Ten years is a big deal, especially in technology, where just about everything around you changes every few years.
This September marks Chris’s 10-year anniversary with Makios Technology, which is even more interesting when you consider where the story started.
Chris came to Makios as an intern.
Back then, there was obviously a lot to learn, but one of the things he remembers noticing early was that Makios was not just about fixing computers. There was already a strong focus on security, taking care of clients, and building relationships with the people we worked with.
Apparently, he liked what he saw because ten years later, he is still here.
There is probably a lesson in there about treating your interns well.
Over those ten years, Chris has had his hands in just about every kind of IT project you would expect. He has helped relocate an entire client's network infrastructure, transported and calibrated interactive whiteboards, traveled outside El Paso to install point-of-sale systems and equipment for remote offices, and handled more everyday technology problems than anybody could possibly remember.
Some jobs stuck with him more than others.
For several years, Chris helped support one of our client's annual charity events. Those were long days, but knowing the work was helping make something happen for the community made them worth it. It was a reminder that sometimes the technology itself is not really the important part. It is what the technology allows somebody else to do.
Chris has also watched the IT world change quite a bit since he started. Solid-state drives became normal, software turned into subscriptions, more infrastructure moved into the cloud, and cybersecurity became a much bigger part of practically everything we do.
Keeping up with all of that requires one thing Chris has never really stopped doing: learning.
If he could go back and give the intern version of himself some advice, it would be:
“Don’t doubt yourself. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn, and patience is one of the most valuable tools any IT professional can have.”
The patience part is especially accurate.
Anyone who has worked in IT knows that some problems take ten minutes and others somehow turn into three hours, several people, a vendor support call, and somebody eventually asking whether anyone rebooted the thing.
And then there are the stories you only get after being somewhere for a while.
One of Chris’s favorites involved stopping by the Makios office early one morning before an out-of-town trip. The security code did not cooperate. The alarm did.
Then came the phone calls.
Then came the police.
Everything was eventually sorted out, and like most stories of this type, it is considerably funnier now than it was at the time.
We are assuming the statute of limitations has expired.
Chris is also quick to give credit to the people he has worked alongside over the years. Different teammates taught him different ways to troubleshoot, communicate with clients, and approach problems. His advice to someone starting at Makios today reflects that:
“Ask questions.”
Simple, but accurate. Nobody knows everything in this business, and pretending you do usually makes things worse.
After ten years, what Chris says he still enjoys most is helping people. Sometimes that means solving a frustrating computer problem. Sometimes it means completing a large project. Sometimes it is fixing something behind the scenes that the client never even knew was broken.
Outside of work, Chris enjoys reading, gaming, painting, and usually having some music playing somewhere in the background.
Ten years ago, he walked into Makios as an intern. Since then, he has grown with the company, adapted through a decade of change, helped a lot of clients, worked alongside a lot of teammates, and collected at least one story involving an alarm system and the police.
Not bad for an internship.
Congratulations, Chris, on 10 years with Makios Technology. Thank you for everything you have contributed to our team and our clients along the way.
Here’s to the next ten.
And maybe a working alarm code this time.
