My journey begins in and around Philadelphia, PA (Go Birds!). Born as (and still am) Dan Bragilevsky, I found my love for technology pretty early on -- I was always playing on whatever computer was around and was even given extra computer time during my pre-school naps! That natural gravitation to technology took a larger hold on me when I was around 9 years old,
At that point I was fortunate enough to have a desktop at home running Windows 98 and we started to get iMacs in school. I quickly became the person who was asked to help with the technology, dabbled in iMovie, and explored system tools to learn how to control what I was using.
I also discovered a small cable channel called TechTV. I was absolutely GLUED to the TV watching shows like Call For Help and The Screensavers. Even at the age of 10 and 11 I called in to ask what was on my mind.
Watching these shows really contributed to how I viewed technology and made me realize that I want to do something like that.
Throughout middle school I got more involved. I joined various forums and IRC servers and developed groups of friends that kept me in the tech world. I also started helping people with their tech problems online, focusing on malware removal.
I don't want to say I was a pretty big deal at age 12 and 13, but I think that I certainly accomplished a bit online! It's so weird to think about that nowadays, but I spent most of my time outside of school and sports in these online communities, helping people.
As high school came around, I stepped back from the online world but still kept up with tech. I joined the stage crew at my school and learned how to build things and how to design and install lights and sound equipment.
I also landed a hands-on junior sysadmin job that I worked over the summers, keeping myself firmly planted in the tech world. By age 16 I was configuring domain controllers and administering *nix servers.
I studied Business in college at the University of Pittsburgh. I thought my passion would be project management and got a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with focuses on Global Management and Information Systems. Naturally, I gravitated toward the IS-side of things.
During my time at Pitt, I was able to do an internship abroad in Madrid, Spain. I had always loved to travel (shout out to my mom who always took me somewhere) and being with a group of new friends in Europe was an amazing experience. I try to travel as much as I can!
Throughout my younger years, I never lost my passion for tech. All of this culminates into starting my tech-focused career.
I had an internship at the NY Fed between my junior and senior year of college, and was fortunate enough to get a job offer in the fall!
I began my work as a Business Analyst in the technology group at the Fed in 2014. My focus was full-spectrum: I documented and designed process flows, documented detailed web APIs, and worked on UI and UX specs. Not only that, I gained hands-on experience with QA and project management.
My next step after the Fed was a contract position at the College Board! Still in the public service realm, I worked to get digital content deliverables from vendor to end product for a launch in mid-2019.
This gig was intensive, with 30+ simultaneous workflows to manage. This role taught me skills in stakeholder management and how to prioritize within tight limits.
After a successful contract at College Board, I came onboard as a Senior Project Manager at Accuity. I was primarily working on two, large-scale, high value workstreams, from planning to execution.
This role gave me significant experience with project planning and budgeting, resource allocation, and presenting progress to very senior-level executives. It also gave me direct experience with managing resources all around the world.
During this experience, I ended up moving to Charlotte, NC.
I spent a couple of years as a business analyst at Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Bank of America focused on the mobile payments industry and had me documenting and designing APIs and workflows for onboarding and payments processings.
My experience at Wells Fargo taught me about credit reporting processes and how to coordinate with business units at a larger institution.
I loved being back at College Board as a Director-level project manager. This was a natural continuation of my contract role at College Board, with a larger overall project management focus. I managed content procurement from design (with product owners) to delivery (from external vendors).
At this point in my career and personal life, I made the decision to make a significant pivot. I missed being hands-on with technology and I wasn't getting fulfillment in what I was doing day to day (although I loved the purpose of the work).
I re-evaluated where I was and what opportunities I had around me and decided to start from the bottom of the tech world. I knew I had a well of knowledge, but lacked the 'on-paper' experience in the tech sector.
I knew that change would be tough, but I reaffirmed my decision and fully committed.
East NC isn't necessarily flush with opportunities in technology, especially in the 2024 job market. I was fortunate enough to land a Tier 1 Customer Support job at Grover Gaming.
