From Division I Athlete to Senior IT instructor with Art Green III | Ep058

Manuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads. Where each episode, I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences, to share that with you so that you can gain valuable insights into how they manage their career and what worked or didn’t work for them so that you can can apply or not apply or not apply as you’re managing your own career. I’m excited for this conversation. It’s with Art Green III and he and I have kind of crossed paths through mutual contacts, got to know a got to know a little bit more about his career and I think there’s a lot of valuable information that he’s going to be able to provide and also talk a little bit more about what he’s doing now. he’s doing now. So with that, I’ll introduce Art.

Art Green: Hi Manny, thank you for having me here today.

Manuel Martinez: I appreciate you coming on and being open to kind of sharing your experiences and talking a little bit more about kind of what led you to where you’re at now and why. So I know you and I have talked about why this type of work really brings you fulfillment, right? A lot of times people get into the tech industry because they hear something that sounds cool or because of, you know, they hear high salaries but yes, it’s nice to make money and be able to pay your bills but a lot of times we try to find something outside of that that kind of fulfills us which is why I’m excited to learn more about, you know, what you’re doing.

Art Green: Absolutely. Well Well again, thank you for having me. for having me. It’s It’s an honor to be here. As far as my current role, I’m the senior IT I’m the senior IT workforce programs instructor instructor with with Tech Impact, specifically their IT works programs which is kind of all-inclusive like a pathway to middle skills for up-and-coming IT minds, so to speak. speak. I know you’d I know you’d met with one of my former students Paola before so I’m not sure how much she told you about that. As far as what I As far as what I kind of do in the organization, obviously I lead the Las Vegas classes, those cohorts, but I also help with some of our other instructors who are some of them across the country. We have sites in Philadelphia, we have Delaware, we just brought on Nashville. So I really help to try to guide them to help them with their instructional delivery, come up with curriculum development as, you know, new things come about. Obviously AI is a big thing now so that’s kind of the project I’m working on now is putting together a new AI curriculum for our students. Outside of that, just really just just really just managing day-to-day around the office, around the office that kind of thing, and helping the students in their careers.

Manuel Martinez: Just talking a little bit more about you know that clock, that cross-collaboration, you know you’re all working for the common good, but you know having different, you know, being spread across the U.S. and then also being able to kind of share experiences from each one of you because it’s not just you kind of helping guide working for the them, but I’m sure they’re also providing feedback, you know, and kind of working together and really developing something that is going to be beneficial for you know, in this case the end customer, which is really your students.

Art Green: Absolutely, and I’m real big on that, you know, I’m pretty candid with my fellow instructors and my team and stuff and like, you know, if that slideshow I made is terrible, just tell me it’s terrible, you know, and I’ll go back to the drawing board. You know, I don’t want to force feed anything and I want it to be a collaborative effort because that’s the way that it’s going to end up being most successful because everyone has different tastes, different likings, and specifically with the students, different learning styles and things like that. So I’m always open, I love collaboration with everyone, even with the students, you know, I tell them all the time, like you know if that was bad just let me know, and that’s kind of one of the reasons why I’m working on the new AI curriculum because they they weren’t really feeling it so

Manuel Martinez: So then now tell me about where you grew up and then eventually kind of where you thought your career was going to end up going and then, you know, how you eventually ended up moving into the tech space.

Art Green: Okay, well I’m originally, well I was born in Kansas City, Missouri but moved to Texas when I was about five, so I was pretty much raised in Texas. Grew up there, it was really great experience, I miss home, I love Texas, but you know, for me as far as, you know, if you had asked me the question what do I want to be when I grow up, that answer back then in those days would have always been I want to be a professional athlete. That was the only thing I thought about, you know, as a, you know, a quarterback, the question, what a pitcher, a point guard growing up, which ironically when I look back on it, so many of those skills translate to what I do now today. It’s interesting because, you know, a lot of my students will ask me, they’re like, so how are you so good at figuring out all this stuff? So many of those And I always tell them, why don’t troubleshoot the machines? I troubleshoot the people. And a lot of that I think comes from, you know, when you’re young, you’re a quarterback, you know, your sole purpose is, okay, read the defense, you know, if this linebacker does this or this person does this, you know, then we have to counter with this. Same thing in baseball, like, oh, I know if I can’t throw it right here, because that’s his sweet spot for this particular batter, you know, I got to keep it high and tight for this batter, you know, those kind of things. It’s really about just studying and learning people, and I think that sports influence has made me, you know, made me what I am when it comes to what I do today, especially in IT, and even more so in in kind of teaching and learning that kind of thing, because it is just super important to be able to, you know, just grasp the state of the class, you know, if someone’s having a bad day, like I can spot it immediately, if someone’s a little bit off, if they’re going through something. So it’s interesting how those kind of translated, and that was my goal was, again, to just, you know, be a sports star. I was doing really well in my pathway. I had some stumbles, recovered a little bit. I ended up getting like a scholarship to go to a small, really small college in like Marshall, Missouri to play basketball. Well, didn’t last too long. I actually got injured before the season even started. One of those first practices, it’s not a mandatory practice, but kind of a mandatory practice. Ended up getting a knee injury and forced me to redshirt that year. And after that, I, you know, I just kind of crumbled a little bit, you know, I went kind of through what you might, you know, I’m open on it. I’m super transparent. You know, I went through a depression era, you know, redshirt that year because it’s like to work so hard to get something. And then it’s like that one thing that you work so hard to get, you know, suddenly snatched away. So that was tough for me. The rest of my freshman year didn’t go too well. And, you know, I made the decision. I’m like, you know, what, I’m going to go back home, see how things go back home back in Texas. And when I got back in Texas, I didn’t really have any plan, didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know if I was going to continue my education those kind of things the old saying, you know, you gravitate to who’s around you, that kind of thing. So since I didn’t have a plan, that’s kind of the people I hung out with, the people that didn’t have a plan, didn’t know what they’re and you know, it was just, for me, it was a tough time. It was a very fun time. I got in a lot of fun, a lot of trouble, all of that. And you know, I started to realize, you know, after a year or so of just being a bum, so to speak start seeing the success of all of my peers, all the people that I’d grown up with. I was really fortunate because, you know, growing up, my school district, the high schools, you know, all of that, you know, there were some of the top high schools in America at that time. So I had a great education. And, you know, a lot of my peers, you know, they’re all like surgeons now, and they own their own law practices, or, you know, Congress or whatever, you know, and I started just seeing that. And I was like, you know what, I need something more out of life. I can’t, you know, go to the club every day, all day long, that kind of thing.

Manuel Martinez: And I have two questions. So the first one is, you know, you mentioned, and I’ve never heard this before, but similar to you, I played multiple sports, is you don’t read problems, you read people. And what do what do you mean by that? by not being, by not reading problems? Because a lot of times, so me, one of the things I’ve been focusing on and trying to help other people is, you know, I solve problems with technology. Now, what does that mean? It’s really trying to uncover and ask questions to really understand what the problem is, right? Sometimes it’s a process problem, right? It’s not really a, like you said, it’s not a technology problem. A lot of times it’s a people process problem. So I’ve never heard it put that way. So what, if you don’t mind kind of explaining a little bit more about that, like what that means or how you or how you see it.

