[10:45] jamiefaithlowe: i need a fun fact about your dog for your picture caption.
[10:47] Lorenzo Martinez: my wife can’t tell who snores louder, me or Frances.
[10:47] Lorenzo Martinez: and in the summer, we take her to all the street fests. she gets all the petting.
[10:58] Lorenzo Martinez: actually, i wish i knew how much attention bulldogs got from women when i was single.
[10:58] Lorenzo Martinez: don’t print that.[1]
Name: Lorenzo Martinez
Worked at ServerCentral since: 2012
Tell me about a day in the life of a Senior Data Center Ops Technician.
LM: My day starts at 4:00 AM when my English Bulldog, Frances, decides it’s time for breakfast. I feed her and grab some food for myself. While eating, I read emails to find support requests that need to be addressed that day. I get to the data center by 5:30 AM and talk to the third-shift senior technician about where projects stand, what needs to be addressed, and if there are any emergencies. As other techs arrive throughout the day, I assign tasks to keep things moving along as best as possible. It’s basically rinse and repeat from there until 3:00 PM when I go home.
What kind of experience or natural curiosities does it take to be successful in DC Ops?
LM: You have to be that tinkering kid that broke a ton of things growing up, and you needed to fix them before Mom and Dad came home. At least that’s how it worked for me. It also helps to like reading. If you’re not learning something new, you’re doing it wrong.
Tell me something most people don’t know about working in Data Center Ops at ServerCentral.
LM: Data Center Olympics may or may not exist.
Hypothetically, which events do you dominate?
Hypothetically:
- Unplugged-Power-Cable High Jump
- Failed-PDU Javelin Toss
- Failed-HDD Discus Throw
What’s the coolest thing about your job?
LM: Finding something that doesn’t work and finally figuring out why.
What about the most challenging?
LM: Bring promoted to a senior data center technician required having to find that insanely minuscule line between supervising your coworkers while still being friends.
What’s the best prank you’ve pulled on a fellow tech?
LM: ServerCentral has a fantasy football league and a number of the techs are in it. There’s a particular tech who isn’t fond of fantasy football or us talking about it as much as we do. We posted his phone number somewhere and said people could text him for fantasy football advice. That resulted in him getting upwards of 500 text messages in a single weekend. At the end of the season, we threw him a party with streamers and confetti all over the office. We baked him a football-shaped cake and presented a trophy that was six feet tall. He’s 5’7″.
Favorite color Skittle?
LM: I once found a purple Skittle that looked like me. I tried selling it on eBay, but no one bid on it. I ate it.
[1] [10:58] jamiefaithlowe: technically, you have to say something is off the record before you say it.
[11:00] Lorenzo Martinez: you’re right. i should’ve remembered that from years of journalism school.
[11:02] Lorenzo Martinez: go ahead and use it…i’ll just tell my wife to not read the caption. 🙂
