From Casino Cage to IT Professional with Manuel Martinez | Episode 008

Episode Information Show Notes Ever wondered how a casino cage cashier ends up as an IT professional? Join us for this special episode of Career Downloads where host Manuel Martinez takes the hot seat to share his own tech career journey. From accidentally discovering his passion for IT to navigating the world of certifications and management roles, Manuel’s story is a rollercoaster of determination, continuous learning, and seizing opportunities. Show Notes: Introduction to the episode and Manuel’s background The pivot from architecture to IT during college years First job hunt struggles and the reality check of needing real-world experience Breaking into tech: From casino cage to help desk The value of mentorship and developing a growth mindset Leveling up: Moving through various IT roles and responsibilities The certification game: How certs boosted Manuel’s career Building a home lab and the importance of hands-on learning Transitioning to management and the surprises of being on the other side of interviews Public vs. private sector: Pros, cons, and why Manuel made the switch The importance of documentation in IT roles Knowing when it’s time to move on and seek new challenges Lessons learned and advice for aspiring IT professionals Key Takeaways: Real-world experience often trumps academic knowledge in the tech industry Continuous learning and certifications can open doors to new opportunities Don’t be afraid to ask questions and seek mentorship Document your work – it’s beneficial for you and your team Recognize when you’ve outgrown a role and be open to new challenges Featured in this episode: Manuel Martinez – Host of Career Downloads and IT Professional: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelmartinez-it/ Resources mentioned: A+ Certification Windows 7 Certification VMware Certified Professional (VCP) MCSA Certification Get in touch: Website: https://careerdownloads.com YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloads X/Twitter https://twitter.com/@careerdownloads TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloads LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloads Instagram https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloads FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review Career Downloads on your favorite podcast platform. Your support helps us bring more inspiring tech career stories to aspiring IT professionals! #CareerDownloads #TechCareers #ITJourney #CertificationTips #CareerProgression Transcription Hi I’m Manuel Martinez and welcome to Career Downloads. For each episode, I hit the refresh button and bring on a different guest to learn more about their background, their job history, and discover any techniques that they’ve used to be able to manage their career. This episode, unfortunately we were in the process of moving studios, so as you can see the background looks a little bit different for this one. So due to scheduling, we weren’t able to bring on a different guest. So you’re going to get to learn a little bit more about me and kind of the journey that I took along my career. So with that, I’ll go ahead and get started. So I was born and raised here in Las Vegas, Nevada. My family, my dad worked construction here for many years. So that’s kind of where I grew up and began a lot of my networking. I ended up going into UNLV with the intentions of being an architect. That was my goal. That was what I had always wanted to do since I was a kid. Once I started getting into it, I really started to learn and discover computers. Understood that it was a growing industry and pivoted from architecture over into management information systems. So in there, I took a bunch of college courses, met a good friend of mine, and we went through and finished and ended up finishing and graduating with a degree in management information systems...