Art Green: Well I, mean, for me, like, I mean, obviously you have to have a strong understanding of how the systems works, the things like that. like what But once you kind of understand, you know, how all of that works, you know, those fixes when the machine is broken, it’s pretty easy to understand that or, you know, those kinds of things. But, you know, when it’s something that the user has done or, you know, trying to determine is it the code or is it the hardware or is it the user? Having a deep understanding of how the user interacts, those kinds of things, it’s the same thing, like you brought up with like the processes and things like that. I find that the most complex problems almost always kind of revert back to human interaction and not as much on, system went down or this and that, that kind of thing

Manuel Martinez: Okay. And then again, as, as much as you want to talk about or not talk about. So you mentioned, you know, kind of going through that depression and a lot of times people identify with, you know, and I’ve heard especially like people who are athletes or people who go into specific careers. Like it’s not just athletes, but once you kind of are no longer in that role or in that position, a lot of times we, you probably didn’t realize it or, you know, you might have just wanting to achieve something so much that you identify with, I’m a division, you know, or I’m a college athlete. And when that’s no longer a thing, you know, it could be like, I’m a network engineer. And if I’m not a network engineer now, then it suddenly becomes like, who am I? Right? So I’m just curious about that process, especially because of who you help work, you’re helping, you know, with your work at like tech impact. And a lot of times that’s, that’s things that I think aren’t talked about as much. So I, I had, you know, like a similar, I don’t want to say like similar identity, but like at one point throughout my career, like I, I did, I went through a, like a depression. Like I don’t, I don’t know what I want to do. Part of it was I didn’t have anybody to really teach me about goal setting. So I had people that helped me throughout different careers, but at some point I was just kind of like, like you mentioned, right? Like you start to party a little bit too much, right? It’s around who you’re hanging around with. And it just, it got to a point where I was just like, well, I guess this is what I’m gonna do. I’m just going to be this person and just hang out. And then you know, my environment doesn’t help, right? Cause this is, again, I’m younger, I’m starting to make a little bit of money here in Vegas in my twenties. So that, you know, the, the things that people think about when they’re like Vegas, like I experienced that. So I’m just curious, is that kind of what happened for you? Is just like, well, I’m no longer a division one athlete or was it because the injury and now you’re thinking like, I can’t do this anymore. And the reason I bring this up, and again, it’s not to really dig into that, but it’s also to find out like what caused that. And then also kind of what helped you get out.

Art Green: Yeah. I mean, that’s a great question. I think it was just ingrained from just the time that I was just so little, like that was sports was everything for me. So it was like really all I ever even really thought about, you know, there was no plan B or anything like that. It wasn’t like, well, sport, you know, after sports, I’ll become a sports trainer or a physical therapist or this and that there. I didn’t really have a plan B for me, it was tough because it was a little bit extra tough because a lot of the people that I grew up around, you know, became professional athletes and things like that, you know, whatever, major league baseball, NBA, and people that are used to, you know, being on summer league teams and AAU teams and things like a lot of the people that, you know. So it was even hard, you know, for me to just like watch games and stuff like that. It was just like, ah man… you know, what could I have done different? that’s my personality type, you know. And I think a lot of it goes back to having kind of like that quarterback mentality and the way I was taught. Like I’m a big Peyton Manning fan because I loved the way, you know, if something went wrong, Peyton Manning would always accept responsibility. But then say he has a great game. It’s like he threw seven touchdowns today. It was an amazing performance. And he’ll immediately switch it. He was like, I know, did you see my receivers today? They didn’t miss a single pass. You know, the line was blocking like nothing about his accomplishment, you know. And that’s that kind of that quarterback mentality and that’s something I try to bring. well I guess it’s just ingrained in me, so to speak, you know. You know, anytime that those praise come and things like that, you know, I always try to turn it back to the students because, you know, they’re, you know, a huge part in this Circling back to what you were referring to, I think for me, the big thing that helped me get through that depression was first and foremost was just understanding- coming to the realization like, hey, you’re messing up your life first and foremost and just knowing that I got to make a change. And it just so happened to be around that time that, you know, my parents were getting around that retirement age and were thinking about leaving Texas. And they wanted to kind of find somewhere warm, warm climate. My dad likes to gamble. I don’t know if I should say that on the podcast, but, you know, so they were going to move out here. about leaving And, you know, for me, I was like, this is my chance to escape all this madness going on around here. And, you know, I just begged him. I’m like, please just let me come with you. Like, I’ll stay with you for one week. I’ll get my own place, you know, that kind of thing. And they knew that was probably what was best for me as well, too, because they could see. And I think there was probably a lot of level of disappointment because they knew that I was a super, super smart person growing up. You know, I always had great grades, things like that. And that, you know, I’m sure to them to be completely frank, they’re like, this kid is wasting his life right now. Maybe a change will do him good, you know. So packed up all the cars and transferred or came on out to Las Vegas. And I think that was one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made in my life. I think on certain levels, it could have potentially saved my life because things were that bad back home.

Manuel Martinez: So it’s really one understanding that you talked about it, right? Like you gravitate to what’s around you. So there’s people with no plan, you’re hanging around with people with no plan. So that change of scenery, obviously, that’s a part of it. You know, not everybody can go through and probably move to a new city, but just really identifying that, hey, this is the current situation. I mean, isn’t doing me any good. I have to make a change and it’s difficult, right? Especially because, you know, maybe some of the people you’re hanging around are people that you knew from, you know, a long time ago. And it’s hard at times to say, no, right? And really understanding that by separating yourself from that to want better for yourself. Like no one’s going to want better for you more than you. Other people will help support you. But at the end of the day, they’re also taking care of themselves. So would you say that’s accurate? It’s just even if you can’t move to another city, just find people that you want to aspire to be around and just try and find a way to it may not have to be as drastic as moving a city, but just like, hey, these people don’t have a plan. Let me just try and find somebody else that does something maybe a little bit different.

Art Green: Absolutely. I would agree with that. And I’ve heard that before someone says, show me your five closest friends and I’ll tell you exactly where you’re going to be in five years from now So yeah I couldn’t agree more there. Yeah, for me, it was just, I think you spoke to that fact that, you know, some of the people I was hanging out with, like I’d known since I was like five years old. So it’s like almost family to me. you know, to try to remove yourself from that situation, it’s kind of like, hey, I thought we’re family and now you’re like doing this other thing. So it would have made it difficult to remove myself in that scenario. But, you know, if it’s like, hey, he’s moving to another city, then that’s an entirely different thing as well too.

