About Me

I have been in the Customer and Technical Support industry for 20 years. My first job was Dell, Earthlink and Logitech technical support under ClientLogic (now Sitel) back in 1998. I was initially accepted into the position without an A+ certification from CompTIA due to being able to display enough knowledge and aptitude with computers to competently perform my duties. I was also the youngest in the department at the time, 16 years old. I started "playing" with computers early on in my life. My first computer, I built was in 1993. That same year, Doom was released and that started my interest in not only level design, but when more ttools for the game released, I got into engine coding and design. I spent the better part of thatt year designing and coding in QBasic a tile-scrolling action RPG like The Legend of Zelda, released on the now defunct qb45.net forum in 1994 to great reviews and making the top 10 proects of October, Novemeber and December of 1994. This led to various project contributions ranging from mainstream releases such as art assets and design to "Sun Haven" and code contribution to Minecraft and Hypixel.

In 2009, together with a couple friends saw the establishment of a business building custom computers, local network and equipment administtration witht businesses small to medium and contracted with several schools to maintian their networks and refresh their equipment.

As of 2023, I continue to contrtibute to various projects either in a commission or volunteer capacity. I am currentlty working toward a Bachelor of Computer Science with Arizona University Global Campus.

Contact Details

Las Vegas, NV, USA
(702) 937-8395
richardsjamesw@gmail.com

Computer Specs

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.80 GHz
GFX: ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 16GB GDDR6
RAM: 32GB DDR5 5200 CL32
OS: Arch Linux 6.12.8-zen1-1-zen (64-bit)
KDE Plasma 6.2.5

Work

Ten Year History

DXC Technology

Help Desk Analyst July 2023 - Jan 2024

  • First line general Help Desk support for DoD contractor Raytheon and Pratt & Whitney.
  • Managed and maintained user accounts on Active Directory and Office 365.
  • Proper handling of escalations and access requests.

Robert Half International

Help Desk Analyst Nov 2021 - Oct 2022

  • General help desk support for various clients and needs.
  • New user credential management, general access issues to various tools and programs
  • Consistently received positive reviews and praise from both client and their customers.

Barclays Bank

Help Desk Support Sep 2021 - Oct 2021

  • Trained Barclays' first, fully work from home group of new hires on equipment setup, usage, and login.
  • Successfully completed a recycling vendor negotiation.
  • Completed inventory of all equipment in the building, erstablishing a streamlined asset tracking system.

Venetian Hotel & Casino

Help Desk Support Jul 2021 - Sep 2021

  • Migration of Venetian employee credentials to new owner servers and equipment.
  • Reviewed and resolved access issues with MDM, Active Directory and Microsoft Office.
  • All staff migrated before expected completion date.

C3 / Everise

Technical Support Sep 2020 - Jun 2021

  • Consistently met SLA set by eero.com for customer interaction and resolutions.
  • Earned top scores in my team for customer feedback and satisfaction surveys.
  • Influenced Support SOP and scope of responsibility.

IPGARD / SmartAVI

IT Support Manager Feb 2020 - Jun 2020

  • Helped gain NIAP certification for all products and network security.
  • Completed inventory of all equipment in the building and developed a complete SOP of IT operations.
  • Made the IT Department useful and efficient in bolstering the company’s objectives and prosperity.

Asurion

Technical Support Jun 2019 - Feb 2020

  • Assisted customers in identifying issues and explained solutions to restore service and functionality.
  • Translated complex technical issues into digestible language for non-technical users.
  • Researched product and issue resolution tactics to address customer concerns, including device upgrades or purchases.

DTT / DTiQ

Technical Support Representative Jul 2013 - Apr 2019

  • Provided technical and customer support for DTiQ clients and businesses with POS integrated video.
  • Increased successful Loss Prevention for clients, handling sensitive documentation and video/audio evidence.
  • Resolved remote connectivity and hardware problems with various third-party switches, routers, and devices.

Education

High-Tech Institute - Phoenix, AZ

Information Technology Auigust 2001 - December 2003

A Vocational institute, specializing in IT and medical professions. Having placed in the top 10% of the average US student in the core disciplines of Math, reading, writing, science and social studies, many from AP placement classes, I decided to attend to take JUST the courses and classes I needed to obtain a degree. I was able to complete my Associate in Applied Science degree in just two years.

Las Vegas High School - Alamogordo High School - Eastern New Mexico University - Job Corps

High School Diploma and Business Office Technology vocation August 1996 - November 2001

I spent 9th grade in Las Vegas High School, accepted into the National Honors Society by the end of the year. Sophomore year (10th grade) saw a decreased credit load due to testing out of social studies and taking AP classes for pre-calculus and Applied Chemistry AP. By my junior year (11th) I had only two required classes, the rest were electives or AP classes, allowing me to take my first job. My Junior year (11th) saw me on campus for only two required classes. The rest were electives and one AP class. I dropped out, focusing on my job. The principal and district superintendent offered me the opportunity to test out of school with a full diploma under the condition I attend Job Corps and gain a Department of Labor vocational certification. By September of 2001, I was a full graduate, retaining my National Honors Society standing, though a few months late from my 2000 cohort.

Certifications

Comptia A+

compTIA Lifetime (2001 - 2014), C.E. (2014 - 2017)

Microsoft Office User Specialist (M.O.U.S)

Microsoft Office Specialist (M.O.S)

Microsoft August 2001

Business Office Technology and Administration

Department of Labor and Education August 2001

Skills

Soft Skills

If a grade is added, these are from the tests available on indeed.com
This is also not an exhaustive list, just the skills I have used in past jobs and projects.

  • Problem Solving - Expert
  • Critical thinking - Expert
  • Technical support - Proficient
  • Technical support: Customer situations - Proficient
  • Office manager - Proficient
  • Decision-making - Proficient
  • Conflict management - Proficient
  • Openness to criticism
  • Adaptability
  • Time management
  • Teamwork
Technology Skills
  • Basic Computer Skills: PC - Expert
  • Basic Computer Skills: Sofware - Proficient
  • Basic Computer Skills: Hardware - Proficient
  • Microsoft Windows 95 - 11
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Server 2000 - 2003
  • Microsoft Office 95 - 365
  • MacOS X - iOS 10 - Intermediate
  • Linux - Intermediate
  • HTML5/CSS3
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • Bootstrap
  • PHP
  • React
  • DNS / DHCP / lAN /WLAN
  • Active Directory
  • Project management - Entry-level
  • Computer programming - Entry-level
  • Data analysis - Entry-level

Get In Touch.

Wanna send me a message? Through the magic of formspree.io, I am able to leverage message sending on github, which does not host the ability to do so...no PHP. Big sad. Maybe I'll have a better host in the future that has it? Who knows! Send me a message and I will get to you as soon as possible.

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