Welcome to my Portfolio Site

My name is Ben Wood. I am 34 years old and have lived in the Milwaukee area my whole life.

I am an avid sports fan, having grown up cheering for Milwaukee and Wisconsin sports. Watching the Packers win two Super Bowls, and just recently the Bucks winning their title. Of course, seeing the Packers, Brewers, Badgers, and Bucks come up short is heartbreaking, but that just makes the championships that much better!

The Brewers were the first team I can remember attending games for at County Stadium. I learned how to keep score of games with my dad, and I drew and photo copied hand-drawn scorecards so we could keep score at home. Like all Brewers fans, we would keep our ears tuned to the radio to listen to the broadcasting legend Bob Uecker! I regularily attended games at Miller Park, and have returned to the stadium since they have allowed fans, even though it is now known as American Family Field.

The Packers have always been a passion, and I can remember both Super Bowl wins, where I was, and who I was with. The 2011 win, when I was an adult, definitely feels more fulfilling, as I was a full fan, not just a kid who was learning to like the Packers!

Attending the Bucks Championship celebration this past month was one of the best moments in sports I've experienced. We got there at the right time where the roads were being shut down, so we could get close spots near the barricades with unobstructed views of the parade. Bucks in 6!

Technology is one of my main interests and also my career. I have built multiple computers and have always had a knack for fixing and repairing electronics. I love to game, and in recent years have expanded from mostly just video games into board gaming as well. It can be so fun to sit down and play a full size board game!

Two other random interests are dinosaurs and drawing. If there is something dinosaur related, I am there! If I have free paper a dinosaur doodle will inevitably end up drawn. I have started getting into digital art, learning how to transition from pen and pencil to stylis and mouse. It is much harder to draw digitally as a left-handed individual, as most products are not designed for southpaws.

I have worked for Milwaukee County in their IT division since 2010.

Desktop Support - Intern 2010-2013

I started off as an intern, assigned to desktop support to assist the sheriff's department. I was stationed at the courthouse complex in downtown Milwaukee, and had to maintain, update, replace, and assist sheriff's department users. This included the sworn officers seen on the highway in squads, the clerical staff, and the jail officers. Since we did not have a lot of new computers at the time, I would scavange for parts and put together new computers to replace old dying ones.

Desktop Support - Contractor 2013-2016

I moved to a private contracting position but continued most of the same work. During this time period I was assigned more to maintain the growing technology environment surrounding the squad cars, as they were migrated from local machines with data transfer done via USB, to networked air cards through Verizon. There were also efforts done to move off all Windows XP machines, as that operating system was going out of support in 2014. Most of my efforts involved testing, documenting, and deploying existing software to the new operating system.

Applications Specialist - 2016-present

I was hired as an employee to move to the applications section of the IT department. I had already been doing application maintenance and updates as part of my existing role. I no longer was the front line support replacing the machines on site, but I was maintaining the myriad software in the county's portfolio. I was still working mostly on the Public Safety environments, as they have a lot of systems which must maintain federal and/or state standards. During this timeframe there were concerted efforts made to move from the old mainframe systems to more modern platforms, so I was tasked to assist with data migrations from the text-based mainframes to dotNET application systems. Now I maintain those systems while still supporting our clients.

Windows 7

With the retirement of Windows XP coming in 2014, there were many systems which ran on very old technology, which needed to be updated for security and compliance reasons. As one of the main technicians for Public Safety desktop systems, I had to document all software in use, and whether it would work on Windows 7 devices. During this testing and migration process, many systems were identified which could not be updated. Once replacement software was found, I had to install and configure any new devices and hardware accessories. Once the deployment teams arrived, I planned and identified the order of the locations and users to which the new devices would be deployed.

Squad Connectivity

A long term ongoing effort was to bring the squad car technologies into the modern era. When I started, they were using stand-alone devices and required individual USB devices to move data. This also meant I had to do software updates via USB, car by car. Contracts were signed with Verizon to provide 3G USB Aircard devices, which gave the squads their first chance at connecting to our network. Once we had actual connectivity, we were able to get real rugged laptops into the cars, which I had to set up, deploy, and configure for each individual car. However, this then allowed for easier maintenance, as the computers could be reached remotely, wherever the officer was. Eventually, technology advanced to the point the squads have full rugged modems running the entire network in the car, allowing for multiple devices to be connected.

Mainframe CMS Conversion

The first major project I was assigned on the applications team was to assist with the retirement of the jail mainframe system. An old DB2 terminal based system was in use for over 20 years, which was to be replaced by a more modern dotNET software suite. I had to determine the best ways to configure and use the new system, so as the data from the old mainframe could be properly transfered into the system and be functional. We succeeded, and maintain that system to this day. The mainframe has since been retired.

I can be reached all over the real world and the internet!

Address any envelopes to: Ben Wood

301 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee WI 53203

Call Me: 414-628-1123

Send me an email at my GMail

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