Manuel Martinez: So then, you know, you move here to Vegas and I don’t know if you had, you know, context here. Is it now really out of your own, you know, kind of drive. And I’ve had a couple other people here who, you know, have played sports and, you know, there’s that structure of, you know, and it sounds like you’re pretty disciplined and, you know, wanting to go through and achieve something on your own. Like, you know, sure you have coaches and people that can help you along the way, but at the end of the day, Sports and you it’s really dependent on you. So what did you do once you got here and, you know, to kind of jumpstart that change?

Art Green: Well the biggest thing was for me was just finding work, because I wanted to uphold the promise to my parents that I wasn’t going to be- they weren’t bringing me out here to be a burden and they weren’t bringing me out here to do the same things that I was doing, you know, repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results. So, you know, I, you know, hit the ground running. I was applying for all kind of jobs immediately, just pretty much anything. I, you know, I can’t even remember at that time. But I ended up landing a position, like, really quick, like probably a week after I got out here, with just like a small travel agency. And, you know, for my younger audience, they probably don’t know what that even is. landing a position like really quick It’s a little different from Expedia and that kind of thing. It’s, you know, it’s kind of like a call center environment where you’re just fielding reservation calls. People say, hey, you know, I want to book this, I want to book that, you know. so I just started working there and ironically, just that random job that I took just being a travel agent, not to undermine travel agents or anything like that, but is what really started my tech career. You know, I’d always been super that random job passionate about computers. I love technology. And my… what do you call it, like our graduate, Is what really after our graduation and our little graduation party and things like that, we had like a casino night and I ended up winning the most at all the whole casino. Instead of like, you know, buying, getting fancy TVs and things like that, you know, I actually got it like a computer. That’s what I spent my casino winnings on. So I was just, whole casino you know, I just always was just fascinated by computers and IT. And so, you know, working as a travel agent, we did have a lot of free time on our hands at times. So, always was just you know, behind the scenes, I’m just playing with the computer trying to figure out, you know, what can it do? What does this do? What does that do? And I kind of stumbled upon, they they had a back engine, so to speak, where you could actually do some basic coding and things like that and incorporate it into the airline CRS system that we’re working. I think it was visual Fox Pro, visual basic at the time. where you could actually And so I just started playing around with that. And, you know, I somehow figured out how to kind of completely alter the way that our booking process was being done. And what I mean by that is, you know, traditional airline CRS systems, you know, it’s all like command line interface, you have to memorize every airport code, every hotel code, those kind of things. So I was like, there’s got to be an easier way. So what I did is create a booking, kind of like a portal or a form, the predecessor to Expedia, where you could instead of having to know every single airport code, you could just click on a drop down box and you have just scroll down to whatever airport you needed, those kind of things, which not only helped with, you know, the speed and accuracy of reservations, but it allowed them to onboard like new hires, things like that quicker, because they’re not spending all this time learning airport codes and things like that, only helped because it’s, you know, it’s all in drop down boxes, The speed and things like that. And, you know, the bosses there saw what I was doing. and they’re like, Hey, can you put this on everybody’s computer, you know, it’s like, we need this across the board. And I’m like, sure. And they’re like, what else can that stuff do? and you know, in one of those things where they just start throwing things out, like, what if you could do this with it? Or could you do this? Can you look into this? So I eventually stopped doing travel reservations and became like a full time coder for the actual travel agency.

Manuel Martinez: And you know, that that natural curiosity, you know, because at that time, you know, it’s really just tinkering around, right? It’s one thing to kind of go through and have somebody tell you, Hey, do this, do this, do that. But there’s a lot of value in just going around and breaking things. Like I remember, like you said, the first computer is just, I would play around. And I remember when my mouse just stopped working. like, computer was still working. But I was like, all of a sudden like the mouse just stopped. And it was like, all right, well, how do I, I don’t have the time and, you know, it might’ve been the evening, so I don’t even know if the store was open to go and buy a replacement mouse. And it was just tinkering around to figure out, well, how can I still, I have a keyboard that works and just kind of tinkering around. And, you know, I discovered the command line like, Oh, oh my gosh. Like if I just type in these commands, it does a lot of stuff. And similar to your point, like this is so much easier to this day. I have that whereas I really, I just like having to use a mouse. Like I just, I, if I can type something out, if I don’t have to take my hands off to move a mouse to do something, much easier I try to find that, that shortcut. And it sounds like you were doing something similar. Like there’s got to be a way to not only learn the system better, but it almost, you wanted to improve your process at the same time. And then is that what kind of probably didn’t know it at the time, but then also them asking you, can you do this? Can you do that? I’m sure a lot of it, time and then is especially as you’re just learning, it’s not like, Oh yeah, a hundred percent. It’s, well, let me see. And then just kind of tinkering around.

Art Green: Exactly… yeah. A lot of it’s, I just saved a lot of just experimentation I was fortunate because, you know, as, as I continued to work and continue to improve on things, that kind of thing, some of the things that I wasn’t able to figure out, they’re like, well, what if we send you to school for this or, because you know as you know, that kind …not necessarily school, but what if we send you like somewhere that they Continued to can teach you more of this stuff? So they, they ended up sending me like, I think it was out to Atlanta, Georgia to I believe the company is called WorldSpan, which was the CRS. And they were putting on kind of like a bootcamp style week long class to like learn more about how to code the system and things like that. So that was really cool. I learned a lot of cool tricks there. And it was, it was cool. That was, that was my first ever business trip experience. So that was different. Like, you know, I never, you know, I didn’t even know that people, you know, would fly you places, pay for your hotel, all your meals and those kinds of things. You know, I was super young, probably like 22 back then. So that was a cool experience. And I came back and I was like, all right, I got a lot of new ideas for you guys. I got a lot of great things. And the ironic part is, you know, while I was gone, I believe it was that the, the actual IT guy for that organization came back and I was had left the organization. And they said, well, guess what, we have something new for you too. And I’m like, what’s that? And they’re like, you know, the IT guy or Dave or whatever his name was has left. Since you didn’t know the most about computers, you’re going to be the IT guy too. So you spend part of the day coding part of the day doing this. And I’m like, okay, sounds good to me. I’m like, I’ll try it, you know, not having any idea how to, you know, run a network or, you know, not even probably even troubleshoot just basic troubleshooting a lot of those things. I didn’t really know. I knew enough to be dangerous. And that’s exactly what I was. I was a dangerous IT Run a network or person to have in charge of the network. But somehow I just figured it out. And, you know, from there, I was, I loved doing that more than I liked doing the coding. So I, that sort of given me direction, so to speak, in life, I’m like, I like this networking. And I like this troubleshooting. I like all of this stuff. I love, I like coding, but I love doing this stuff. So I think that’s kind of what put me on the path where I am today.

