Speaker: Greg Gardner, Technical Instructor
Introduce yourself! What is your role and how long have you been with ACI Learning?
Greg Gardner: Hello, my name is Greg Gardner and I'm the lead cyber instructor here at ACI Learning with the learning house. I've been with the company for about 4.5 years. However, prior to that I was a student and then did some instructor, contractor work with the company.
Tell us about your professional journey.
Greg Gardner: My professional journey. Well, I've been around for a while as can attest to the gray beard here. I've been in IT on and off for about the past 30 years or so. I have my Master's in Information Technology from Virginia Tech. I've worked at several dot coms, worked at Boeing a couple of times in the IT field. So I supported computers and networking gear on the factory floor where 777s and 747s were being built. It was interesting watching those plane wings fly over my head while I was setting things up. I have been a trainer before. I am a licensed high school instructor and I've actually taught at the high school level in computer science, C++ programming, A+, things like that. I've taught at the college level and I've taught several times at companies like ACI Learning.
What is your favorite thing about the IT industry?
Greg Gardner: Thing about the IT industry is it is always evolving and you always have to be in your toes, constantly learning and there's such a breadth of information that you can go, and in different places that you can be. I've been a developer, I have done computing support, I've been a consultant, an instructor. You name it, you can take anywhere you want to go and you can always change lanes so to speak.
What has been the most valuable lesson you have learned from your education?
Greg Gardner: The most valuable thing that I have a lesson that I've learned from my education is that it's not over and it's never over. We continue to push the boundaries of what's out there, especially in cyber. We've got artificial intelligence coming on. So you have to continue your education every month, every day.
What's something you want students to know about you?
Greg Gardner: Something I want the students to know about me. I've been where they're at. I've taken online learning. In fact, that's how I got my master's program, and I had students with me all over the world. I was doing my masters when my wife was doing her MBA. We had children at home and we both had full time jobs. So when somebody, some student says, I don't know how I can get this done. I'm saying you can get it done. Is it what you want to do? Is it addressing your why?
What advice would you give to students starting out in the IT industry?
Greg Gardner: Any advice that I have to give the students starting in the IT industry, just get involved. Be willing to take any job to get in. It's kind of like, "put me in coach, let me play", because once you're in and you prove yourself then you can start making movement inside of that company or if you have to into the next, but you gotta just jump in.
