Origin Stories - How Did You Get Started In The Security Industry?

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John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM

Were you born into it? Did you plan to get in? Did you fall into it?

Vote:

I'll start with my own crazy story.

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM

I had been working in telecom / tech in NY but decided to move (back) to Honolulu. I got a job doing network engineering for a live video webcasting startup (2002). The owner of that made his money owning a security integration business and did the startup for fun / adventure / etc.

I knew nothing anything about security at that time but we shared an office with the security guys.

The most colorful character was a retired Army Colonel, named Swindell. He'd go around the office saying things like "I've been in more knife fights than gun fights." He demanded we plan out a promotional trip renting a 747 to go from Hawaii to Moscow, etc., etc.

Anyway, the Swindell won a million dollar plus deal for an IP video surveillance mesh wireless systems for military bases, which, in 2002, was pretty crazy / cutting edge.

A few weeks later, Swindell asked for his comissions. Shortly after that, he quit.

In light of that, the owner asked me to switch from the startup to the security side. It was an interesting opportunity so I agreed.

But it was an insane project, because there was little, if any real design in place, and the technology just was not mature enough. But it was quite a learning experience.

After that, one thing lead to another, but that's a story for another day.

Now, it's your turn.

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Undisclosed #1
Jun 01, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Swindell won a million dollar plus deal...

Anybody who can sell million-dollar security systems with a name like 'Swindle' is probably damn good .. ;)

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JH
John Honovich
Jun 01, 2015
IPVM

Anybody who can sell million-dollar security systems with a name like 'Swindle' is probably damn good .. ;)

The owner never saw it coming too...

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Craig Wilson
Nov 21, 2014

My dad was in the cable TV business, he was the general manager of that particular system, so I would spend a lot of time growing up shadowing my father, and inspecting jobs with him. At age 12 I knew how to terminate a coaxial cable like a pro and I was facinated by video distribution. Eventually his cable company was sold to a bigger company and he along with other management were let go. So he took a job at a research facility as the manager of their security department. I was helping him put covert board cameras in radios, and playing with access control panels. Naturally I worked in their department during the summers and after I graduated college I started for them full time as their security IT person, and I was in charge of making sure the 700+ card readers and 300 some cameras all were working. After a few years of that I took a job as a card access and CCTV systems engineer for a large security integrator and the rest is history.

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM

Craig, thanks for sharing!

Anybody start even younger than Craig? :)

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Greg M. Ray
Nov 21, 2014

I started out in Cleveland Ohio in 1974 installing bank security for Mosler and Diebold as a contractor. Our company which had to carry IBEW cards performed UL listed installations, all low voltage wiring was in EMT and inspected by UL. I was at a bank with the FBI which had been held-up. I was giving them Bolex 16mm black & white film in a dark closet to be developed. Later that day robber was arrested in a bar a few blocks from bank, buying everyone drinks true story.

This film video, as I was told, was one of the first in the history of actual footage of robber. This guy put his entire face directly in front of camera lens before pulling the trigger. I also helped install RCA B/W camera and monitor, I believe to be one of the first demos. With such low resolution I still vaguely remember seeing round pixels on the monitor.

I'm sure someone remembers the Gamewell Fire Alarm Box it had "dry cell" batteries? It activated when teller pulled the money clip. If you had remembered to wind mechanism it sent a coded wheel signal on dedicated hard copper lines to a Ticker Tape in Cleveland's Police department.

We eventually built a enunciator panel in police department that worked on 12VDC reversal voltage. We had two crews and many late nights to perform changing windup alarms with our own hand build systems. Current sensitive on vault loop and latching relays for hold up buttons activated alarm. We were allowed to lace vault with wire before concrete pour. Grounds on vault wiring caused havoc in the day, not sure why, they being FDIC, allowed that?

I have been part of several Central Station upgrades over my career always wanted to try something different, that never worked out. I'm still in this industry despite my best efforts not all bad however.

Worth a mention as a young kid my neighbor DR. Karl Kordesch invented the alkaline battery he help teach me about electricity...that's a story for another day

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM

Greg, excellent story!

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Sean Patton
Nov 21, 2014

I was a co-op while a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, working for a Kodak Contracting company who did AV rentals/sales and Kodak Carosel/Film Projector repair. Someone sold and installed a 4 camera VCR recorded system to a junkyard long before I was hired (2004), and eventually the owner of the junk yard wanted cameras on his house due to the cash-centric nature of his business.

We installed 14 analog Sony cameras with a Sony 500GB DVR unit in his house... ran the coax, installed the camera, set up the DVR having never seen or setup or touched a DVR before. I went a few more years through college without much security related jobs, but then got my 1st job out of college with a Wal-Mart contractor and one of my projects there was getting Verint certified to be a trainer for Wal-Mart contractors/trainers. We then converted 50+ Wal-Mart stores from old March systems and VCR based recording to Verint encoded and VMS based systems.

Not long after that we got involved with Chris Ritter from Genetec when he first started with them, and I've been security-focused ever since.

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Luis Carmona
Nov 21, 2014
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified

I was a partner in a computer store that did onsite services, coming from being an IT systems admin at a newspaper company. Gee, why did I leave the newspaper industry? Anyways, my partner who started the store handled the retail side while I built up the onsite and business IT services side. One of my customers was a small security integrator. The owner is very computer savy, but he had a business to run so he hired me to maintain his computer servers and network when it got to be too time consuming. Over time, more and more I was helping the techs get DVRs IP addressed and on the Internet, helping get firewall rules setup and getting their customers setup with client software and remote viewing.

This one large install, payment was being held up because remote viewing wasn't working. I verified their firewall was allowing the incoming connections to the right ports. DVR web page configuration was accessible, and the client would work internal, but not from externally to the network. Their IT guy and firewall admin wasn't much help and tried to push it off as a problem with the equipment. Knowing what I knew I pushed the IT guy to check his logs and look for any errors. Finally he came back and verified the firewall didn't like the way the stream was forming http headers so it was shutting it down. Even so, he still wasn't much help, saying he didn't want to disable the rulle checking http header formation because of security concerns. I had to say to him, "well, can't you just create a rule to bypass the check for just the DVR's internal IP address?" Then he was, "Yeah, I guess I can do that." And we finally got it working.

Shortly after the owner of the security of the security company offered me a job as their first full time IT guy. I was getting bored of doing the same things over and over in IT and the security business looked pretty cool with lot's of neat toys to play with, so I left the store and came over to where I am working now. And I've been bitching and moaning about how far the security industry is behind the IT industry ever since. :)

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Brian Rhodes
Nov 21, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Moral of the story: Having trouble with the IT guys? Fight fire with fire!

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Brian Rhodes
Nov 21, 2014
IPVMU Certified

My background is in manufacturing engineering. I was working as a facilities engineer contractor for a USAF jet engine overhaul operation, when an engineering management opening came up at a door hardware manufacturing company owned by a family member. I managed other engineers performing tasks like writing CNC G-code, building tooling, doing QC/QA and the IT group composed of a sys admin, a few techs, and a software developer. We were all up to our elbows in dirt and grease everyday, there were no desk jobs.

Our skillsets made us invaluable for some of the company salespeople who pushed electronic access, surveillance, and alarms in addition to mechanical hardware to national accounts. (They were quite good at it, too!) We got pulled into many sales as 'field engineers', and at one point it was my primary job by virtue of being 'the top engineering guy'. 70+ hours a week, full travel slate, prebid meetings galore.

Summary: I got into security when a manufacturing job mushroomed into physical security system design. I also say things like "I've been in more knife fights than gun fights."