Manuel Martinez: Man, there’s a number of questions that I have here. But I think the one that I’ll start with is you were very open to trying new things. And, you know, a lot of the information that you kind of pass on and things that I’ve, I’ve given advice through mentorship or just people that ask is being open to new opportunities. And I’ve heard that from so many guests that they’re just like, “Well, I don’t know, but hey, “I’ll try it. I’ll raise my hand. I’ll give it a chance.” Right? Because you could have, easily said, “Well, no, I’m good at coding and I’m just going to be the best And, you know, or continue this way because you’re like, “I enjoy it. Maybe it’s not the best thing.” But you don’t know what you don’t know. Right? And it’s, I think that’s a big thing too, is exposure, right? Like being exposed to, you know, the business trip is, “Well, I didn’t know that that’s a thing. Like people pay for you to go through.” And so I would say what’s your take on being open to new opportunities?” And then kind of piggybacking off of that one is also those new opportunities. And I’m sure a lot of times, and I don’t know if you get this with students, but they hear the big names, kind of right? Like Google or Microsoft or even locally here, right? Like the MGM’s. But there’s also value in, especially if you’re just starting out on some of these smaller places because they might give you more opportunities and they’ll value you more, right? Because that place could have easily just said, “Oh, hey, stop doing that. And, you know, we hired you to be a travel agency.” But you provided value. You started to show, you know, that there’s, we can do more and we can improve the business. They seem to understand and value that there’s times where they might not. So I’m just kind of, I know that’s two questions that I kind of put together, but I’m just curious.

Art Green: Yeah, I’m always one of those people that, and it’s something I definitely teach my students to always be open and be watching for new opportunities, be prepared when the opportunity is presented to you. But at the same time, I tell them to be a little bit cautious as well too, because you don’t want to get to a point where you start taking on all these roles and responsibilities and you get overwhelmed and then exhaustion sets in, you know, those kind of things. So it’s kind of a, it can be a double-edged sword, especially for me. I know in I had a similar situation happened with another organization I was working with where it was just an IT instructor for, you know, a small college out here. And ironically, the IT director left again and they asked me to take over that role. So I took over that, I was doing IT director, teaching classes at night. And then they’re like, “Well, you want to be the facility director?” And ironically the I’m like, “Sure, why not?” You know, and now it’s like, I’m starting to think about this and I’m like, “I have a lot of hats in the organization.” And it did get a little bit overwhelming for me. But again, a lot of those things that even I learned like from a facility side of things have translated into other things in other areas and things like that. So I’m grateful for that experience and those experiences and things like that.

Manuel Martinez: But it probably also at the same time help you understand, like you’re learning a lot, but then you’re also probably learning, like you said, there’s that fine line of knowing like when to say no. And I think when we’re younger, because I made that mistake too, I was like, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.” And then you’ve got so much going on that it’s, you’re right, you toe that line of like, “I can’t handle those responsibilities. And as I got more experience, more knowledge, you learn when to say no. Hey, no, I’m not going to do that.” Or, “I can’t do that.” can’t handle those Right? Like there’s a whole thing, you know, I know a couple of people, there’s the art of saying no without saying no. Right? Or putting it back on them to say, “Hey, well, if you want me to take on these other responsibilities, like here’s the list of everything else I’m doing, like what do you not want me to do?” And maybe put the decision back on them. If you don’t feel comfortable saying, “No, I can’t do that.” Or, “I’ll do this, but I’m not going to do that.” Is that similar? Is that something that you kind of gained there?

Art Green: Yeah absolutely. it’s still to this day, I have, you know, trouble saying no. So I probably need to read that book, whichever one that was. Because yeah, I do take on a lot of different things. For me, I enjoy it because again, I just love learning new things, taking on new responsibilities and things like that. But I do, I hear it from my other half all the time, like, “You got to take care of yourself too.” love learning new And same thing with some of my fellow, our team basically, like, “Take some days off. Please take some days off.” So that’s something I have to work on. I have to get better at that.

Manuel Martinez: So now you discovered networking, and you start to kind of do a lot more of this troubleshooting, and you say, “Hey, you know what? This is the area I want to go.” So then, did you just stop doing a lot of the coding? Did you focus more on the networking? Like, how did you come about deciding this is what I want to do? Did you leave that role? Did you, again, tell them, “I’ll do both for as long as I can?” Just curious.

Art Green: Yeah, so in that particular situation, it was a little bit different because when I started there, we had a lot of major contracts with a lot of, like, military installations where we were handling a lot of the travel for all the graduations for, like, Great Lakes Naval Academy, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. So we had these big, big contracts. And then when it came up to be bid on again, to be renewed, we were outbid. So we lost a big chunk of, you know, our capital in the organization. So there was kind of like a mass layoff. And I think the business might have even closed, to be honest with you. I can’t remember. So I ended up being out of work at that particular time. So there there was And that’s kind of when I switched gears into more of, like, specifically troubleshooting. And that’s when I started working with, like, a subcontract of Dell computers.

Manuel Martinez: And that subcontract, so I’m assuming, you know, when they kind of, you know, you got laid off. Now you’re just, again, going back into the job market. And now you’ve got, you know, you’ve got some skills and some experience. And now you’re just trying to find, like, that next role. And that’s how you came across this contract?

Art Green: Yeah, I, you know, I had direction at that point, which is something I hadn’t had before. It’s like, this is what I’m good at. This is what I’m going to do the rest of my life, like in some way, shape, form, some facet of this is where I belong. is something I This is home for me So that was solely looking, you know, wasn’t one of those, I just shoot up my resume to anyone and everything. It was like, I’m looking for computer, IT related jobs. And I just, there was a company out here that was outsourcing looking you know support for Dell’s home and small business division. So I started working there, found out very quickly, I did not know as much as I thought I knew about computers. Because it wasn’t as much networking, which I’d really been focusing on the networking side, but not really like the PC support and things like that. So it was a very steep learning curve. I’ll say that I was probably the absolute worst and added probably 300 technicians when I started.

Manuel Martinez: So… you probably weren’t the best at it. But over time, did you feel you got better? Or was it something where you’re like okay, I just need to get good enough to kind of be in this role and knowing that I was that I don’t like it? Because I also don’t know. And I want to get back into the networking side? Or was it like, at that time, did you realize, even though I want to get into networking, I probably should have a better understanding of just basic PCs?

Art Green: Yeah, for me, it was, it was just asking a lot of questions. And that’s something I’m really big on not being afraid to ask questions I was picking everyone around me, their brain, that kind of thing. But I would say the big turning point for me was when I actually built my first computer, because that was actually the first time I was like, you know what, I we need a computer, let’s build a computer, you know, and I went out and got all the parts, put it together. And that’s when I really started like tinkering with things and trying different things and breaking things. And, and then it was just kind of that aha moment, so many over and over like, oh, that’s why we do this that’s how this works. And that’s how this works together. different things And once I started going through that, like, I really started going up the ladder, so to speak, and probably about 6-8 months later, I was probably one of the top technicians in the entire technical center. I was moved to like become a trainer. And then I was also bumped to a senior supervisor at that time. So they actually had me, which is ironic, because we have sites in Delaware, but I would actually work for like 30 days training new technicians out in Delaware, and then come back to Vegas and manage my team of technicians, So that was interesting, too. That was my first experience, like having a corporate apartment somewhere. It’s like, wow, I didn’t know they did that either. You know, it’s like, you know, it’s like two homes, kind of.

