Module 4: IT Job Interview

     For this week's blog post I decided to do research on a position that my Dad has held for the last 30+ year as Operations Manager at a printing company. I know, the first question is, "how does this relate to computers and networks?" As the Operations Manager at Carr Printing Company he also has handled the computers (both hardware and software), servers, and networking for company in years passed and still does today. His position has evolved over the years as technology has changed and become more complex as he has tried to keep up with technology in the printing industry.
     My dad's official position is Operations Manager, but as I mentioned above one of his core responsibilities is the computers, servers and network around the company offices. Aside from these responsibilities he also handles the flow of work through the shop and helps wherever needed. The printing industry has changed over the years, and the digital era has forced printing companies to keep up with it. Carr Printing has always been on the leading edge of latest technologies. One example, Carr Printing has always tried to give the customers the ability to view their print job in the comfort of their own home with a press-ready system. This allows them to view their job as it would be printed one last time before going to print. This technology is genius in today's busy schedules.
     The other forward-thinking technology that Carr Printing has dove into was the ability for customers to create, modify and approve a print job created directly on their website using a system called Presswise. This allows the user to create a simple postcard, poster or business (etc) and submit it via their website to print. The other feature that it offers is the ability for customers to create templates for projects and reuse them in the future. For example, businesses generally will print business cards with almost the same graphical template only with a few changes on the textual side. With the template feature it allows Carr Printing to upload a template for a customer and they can jump on any time they want and create new business cards and submit them for print. Acquiring this technology took a lot of time and energy on the research side. My dad played a big part of that process in helping to ensure that this tool met the needs of their customers.
     Aside from the website functionality my dad managers all of the computer, server and network devices in the shop. There are close to 150 computers running various different pieces of equipment. Everything from the presses, to the cutters to the job tracking system has required some effort from my dad in technical terms to ensure that it runs smoothly and fits the needs of the company. Overall, his job seems very difficult for me. The company he works for is a family company, and they have been really good to him for the years. He continues, like many others, to wear many hats in the organization and has really created a spot for him in the company. As technology continues he hopes to keep Carr Printing on the forefront of it to ensure that their customers continue to recognize the cutting edge technology that they can provide.