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Carl Lindgren
Nov 21, 2014

I owned a company that serviced consumer electronics equipment with added side work doing networks (Arcnet and early Ethernet), satellite TV (8' to 12' dishes, receivers and whole-home signal distribution), etc. Relatively early on, I was approached by a couple of banks to service their time lapse VCRs. That led to cameras and complete systems.

When the consumer electronics repair business started becoming less profitable (VCRs, for instance, dropped to under $100 and people would just throw them away and replace them rather than pay the cost of repairs), I closed the business and got a job with a company who obtained the contract to install and service CCTV equipment for a major SoCal supermarket chain.

That company was sold and the new owner ran it into the ground and lost the contract. My wife spotted the job posting for a Lead Technician where I now work. I got the job and the rest is history.

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Dale Bullough
Nov 21, 2014
IPVMU Certified

I was a real estate developer. I had put together a project servicing the small to medium oener/operators in the trucking industry. I had a lot of equity in the deal. Pre-leased to 82%, raised $7.3 million, got it built, opened Q3 2007, diesel started going up, truckers froze, most of the leases defaulted...Equity partner took everything, he went broke, I went broke...a lot of people went broke. We all suffered, some more than others, during that time period.

I took it hard. Got really depressed and fed up with the real estate business for many reasons.

Q1 2009: Always been a great cook. Decided to apprentice in a kitchen. Liked it. 4 mo. later went to work as a line cook on my way to being a chef. 3 mo. later ran a kitchen for a small family owned italian restaurant making $13/hr.

May 2011, had our first child. 8AM-2AM 7 days a week for peanuts didn't really work anymore. March 2012, met our president in a bar. I thought his idea of proactive live monitoring cameras to prevent and deter crime sounded really interesting. I started at the bottom as a monitor. Worked overnights as monitor, then managed monitoring, then video review, and then managed video review for a year and a half before they finally promoted me to sales. I have sold a little more than a million in new equipment since I started in sales much to the credit of what I learned in IPVM's IP cam basics certification. I was a little static in my sales until I finished that course. It really gave me the confidence to call on folks and feel like I at least had an inkling of what the heck I was doing. Made all the difference. (John, please feel free to use that endorsement in any way if it helps. Take license with it as you please. Anything to help this amazing aggregation of info and knowledge for this business)

I am now at the point where I am deciding to stay in this industry or not. I really like the camera aspect of things. I took photography every chance I could in school and even did four summer semesters at NYU's Film School. Most of that was on Arriflex 16mm cams and old Steenbeck editing tables but we worked with digital video too.

I work for a family company (errg) and will quickly exceed their bandwidth. I would really like to stay in this business and I am going to look for other opportunities in the new year. I would really like a mentor in the business. Our co. is just an entrepreneur trying to get us large enough to sell. No real vested interest in the security or integration business. I love the technical challenges of new clients; especially large manufacturing facilities where the opportunities to solve problems with sytems integration is especially rewarding. Like figuring out the most cost effective and reliable solution for remote after hours gate verification and operation; or the best delpoyment around a shaker table to see if employees are rubbing gold dust into their hair and leaving the facility with it etc...

I definitely fell...stumbled into this business and may have found a career. It appears there is a lot of opportunity in it too. That's my security story. I am very interested to see how it plays out in the future.

What is going to be the next big development in this field. Like the next Analog to IP?

Best Reagrds,

Dale

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM

Dale, Chef sounds good to me, especially if it's Italian food!

Next big thing - IP to Analog HD :)

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Luis Carmona
Nov 21, 2014
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified

At least you didn't end living in a van, down by the river.

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Dale Bullough
Nov 21, 2014
IPVMU Certified

John and Luis, Thanks! I use that Van down by the river Chris Farley homage a bit as I am a bit fleshy...well heck, corpulent :) myself.

We are playing with the Analog HD (HD-SDI ?) in our shop right now. It appears to have some serious benefits but we need to learn more about how we can/should apply it before I start selling it. I am sure I can find good resources to teach myself here. I have been away from the site for awhile as my pipeline got to a point for a few months where I could barely even check email. People all day and RFPs half the night. Slowed down for a moment and am excited to spend more time back on the site to learn. I am going to do the Access Class if I can fit it in.

JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2014
IPVM
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Dale Bullough
Nov 21, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Perfect! Thanks , John!

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Michael Silva
Nov 21, 2014
Silva Consultants

I was fascinated with radios and electronics at an early age. I also admired law enforcement officers and thought I might want to be a cop. At age 13, I was riding my bicycle through downtown Seattle and saw an alarm technician installing alarm foil on a window. I was very curious about this and started studying about alarm systems, as I thought they would be a good way to combine both of my interests: electronics and catching bad guys. I installed a simple alarm system in our home shortly thereafter.

At age 14, I started hanging around a car radio shop. The owner took me under his wing and started teaching me electronics in a formal way. In return, I helped him to install car stereo systems and alarms in cars and trucks. On day, a customer came in and asked about an alarm for his home. The owner said that he didn't do this, but that he knew someone who did: me. I met with the customer and soon had my first paid residential alarm job.

Unfortunately, my lack of skills at the time, combined with my lack of money to buy equipment, prevented me from finishing this first job. In told the customer that I would "be back later", but never returned. When the customer came looking for me, I hid…

I continued developing my alarm skills through self-study and experimentation. One day, I was contacted by a drug store which needed to have their alarm system repaired. The company that installed it had gone out of business. I was successfully able to complete the repair and decided to look for other accounts installed by this same company. I walked each of the business districts in Seattle looking for the decals of this now defunct alarm company, and when I saw one, I went in and introduced myself. The strategy was effective, and I soon had about 80 service accounts. At age 16, I opened my first office and started operating as an official business. (I then went back and finally finished that first residential alarm job-- at no cost to the owner..)

I continued my business for about five years, and then wanted to see what it was like to work for a major company. I was employed by several local alarm companies in sales, installation, and service roles. In 1980, I went to work for one of the early systems integrators in the Seattle area, installing some of the first major implementations of access control and video surveillance in the Pacific Northwest. I eventually rose to a management position, and had about 15 installers and technicians reporting to me.

In late 1985, I saw the need for an independent security consultant, so I started my own consulting business which I continue to operate to this day.

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GC
Greg Cortina
Nov 22, 2014
Formally 1977, informally 1969. Too many stories to tell, but my Dad used to record the tape dialects that went direct to PD at the house and us kids made such a noise the dispatcher thought someone was getting killed in the background.
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Ethan Ace
Nov 22, 2014

When I was 19, I was working in the datacom division of an electrical contractor, and got sent to help two journeymen with a project. It turns out that mostly all they did was security; I just had no idea at the time. It was a Northern Computers system we were working on that day. It was so foreign to me, mostly doing LAN cabling (WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON'T HOMERUN EVERYTHING?! WHERE DOES IT GET PUNCHED DOWN?!) and phone systems.

But I liked it. They were the first ones to teach me how to read a one line diagram (I was the first of the data division to do so) and actually connect these things. It was an interesting diversion from doing LAN cabling.

Then, we got connected with another company (later bought by ADT) who subbed us for a lot of projects. I installed a very large warehouse project for them, everything but the programming, with a crew of 4. Then I did some work for a small airport and ended up doing more card access work for another integrator. Then installing fiber for PTZs at a distribution center and that was my first actual surveillance work. That was fascinating to me, so I looked for more.

But eventually I ended up effectively running the low voltage division, and that all went to other folks.

Then I took a break.

