Here is my profile. I realized that my schedule conflicted with the times the Congress Hotel workers strike, so I may pursue that story later. I am working on this one instead!
Our site isn’t giving me the option to log in (from home), so all I can do is post this comment.
A large red ‘Easy’ button that always rests on the corner of Patrick Holtz’ wood desk may be misleading- the work constantly challenges him. He performs so many different tasks that when asked “What do you do?,” he needs 10 minutes to answer properly.
As senior network administrator of the IT department for a law office headquartered in downtown Chicago, 34-year-old Holtz knows his position is far from easy. Sitting as he does at his job daily, behind a large desk and double-screen desktop computer in his office, he said that he realized immediately that the position was “unlike any other job that I’d ever had.” Someone told him “that’s what it’s like working for attorneys. Things have to be done yesterday all the time.”
In his first month at the law firm, which he asked to keep anonymous due to the confidential nature of their work, the then 23-year-old was challenged by the urgency of the business combined with a constant work load. “I was freaking out on the weekends because I felt like I had to keep working,” he said. After 11 years, Holtz learned to acclimate to what he calls the “underlying stress” inherent to working at a law office. Today he serves approximately 200 employees in seven offices across the U.S.
As a colleague of Holtz for five years and the programming supervisor at the law office, Sezer Carikcioglu can fully appreciate Holtz’ contributions to the company. “He . . . is the main architect of the network infrastructure we are running on today,” Carikcioglu wrote. The law office utilizes a customized, Unix-based computer system for all aspects of account maintenance and communication.
Originally from Bloomington, Ill., Holtz is dedicated to fulfilling his role at the law office. Although in the past it was more frequent, he still works until 8 p.m. or later a few days each week, and occasionally works on Saturdays.
Anne Oldachowski has been friends with Holtz for four years. “He’s very focused. He’s very career-oriented. He definitely makes sure he gets his work done,” Oldachowski said, and added that Holtz prides himself in this work.
Daniel Wolfe, the office’s systems administrator, has worked with Holtz for over two years. “Patrick has helped guide and direct the development of our core business application into something that is industry-leading quality,” Wolfe wrote. “Without his dedication the systems that keep this company running would be significantly disadvantaged.”
According to Holtz, the most stressful aspect of his heavy workload is the knowledge that “It’s never gonna let up.” However, “it’s fun,” he said, as he tinkered with each new figure he’d created from a handful of miniature magnetic balls- which revealed more of his technical, problem-solving side. “I love being given a challenge and coming up with a really unique way of solving it,” he said amongst the clinking metal sounds. He articulately compares this process to art. “You’re starting with something raw, you come up with a way to do it, you tweak it and you make it as slick as possible . . . put a bow on it and sign your name on it,” he said. “That’s a really good feeling, that’s just awesome.”
However, the rewards can have difficult consequences. Holtz described the New Year’s Eve several years ago when the office’s main system failed, deleting a month’s worth of history on every account. “I knew there was nothing I could do about it,” he said. Holtz said he had to “put it out of my mind for two days- they’d been talking about this night for years, party like it’s 1999,” he said with a chuckle.
Colleague Wolfe wrote what he’d learned about Holtz’ outlook in the face of a challenge. “Patrick has a way of taking in the “big picture”, and then using that to focus in on the issue. On a number of occasions he has fixed problems that I couldn’t solve, simply because I had false assumptions regarding the issue,” Wolfe said.
Holtz also enjoys being in a position that “can have an impact on a large number of people, or even just one person.” For example, Holtz said that by analyzing another employee’s daily routines, he can “knock off like, three hours a day,” from their workload by “creating a process around it, ya know, throwing some technology behind there, maybe a little code, coming up with a better solution.”
Oldachowski knows that for her friend, his position at the law office is a “perfect fit.” Being senior network administrator was “made for him. He loves to strategize and figure out computer issues,” she said.
Surprisingly, IT was not Holtz’ first choice. “For a career path, it was definitely a lot easier to get into IT than to get into the world of professional chemistry,” which he considers a “rigid” career path. Holtz said he still loves science and frequently reads scientific publications. His older sister Donna Holtz agrees. “He’s… a bit of a nerd.”
