Featured Professional for June, 2004

Rob Acuff
Company or Agency employed by: Bank of
America
Current position: Senior Systems Engineer
Educational Preparation: Associate Degree in Business Management - Midlands Technical
College
Associate Degree in Business Marketing - Midlands
Technical College
Certificate in Communications Network Management -
Midlands Technical College
What are the typical duties of someone in your
position? I work on several national projects as
well as being the main point of contact for any
technical issues for my region. My group
installs, configures, and maintains Novell, NT, and
2000 servers for a lot of the groups in the Bank.
We also test applications before they are rolled out
to clients.
How did Midlands Technical College help prepare
you for your career field? MTC gave me the base of knowledge I needed to
get a successful start in my career.
What things do you find rewarding about your
profession? I like to feel I am helping people.
When a client's system is down or they are planning
a new system they need someone with the technical
knowledge to fix their problems and give them
direction.
Are there aspects of your profession that you
find stressful? Yes. There are times when a
system is down or you are implementing a new system
or software that you are pushed to meet deadlines.
It is rewarding, though, when you have a major
project done and the client is happy.
What do you see as the most important personal
qualities someone considering going into your
profession should have? You must have good people
skills. I like to say that my job is 50%
technical skills and 50% personal skills. Your
clients must feel good about what you are doing for
them.
What advice do you have for students at Midlands
Technical College who might be interested in entering
your profession? Get into some of the computer
classes and start working on your degree. See
if you can find an entry-level job to get started in
the field while earning your degree. If you
can do these two things you come out of school with
a degree and experience. That is a great
combination.
Is there any other information
you would like to share with students? Enjoy
your time at Midlands Tech.! I have life-long
friends I met there.
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