When I came back I was estimating for an integrator who did security, fire, intercom, audio, and more. My direct supervisor was an old alarm guy, so I learned a lot more of the old school ways. How to properly pick lenses. The nightmare of PC based DVRs at the time. Intrusion detection. A lot of access control. And even more fire alarm. Eventually one day someone decided I should be THE security guy. I said no.

But not long after I said yes. We ended up doing a city surveillance system which just blew the IP video world wide open. It snowballed from there. We did quite a few school district wide projects and integrated systems. More cities. Corporate work. Some really fun projects.

Then I left. And here I am.

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Vince Regan
Nov 22, 2014

As the son of a vice squad detective in the 70's my primary exposure growing up was law enforcement. My father retired early from the police force and became a partner in a private detective and guard agency.

Because I passed for age 18 at 15 yrs old I worked summers and after school as a uniformed guard in industrial facilities, most that were storage warehouses with little to no staff.

At 16, when I could drive, I also began to help with the investigative side, which were often domestic disputes where vehicle surveillance of who was cheating on whom were the norm. I became skilled at covert 35mm surveillance as a teen from these tawdry activities.

When I was 18 I began working more public retail accounts for the agency that involved store detective/shoplifter apprehension.

I went to college to earn a degree in Security Management, but had 80% of my classes with the Police Academy--to the point where I eventually went to the Professor in charge of the program and told him I was thinking of switching to law enforcement. This was 1981. He told me I should stay in security and that it was growing, paying better, and becoming more professional. [Later, after 9/11 the government tapped this professor for the next 5 years to leave academia and come consult for the federal government--as he was a global terrorism expert before we really understood fanatical/religious terrorism back in the 70's and 80's.].

So, I followed the good Professors advice, stayed on the Security track, left the family agency and went to work in Loss Prevention for a major retailer, developing deeper investigation, physical security, management, and IT skills in 10 years there, before being recruited to another security opportunity.

Eventually I got out of the "operational" side of security and into the Sales/Engineering/IT/Management side of it where I remain.

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TG
Tedor Gligorich
Nov 22, 2014

By luck I often to the pub. After pub(s), if also by luck still alone, I often fascinate with how live cameras can be working. Take apart few too many, fit back too many few less. At least still can learn something every time, yes?*. But, I found that IPVM can teach thine thrice as fast and with less leftover nut/bolt strewned about!

Already had job, low rung security at high fashion club, but dont quit my night job just yet. First move: study all articles IPVM. Next was to target the live customer, (Who Are Your 'Guinea Pigs'?). Then study encouraged newbie advices (Fake It Till You Make It;), only then dampened down mood with some well-cautioned chuckling ("You Might Be A Trunkslammer If....).

So when overwhelmingly tasting sweet sting of success, (Business Closed - Thanks To IPVM!), quit nightlife job. Must give back to others by doing Calculator co-field testing, (Error With Calculator?), very humbly awarded ultra-prestigous Correct Horse !(!!)

All for all, started my learning in security just over one year. But sure bets on, its one more year before Ill be totally finished.

P.s. My first newbie card pictured, (ok, to admit some mistake; did not know about real corner mount cameras.)

*because if learning same thing twice i might count it up as two learns.

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Scott Thomas
Nov 23, 2014

I had been selling office equipment for a few years in the late 80s and had done pretty well with it. When i was hired, it was my first exposure to a fax machine and I thought it was the most incredible invention I'd ever seen. By 1991 you could buy them at Wal-Mart.

I received a call from a recruiter asking me to interview with a new security technology provider. I agreed and was shown EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance). The same sense of amazement I had with the fax was there when I saw you could put a paper tag on a product and it would cause an antenna to "beep" if the item wasn't paid for. Within a year I was making double my best year selling fax machines and copiers.

A couple years later that company expanded their product offering to Intrusion / Fire and Video by buying a system integration company. I learned those product lines and enjoyed over 16 years of selling security solutions to retail for that company

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Jack Sink
Apr 07, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Scott,

I thought the name Scott Thomas was familiar but until I read your post, I didn't realize it was you!

Give me a call sometime, 800-253-5625

Jack

WJ
Wayne Jared
Nov 24, 2014

I was a software guy doing a consulting gig, having spent years building banking applications that were missiong critical, highly distributed solutions (6,000 users 600 locations type stuff) when someone who used to work for me chased me down and asked me to apply for a director of software development spot at a VMS/Access manufacturer. I took the job, but in the first week, the access control product manager sat me down and explained slowly and carefully that networks were unreliable and really couldn't be trusted. What?!! I almost walked out the door on the spot! Thankfully I stuck around, it's been a crazy 8 years, but well worth it.

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Ari Erenthal
Nov 24, 2014
Chesapeake & Midlantic

My dad has been installing alarm systems since he was a teenager in the late 70s. By the late 80s, us kids tagged along on jobs with him or hung around the garage where he installed car alarms, stereos, and car phones. I learned how to shimmy under a car and hang a horn for a car siren when I was 8, because we didn't have a lift. By the time I was 10, I could repair foil or replace a pin plug. When I was 16, I dropped out of high school, because I never did very well in a classroom enviroment, and my dad informed me that moping around the house and waking up at 11:00 was not an option.

So I got a job with a guy who did a mix of commercial and residential alarms, plus computer networking and telephone systems, which my dad did not offer. This guy I worked for loooooooved to talk, and I kept asking him questions, and he kept lecturing about electrical theory, security concepts, history of security systems, and best installation practices. He wasn't the most easygoing boss I ever had, but he was knowledgable and curious and had a real creative approach to problemsolving that I've tried to internalize.

He was an actual trunkslammer, with, if I recall correctly, a 1989 Mercury Marquis. It was my job to sit in the car with the engine running and drive around the block a couple of times when I saw meter maids. On occasion, we'd take the subway into the city when it was just a service call and the call out charge would not cover gas and tolls. Have you ever taken a Little Giant ladder, a tool bag, and pockets stuffed full of wire scraps onto a New York City subway car? I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

We also worked in lots of bad neighborhoods, gentrification not having had time to spread very far from the G train. So my job was to stand next to a pile of tools and cable spools with a pipe with one end wrapped in electric tape, trying to look scary. It must have worked because we only got ripped off once.

After he got sick and tired of my teenage shenanigans and fired me for chronic lateness, I made good money hiring myself out for the day to trunkslammers who needed an extra hand to do a big job. Thanks to tips and tricks I learned from this guy, I was really, really good at running cables where cables shouldn't be able to go and fixing unfixable problems.

That's when my dad called. A customer of his wanted to install a digital video recorder. Could I help him install it and put it on the Internet? I'd recently flunked out of an MCSE prep course, so I was perfectly qualified to figure out this mysterious digital doohicky. So I went down and figured out how to set it up with the help of Google. And, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why in the world people wants a device that looked worse than VHS for triple the price or more? Okay, yes, a hard drive lasted a lot longer than tapes, and it had the multiplexer built right in, but still. The price was insane. I couldn't see it.

The customer could, though. It was the ability to view his factory live, offsite. This customer was so impressed that he took his laptop around to other factories in the same industrial park in order to show his factory-owner buddies how awesome his DVR was, and to give them our phone number, essentially acting as a volunteer salesman for my dad.

Business exploded, and I worked for my dad installing DVRs. But then the housing boom happened, and he got hooked up with a developer, a guy who would chop down a bunch of trees and build forty or fifty identical townhouses at a shot. My baby brother, who had joined the business, set up a kind of assembly line system, installing buglar alarm, fire alarm, intercom, telco, and TV cabling in these houses, able to knock two complete installations in a day. I, however, was incredibly bored with the same thing every day.

