Thomas Persil:
CLASS OF 1978
James Robinson Secondary SchoolClass of 1978
Fairfax, VA
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State UniversityClass of 1982
Blacksburg, VA
Kings Glen Elementary SchoolClass of 1972
Springfield, VA
Kings Park Elementary SchoolClass of 1969
Springfield, VA
Thomas's Story
After Robinson, I went to Virginia Tech to study physics. By my junior year, I realized I didn't care what the equation of motion was, so I switched to computer science. That's when I learned that to really succeed at something, you should have a passion for it. I graduated a year late, in 1983, with a double major in CS and German.
I started to work right away for IBM in their MVS systems test group in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was a terrific job doing lots of cool stuff, and it was the beginning of a career in computer systems administration.
It was during this time that I learned to ski, at first being shown up by a friend from Florida who hadn't seen snow since he was 7. Bastage! I stuck with it, and eventually I got an ASIA (amateur ski instructors assn) certification and taught some with the local ski club. Skiing is really my favorite outdoor activity.
I missed home, family & friends, however, so I started planning to move back to VA. I bought a house with my best college pal, and 3 days after settlement, I got up the courage to ask out this cute girl down the hall at the office. I married her 2 years later in 1988. We moved to Virginia in 1989 and bought out my friend's share of the house.
1989 is when I started working at GEICO, thinking I'd be there only for a couple of years. God laughed once more at my plans and I'm still there. Thank goodness for the Gecko and the Caveman, because working for an insurance company isn't sexy. The commercials somehow have made it cool, however. At least for my kids...
...the first of whom was born in 1990. Matt is now 18 and a f...Expand for more
reshman in college. Erika was born two years later and is now a Junior in high school. Despite being in Oakton territory, and having kids on my daughter's soccer team from Chantilly and Westfield (neither of which existed in '78), I still root for Robinson!
I started at GEICO doing mainframe systems programming. I took a promotion to team lead in the of the mainframe storage team just to get promoted, but I actually liked the work. Go figure. I ended up leading both the sysprog and storage teams for a while before switching to Unix around '96. I figured since I knew nothing about Unix, I was uniquely qualified to be the team lead of the new Unix systems admin team. About 3 years ago, an open system storage team was formed out of the sysadmin team, and I took the lead job for that. Storage sounds boring, but I really am having a blast - the technology is changing so fast that it never gets dull. I guess that's why I'm still at GEICO - I've had a lot of interesting stuff to work on.
Jumping back to '86, I took a 3 week tour through Germany and Austria with my backpack. In Austria, I found some long-lost relatives, and we still keep in touch. Thanks to Frau Fredette and Herr Booz for getting me started so I could talk to them!
We now live in the Franklin Farm neighborhood in western Fairfax County.
I still have over 16,000 characters left, but I'll spare you further particulars and leave you to find your own way to fall asleep. Suffice it to say that I feel blessed in my life. Family, friends (many Robinson friends, BTW), home, food, clothing and faith. OK, OK, and a big screen TV.
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