So you want to know more about Bill Davis, IT Expert? You've come to the right place!

First of all, have you checked out my resume? There is a lot there that will tell you what I can do for your business.

Currently, I am working my own consulting company, Computer Monkeys. I do web design and maintenance, computer problem resolution, and I make customized applications that make your home or business more effective and efficient.

I'll briefly tell you a little about where I come from, where I've been and where I want to go.

Where I Come From

I graduated high school as valedictorian of my class. I worked really hard to claim that prize. I tell you this not to brag, but because I believe it shows my desire to excel. I continue to apply that drive to success now, many years later.

In fact, I worked so hard at becoming the class valedictorian that I was exhausted after high school. So rather than do what every other top 10 member of my class did (go to college), I took a year off from school. I was 17 and correctly surmised that I had a lot of time to get an advanced education. Literally everybody I knew believed that I would never resume my studies.

Of course, after my year-long hiatus, I entered a small community college to do my prep work.

During that year off from school, I went to work. I had built solid relationships with many of my teachers and one of them, my physics and chemistry teacher, also ran the print shop for the school. He gave me my first "real job." I had had other jobs during my teen years, but I consider this one to be my first. I learned a lot in that year.

I learned a lot about exceeding customer expectations, meeting deadlines, controlling costs, as well as hard work, dedication, and that sometimes you just cannot satisfy everyone!

But you can certainly try.

I went to college with the career objective of becoming an engineer. I took, and excelled in, physics, calculus, lilnear algebra, and differential equations. In fact, I got one B (a B+) in all of my studies the first 2 years. I also took creative writing, art, biology, and economics. This last course paved the way for my future.

After completing my undergraduate coursework, I set off for the University of California, Davis. I chose Davis over all of the other schools I could have gone to because it just felt like the small town in which I grew up. Plus, I really liked riding my bike! At the time I went there, there were over 20,000 students, each seemingly with a bike.

I began taking engineering classes like computer programming (FORTRAN), physics, and engineering-specific classes. I did quite well in all of them (save for FORTRAN, which I took for all of one day). I also took an economics course. Again, economics really turned me on.

So I switched majors. And never looked back.

Where I Have Been

After college, I wanted to start my own business. The best way to learn, I thought, was working for a successful business and learn and apply all I could to my own business.

I went to work for Big 5 Sporting Goods, still to this day one of the most satisfying yet challenging jobs I've ever had. I rocketed through the ranks and became a store manager within 3 years and was eventually promoted to the highest volume store in my district.

Of course, I could not have enjoyed the success I had without a lot of great people supporting me and without a solid business plan in effect that promotoed people based on merit, not time.

After nearly 7 years of managing higher volume stores, I changed career objectives. I still wanted to start my own business, but I wanted to do it in the technology industry. At that point, I learned all I could in a very short period of time about computer technology: Windows, Mac, PC repair, building and fixing PCs, creating applications, building networks, etc.

I learned Microsoft Office, networking, and a little application development (enough to build solid productivity-enhancing applilcations for small businesses).

My company, Computer Monkeys, was formed with a business partner almost 15 years ago. In that time, I've built lots of database applications, helped hundreds of businesses and individuals with their technology needs, and I've built dozens of profitable websites.

In 2000-2001, I started scaling back at Computer Monkeys, maintaining my current customer relationships but not seeking new ones. I wanted to learn more about enterprise technology and the best way to do that was, again, to learn from somebody already doing it.

I went to work as a network technician for a biotech firm called PDL in Fremont. My internal customers were brilliant and demanding scientists and mathematicians. I learned a lot there about networks, automation, and I got introduced to large-scale application servers running Linux, Windows, Unix, and Mac. Needless to say, I also learned about mixed networks and how to make them work.

In 2000, I moved onto a small startup, about to enter the IPO phase called Impresse. There, I learned a lot more about large-scale networking, running a helpdesk, and corporate applications. My role there varied from day to day, serving as a remote support specialist supporting our sales staff, to helpdesk manager, to web designer, to anti-virus expert.

During that time, we didn't have a strategic plan for preventing viruse outbreaks, and we paid dearly for it! Melissa infected us and crippled our network for days.

