After high school, I worked a number of short term jobs - the usual sort for a high school kid: counter clerk, etc. I went to work at an HVAC company and got HVAC-certified so I worked there for a few years until the physical labor part of the job got to be too much. (I looked around and saw a bunch of 50-year-old men with bad backs and not much prospect for advancement and decided to get out while I was still young and mostly healthy!) So, I went to work at a local A/V company in Owings Mills.

I had actually worked there doing film transfer work right after high school but it didn't suit me and I left on good terms with the owner. When I re-joined the company in 1997, I joined as an installer and technician in the A/V Systems Integration division. I earned my CTS [certified technology specialist] designation from the International Communications Industries Association while working there - a designation that helped me become the Senior A/V Technician who basically ran the install division of the company.

Of course, I took a big career promotion in 2003 when I left that job to become an A/V Design Engineer at a large integrator in Towson, MD. I was there for two years and then went BACK to the first place, Advanced Video Systems, in Owings Mills, MD, for yet another promotion! I really have a pretty cool job - I basically get to play with speakers, projectors and other A/V stuff all day and get paid pretty darn well for it. I love my job. You can't ask for much more than that, can you?

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