Manuel Martinez: And when you were starting to ask these questions and learn, did you set out and say, okay, you know, I’m probably one of the worst right now, but I’m going to work to achieve to be one of the best? Or was it just something that you focused more on? I just want to improve. I just want to improve. I just want to improve. the reason I’m asking this question is there’s a lot of times where people will say, hey, focus on the goal, right? It’s good to have a goal and know what you want to shoot for. But I think a lot of times what gets missed in that is the small daily habits that form over time, right? 6-8 months, people are like, wow, that’s quick. But it’s not. That’s actually quite a long time to just kind of be focusing on, again, it’s just PCs. It’s not like six to eight months you went from, you know, a basic PC repair person to now you’re leading an entire division of networking and servers and PCs, right? Like you just focused on getting better here. So kind of what was the thought process or how even just looking back now, like what do you think attributed to again, it could be a long rise up, it could be a short rise up again, depending on how you look at that time frame.

Art Green: For me, I don’t even know what the term for it is, but I my brain, it has a problem. Like if my brain is able to know that there is a solution to something, And I’m for me I like it doesn’t stop, it would just not stop until it figures if it says I know there’s a solution to this, like it will just keep churning and churning and churning until I find a solution. I think that kind of played a role in it’s like, I know I can figure this stuff out. Like you should be able to solve this problem, you should be able to figure this kind of thing out thing out. And for me, I mean, in transparency, it’s probably obsessive compulsive. Because, you know, a lot of times I would take, you know, problems or things from work home, like it would just drive me crazy. And I think that was one of the big lessons that I learned, especially in IT, that sometimes you got to step away. Like sometimes I would just be sitting there just for hours and hours, like trying to figure out something, try to solve this complex problem And someone was like, why don’t you go take a break real quick? You know, I was like, I got to work on this. Go take a break, you know, I’ll take a break. And before I even get down to the break room, I’m like, oh, that’s the answer You know, it’s like, oh, and it was something super simple, the simplest thing in the world that I often overlooked. So yeah, I think that that was that driving factor. It’s like, anything that, you know, that, that I’m attempting to do, whether it be work and life, I always want to be the best. I want to, you know, strive to be, you know, best in the world at what I do, you know, can’t say I’ve ever gotten to be the best in the world in anything. But that is always the goal for me is to be the very best at what I do.

Manuel Martinez: Right. Well, and, and again, even if you’re not there, just the constant drive to want to be the best is, you know, you’re going to improve, right? Like, you’re going to be better than you were six months ago, a year ago, you know, two weeks ago, that whole thing So now you have kind of, again, that, that mindset. kind of helps me kind of understand a little bit more about that journey and how you were able to, I’m going to say pretty quickly, right? It was six months to go through and get to this role where now you’re teaching other people seems pretty quick, but it’s also, you’re not putting in just eight hours a day, right? You’re putting in extra time at home. So I think a lot of times that gets missed. They’re like, Oh, oh, I just have to do this for six months through my nine to five. And that’s it. And it’s, there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes.

Art Green: Definitely a lot of hours, a lot of late nights, a lot of those things yeah, just, I think that was, that was also a big turning point for me. Because that was my first ever experience, like kind of training others, like to the point where I understand the way these hardware components, the way the operating system works, how all these things work. And I can, I’m capable of teaching this to other people, and I’m capable of ramping them up really fast that was kind of my very first experience in a teaching capacity per se… And I think I liked that just as much as I did, like doing troubleshooting and all of that. So it was kind of twofold for me. At that point in time, I never dreamed that I would, you know, be a teacher. But I I think that was, that was kind of that precursor or whatever you might call it, to where I am today, per se.

Manuel Martinez: It’s probably planted that seed without you really knowing it at that time

Art Green: Absolutely.

Manuel Martinez: So then, you know, you’re traveling, you’re teaching all these teams, you don’t really decide that you want to be a full-time trainer at this point, but you’re starting to realize that you enjoy it. Obviously, you know, I’m kind of putting it together that even just working in teams, you know, playing sports, like you get along, you’re able to kind of troubleshoot personalities, people, and kind of, especially in a quarterback role, and in a pitcher, like you are in a leadership role, right? I mean, sure, there’s the coach who’s the ultimate bit on the field, at least at that point in time, like you are the person in the point guard, you seem to kind of enjoy and thrive in that leadership type role. So after that… did you continue to say, “This is what I want to do,” maybe not teach, but I want to be in more of a leadership role?

Art Green: That’s a good question. It’s interesting because that particular position was in, it was an interesting time, so right around the big bubble with the dot coms and all of those things. I think we’d spoken about it before, you know, this was right around the time where they had the e-machines coming out and all the bargain basement PCs and things like that, which were significantly priced less than the equipment that other organizations were selling at that time. So it was kind of pricing a lot of people out of that market. So in order for that change to be made, then they had to find other areas to cut. As the story goes, I ended up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. And that was kind of a tough experience for me. It was really disheartening because I put so much into it, you know? Giving up 30 days of my time with friends and loved ones here to go and try to help build this up. I think that was one of my, you know, it was kind of a traumatic experience for me on certain levels because I remember one of my last days that I was with the organization or that I was on the East Coast I was fielding questions from a lot of these new techs and supervisors that we’d all got everything set up. And, you know, one of the questions was, you know, is this going to last? Because we’ve had so many promises made, you know, in our community, this kind of thing and that kind of thing, is it going to last? You know, I’m like, oh, yeah, you know, this is we’re in this definitely, you know, and… know, it wasn’t, you know, a few weeks later, like they just started shipping every all of that support overseas, that kind of thing. And, you know, for me, that was just like, you know, kind of a knife in the chest, so to speak, because like, man, I just gave all these people my word. it didn’t work out, you know, so that kind of left a bad taste in my mouth as far as like leadership roles roles. Not to say I was opposed to it, being that young, I first started realizing that leaders have some tough decisions they have to make.

Manuel Martinez: It sounds like they started kind of ramping that down They kind of started to downsize, right? Just- that’s what businesses do. So then from there, what did you it left a bad impression on you for as far as leadership. So then, you know, you have to start looking for some other type of work. So what did you… think, at least at that time, this is what I want to do. you know, what did you end ultimately end up, you know, landing a role in?

Art Green: You know, once I was let go from the organization or laid off I was very lucky to get a decent severence package that gave me a little bit of time to like sit back and breathe for a little bit. And it was around that time I was like, you know, I’ve been hearing about computer certifications and things like that. So that was having that downtime. I was like, you know what, I’m going to start getting some certifications, those kind of things. So that’s what I did. I just started looking like A plus network plus MSCS was big at that time, those kind of things. Just started getting a lot of certs while I was in the process of, you know, shopping my resume. it’s interesting because having that technical experience plus that training experience made me somewhat of a commodity when it came to education. Because I guess at that time, there weren’t a whole lot of people that were that were doing both that had the capacity to do both. So I got a call from like a local college out here and they’re like, hey, are we interested? Are you interested in coming to teach? And I was like, sure, why not? You know, and that’s how I ended up getting my first, you know, teaching role in it, like a formal environment like teaching.