A friend in the military helped Holtz get a scholarship to fund the first two years of chemistry-focused education at Illinois State University. A stipulation of the scholarship was that Holtz join the ROTC.. Although he did well in classes and training, “I’m not a military person at all.” After two years, it was required of Holtz to enroll in the military or lose the scholarship. “My hair was like, down to my shoulder, and they kept having to remind me to cut it.”
Holtz said that during his second year at ISU, he felt “fed up” and had the desire to “move forward, faster. I kinda wanted to get into more of a career instead of just going to college.” Realizing he had a natural talent toward technology and following his older brother’s lead, he attended DeVry Tech in Addison. After graduating in 1998, Holtz posted his resume online and fielded several opportunities before accepting a job offer from his current employer the next year. “I was really lucky because I caught like the end of the dot com thing,” Holtz said.
Although he was also honing his future skills for his eventual career, many of his colleagues may not know that Holtz is “an accomplished pianist,” according to his friend Anne Oldachowski. “My father introduced us to many types of music,” his sister Donna said. As she was immersed in college piano courses, “My parents noticed me playing piano,” Holtz said. First grader Holtz “picked it up,” mimicking what his sister was playing- without music. His parents brought him to the Illinois Wesleyan School of Music, where he tested into an exclusive program, taught by professors, which began 12 years of piano lessons. “Growing up, I didn’t like the structure of taking lessons, I just liked to play the piano,” Holtz explained. “I really don’t ever rip out sheet music and start playing.” Today, he plays “mainly blues and experimental stuff,” by ear. Sounds easy, right?
Sources
1. Holtz, Patrick. 34-year-old. Sr. Network Administrator at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Residence: Chicago, IL. Contact: (312) 480-6924.
2. Oldachowski, Anne. 35-year-old. Accounting Professional. Residence: Chicago, IL. Interviewed over phone. Contact: (312) 402-1525/anne.k.oldachowski@jpmchase.com.
3. Carikcioglu, Sezer. 30-year-old. Programming Supervisor at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Residence: Chicago, IL. Interviewed via E-mail correspondence. Contact: (312) 330-1590/sezerc@live.com.
4. Wolfe, Daniel. Systems Administrator at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Interviewed via E-mail correspondence. Contact: dwolfe@bhlmlaw.com
5. Holtz, Anne. 45-year-old. Teacher. Interviewed over phone. Contact: 309-824-7853.
Here is my profile. I realized that my schedule conflicted with the times the Congress Hotel workers strike, so I may pursue that story later. I am working on this one instead!
Our site isn’t giving me the option to log in (from home), so all I can do is post this comment.
A large red ‘Easy’ button that always rests on the corner of Patrick Holtz’ wood desk may be misleading- the work constantly challenges him. He performs so many different tasks that when asked “What do you do?,” he needs 10 minutes to answer properly.
As senior network administrator of the IT department for a law office headquartered in downtown Chicago, 34-year-old Holtz knows his position is far from easy. Sitting as he does at his job daily, behind a large desk and double-screen desktop computer in his office, he said that he realized immediately that the position was “unlike any other job that I’d ever had.” Someone told him “that’s what it’s like working for attorneys. Things have to be done yesterday all the time.”
In his first month at the law firm, which he asked to keep anonymous due to the confidential nature of their work, the then 23-year-old was challenged by the urgency of the business combined with a constant work load. “I was freaking out on the weekends because I felt like I had to keep working,” he said. After 11 years, Holtz learned to acclimate to what he calls the “underlying stress” inherent to working at a law office. Today he serves approximately 200 employees in seven offices across the U.S.
As a colleague of Holtz for five years and the programming supervisor at the law office, Sezer Carikcioglu can fully appreciate Holtz’ contributions to the company. “He . . . is the main architect of the network infrastructure we are running on today,” Carikcioglu wrote. The law office utilizes a customized, Unix-based computer system for all aspects of account maintenance and communication.
Originally from Bloomington, Ill., Holtz is dedicated to fulfilling his role at the law office. Although in the past it was more frequent, he still works until 8 p.m. or later a few days each week, and occasionally works on Saturdays.
Anne Oldachowski has been friends with Holtz for four years. “He’s very focused. He’s very career-oriented. He definitely makes sure he gets his work done,” Oldachowski said, and added that Holtz prides himself in this work.