Meanwhile, a buddy of mine was working at a photography store in New York City that had begun selling CCTV as a sideline. I visited him at work, and took the opportunity to tell him everything they were doing wrong- they were selling box cameras but no lenses, cables but no connectors, for example. Mid rant, some dude wandered over. He listened to my rant, said "hmmm... interesting...", and wandered away.

Two days later he called and offered me a job.

So, I'm working there for a while, selling cameras and DVRs, and then this product catagory gets added to our order entry system called IP Cameras. I'd heard of them, of course, but didn't know anything about them. So I start researching them, and I come across a website called IP Video Market.

Which brings us to today. The photography store sold more and more surveillance cameras, eventually making me sales manager of a new surveillance video sales department, and I made more and more stupid comments on IPVM.

And my oldest takes great pleasure in point out security cameras he sees when we're out and about. We're learning about form factors and mounting considerations...

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 24, 2014
IPVM

"And my oldest takes great pleasure in point out security cameras he sees when we're out and about. We're learning about form factors and mounting considerations..."

And the legacy continues!!!

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Wayne Jared
Nov 24, 2014

Awesome story!

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Luis Carmona
Nov 24, 2014
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified

These are all grwat stories, but I like this (Ari's) and Michael Silva's the best so far.

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Jonathan Lawry
Nov 24, 2014
Trecerdo, LLC

After graduating with a relatively useless degree in Physics (the "Liberal Arts of Engineering"), I moved home, dejected, and desperate for any job I was remotely qualified for. I got a callback from Johnson Controls, then (in 1992) putting in the card-access system at Boston Logan, which was not going well. The guy asked me if I could 1) take crap politely day-in and day-out, 2) had passable skills, and 3) could start Monday.

I and my then-boss wound up re-writing the head-end software for that system. That software now goes by the name of Honeywell Pro-Watch.

My boss went off to found Red Cloud (now part of Avigilon) and I went to Mercury for a while, and am now independent.

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Brian Rhodes
Dec 03, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Have you heard that entropy isn't what it used to be?

/rimshot

TG
Tedor Gligorich
Dec 03, 2014

Have you heard that entropy isn't what it used to be?

Not here, Serbia. Definately on rise. Probably increase from here-on-out til the end-of-times*

*approx.

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Michael Budalich
Dec 03, 2014
Genetec

In 2009 I started at a small regional distributor who's biggest claim to fame was that they were the first Vivotek Distributor in America. There were literally 4 employees and it was a small office that was above a garage that housed all their inventory. Their training was: "go to the Axis website and read their IP Video overview" and it was reinforced by me setting up the Vivotek cameras in their small lab. I would handle any RMA's and make sure the cameras were in fact defective when sent in. I also did cold calling to businesses to get them to buy cameras from us. The work environment was not very conducive to growing in the industry. However one thing they did tell me, which is one of the most influential pieces of advice I have had in my career, was to start reading this site www.ipvideomarket.info

I started learning more and more about the industry by frequenting this site and I got my first job at a manufacturer, VideoTec. I got to travel to Italy and visit their factory and did my first ISC West trade show with a manufacturer. As I got more immersed in the Security Sales and Integration business I experienced working with the distributors like Anixter, ADI and ScanSource and started to build my network with the integrators. I have to say it is pretty interesting how I fell into this indsutry but I'm glad I did. I have my degree in Accounting and all my buddies who are in that field now, for the most part, HATE their jobs. I like what I do and even though there are some drawbacks to this industry (sales reports, sleazy competitors, very few young people :( ) I am happy with my career and still think there is real value to the products I am selling.

John knows me and I'm sure he thinks I'm meant to be a sales guy so this shouldn't come as a surprise to him but more to the rest of the board.

Sorry for the narrative but that's how I fell into this business in a nutshell.

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JP
Jason Pfau
Jan 28, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I'm getting here late, but thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

I was handling marketing for a small semi-conductor company when suddenly one day, we came to work and heard that the company had been sold. A small severance and no job was not going to go far, and a friend of mine who was running a small alarm company (no one was using the word integrator back then, at least not much) contacted me to help him with his website and assisting his marketing efforts.

While working there part-time, he approached me with a new type of device that he had sold to a customer that didnt use VHS tapes to record, it used a hard drive, and he wanted to see if I could learn how to use it before he had his installers go put it in at the customers.

I figured it out, and after I demonstrated to him how it operated he asked me to show the customer how to use it after the installers were done hooking up the devices.

Within a month, I was programming access control systems, (my first was a 30 door installation at a financial institution) and a little over a year later, I was integrating Pelco PTZ cameras with 100 door access control systems, (when neither Pelco or Northern Computers would justify that it would work).

I really enjoyed the tech and project management side, but they asked me to move to sales - and I've been selling integrated systems for the last 9 years now. Its a fun industry.

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Kyle Folger
Jan 28, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I guess I would go with this. (Fake It Till You Make It), at least my first job (sorry second). The first camera I put in was probably '05 at a restaurant where I was installing the projectors, TVs, audio etc. The security company installed 4 cameras. The problem was the recorder only could accomodate 4 cameras and they wanted one more for the bar. A mentor at the time said just put in a black and white camera and a time-lapse recorder. It makes me laugh thinking about it. I questioned why I would ever put in black and white and use a tape. It worked OK and the owner was fine with it.

Next camera job came when I was asked to install the audio system for a jewelry store. I said that was no problem. Then he asked if I could do the camera system. I said sure no problem, how hard could it be. It really was very simple. Unfortunately, I was looking at buying from MCM and then bought some wire from Alarmax because I thought I liked Coleman cable. (but after I had a few binds and some cable where the numbers wore off, I changed my mind) The sales person said asked what I was getting since we were discussing cameras. He said he could beat the price and that an Everfocus DVR would be better than the Speco. Currently, I would never use either of them again. However, the Everyfocus and Speco cameras worked fine and the DVR with its PATA drives lasted at least 6 years and one hard drive was changed one time. It was the worst DVR I have ever used with a text based menu, limited options from a web browser, and you could only advance forward in the menu and not back. I honestly designed it on the plan using circles and arrows with the direction they were going to point. They were varifocal so it wasn't a huge deal. Coverage was adequate and still is.

After that, I installed the audio and camera systems for the other locations he opened. After the first install, I started using Nuvico and I did like their DVRs and the cameras were aesthetically pleasing. Through the transition to IP, Nuvico fell behind and I probably won't install another one because there are too many other great options. When they came out with IP, they didn't support ONVIF and they didn't offer enough camera options.

Somewhere along the line I came accross JVSG which I use quite a bit and it's nice when the recorder screen shots match the design shots. I had been searching for design software that wasn't really cheap but didn't break the bank. I was also searching for any design information I could find and didn't really come up with much. I conversed with this site in my search (http://cctvdesign.com.au/) and that was helpful to some extent but I wanted more and I believe I found IPVM while searching for WDR and PIXIM and what was going to happen to them. I signed up and continue learning.

My other passion is still audio (AV integration by necessity), but CCTV has become another passion that is fun and engaging since it has gone HD with IP and CVI and technology keeps changing. It's become so much more than a simple recorder with a few camera connected with coax. Although with analog HD options it may stay that simple at times depending on the budget and camera selection needed.