Manuel Martinez: If I remember correctly, this is the one where you started off as a teacher and then just kind of, again, being open opportunities, started to do a little bit more. And you kind of touched on it a little bit earlier where, you know, you kind of became like, I don’t remember the exact… progression, but it was like instructor to kind of a lead to program director facilities and all that So how did that kind of happen? And, you know, you start to gain, again, a lot more responsibilities. It sounds like just your work ethic alone of, hey, I’m going to do better. I’m going to do more. And then people were willing to kind of give you that opportunity

Art Green: Absolutely. I mean, the initial position that I took wasn’t even really, oh, I don’t want to say, I don’t want to say it wasn’t tech. It wasn’t IT, we’ll say. There’s more like just training the students, like applications, your word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Access at that point in time. Just teaching those and, you know, an opportunity came up where, you know, one of the other instructors in the actual IT programs ended up leaving the organization. And that was the person that was actually the IT director for the campus as well, too. And, you know, they offered me both positions. They’re like, hey, do you want to teach IT as well? actual IT programs So for a little bit there, I was the business administration instructor the CIS instructor, as well as trying to figure out how to run an entire college campus. So things progressed really quickly at that point. And the the business it was a lot, but it was a great, great experience. It’s just to be able to actually have a network of that size. You know, the one when I was running it at a travel agency, you were talking like 10 computers, a little token ring network, one server, that kind of thing. Whereas when you’re talking a college campus, you know, 20 classrooms with 20, 30 computers in each one. that’s when I started getting my introductions into like how Active Directory works SQL servers, exchange servers, how to manage all these different things. So that was really eye-opening, but I fell in love with that. And that was, that was a great experience.

Manuel Martinez: And it sounds like both of these roles, they’re pretty different, right? It’s almost like at some point you almost kind of have like a decision or a crossroads because while it’s fun at the time and you’re learning to kind of be an instructor, but then also kind of be the IT director and you’re having to manage the college campus, the, you know, more of the business administration side of it, at this point, and I’m not saying that they can’t be done, but did you start to kind of lean towards one or the other or did you feel like, you know, I like being able to have a variety and being able to do both?

Art Green: I definitely enjoyed both. I’d probably say equally I really love teaching, you know, teaching the students, but I also love learning about the technology. And that’s something I’ve kind of done is I’ve done a lot of like flopping back and forth between teaching and actually doing IT, which I think is huge for me. And I think it’s great for any instructor because you can, you know, having that real world experience, and being able to bring that into the classroom. It’s not just about, you know, this is what the book says. So we’re going to do, you know, this is what it says, you know, you can give real world experiences. I can tell them like when the SASSER B virus hit on my network and how every classroom started going down one by one and, you know, having those stories. And I think it’s great too from an aspect that, you know, and that’s one of the reasons I kind of do go back and forth because, you know, being in, you know, IT for 25 years, you know, if I hadn’t been going from teaching to actually doing to teaching to doing, if I just started with IT and then went to teaching my whole career, a lot of what I’m going to be teaching is stuff I knew 25 years ago. So kind of going back and forth is what helps me to stay, I like, I don’t want to say relevant and fresh, but technically in a sense

Manuel Martinez: From this role, like where… where did you see yourself going or kind of what was the next step, right? Because again, you’re taking on more. It sounds like, you know, you mentioned earlier, like you’re starting to almost take on too much. Was it I like this and I want to try and continue to grow here within this organization or did at some point you get to a point where you’re like, I think I’ve kind of figured this out. I want like another challenge.

Art Green: Yeah, for me, it was an interesting situation because the small school that I was at time was actually going through kind of a corporate buyout by a larger for-profit institution, which was cool because it was a great opportunity, you know, being a director, I got to be involved in all the different planning meetings and, you know, all the weekly meetings, those kind of things. And then, you know, having this education, this institution bring all of their senior, senior level peoples to come in and do participate in audits and things like that, you know, making sure all these different things are right. So I think that was great experience for me getting to see all of that. As far as, you know, at that point, I wanted to kind of make that my role for forever. I wanted to continue with the networking path and, you know, doing a little bit of teaching on the side and those kind of things. But the way it ended up working out is sometimes what happens when buyouts, you know, they ended up outsourcing their IT support because they have the capital to do so. So I kind of got leveraged out of that one. So then it was just kind of trying to make a decision like, you know, where do I go from here? and even though it seemed like having such a great experience, I was building up this incredible resume. I think that was one of the first times when I started struggling a little bit to find a new position and things like that. And ironically, I ended up going to a different school, kind of one of their competitors in that nonprofit space, so to speak. because I was struggling to find a role, I actually just took a job in admissions, which was very new and very interesting for me to say the least.

Manuel Martinez: In that admissions role, you know, it’s different. It’s not what you wanted to do, but something I tell people and a lot of people have kind of shared here is there’s transferable skills that you can learn even in an admissions role. So I’m sure there’s something you took away there to where eventually, you know, I’m going to kind of fast forward a little bit to eventually kind of being introduced and learning about, you know, IT works. So kind of what did you learn there, at least in the time that you were in the admissions role that you feel you were able to learn and take from there and then eventually, you know, maybe even apply now towards this IT works position.

Art Green: Yeah, it was it was interesting when I started out there, it was very similar to my previous experience where I was the worst one at it. I was bad. But when I had that aha moment, as far as from an admissions standpoint, it was one of those ones where, you know, I stopped begging students to come. And it was more of like, hey, this is my background. This is my knowledge. This is what I’m presenting to you. I’m not trying to sell you anything. This is an opportunity for you. And, you know, I think that was a big switch for me. And I actually started doing very well. And they actually kind of slowly moved me into just recruitment for IT related programs, which was nice. But for me, I have to say, consciously… it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. And not to Not to say that all for-profit education is bad or things like that. There’s good and bad in everything in life. But it just, it’s for me, you know, enrolling a lot of these students in, you know, they’re agreeing for, you know, $80,000 worth of school. They’re taking out all these loans and all of this stuff. And, you know, and having a teaching background trainer for so long, you know, I was able to spotlight this person. This is not their field of study. This is not their, you know, I didn’t want to say wasting their money, but like, they’re not going to stay with this, it made it tough on me because, you know, I’m a very empathetic person and I even brought it up to one of the senior leadership, you know, and I’m like, know, it was well, what do you do if we know someone is not ready for this? And of course their response was, you know, how can we be the judge of that, you know? And it’s like, when you know certain things, you know certain things, you know? what do you do if So that was always, that was, that was really tough for me. But again, when it translated- and I think the second part was, you know, asking about how it translates to IT words I think it was very just very refreshing for one about how, you know, with the IT work program at Tech Impact, how we are selective about who the students that we take, that was a big thing for me. And just having, you know, dealt with so many different students, there’s a lot of times when, you know, we’re making those class selections and narrowing that down like I can meet one of the students for like 10 minutes and I’m like, yep, that’s one right there, you know? And that comes from that experience and having trained people and having taught, which my team doesn’t like much because they’re like, well, we can’t quantify that, you know? Like, what makes this person the right one? I’m like, I don’t know, I just got to feel like this person is going to be great, you know? So that’s something I’m working on too.

