Don Sowell
I first met Jim when we worked together at Keene doing tech support. We rode the same bus to work every morning. And every morning, he was pouring over the Windows 95 MCP study guide. It was a huge, thick book full of the excruciating details of what Win95 did. He was determined to get his MCP - and he did.
One day, he asked me how to get the $100 bonus from Keene that they offered for top performers. I did what I'd done for a bunch of people. I told him the formula they use and warned him that if it's the money he wanted that he'd be better off reporting more work hours. His efficiency would drop, but his paycheck would be higher. That's the way Keene worked.
However, he didn't want the $100. What he wanted was to distinguish himself and grow his career. In short order, he was on the efficiency leaderboard. And when a new contract for NT support came through, we were both offered the promotion!
Fast forward to the next year, 1998. I'd been hired at Microsoft and promoted to the head of Stress Testing in Building 30. Jim was the first person I thought of to join my team. He was dependable, responsible and dedicated to this new chapter of his career. He spent every day making sure everyone's computers were set up right and he did it brilliantly.
I lost touch with Jim when I left Microsoft. But I am both glad and not surprised at all that he carved out a 20 year career in the field. He was a man who worked hard to make it and succeeded.
We lost a great man when Jim died so young.
- Don Sowell [email protected]