Beyond being an amazing place to work at, I got hands-on experience with call queues and how a call center operates. We weren't just doing bare-bones work though. I was interacting with databases on a daily basis and developing scripts to implement preventative measures on the devices we support.
I was quickly promoted to a Tier 2 role, handling escalations and more advanced, business-specific tasks.
Grover was moving to Raleigh, and I had to evaluate if that move was feasible in my life. I ultimately ended up finding another opportunity to stay local, but Grover will always have a special place in my heart.
Well, as I'm making this page I haven't started yet! This is my next journey and I'm unbelievably excited for what I'm going to learn and to see how I'm going to thrive.
Ultimately, my mindset can be boiled down to a few adjectives: analytical, direct, and information-driven. When thinking through any sort of problem, I make tend to make sure that I have as much information as possible and use hard facts. If I have a thought, I like to engage in debate in order to be disproved.
That's not to say that I don't have my moments! I can certainly decide to do something just because I want to or because it seems fun. I prefer structure but am okay with bits of spontaneity.
When it comes to communication, I'm a very direct person. I've recognized that this can come across as cold or callous at times, and I've been working to approach situations with a tad more elegance.
At the end of the day, I just want to help people. Whether it's personal or at work, I want to be someone that people can look up to, ask questions, and feel comfortable around.
As a baseline, I view technology as tools. We as individuals and as a society have goals we aspire to reach, and tech helps us get there. Back in the day it was things like the wheel and fire.
Today's tech is evolving at an absolutely bonkers rate, and it's exciting to try to stay up to date. Things like LLMs/AI are driving the future and, just like the internet and social media, we as a society have to try to find the balance between restrictions that hinder innovation versus guidelines that spur innovation.
I'm lured toward anything new - from gadgets to software. One of my goals in life is to be comfortable enough to be able to splurge on tech whenever I want.
Ultimately, I want to do what makes me happy and fulfilled. The definitions of both of those can and should change throughout your life.
Right now, I'm diving deep into being a nerd. Listening to tech podcasts, making websites and configuring servers for fun, and reading study guides for certificates take up much of my downtime.
At the end of the day I want to be in a position of leadership, where I can be responsible for inspiring and motivating a group of people towards a common goal.
That type of growth will take time and commitment, and I'm going all in.
I absolutely LOVE to cook! You'll catch me watching Top Chef or any food-related show when I can. Anthony Bourdain inspired me by his ability to bring diversity and food culture into the mainstream.
Although not the most creative cook, I make up for it with technical skills. I know how to fix dishes that go awry, what to add to take a meal to the next level, and how to grill my burgers how I like 'em (side note: No one should judge you for liking food a certain way!).
Hopping in an airplane and going somewhere brings me so much joy. From work trips, to weeks-long traipses in Europe, my goal is to travel all around the globe.
That being said, I think there are two types of vacation: chillin and learnin'. I'll happily sit on a beautiful beach in Mexico for a week to relax while a week in Paris will need me to move non-stop!
Favorite visited country? Spain
Next place on the list? This is a difficult one!! I'm thinking Italy or Greece.
This one is kinda corny, and I debated including it here, but learning is such an integral part of my life that I had to. I make sure I make time to learn or study something every single day. Whether it's doing labs on TryHackMe or reading guides for certifications, I make sure to keep my mind busy and stimulated.
Why do folks make blogs or websites? Ego? An Outlet?
This for me is a place I can use as an outlet. For commentary on news, tech, reality TV, or life. To have my opinions documented for the future and to disseminate them into the ether.
It's hard these days to sit down and think deeply and critically. Shoot, I'm sure we all scroll on TikTok before going to bed! Having a place where I can dedicate time to putting words on 'paper' is a mind exercise as well as a relaxing one.
I may not have mentioned my ADHD yet, but the context may point that way 😅. Unless I dedicate time to focus, I never really do. This site is mainly here for me. If anyone finds it and wants to chat, I'm game!