Manuel Martinez: How did you come about to know about IT works and eventually, you know, kind of apply and get in there and, you know, what was that experience like?

Art Green: It was actually, it was a great experience prior to that, I’d been working like in software development and then we ended up losing that and I ended up working in like the reentry space for helping formerly incarcerated individuals reintergrate Which I love doing. It was super rewarding. It was super, you know, it was great, but it just, I was yearning to get back into IT because IT was my passion. So I just kind of started looking out there and I was looking for IT jobs. I was you know, shopping my resume. I was getting a few bites, getting some interviews and things like that, but it either wasn’t a good fit on their end or wasn’t a good fit on my end. And so I’m like, you know what, maybe I’m going to try like to tie in IT with non-profit and just see what comes back from that search. And lo and behold, there was an ad for IT works instructor, Las Vegas, immediately applied talked to, I got a call from the recruiter and, you know, we started discussing all the different, what IT works was and all of these things. And, you know, I was, I literally told her on the phone. I was like, take the ad down now. I am the right person for this job. I’m telling you, I will be great at this position. And she’s kind of giggled or whatever. I’m like, I’m telling you, I’m going to be great at this.

Manuel Martinez: And I know we’re not going to have a chance to touch on a little bit, but earlier on in your career, you talked about, you know, just being open to opportunities and just kind of, you know, at this point, you’re starting to just really see what’s out there, right? And get exposure. And now you’ve, you’ve taught, you’ve kind of done the work, you’ve done training, you did, you know, kind of giving back with the incarceration, which, you know, we didn’t get a chance to talk about. But now at this point, you’re starting to be a little bit more selective and understand kind of what you want. And I think it’s, especially with younger people, and I don’t know if you run into that or not even younger, but just people coming into the field or getting into you know, certain things like right now, like the hot thing for a while was cybersecurity. Everybody wants to do cybersecurity, but you don’t really know. For example, me, and I’ve talked about it before, is I really thought at one point I want to be, you know, a network person. I started was cybersecurity. doing networking. I hated it, right? Like it was just, it wasn’t for me. But you don’t But now you’ve gathered all these experiences. And I think it’s easier once you get exposure to a lot of things to know, this is what I want, which is probably what led you to, I like nonprofit, I like IT and teaching, there’s got to be a niche there somewhere.

Art Green: With tech impact in general, I just, I love everything about the organization. the organization’s mission is to leverage technology to create social impact, you know, and that to me, and that was one of the big things when I was just, you know, before your interviews, you’re reading about on the website, and I’m like, wow, leverage technology to create social impact. Well, I was actually like, how do they pull that off? How does that work? the impact and it’s going to be hard to go back to anything else after having experienced what I, experienced here and seeing all these students grow and come about, you know, many of them are… you know, dislocated, disenfranchised, you know, youth and, you know, some come from tough situations, you know, I’ve had students that weren’t homeless, shelters, things like that. And now to see them, like, you know, working at a big resort as an IT engineer and things like that, it’s like, you know, it’s like, how does it get any better than that?

Manuel Martinez: Right.

Art Green: That’s something I preach to my students. I tell them that, you know, and just, and it’s so cliche, but it’s like, if you love what you do, you never work another day the rest of your life.

Manuel Martinez: And I can see it. I mean, just in a little bit, I’ve talked to you and I’ve talked to other people that are involved with this program and even your students. I haven’t run into it specifically your students and I’ve seen posts on LinkedIn just, they talk about you and just, you know, the amount of, like, not only just knowledge that you give them, but that experience and the passion, right? Like they talk about like, oh, it’s so great. And you can tell, and I’m sure they see it, is that you’re, you’re really genuine about it, right? Like you said, it’s fulfilling, right? Like it probably doesn’t feel like work to you. And you’re probably put in, you know, a lot of hours, like you said, a lot of things behind the scenes that they’re never going to see They at that moment probably won’t appreciate it. But at some point later on when they’re like, Oh my gosh, like, I’m now an engineer, you know, at a big resort. And it’s a lot of, you know, what you’re doing and even hearing, you know, a lot of your, your background and, you know, the things that you talked about at the beginning of the episode where you’re like, Hey, I’m, I’m helping develop curriculum. I want to build this better. And, and being humble about it and knowing that, yes, I have this knowledge and experience, but I don’t know it all. I can improve. I can do better and I can help you do better than me. Right? And where, where do you think that that, that passion comes from? Right? Because it doesn’t sound like you had, maybe you had mentors, but you didn’t have a lot of people around you, a lot of exposure to say, this is what you’re going to do. And here’s how we’re going to help you. But yet you’re willing to kind of go do that on your own. You were very self-driven and now you’re kind of the opposite where you’re helping others. So just where does that, where does that develop? And is it just something over time? Is it something you think that you just, you’ve always had?

Art Green: I think it’s just kind of something innate within me. Just, I just have always, have always been about just trying to help others, help build up others. And I don’t know, I guess that that’s what one of the things that brings me the most joy is being able to be, to help others, to learn, to grow. I try to be that person. Like if something ever goes wrong, like they know they can call me up and I’ll be there. Or if I can’t be there, I’ll have good advice for them. Or I may have, you know, something, someone to connect them with or some information that could get, you know, help with people. It’s hard to explain. I just, I just always love helping people up, I guess.

Manuel Martinez: It’s good. And then, you know, I see now also some of the leadership part of it, right? What we talked about before is like, you’re still a leader, you’re still kind of helping kind of grow and uplift, which is, which is amazing. Is there anything as part of this conversation that maybe we didn’t touch on that you really hey, there’s something important that I want to either talk about, you know, maybe an area of your career or, you know, just an experience that you’re like, hey, we didn’t spend enough time on this, or maybe we didn’t cover it all that you think is of value.