I strongly urged management to empower me to take the lead on resolving the issue. During my very brief crash course on virus prevention, I developed the corporate antivirus plan. I also put togehter the entire program, setting up antivirus application servers, pushing out the program and definitions to all PCs, onsite and offsite alike.

I also designed and implemented our help desk application.

Then the company went belly up, right at the time of the dot com crash.

I quickly moved to another startup, this time an eCRM ASP called eConvergent. There, I really learned about application service providers, data centers, clustering, and installing, maintaining web and application servers. I spent countless hours in our data center, setting up VOIP, applications, and operating system installs and upgrades.

eConvergent went the way of countless other pre-IPOs in 2001, when the bottom totally fell out.

I decided then that now was the time to work for a Fortune 500 company and learn industrial strength problem resolution. I joined SBC Long Distance in mid-2000 and became a part of their very large IT department. More specifically, I became one of just a few members of their billing issue resolution team, where I interfaced with business and IT partners, onsite, offisite, and overseas, to resolve customer-affecting billing system issues.

These issues required dozens of resources to resolve and I became an excellent faciliator, project manager, issue resolution specialist, and liason. I resolved dozens of high-visibility problems at SBC, in short spans. In short, I was effective and efficient.

But SBC was a tough nut to crack, politically speaking. While I was highly successful, I wanted a different challenge but the company had a freeze on internal movement as well as a hiring freeze.

In 2004, I moved on to Providian, where I began a very satisfying tenure as a project manager and application developer for critical internal systems. While I was a member of the Operations team, I helped dozens of internal business partners do their jobs better and faster, with less headcount and cost.

After 2 years in that role, I moved on to the governance team, where I managed our relationship with our external (outsourced) print vendor. I measured compliance and performance to service level agreements and contracts; I also closely monitored our $100 million annual contract on a line by line basis, tracking every expense incurred. My team saved millions of dollars by closely monitoring our print vendor, enforcing penalty clauses in the contract whenever performance didn't meet standards.

One thing led to another and Providian was acquired by Washington Mutual, I company I highly respected. However, executive management made some very critical errors in judgement and brought the bank down. In a matter of two weeks, the bank spiraled into the biggest bank failure in United States history.

And I can say I had absolutely nothing to do with it!

JP Morgan Chase acquired WaMu's banking assets and I became a part of the transition team for WaMu/Chase in late September 2008. My last date of employment at JPMC was July 31.

Where I Want to Go

In 2005, my wife and I had our first child, a boy we named Liam. In 2007, we had our second boy, Rowan. I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway:

My family is my number one concern

NOTHING is more important.

However, this is not to be misconstrued. I have to provide for my family. This is exactly why I am an outstanding employee.

You knw this, but for those who don't: Studies have shown that committed family men and women make better employees. And this is why: We simply have to be.

We cannot afford to screw up. Too much is riding on our gainful employment.

You might be wondering why I don't just "do my own thing." I've found it's very difficult to maintain a steady income with my own business. There are grand times, where income is great, but there are lean times, where income trickles in.

I do not have the mental fortitude to deal with this sort of uncertainty. I'm being honest here. There is one thing you can learn from this: I will do everything possible to ensure that you don't exerience ebbs and flows in your business, either.

I have made it my professional objective to optimize the business and Information Technology processes of each and every employer for which I work.

That is my bottom line business objective. While I do this for you, I'm really serving my self interest (my family) right in line with the most revolutionary economist of all time, Adam Smith and his "invisible hand." Self interest is what makes capitalism work. We do the things we do because we're selfish. And being selfish is actually a virtue, as long as our priorities are straight.

Now That You Know a Lot About Me, I Want to Know About You

I'll also be frank with you here. I am going to be very selective in the companies I consider. You must have a strong leadership team. The leaders of the company have to be strategic, operationally adept, and have vision. Another thing: They must care about their surroundings, their community, their customers, and their employees.

After all, companies that care and actually walk the talk are the most successful long term. I don't want to work for a company that seeks short-term gains by manipulating earnings, revenues, and expenses. I don't care what your stock does today or tomorrow.

I'm in it for the long-term. I won't work for you unless you are, too.

All that said, I'll give examples of companies I want to work for. If you fit the bill, whether or not you're on the list, please contact me. I'd love to hear how we can mutually benefit one another.