After spending a year as a Hotel and Convention Center AV technician, I found an entry level position at a home theater company 10 minutes from where I lived, and decided to take a pay cut in order to learn the industry. For the first few months I worked as a manual laborer, then moved into the warehouse, where I managed inventory and helped with scheduling.

Over the next 5 years I went on to setup and manage the internal computer network, became certified in Panasonic PBX systems, Lutron Lighting systems, Crestron automation systems, and was the resident ISF certified Sony CRT projector calibrator. In addition to being a programmer and project manager, I also did system design, proposals and sales. Essentially, I had my hands in everything it took to run a 30 person electronics installation company.

This period of my life amounted to what in the past would have been considered an apprenticeship. However, the time came when there was an opportunity to partner with someone who ran a 2-man company and had access to funding, but didn’t have experience running larger high-end projects. It was a hard decision, but in the end I decided that the opportunity to be a partner in a new venture, while risky, was too good to pass up.