Art Green: I think the big thing, especially for those that, you know, may see this and they might be just starting out their career, or maybe they’re looking to figure out how to get a foot in the door to definitely take time to look into tech impact because that’s, that’s, it’s something that’s really a big, and I might be restating something I’ve said before, but… the fact that there’s opportunities out there to get not just a free education, but a high level education for free. I mean, I can see something like this becoming a game changer. Well, it already has been a game changer in many people’s lives, but, you know, changing the way we look at education outside of just the money piece is, you know, what I’ve seen in my history in education is that, you know, a lot of education is, hey, come in, take these classes, you know, do this, and then once you get this, you get your diploma, your this or that, you know, see you later, and that’s where tech impact is a little bit different, because, you know, for me, I call it a family, you know, these students from all my family, they’re like, you know, they say, do you have any kids? I was like, yeah, I got 682 kids, you know, all these ones, because we stay with them, you know, it’s not just our 16-week program, we get you a job, and then see you later, you know, we just created like a pathway to middle schools program that I’m super proud of, and I was one of the people that helped take the lead on getting that program created as far from the curriculum side, and, you know, getting all the right tools in place. So it’s a situation where, you know, once they’ve spent, you know, the 16 weeks with me and our ITWorks 1.0 program, they’re out working in the field for eight months to a year or so, then we give them an invite to come back and do and get higher level certifications with us, being like your CompTIA Network Plus, and also your Security Plus. Depending on which area they want to go in, some want to get both, some just want the CyberPath and get the security, but, you know, and again, it’s free, you know, free for the certifications, free for the classes, and, you know, it’s been overwhelming. I don’t want to quote any, I don’t want to give you any quotes for any wrong numbers, but, I mean, just the impact that it has on individuals careers. You know, some of these, again, some of the people that come into our program are completely unemployed, quote any I don’t some have never had a job in their life, and, you know, they get a job, they start making this amount of money, and then they come back and go through our pathway to middle schools, and they get an additional cert, and then they’re going from here to here to here, you know, it’s just super rewarding, and I love it most because it gives us, you know, an opportunity to follow their progress, follow their career, many of them come back, you know, I try to have an open door policy in my classroom, so it’s like any given day someone will pop in, one of my alumni or one of our alumni comes in and just gives their little spill, talks about, you know, what they did, what their experience was like in the program, what they’re doing now, and I think that’s big for our students because kind of what you were alluding to previously, like when they, when we bring in new students, 90% of them just know for sure they want to be in cyber, you know, it’s like, okay, students because you know, but we put all these different people in front of them, we have all different cyber professionals, things like that come in, and talk about what their day-to-day responsibilities look like, so then by probably about week four, like, you know, 20% of those that were for sure they wanted to go into cyber no longer want to go into cyber, then by like week eight, you know, about another 20%, you know, so it’s interesting, but I think if there was one big thing that, you know, I wanted to press upon is just, you know, that pathway to middle skills, I think it’s going to be a game changer and not just what we do, but for our city as a whole and for the other cities that we serve.

Manuel Martinez: I’m going to say that I didn’t know about this up until probably this year, and a lot of that is just my own, you know, I’ve been in this industry similar to you right, over 20 years. I… didn’t understand the value and the benefits of networking, and when I say networking, it’s not networking to get a job, but it’s just networking to meet people and understand what’s avaible what you can do to help, and I think one of the first times I heard about, you know, kind of like tech impact, and I had Angie Kosk on here, and she talked about how she was involved, but just from a mentorship, you know, she’s done mentorship, she’s been on some of these panels, and just hearing all these different people and understanding that what’s available so that someone like me can help or make somebody aware of that might be able to qualify and be a part of, you know, this organization and be able to be, you know, a potential student, and I think through my exposure, right, it’s, you know, your feed, you know, the people that you start to kind of surround yourself, like I said, Angie, I see Rich, I see, you know, you mentioned Paola, who I’ve had on here, and she talked about her experience, and you see how all these people are connected, and I don’t think it’s talked about enough with different organizations, right? Like, yours isn’t the only nonprofit education one out there, but I don’t know how many people are aware that things like this exist, that there are opportunities for them to be able to, you know, the four-year degree isn’t the only way. You can do it on your own, there’s, you know, low cost to no cost opportunities, and just really I want to kind of help not only share your experiences and your voice and amplify it, but make people aware that, hey, there’s multiple opportunities, and not just for recipients, but there might be people that will be like, hey, well, I’m a project manager, I don’t know if you have a project manager role, but maybe there’s a project manager out there that says, hey, you know what, maybe I want to go and talk, maybe I want to go expose, maybe I can help provide you to say, hey, what would it take to kind of develop project management path within here? And again, I don’t know that you do or don’t, but again, just something that I’ve learned a lot, probably in the last year, and even in kind of running this podcast, so I’m very appreciative to guests like yourself and me trying to help highlight what you’re doing. Like, I feel like last year at times I get a lot more benefit of the knowledge and the experience and, you know, the relationships of getting to know you now. Like, you and I were connected on LinkedIn for quite a while, and it wasn’t up until this year where we really started to talk a little bit more. We ran into each other in person, and I’m like, oh, wow, okay, this is the power of networking, it’s just meeting people. I’m not asking you for a job, you’re not asking me for a job, but there’s common ground that we can go through and say, hey, how can we help each other? And maybe we don’t help each other, but at least now I know another cool person in my community.

Art Green: I love it. I love it! Absolutely. It’s great, and that’s something I impress upon a lot with the students, and I’m sure you’ve probably seen them at events and things like that, is really just get out there and network, which is probably bad for me to say because I’m not the best person to give advice in that area because I’m rarely ever out. But a lot of that is due to, because I’m usually teaching other classes at night and things like that, but I think it’s huge, you know, just to really get out there and meet people, and that’s why it’s such a big part of our program and what we do is that mentorship component know, getting them around people. It’s so interesting, like some of the people that we had for mentors, and this is one of the first times that I’ve ever seen it in this recent cohort because we just brought on Rishma for our first one. We have Angie we have Chelsea, we have all these different ones, and it’s like every time the class would meet one of them, they’ll all argue for five minutes, like, no, that’s my mentor, that’s my mentor. They’re like, I want that to be my mentor. So it’s just great, you know, it’s like every person we put in front of them they fall in love with because they’re just great people. As you know, probably more better than I know, you know. So yeah, that is a huge component. And like you said, It’s like every Vegas, even though we’re a large city, Vegas IT is not that big, you know, it’s a very small group. know, you know So the more embedded you are in that group, the more opportunities that are going to be there for you.

Manuel Martinez: Well, I appreciate you, again, sharing your experiences and your knowledge and, you know, helping to get the word out. You know, even though you don’t, like you mentioned, you don’t get to network, but again, I think this is an opportunity for people to know a little bit more about you and, you know, the good work that you’re doing, which a lot of times, unfortunately, we don’t always hear all about all the good things that kind of go on. So again, you know, I know that you wouldn’t come out directly and say, hey, Manny, I want to be a part of this, I want to spread this word, but you know, just kind of knowing a little bit more from other people about who you are, I was like, no, this is somebody that I need to, I really need a highlight. So, thank you.

Art Green: Thank you, Manny. I love it. Thank you very much.

Manuel Martinez: No problem. know just kind of And for everybody out there watching and listening again, bit more from other thank you again for continuing to support, you know, all of the guests that come on and, you know, sharing their experiences and being open to, you know, just kind of what they’ve learned and and for everybody provide you with value into things that you can, you know, kind of use or be made aware about. And even if it’s not something that maybe directly benefits you, maybe it could help somebody else out. So with that, continue to plug in and download the knowledge. And until next time. Thank you.