Considering where I am now and seeing what gets installed daily at some places, I can't imagine ever picking up a plan and aiming cameras without more design. I still know that many companies around my area ask the customer where they want cameras and a lot of pointing takes place, then the cameras go up. They are sometimes crooked, have too little detail, or the designer? didn't even use a simple FoV calculator. Although you don't know what you don't know until you do. I found this out with CCTV and searched for it because I found out early what it means to properly design audio systems and still continue to learn in that field. Some audio companies use the same loudspeaker for many different spaces because they like the sound of it but never think about the coverage angle of that loudspeaker or if it will even be loud enough. Everytime I hear someone talk about wattage it makes me cringe because wattage is irrelevent without an efficiency(sensitivity) rating. Just yesterday someone asked me if they maybe their speakers just need more power. They could provide 200W instead of 100W. I thought they could then ask the listeners in a pole if they noticed a change because is only about a 3dB increase.

I digress.

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John Bazyk
Jan 29, 2015
Command Corporation • IPVMU Certified
My dad sold life insurance back in the 70’s, after a few years he wanted to provide more security for his customers, so got a job selling home alarms. After a few years and a couple of companies that didn’t treat him or his customer well. He left and started Command with a few customers who decided to go with him and one tech (who’s still with us today, he started with my dad at 18, he’s now 52).
Dad never took a vacation growing up, he said he wanted to pay off his house and kids college education before he vacationed. Because of that, I spent a lot of my childhood working in his office, when I was 8 we installed a camera in my R/C car with a wireless transmitter/receiver so I could drive around the house. He built and sold a lot of wireless video to the secret service and other government agencies. I thought that was super cool.
During high school I worked as an apprentice pulling cable for the installers and carrying their tools. After high school I starting working full time until I left for school. Worked in sales for a couple of companies while in college and came back and started in the alarm business.
For me, this is what I always wanted to do. I love the work we do to secure families and businesses. I love our customers and the technology we offer them. I guess its in my blood.
I hope my son joins the business in a few years.
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Kevin Nadai
Jan 29, 2015

My friend Tom and I grew up in the same church. I was smart and he was -- not as smart. So I went off to college and he joined the assembly lines in Detroit.

Four years later he was married, had a child, owned a house and two cars, and had started a security company. I had a diploma and a need for a job.

I worked for him installing security systems while looking for a "real" job in marketing. Every job I found, he would match the salary and promote me. I became installation manager, then sales, then managed the sales department. He sold his accounts (for million$) and I went to work for our distributor. I worked the counter, then was given my own branch to manage. A year later I became marketing director for that regional distributor.

All that happened within five years. It goes on from there, but that was my start.

Years later I was working for a manufacturer that made, among other things, mobile DVRs. We were having a hard time finding competent installers. So I called Tom. I showed him the ropes and sent some business his way. He hired some guys and started his own company Excels Mobile Video Solutions Inc. specializing in mobile video.

Tom and I are still great friends. He has owned two successful companies and I still work for a paycheck. So who is really the smart one?

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Keefe Lovgren
Jan 29, 2015
IPVMU Certified

My friend Tom and I grew up in the same church. I was smart and he was -- not as smart.

one of the greatest introductions i have read...

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Tony Darland
Feb 05, 2015
IPVMU Certified

After a stint in the military, my wife and first born moved to her home town with nothing but the clothes on our backs, a minivan and a proficient skill in the use of heavy machine guns; the latter of which didn't translate too well into the civilian sector.

I had to sell my 4X4 truck to get the minivan......man I miss that truck.

After a month living in her parents basement I was fortunate enough to get a position in corporate security. After being asked to do various jobs, CCTV, UHF, etc., I became fascinated with his line of work, in particular to the networking side of things.

Most of what I have learned has been OJT and trial by fire. I enjoy the balance of designing and finishing a project, and then having the ability to use the finished product. I think if I were just installing I would miss the aspect of using/seeing the fruits of my labor.

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Howard Dame
Feb 13, 2015

I went to Virginia Tech, studying electrical engineering, but messed up when I ignored applying for financing for an upcoming year. I basically had to drop out for a while and got hired as an apprentice locksmith. This lead to a position with an access control integrator in the DC area. After a few years, I rose in the ranks to VP of Engineering. (I did go back to college somewhere in the middle of all this.) We were designing and selling video systems by RCA & GE mostly (with some Panasonic thrown in) and used accessories from Pelco, Vicon & American Dynamics. For access systems, we largely provided Schlage Electronics card access (one of the first proximity systems), but also did some work with biometrics (retina, hand geometry, fingerprint) and companies like Stellar Systems and Vindicator among others.

In those days, cameras were all tube cameras – and color video was almost non-existent. The cameras were big, heavy & clunky by today’s standards, but we got them to work pretty well. We did some pretty major projects for places like Walter Reed Hospital, Vandenberg AFB, MCI, GTE, US Post Office, CIA, NSA, FBI, US Army and tons of businesses in the area as well as a number of foreign embassies. We even did an occasional high-end residence. I fondly remember one in Bermuda…

Vindicator lured me away to California in the late 80’s and I cut my teeth on projects with the projects for SDI (aka Star Wars – remember Reagan’s pet program?), some federal prisons, and some of the Army’s chemical weapons depots. Vindicator relocated the company to Austin, TX and, a year or so later, Reagan’s plan worked – the Soviet Union fell apart and our government business started drying up. (We used to kid around that “peace broke out.”) We searched around for some commercial applications of our technology and we started designing locks for safes – basically a stand-alone access control system for a steel box. The Vindicator Lock was launched (I’m actually listed as a joint inventor on a couple of patents) and we sold them to the chain restaurant industry.

This led me away from the video business for a number of years. Did some electronic lock business internationally in Europe, South America and Australia. I got further away from it when Vindicator got acquired by Mas-Hamilton and I moved into a marketing position. There I dealt with all types of electronic safe locks, including a sophisticated type that controlled access to multiple ATMs.

I had a stint with LockNet (national service provider to chain retailers) and Westec, and now with Security Source selling video and access systems to retail & restaurant chains. Been here a couple of years now and had to learn some new technology (new to me anyway) and re-learn some old technology. It’s been an interesting ride.

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Brian Rhodes
Feb 13, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I never knew the connection between Vindicator Access and Vindicator Locks. Thanks for sharing!

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Howard Dame
Feb 13, 2015

Small world isn't it?

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Jason Spielfogel
Feb 16, 2015

I saw this cute blonde wearing a cornstarch blue and white checkered dress chasing a rather large white rabbit into a hole, and I followed them down into the hole....

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David Chauvin
Feb 18, 2015

10 years ago as a young lad in my last year of college (Business degree - Major in Marketing), I met with Genetec at a career day was hired as a marketing intern for a semester. Joined full time right out of college as employee #42, today being one of the "old young guys" (over 600 employees). Went from marketing cooridnator to Inside Sales rep, moved out west to become an RSM in 2008 and now part of the BD group. What a great ride it has been! Best part is, the majority of employees that were alreayd there when I joined are still part of the core group.

I quickly learned that this industry is like the mob... you might move around, but you'll never leave...

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Andrew Del Biondo
Mar 01, 2015

In 1987 at the age of 20 without any technical qualifications I decided that I would start a CCTV company in Melbourne, Australia. At the time there was very little CCTV deployed by businesses and not much competition. Monochrome vidicon cameras connected to a sequential switcher and a VCR was high tech! I remember being so excited when Panasonic released their first monochrome Quad compressors so we could record up to 4 cameras simultaneously onto a single video tape. Over the past 28 years I have been involved with pioneering CCTV into new markets and applications evaluating new products and technologies. I've seen many products, technologies and companies come and go. However, I've never been more excited about CCTV as I enjoy the positive feedback from customers appreciating the superior picture quality achieved when they upgrade to HD and benefits of being able to access their systems via their PC and/or SmartPhone/Tablets. I manage medium to large CCTV systems that typically have 40 to 80 cameras per site across multiple sites into the hundreds. Our company has evolved over the years and is now Australia's premier VMS manufacturer.

