems Administratoring.
2003: ConnectOhio.Net went under thanks to more corruption at the phone company (I think they're allowed to get rid of their competition), the pilot car job didn't pay me for 3 months so I quit that, and shortly thereafter my store went under. Briefly lived in a van, which is actually not as bad as you think.
2004: (Yes, I was out of work for a year. Thank you outsourcing!) Started at Wizard Solutions in Natrona Heights, PA. Developed a lot of custom Linux based solutions for businesses around Pittsburgh.
2005: Started at The Computer Cafe in Cranberry Twp, PA. Good Christian owner who pays on time. Developed a lot more Linux based solutions for Pittsburgh area businesses.
2006: Started classes at ITT in Youngstown.
2007: Wizard Solutions' owner retired. Store closed. No more job there. Computer Cafe was sold to crooked Microsoft worshipers who would rather sell the customer a $30,000 solution than a $5,000 solution that they will actually buy a...Expand for more
nd that will be much more reliable and have tech support available locally instead of from India. Company loses reputation almost overnight thanks to the technical and ethical ineptitude of the new owners. I quit and took a job at NAPA Auto Parts in North Lima. Not surprisingly, a lot of the Cafe's customers have tracked me down and I'm still taking care of them. One of my Linux solutions just passed 3 years and 2 months of continuous uptime under heavy load. The last time I checked, the Linux based spam filtering and virus removal system at another business was processing over 100,000 emails a day with over a year of uptime and approximately a 98% correct detection rate, as well as logging emails per Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. This system is filtering the incoming and outgoing email for a Microsoft Exchange server.
2008: Still working at NAPA delivering auto parts. It's a lot better than all those computer jobs I had, and the owner is a Christian who once again pays on time and the correct amount. See a pattern here? :-) I'm currently working on aftermarket engine control systems in my spare time, which I have a lot of, because when I fix something for somebody, it usually stays fixed. I've also had a lot of fun (and money) tuning high performance engines on the street and on the dyno. I'm not going back into the IT field. Hopefully I'll pass the ASE certification next year, get A+ certification, and finish ITT.
2008: (Update) Still enjoying the performance tuning hobby/business. There seem to be a lot of people who build up an engine and can't get the electronics to work with it. Ironically, 13 years ago, I wanted to be a parts delivery person and tune engines in my spare time. I wonder why I didn't start doing this a lot sooner.
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