About me
Hello and welcome to my blog,
I hope to build a resource for people who are interested in Microsoft based IT systems for small and medium sized businesses. Most of what I post is from personal experience with the technology rather than what you might find in the marketing material. I hope what I am posting here is useful to you and if it is please pass the URL on to others.
My IT career so far…
I started my journey in the computer industry in 1989 completing a Certificate in Business Computing and moving on to work at Glaxo (Palmerston North, New Zealand). In 1992 I left Glaxo to complete a B.Sc in Computer Science from Massey University before moving on to work at Horizons Regional Council where I was a bit of an IT everything and was fortunate to get a wide range of experience with some very interesting projects. I’m now living in Christchurch, New Zealand working for a IT integrator where I support a wide variety of clients locally and globally.
A few of my career highlights include writing a COBOL invoice printing program for an NCR Mainframe, migrating applications from DBXL to Foxpro for DOS, learning the joys of DECNET clients on Windows 3.11 and other fun things with VMS, getting dirty with GCC / Solaris, building a remote data collection system around OS/2 Warp with 16 serial ports and radio modems, installing NT 3.51 server off a set of floppy disks (it came on 42 3.5inch disks), migrating Microsoft Mail to Exchange 4.0, working with developers on a major software project that started on SQLserver 4.21 moved to SQLserver 7 and finally SQL 2000, learning Crystal Info, teaching myself ASP, memorising the routing tables of too many clients, getting CISCO HSRP to work in a production environment, building DR systems, deploying SAN’s, installing every version of Windows from 3.1 to 2008R2 more than once, virtualising my home network so it fits on a Macbook, getting NAT’s the right way around, giving some cool young people a foot in the IT door like the one that was given to me, bridging the communication gap between IT and the rest of humanity, building this blog and meeting many interesting and unusual people (along with some quite ordinary ones).
IT is a career that leads in many directions, is constantly challenging and highly rewarding.
What’s with the name?
Many years ago I received a message on port 25 inviting me to discover my Wu-Tang name via Hyper Text Transport Protocol. After answering a few simple questions, click “Go” and discovered the answer was “One Hundredwatt Warlock”. The name stuck and what’s more is quiet unique making it ideal for places where you need a unique name. Believe it or not Steve Knutson is not as unique as you might think. That name is in-fact a country music radio DJ in Texas, a painter who sells art in the $2000-$3000 price range or a taxi driver depending on the search criteria you use.
My offline world
Outside of work (and this blog) I enjoy tramping, skiing, mountain biking, watching rugby (Hurricanes fan from day one) and music. New Zealand is a beautiful country with a fantastic lifestyle especially if you love the outdoors and am passionate about this part of the world. If you’re not from here and haven’t visited I can recommend adding it to your travel list.
There is nothing more satisfying in life than knowing you have helped someone. If you find something helpful please “follow me” on twitter and feel free to ask questions.
- Steve Knutson B.Sc, MCSE, CBC
twitter.com/nztechtweet
LinkedIn public Profile