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Meghan Uhl
Mar 29, 2015

27 years ago, I was partners in a furniture refinishing/antique restoration business when my partner who was the artistic talent of the company moved out of state and we closed the business. I was desparate for a job & sent resumes to every ad in the paper regardless of what it was for because I had no real idea what I wanted to be/do when I grew up. A manuf. rep in the industry brought me in for an interview, showed me thier line card, asked if I thought I could sell that stuff (passive components & security cameras) and I told them I had no idea what any of it was but as a fast learner I had no doubt that I could sell it and they hired me. I spent 10 years with them & then moved into integration, with short stints in manufacturing and semi-conductor component sales and now I'm out on my own. I love the customers, the technology and the vendors I work with. I find it a "community" and have only rarely met someone in the industry I didn't like & get along with. I like the constant change so I'm always learning & never in a rut. I'll retire in the industry for sure.

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Jack Sink
Apr 08, 2015
IPVMU Certified

While getting my degree I was able to support myself (and study on duty) as a law enforcement officer. My last day on duty, a Sunday, I responded to an emergency assist-the-officer call to support a city police officer who was being attacked by a disturbed gentleman in a church basement potluck dinner. I received a split lip and bruised cheek in that encounter. I finished the day standing knee deep in flood waters directing traffic at a state highway intersection.

A very large department store chain offered to double my salary versus what the State was paying me, give me a office and let me work indoors. It wasn't a long deliberation, my lip healed, and that began a 25 year career in loss prevention for a series of large retail organizations that took me all over the world as US retailers began the global expansion. One of my proudest achievements was building an IT security team that was hugely successful on a global scale by hiring exceptionally bright people and driving obstacles out of the path to success. Marrying bright, motivated team members to a vision and funding the very best technology for the effort was all the personal contribution I can claim but I learned to love technology-forward security systems.

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James Gowan
Apr 08, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I retired from Law Enforcement just as the university by which I had been employed began to develop new and more camera-involved security programming. for several reasons I was asked to return to work for the police department but not as a police officer. I am Program Coordinator for much of this programming. National news continues to remind college campuses of the importance of cameras for situational awareness during events and investigative support afterwords. Things are continuing to progress and our growth continues to evolve my job responsibilites. Im in.

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Tim McConnell
Apr 09, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I have a long history in digital video in the consumer electronics arena. I was just a good fit for MicroPower's need for engineering leadership, though the security side is new for me.

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Mazen Rehouli
Apr 10, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Just after my graduation from university, i applied for jobs, and i have been employed by a security systems company.. frankly speaking, i had no idea about this field that time, but now after 7 years experience i think i was lucky to enter this industry.

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Billy Kammerzell
May 12, 2015

I started as an Interior Communications Electrician in the Navy and after I got out I continued with wiring residential homes. I was curious about low voltage work and decided to apply at a local company doing Access Control for the county school district. I worked at that company for 2 years and decided to go back to college where I received my degree in Electronics and Computer Technology. I now work for the government taking care of Access Control, CCTV, IP Cameras, and Alarm Systems.

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mark Simpson
May 12, 2015

I work in a technical support specialist in a Clinical Simulation Learning Centre in a Nursing school that has IP PZM cameras to view and record simulation sessions but do not have a very strong background with IP cameras. I hope this course will strengthen my skills in this area especially as we do upgrades of our equipment in the future....

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Jeff Frahm
May 26, 2015

My interest just escalated from using old military starlight gear in the 70's to a beginners Pentax SLR into shooting IR shift on 35mm. To an early Sony camcorder with nightshot. Into cameras on my property, to being asked to do it for my employer (truck repair). To other businesses asking my boss "who did it for him?" Then to police asking for gear at their homes, after they saw some recorded surveillance of night time theft.....that's the story.

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MICHAEL Holland
May 27, 2015
IPVMU Certified

My situation is extremely unique, and reflects the blessings of a good career and abilty to do what I want in retirement.

My church spent thousands on a system less than 10 years ago. Two years ago I started the Security Ministry at my church and completed a full security assessment. There were three areas where we were just being ripped off; the alarm montoring contract, the security guards and the other was the proposed "upgrade" to the camera system. The original company wanted to upgrade our 44 low resolution cameras with new "HD 480 line" resolution cameras at a cost of $13,000, Cameras only! Since I have an aversion to waisting God's money, I fired the company.

In order to assure we would never get ripped off like that again, I began researching and studying the available technologies, joined IPVM, and started taking classes. I've redesign the entire system at my church and now I get calls to advise other churches in implementing surveillance systems. I help with system design, bid specifications, and proposal analysis. I had no intention of making this a business, only assisting any organization of faith that needed help. Now, I do this work at cost plus any honorarium the church is led to provide. I am retired with a very comfortable five figure monthly income, so even when there is nothing beyound my expenses, I am happy to serve.

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Jonathan Lawry
May 27, 2015
Trecerdo, LLC

No shame in making it a business. I think Matthew 25:14 (talents) justifies it. (I use it to justify a lot of my life)

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Daniel S-T
Jun 07, 2015

My dad had done Telecom in the military for a few years, and then went to work at an electronic shop for about a decade before he got back into telecom. I helped a few times, but nothing special. Just kinda ran cable, mostly through the places my dad either couldn't fit or didn't want to go. We did a few satellite TV installs, the last we did I did on my own, I can't remember how old I was, 13-16 I guess.

Fast forward a few more years, and the guy that trained my dad in the military finally managed to recruit him to the local alarm company he had been working at since he had left the military. My parents were divorced at this time, so I remember the first weekend me and my brothers went to his house he had set up an alarm system on my room, set for instant. Kinda sparked my interest there, and my dad would bring back old systems he pulled out of houses and I would figure them out. Two years later he said I should get a job, and sugestes the monitoring center of the alarm company he worked for. Two years after that he moved back into Telecom and I became a service technician.

Started with residential stuff, and moved into more commercial as I showed better knowledge than the other guys, and now I work for a big national company where I handle most of their big projects.

Will be eight years in the industry towards the end of this year, from the monitoring center, to the warehouse clerk, to technician, to Project Manager, and then back to Installer with a new company.

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Undisclosed
Jun 12, 2015

Got invited to a a hybrid physical/logical security conference as the token hacker. Was scheduled to be 3rd in line to speak. Speaker no. 1, the physical security expert, had car trouble. So we re-ordered the talks. I did my thing, scared the crowed, etc. The physical security guy gets there, gives his speech, gets to the "...and there might be hackers out there!" punch line and everybody in the audience turns around and points at me. So I was taken aside and invited to the dark side of convergence engineering.

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Undisclosed #1
Jun 12, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Speaker no. 1, the physical security expert, had car trouble.

I bet he did, you sly fox...

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David Owen
Jun 17, 2015

In 1984 when I was in college my father rented office space in a building owned by a local alarm contractor. They became friends and during summer breaks I worked for him as a laborer and learned quite a bit. Eventually I started doing sales and that led me to work for a security integrator then a distributor and eventually a manufacturer which I have been doing for over 20 years. It has been fun and exciting to see the industry grow along the way.

