I have been living and working in New York City for the last ten years. I recently returned to Canada and am looking for a job in Montreal in a small organization that combines technology with social consciousness. I am capable of setting up and running your network, maintaining your hardware and making purchasing decisions. I can also develop technology plans for growth and upgrade. I am hard-working and organized and excellent at personal interface. I am extremely patient with users, having taught everyone from 6th grade children to my peers to the elderly. Please review my work experience below.

Experience

Computer Skills

Additional Skills

References available upon request

My Persona Ethos and Long-Term Goals
I have spent the last ten years working in New York City in a variety of jobs involving management and coordination of technology. I've enjoyed all of my positions but realized I was fundamentally dissatisfied working for companies that whose primary mission was consumer-based. I had the opportunity to become a school teacher at an alternative public school in Manhattan where I was able to design a technology curriculum and oversee a small network. Unfortunately (and sadly) the management and administration of our public institutions is far worse than those of our private ones.

At the same time that the situation working in the public school system became intolerable, I found a living opportunity in Montreal. I had been wanting to return to Canada for a few years now and it has always been my dream to immerse myself in French Canada. I strongly believe that Canada's bilingual culture is a precious gift and it is a duty of both sides to embrace the other. Furthermore, my mother's father comes from Outremont and there is a whole wing of my family and history that I only know in passing.

Though I recognize the dangers inherent in technology, I believe they are purely a function of man's own weaknesses. Technology is a powerful and inevitable force on the planet earth today. You can choose to use it for good or evil. I enjoy it personally and have seen it do some powerful good, specifically towards eliminating the inequalities between the educated upper classes and the uneducated lower classes. For some reason, there is a certain class of student who does poorly (and hates) the standard curriculum (reading, writing, science and even math) yet excel at computers, at application, programming and hardware levels. Often these children come from pretty rough situations. I don't know if it's genetic or cultural, but they have an incredible aptitude for the computer. This is an extreme example, but I had one student in the 9th grade who didn't know his times tables past 6 but learned basic html in a day and was coding flash for $20/hr by the end of the semester.

Once a child who is failing in every other subject finds that not only do they enjoy computers, but they are good at them, suddenly all kinds of doors of opportunity open for them. Academically, their tech class or after-school program becomes an anchor that keeps them coming to school and possibly motivates them to work hard on other classes. Socially, they earn the respect of their peers, especially when they can help them with their tech homework. Professionally, they have an opportunity to earn some income. If they are below working age, they can help out with the administration and repair of the school or program's website. If they are of working age, they can be placed in after-school internships or even a real job. Coming home after being paid for your work has a massive impact on a kid who's only other choice was television or the streets.

Unfortunately, the school system (at least in the states) is only beginning to embrace technology as a core curriculum subject. My long term goal (and this is why this essay is in my resume section) is to open up a small, store-front community computer center where I would run both after-school classes and drop-in hours. It would be open to adults in the community as well, to use the resources, but the main purpose would be to teach students to code and design. As they gained competence, the center would act as a work agency, getting them jobs and taking a percentage of their pay (like a temp agency) to support the center. The idea would be that the center would eventually become self-sufficient. Once they became independent, then the center would work to place them full time. Initial funding for the site would come from the government and corporate sponsorship. I could start a network today with the computers corporations throw out on the street.

I have had this idea for a few years now, but I wanted to do it in Canada. The need, though significant, is on a smaller-scale as are the challenges and expenses. Also, government and community support is much stronger in a nation that still believes in creating and supporting a middle-class. Furthermore, I'm Canadian. Employment in the technology sector in Montreal will help establish me professionally for future corporate contacts as well as help carry my French from it's current conversational level to true fluency.