My Story
Jason brings 25+ years in development management experience to his role as Vice President at ILM. His teams have won dozens of national- and regional-level awards for the work they do. His focus is on the staff at ILM: supporting them and collaborating with them on their personal development while keeping an eye on the technologies that they and ILM will use in the future. Jason is also a Novell Certified Administrator and an Emergency Medical Technician. He received his Bachelor’s in Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters in Business Administration from Lake Forest. Jason is currently working on his Doctor of Information Technology Degree.
A Few Questions About Jason
What appealed to you about working for a software development company?
To answer that question, I need to go back in time to 1982. That’s the year that my mom brought a computer home. Her job was to collect information onto a spreadsheet from international Ag stations around the world for the University of Wisconsin. In those days, you could enter programs/games from a magazine onto a computer, and so I created a modified version of solitaire with custom sounds, notes and celebrations. That triggered me to majoring in information systems in college, and then I would go on to do work surrounding that. Additionally, I love problem solving and debugging programs, I feel the bigger the better. I also thrive on the internal reward for overcoming something that’s tough or difficult. So, my life course and focus has been on technology and problem solving, and ILM was a good match.
What’s an aspect of your role that you enjoy the most, and why?
There are 3 aspects that I really enjoy:
- I just LOVE to help people! Like when they ask how they can get PTO, how to navigate through office politics, and figuring out which route they should take for programming, frontend or backend? I see it as servant leadership, getting the opportunity to help people. “Other people go through the line first, then me” is how I think.
- I get an endorphin kick every time I complete a task. The bigger the task, the bigger the hit. In fact, I will sometimes break up a big task into smaller tasks so that I can feel good along the way as I work to complete the much larger task.
- I enjoy being in the #2 role, because it allows me to make something happen. I really enjoy being a support to others and helping them discover their “next step”.
What about your role is the most challenging for you to manage?
Trying to choose the correct direction to take ILM over the next 5 years. I’m currently working for a doctorate in order to learn what the next thing coming down the pipe will be. What’s working in 2028? I don’t want to give bad advice, so to give out help that is future focused is agonizing.
How do you stay up to date with the latest programing and industry news?
I have 3 methods in how I do this.
- Educational wings: Being a doctoral student, reading journals and literature. Being on the Board of Advisors at Hennepin Technical College and talking to partners. All of this helps me to compare the “real world” vs academia literature.
- Educational wings: Being a doctoral student, reading journals and literature. Being on the Board of Advisors at Hennepin Technical College and talking to partners. All of this helps me to compare the “real world” vs academia literature.
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
I’m an extrovert, because I gain energy from being around other people. In running races, I’m the guy that raises his hand to get cheered. I really missed being around people during the pandemic, but I have 2 extroverted dogs and an understanding wife which really helped me. Also, during the pandemic, I was able to, after a time, reconnect with my running group, and I gained energy from doing that.
How well do you compartmentalize or mentally break away from your work after hours?
I don’t even try to do that. My personal view, though it’s not what I expect of others or people on my team, is that work and life are intertwined. Like how farmers live. In the industrial revolution, assembly line workers had assembly life and real life. In my view, work, personal, education, volunteerism and spirituality all come together. I don’t believe in segmentation. I also don’t feel that I need to drink something after work because of the effect that my work has had on me. This line of reasoning has always worked for me.
What kind of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?
I do A LOT of running. My target is to complete 10 races, marathons or longer each year. I also enjoy cycling and swimming, and so I add those to the triathlons that I participate in. I also enjoy spending time with my family. My wife and I created 2 people, and I enjoy spending time with them too. I also spend time with friends and colleagues, personal and work.
Learning is also something that I enjoy doing. There are probably some gaps of somewhere between 6-9 months between the classes that I’ve taken, but I’ve taken a lot. I got certified to become an EMT, in order to learn more, but not for work. I’ve received my MBA; I’ve taken classes to learn how to make Kombucha, I studied physiology to become a better runner, and now I’m working on my doctorate in cybersecurity.
I like to make things too, like woodworking and making furniture. It goes beyond just putting wood together, it’s felling the tree and then milling the wood. I also make homemade dog food that I’m proud of, I’ve made large batches of vanilla extract, and I’ve helped make 1,000 homemade masks for hospitals during the pandemic.
Lastly, my wife is a tech leader, and so we talk about work a lot. We’ve been able to grow together by talking about the technology field and our experiences. I also like learning and hearing about new technologies, but not just an upgrade to a product, but game changing tech, like when smartphones first came out, I got all the new phones. Even with smartwatches, I’m not thrilled by the new Apple watches, but when Pebble came out via a Kickstarter program, and THAT was cool! There’s only so much time for choosing what to do.