MGT 390 Interview Assignment

For my assignment, I interviewed Richard McSwain, Owner of Hometown Digitals. When asked what his company does, he stated that it is a "one stop digital shop", providing photography, web design, and repair of electronics to their customers. Since the company is based in Washington (the state), I couldn't do the interview in person, so I conducted a phone interview with him.

I found the interview with Richard to be especially interesting because he said that he obtained a general Associates Degree from a local community college, which makes a lot of sense for someone who is interested in starting their own business. As the owner, his duties mirror those of the entire company, but when asked what skills he needs to have in his role, he simply stated that he needs to remain current on everything technology-related in order to serve his broad customer base, which ranges from home computer repair to complex networks used by his business clients. Of these duties, he said that his favorite was dealing with individual customer repairs, and seeing their satisfaction when the job is complete. However, I asked him what part of his job was the most difficult, and he responded in a similar fashion. To him, "IT is easy". He said that the difficult part is the actual interaction with the customer and attempting to explain the problems in ways that they will understand.

Credit: HometownDigitals.com

When discussing common misconceptions about his work, Richard stated that the biggest one is the myth that "every glitch or issue is caused by a virus or a hacker." Sometimes that can be the case, but often a problem can have nothing to do with either of those. I thought that another interesting question to ask would be "Does constantly evolving technology make your job easier or more difficult?" His answer to it was interesting as well. He stated that it does both to an extent. Obviously you need to learn all about all of the new technology to be able to help anyone, but at the same time he said that people now encounter less problems with newer technology, as it is designed to run much more efficiently, and when problems do arise, users are more likely to simply replace the product rather than search for a fix.

I was also curious about prevalent trends in technology today, so I asked what the most important thing to know in current world of IT was. Richard replied:

 "Where computers and IT in general is headed, which is “The Cloud”. Windows 8 and IOS are the first steps to an all in one Operating System that will operate on all devices, from desktops to phones, and the full circle of returning to “dumb terminals” that access a remote desktop located in the cloud, with all of your data and apps in the cloud as well, will be the new standard."

In answering the question of what message he would convey to current students in the field, he reiterated a previous point. First, he replied that gaining as broad of an IT education as possible was very important, but then he returned to the fact that being able to effectively communicate with people is equally as important as being a knowledgeable IT professional. I was also curious as to why he had gotten into IT in the first place, and he answered that he simply has a love for computers, and a lot of that stems from his interest in the movie WarGames with Matthew Broderick. Though I assumed that he had started his company right out of school, I still asked what previous experience he had in the field. To my surprise, he had worked in technical support for Microsoft and Disney before the jobs got outsourced. Because of that, he decided to start his own business so he would never have to work for a corporation again. In addition, he spent years as a U.S. Navy Photographer.

Credit: HometownDigitals.com

I found my entire interview with Mr. McSwain very interesting, but the things that stood out to me were the importance of communication and the evolution of "The Cloud". The public perception of an IT professional (right or wrong) is someone who sits at a computer and rarely talks to people, so it was very interesting to hear him stress the importance of communication skills. With "The Cloud", I just think that it is really cool that eventually there will be an "all in one Operating System" that will span all devices, as that is a difficult but intriguing concept to wrap your head around. I believe that Mr. McSwain would be very interesting to hear speak in front of the class, but obviously with the distance that would be a very difficult event to coordinate.