Branchify - About Will Branch

Origins

My first computer was a beige behemoth with a floppy drive and no hard drive. I was four years old, and it felt like owning a spaceship! Back then, computers were these mysterious, expensive machines that mostly lived in offices. I remember the hum of the machine, the click-clack of the keyboard, and the glow of the white text on the black screen. It felt like an endless puzzle.

Fast forward a few years to my family signing up for dial-up (and quickly realizing a second phone line was necessary). My first introduction to the World Wide Web. However, the true revolution for me was cable internet access. The Cox Communications installer, probably amused by my nerdy excitement, showed off by navigating to a news article with a video!

As I entered high school, my fascination with computers only grew stronger. While most of my classmates were focused on sports or other extracurricular activities, I found myself drawn to the school's computer lab. It was a haven of blinking cursors, whirring hard drives, and endless possibilities.

When the school announced a project to upgrade its aging computer network, I jumped at the chance to volunteer. I spent hours alongside the IT staff, pulling cables, installing network cards, and configuring routers. It was a hands-on learning experience that solidified my passion for technology.

Our efforts didn't just improve the school's infrastructure; they also sparked a change in the curriculum. For the first time, the school offered courses in computer networking, opening up a whole new world of learning for students like me. This experience taught me the power of collaboration, the importance of problem-solving, and the thrill of building something that benefits others. It also solidified my decision to pursue a career in technology.

I was maybe 10 years old when I discovered email. I remember sending a message to a penpal in Australia, and within seconds, a reply popped up on the screen. It felt like magic! That's when I realized the true power of technology — to connect people across vast distances.

That sense of wonder and possibility has never left me. It's what drives me to explore new technologies, tinker with old ones, and constantly push the boundaries of what's possible.

I began my professional career at Caterpillar in February 2006, starting in network site services, supporting LAN operations. I have always enjoyed the hands-on experience of cabling, and configuring switches, routers, and firewalls.

Experience

I immersed myself in data center infrastructure at Caterpillar, which eventually led to an exciting opportunity: working on an international IP telephony deployment project. I started with local support, but soon found myself configuring analog voice gateways that were shipped worldwide. It was a thrilling experience to be part of such a large-scale project with global reach.

This experience landed me a job at a small managed service provider in central Illinois. This introduced me to over 100 local businesses in the state. Our clientele covered a wide variety of industries from accounting, construction, healthcare, and more.

Though outside of our small organization I really cut my teeth on IT problem-solving. I was thrown into the deep end, supporting everything from small business Microsoft networks to obscure proprietary software. I even expanded my networking skills beyond Cisco, tackling challenges with a whole range of new technologies. But the real education came from working directly with clients across diverse industries — from accounting to healthcare to construction. Each had their own unique needs and pain points, and I thrived on finding creative solutions that helped their businesses run smoothly.

No, I am not over 80 years old as my chart may imply! Like so many of us, I've worn numerous hats simultaneously in my roles. Each of the companies I have worked for have seen my interests and experience expand beyond the original reasons I'd been hired.

A majority of my time has been spent providing system administration in everything from computer networks to Windows and Linux servers running proprietary business logic applications. The most enjoyable part of all my work is identifying what the business needs and what can be accomplished using computer systems.

Today, I'm combining all of the experience I have gained in IT infrastructure and translating small to nationwide sized businesses requirements at GE Appliances. I help support the entirety of our consumer facing, in-home appliance repair organization.

With such a historic organization, I've had the pleasure of working with legacy systems from yesteryear to the transformation infrastructure to modern day technology. I have built server and client-side software, business tools, designed software infrastructure, and run hardware deployment projects.