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Steve Green
Jun 27, 2015

I was in sales with a Montreal based machine-vision company, focused on sales in the US. The company got acquired by a competitor in 2000 and it became clear that it was time to make a move. Just before Christmas I set up my resume on Monster.com (remember Monster?) and in January I was contacted by a Montreal company called Comlink that had taken their wireless expertise and figured out that they could leverage this new thing called 802.11 / wifi in the security industry. I started in February 2001 and built then implemented the go-to-market strategy for North America. We renamed the company SmartSight. To use 802.11 we needed to encode / compress the video. So point-to-point wireless, morphed to encoders/decoders to multi-point wireless. Then the watershed moment; we connected with another Montreal company with strong software pedigree; Genetec.

Under the SmartSight nDVR brand I evangelized the heck out of IP video and got more than enough sales to make our little start-up happy. SmartSight beat out the major players to get the first 6 airports from the TSA in 2003 and that led to one of the biggest at the time (Loronix / Verint) acquiring SmartSight.

Three funny things:

1. Machine Vision in 1999 meant projecting a laser stripe on a joint just ahead of the welding torch and using a CCD image sensor to analyze the joint geometry and adjust the welding robot's path to get optimal welds. Machine vision = video analytics. Bonus fun fact: I still know way more than I ever wanted to know about welding.

2. In my capacity as Directoer of Sales at SmartSight I worked with a company called Sensormatic Hawaii and a guy named John Honovich on wireless for the US military in Hawaii.

3. I went to work directly at Genetec in 2009 to help them grow National Account sales. I recently got to relive the evangelism role and help launch cloud. My old friend John Honovich commented on LinkedIn that it was a suicide mission. Correction: When directed from above the correct term is Kamikaze ;-) Fun times.....

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John Honovich
Jun 27, 2015
IPVM

"I worked with a company called Sensormatic Hawaii and a guy named John Honovich on wireless for the US military in Hawaii.....I recently got to relive the evangelism role and help launch cloud."

Lol, you like to live dangerously! :)

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Francisco Aguirre Jr
Jul 02, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I worked for a Sytems integrator for 9 yrs as a Project Manager. In year 10 the company started offring a Cisco Systems Solution for Video Surveilance. I managed a few Projects for this company and learned a little. In March 2014 I was laid off from this company "Reduction of Force". We parted in good terms.

I was a little down after the split. I wast sure what my next step was going to be. After a week of having a pity party for myself a friend of mine introduced me to a friend of his who had a few big projects that he didnt have enough guys on his crew to do. After a meeting he sub contracted me out. I helped them install 376 Cameras and data circuits for a school district. I learned alot in that project. We installed these cameras at 35 campuses. I didnt make much but learned a great deal.

He liked the work we did and has been contracting me for various projects. My old company has appraoched me to do some contract work for them as well. I am currently trying to grow my skillset in the industry and make my small business stand out from the rest.

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Jack Meltzer
Jul 06, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I started pulling triax and installing F connectors with a huge soldering iron as a kid working for my father in 1969. Climbing triangular 30' towers carrying a $15K and very heavy SIT camera/zoom lens combo from Motorola in a heavy canvas sack with a padded strap was the norm. One of my first experiences was being coaxed (pushed?) out onto an I beam at the top of an airport control tower, a chain with a nut and bolt as my safety line carrying this same expensive camera as I slid out slowly onto the beam with nothing below but air to mount it on a HD PTZ motor. They used very short alloy screws and dropping one was just as forbidden as dropping the camera. Cures you from fear of heights. Child labor laws aside, it was a very good education. We subsequently got into computers in parallel as a Zenith Data and Burroughs bussiness machine dealer, two way communications and early networking along with all of the standard commercial security practices. All in all my dad was quite inciteful and this was very good prep for what was coming down the road in the security industry.

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Undisclosed Integrator #2
Jul 14, 2015

I guess I fit into the "fell into it" category. I went to school for Computer Aided Design and spent a couple years designing agricultural machinery using 3D parametric design. I had a complete lack of real understanding what an integrator did but I knew I wanted to work for one. I ended up doing 2D as-builts for the first few months. That was excrutiatingly boring as I felt like an overpriced Xerox taking what the techs drew on prints and transcribing into AutoCAD. Thankfully an opening occurred soon after.

In 2003 I switched into estimation and worked for a brilliant estimator who spent innumerable hours explaining electrical signaling, the difference between analog and digital signals, and strategies to win bids. Around the same time we lost a key sales person in charge of surveillance and I was the only person available to pick up the slack. In reading through every bit of our manufacturer support info I slowly went from researching baluns to POE to IP cameras. Partnering with an account manager, we started selling Axis and Sony IP cameras almost immediately and in significant numbers, for the mid 2000s. Unfortunately, the early VMS systems were not quite of the same reliability as what is around today so we spent a lot of time learning on the fly and troubleshooting software defects. None of these early VMS companies exist any longer, barely exist, or were purchased by larger companies so that shows how much the market has changed since 2006.

In 2006 I switched to a nationwide technology deployment/rollout company that my fellow coworkers were defecting to. We started to deploy IP cameras into big box retailers by 2007. I have moved around of my own volition since quitting in 2013 but it has been interesting to see things from a wide range of perspectives. I have noticed a lot of integrators dabble in many things - RF, pro audio, AV, nurse call, paging/intercom, structured cabling, and many other items... and so have I.

At my current employer I have worked with some of the brightest people in the industry. I have learned infinitely more in the last year and a half than in the previous 10 years simply by being in their presence. While some have moved on to greener pastures I value their time spent educating me and elevating my knowledge level. You don't know what you don't know until you work with someone who does know.

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David Liu
Jul 15, 2015

Wow, wasn't expecting so many responses to say they fell into it. This was also the story for me, my position before was as a sales engineer in the semiconductor industry. At the end of 2008, things were bad and my position was eliminated. I posted my resume online immediately, and the following week a security manufacturer called and asked if I was interested in a career change. "Sure...," I said...

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Adam Dyer
Jul 16, 2015

My father started a security company back in 1978 after someone asked if he could install an alarm system. Prior to this he worked for a telco and fixed Tv's after hours to make money.

Having an extensive workshop built onto our family house, I spent a large portion of my child hood playing with anything electronic. I once tried to make a simple 12v model plane engine go faster by plugging it into a 240V power outlet. Think it worked for a micro second. It didnt end well for me or the 12v model plane engine. When I was about 13 I had a Control 4 alarm system fitted to my bedroom with a Sony intercom on the door.

1996 -Finished high school, enrolled in tafe, started working for my Dad along with my older brother. Dad had already quietly ammassed a very succesful business on the back of hard work & one policy - "we do not advertise". It was great... but we were really only doing alarm & camera installs building up a large monitored line base.

Enter the IP revolution and my childhood fascination with computers could be put to use. We started doing much larger jobs, purchased another security company (who was a co-owner of a monitoring centre we own) and the company doubled in size overnight.

by about 2006 I told my father it was time to step aside and take a permanant holiday, we have both been happy with the outcome.

Like many of the above responses it is well and truley in my blood. I love all aspects of the business and love nothing more than firing up the latest model IP camera on the test bench and connecting it to a demo version of a new VMS.

The company that first asked my father could he install a security system was his first monitored line back in 1978, they are still a client today.

Many people I speak to think we are mad, but after nearly 40 years we still do not advertise, our technicians vans still don't have signage.- Dad was onto something with that one.

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Tina Phan
Jul 21, 2015

Have been working on wireless communication since 1995, I deal with software authentication, encryption/decipher code. When start working for this company, I thought that I will do the same thing as I use to do on my other job, but did not know that I fell in to the security industriy area.

