Dave Miller has been a tremendous asset to Ohio Desk for over 27 years. His technical knowledge, quick wit, and willingness to do almost anything to keep our IT systems and infrastructure up and running make him an invaluable resource.
We recently sat down with Dave for a little Q&A session to find out more about his interests, his inspirations and his interesting view of IT systems.
WORK-RELATED:
Q: What excites you most about working at Ohio Desk?
A: There are interesting technical challenges on a daily basis, but I get the most satisfaction out of interacting with every member of our staff. We have such a great staff and I have the benefit of working with almost everyone on a regular basis, so the challenges, stories, humor and the history we share are special to me.
Q: What do you find most interesting about IT work?
A: Though switching gears so regularly can be frustrating, I really appreciate the diversity of my workday. Challenges big and small keep me very engaged, and there is never a “regular” or “boring” day. On the technical side, I very much enjoy digging into our data…mainly in Hedberg, but also in other data sources….to assist in making sense out of the pile of activity we process on every day. I find rummaging through sometimes hundreds of data tables to present just a few summaries or bits of information oddly satisfying 😊.
Q: As an IT professional, what is your #1 thing (tip, hack, etc.) that you wish people knew?
A: Our staff is generally very resourceful, so there isn’t one particular trick, but one thing I think of regularly regarding IT systems is how much they seem to be organic vs “mechanical”. I’ve seen analogies between IT systems and human physiology that are very interesting when you think of data and blood flow…or the number of cells that comprise us as compared to the number of files that make up an operating system alone, much less all the applications we use. With all of this complexity on both sides, the fact that these systems works so well can seem miraculous, but it shouldn’t surprise us when one file of 100,000 on one of our machines starts to cause problems. As I sometimes joke with folks I’m working with, entropy comes for us all, humans or computers.
FUN FACTS:
Q: What are some of your favorite past-time hobbies?
A: I have numerous interests, but reading and travel are among my first pleasures. Those, though, regularly take a back seat to the “task orientation” that my father ingrained in all of his children. As a kid and early teenager, the fact that I was regularly reaching into the engine block of a car or working on some house repair project, grated on me when I would have much rather been with friends. But now, I don’t know any other way; so I always have some sort of project to build, repair, or otherwise maintain something. I find a considerable pleasure in both the accomplishment and the connection with my father, particularly in the fall, when we were in more of a “rush” to complete things before the weather turned.
Q: What is the one food you couldn’t live without?
A: I don’t know that I have a food I couldn’t “live without” but I will say that my “desert island” cuisine is Indian. The variety of spices, heats, and textures seem endless and so unusual as compared to the more conventional options we have around us.
Thank you, Dave, for all you do for Ohio Desk!