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Richard Williams
Jul 21, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I fell into it also. A good friends step-father was in the industry for a long time, working for Sentinel in Hawaii and was venturing into a brand new company that did higher end residential installs. . I was in between jobs and was asked if I wanted to work there. I did of course, and since have worked for a few companies in Hawaii.

I decided to try something different and went back to college, got my B.S. in Aeronautical Science, which at the time of graduation (2002) was a very bad time for that skill set. So I fell back on security, moved to Florida, and am happy doing what I am doing, working for a great company and the best owners one could ever ask for. It all worked out in the end.

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David Warren
Jul 30, 2015
Security Network Advisors LLC

My Grandfather became an electronics rep after WWII in the Bay Area. My father took it over in the 80's and I continued the tradition for a while, but I had my heart set on other crazy opportunities, all still in this little niche market we all play in.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Aug 27, 2015

I literally "fell into it" without question. I was working a good paying construction job with a company my family owned right after college to pay off student loans while I slowly contemplated getting serious with my life. It was a physical job requiring working outside in the elements through all seasons good and bad. One winter morning while walking down the driveway to my car I slipped and "fell" on some thin ice and broke my leg. I was told to be off my feet for a minimum of 3 months since I had to get screws and metal to hold my leg together while it healed with a second surgery to remove them. My girlfriends brother at the time (currently wife and brother in law) suggested I get out of the house and come answer some phones and work the office while I was off my feet. 15 years later and here I am. Since then I've gone from installing small residential jobs to selling multiple 6 figure jobs in a single day.

EP
Eric Prescott
Sep 02, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I started out in 1996 as an Interior Communication Electrican in the United States Navy. I worked on Alarm and Warning systems, Central Announcing systems, Telephone systems and some limited CCTV. Near the end of my 5 year enlistment I thought I would get out and get a job in the telecom indutry at ATT, Lucent or Verizon. Then the telcom bubble burst, all the telecom jobs dried up. After seperating from active duty in late 2001 I moved back to upstate NY and took a job as an indutrial electrician. This was not what I wanted to do so I continued to interview. I interviewed with a security integrator and didn't think I would get the job due to lack of specific experience. Little did I know it wasn't easy to find specific expereince in our industry if you are not located in a major city. The integrator hired me and I've been there ever since. Starting as a techncian, then being promoted to Service Manager and now Director of Support. Our industry may have its faults, but I've never gotten bored with it over the past 13 years. There is always new technology and systems to learn.

DJ
David Javier
Sep 11, 2015

I got started in the security industry as a side responsibility at a local university. As a result of a government grant the initial camera/recording installation was aimed at providing video based security for the arenas. This installation was a Honeywell Fusion based recording system and the majority of the cameras were Pelco PTZ (analog). The head end featured a video matrix providing output to an array of monitors (tube based originally and upgraded to flat panel). Over time the system became a mix of Honeywell MaxPro (DVR's/VMS), Milestone, and Geovision (donated system that would definitely not have been my choice - it was donated with influence beyond my control - probably good for a small to medium size installation but not in a campus environment).

The things I learned along the way (eight plus years) had as much to do with policies and politics as it did with technology. Getting groups to follow policy and work with our department for system additions and changes was a constant struggle. As most of the members of this site know, getting support for policies and procedures from the highest levels of management is one of the most important things in managing any enterprise wide system/program. Without that support your policies have no "bite".

I am back on this site now having been semi-retired for the last year or so and I am looking to learn what's new in the physical security market. Like all technology it changes rapidly and if you don't stay up to date you can get left behind rather easily.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Sep 25, 2015

New York State employment office.

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MC
Marty Calhoun
Oct 31, 2015
IPVMU Certified

I grew up next door to the Head of Security for NASA Langley AFB Hampton, Virginia. I was 15 years old and worked weekends with him. During the summers I worked everyday until I got out of school and then Full Time. I have been in the Industry since 1975. He (Charles Jones) started one of the first (electronic) security alarm companies in Hampton, Virginia. I will never forget it, we installed what was called at the time FLASHGUARD systems in homes. I bet NO ONE has ever heard of this company. We installed plastic pull chains on windows and doors that when (tripped) set off a flash cube. Yep, a square, blueish, flashcube exactly like on the old instamatic cameras of the 70's. The control was powered with "C" cell batteries, unbeliveible now that someone would buy that stuff. We followed that up with the more 'advanced' ADEMCO # 101 or 102 Panels. Imagine "1" conductor, not cable but conductor, ran all the way around a premesis as a trip loop. Powered up with big 'ol Dry Cell Cylindrical batteries. Those were the days........

Today I engineer IP Video and Access Control systems for Federal Installations, so I have came a long way...

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U
Undisclosed #1
Nov 01, 2015
IPVMU Certified

...we installed what was called at the time FLASHGUARD systems in homes. I bet NO ONE has ever heard of this company.

I remember reading something about it a while back, maybe in PopSci?

Did you ever get that police station integration working? ;)

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Kevin Nadai
Nov 01, 2015

Wireless, indeed!

SG
Sam Godwin
Nov 03, 2015

I was retired and down at the local boat ramp. Was watching guys launch their boats. Noticed each was in business for them self. Dicided I would like to own a boat and started a business servicing self storage sites. I now install and service access control and video for the self storage industry. I also own a boat.

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Jeffrey Hinckley
Nov 04, 2015

After being a brewmaster in the 90's (brands now owned by Shipyard), I decided to move into a technology job (to utilize my Engineering degree). I was hired by a Maine company to be an "RF Engineer" for the US Mexican/Canadian border "Watch Tower/ISIS" project (2001). Spent five years climbing towers from Brownsville to San Diego installing and configuring microwave and long range day/thermal camera systems. Also did many microwave data system designs and installations for commercial and govenment entities.

Started my own business in 2006 specializing in wireless/camera projects. After several large projects, including a citywide mesh network, decided to go to work for a local security integrator (due to the recession of 2008) which needed access to a professional with IT and video surveillance experience. This was to be a short term gig, until the economy recovered. I have been at that company (Norris, Inc.- South Portland, ME) still to this day specializing on wireless and video surveillance solutions.

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MM
Matjaz Mohoric
Nov 11, 2015

Since i have a computer background and company was seling analog CCTV (at that time) i was "forced" to jump into IP CCTV. And with knowledge from this site it is not so difficult ;)

BM
Bradley Moore
Jan 12, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I have been into all types of technology most of my life. I have a college degree in photography and marketing. Just got a job in sales for a security company in my area that produces cameras and storage devices which has shot me into the industry.

LL
Lori Lafferty
Jan 31, 2016
IPVMU Certified

There are some great stories in this list. I will throw mine in the mix as this is not a "female"dominated field I am finding out. :-)

I have been working in the telecommunications field going on 15 years. I started in the office as a basic customer service representative taking orders for residential phone and dial-up internet service. I quickly became the troubleshooter of internet issues related to dial-up.

Fast forward about 10 years and our company has removed dial-up internet from our product offering. I was moved up to troubleshoot everything from internet connectivity to why a printer doesn't work. I enjoyed the challenge.

In 2014 heard in the office that the company was looking to get into smart home and camera products. I went right into my managers office and told him I wanted to be involved. He looked at me kind of funny and said they didn't have a product lined up yet. I told him when they did to let me know as I would make it sell.

We are over a year into installing smart home and cameras all over our rural area. I enjoy learning from each installation and diving into how the products work. My first install was in a local bar. We placed signage on the doors to our company. The referrals from the bar have been outstanding.

Now I'm in the camera course to learn what I should have known back when we started this in 2014.

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