Daniel Wolfe, the office’s systems administrator, has worked with Holtz for over two years. “Patrick has helped guide and direct the development of our core business application into something that is industry-leading quality,” Wolfe wrote. “Without his dedication the systems that keep this company running would be significantly disadvantaged.”
According to Holtz, the most stressful aspect of his heavy workload is the knowledge that “It’s never gonna let up.” However, “it’s fun,” he said, as he tinkered with each new figure he’d created from a handful of miniature magnetic balls- which revealed more of his technical, problem-solving side. “I love being given a challenge and coming up with a really unique way of solving it,” he said amongst the clinking metal sounds. He articulately compares this process to art. “You’re starting with something raw, you come up with a way to do it, you tweak it and you make it as slick as possible . . . put a bow on it and sign your name on it,” he said. “That’s a really good feeling, that’s just awesome.”
However, the rewards can have difficult consequences. Holtz described the New Year’s Eve several years ago when the office’s main system failed, deleting a month’s worth of history on every account. “I knew there was nothing I could do about it,” he said. Holtz said he had to “put it out of my mind for two days- they’d been talking about this night for years, party like it’s 1999,” he said with a chuckle.
Colleague Wolfe wrote what he’d learned about Holtz’ outlook in the face of a challenge. “Patrick has a way of taking in the “big picture”, and then using that to focus in on the issue. On a number of occasions he has fixed problems that I couldn’t solve, simply because I had false assumptions regarding the issue,” Wolfe said.
Holtz also enjoys being in a position that “can have an impact on a large number of people, or even just one person.” For example, Holtz said that by analyzing another employee’s daily routines, he can “knock off like, three hours a day,” from their workload by “creating a process around it, ya know, throwing some technology behind there, maybe a little code, coming up with a better solution.”
Oldachowski knows that for her friend, his position at the law office is a “perfect fit.” Being senior network administrator was “made for him. He loves to strategize and figure out computer issues,” she said.
Surprisingly, IT was not Holtz’ first choice. “For a career path, it was definitely a lot easier to get into IT than to get into the world of professional chemistry,” which he considers a “rigid” career path. Holtz said he still loves science and frequently reads scientific publications. His older sister Donna Holtz agrees. “He’s… a bit of a nerd.”
A friend in the military helped Holtz get a scholarship to fund the first two years of chemistry-focused education at Illinois State University. A stipulation of the scholarship was that Holtz join the ROTC.. Although he did well in classes and training, “I’m not a military person at all.” After two years, it was required of Holtz to enroll in the military or lose the scholarship. “My hair was like, down to my shoulder, and they kept having to remind me to cut it.”
Holtz said that during his second year at ISU, he felt “fed up” and had the desire to “move forward, faster. I kinda wanted to get into more of a career instead of just going to college.” Realizing he had a natural talent toward technology and following his older brother’s lead, he attended DeVry Tech in Addison. After graduating in 1998, Holtz posted his resume online and fielded several opportunities before accepting a job offer from his current employer the next year. “I was really lucky because I caught like the end of the dot com thing,” Holtz said.
Although he was also honing his future skills for his eventual career, many of his colleagues may not know that Holtz is “an accomplished pianist,” according to his friend Anne Oldachowski. “My father introduced us to many types of music,” his sister Donna said. As she was immersed in college piano courses, “My parents noticed me playing piano,” Holtz said. First grader Holtz “picked it up,” mimicking what his sister was playing- without music. His parents brought him to the Illinois Wesleyan School of Music, where he tested into an exclusive program, taught by professors, which began 12 years of piano lessons. “Growing up, I didn’t like the structure of taking lessons, I just liked to play the piano,” Holtz explained. “I really don’t ever rip out sheet music and start playing.” Today, he plays “mainly blues and experimental stuff,” by ear. Sounds easy, right?
Sources
1. Holtz, Patrick. 34-year-old. Sr. Network Administrator at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Residence: Chicago, IL. Contact: (312) 480-6924.
2. Oldachowski, Anne. 35-year-old. Accounting Professional. Residence: Chicago, IL. Interviewed over phone. Contact: (312) 402-1525/anne.k.oldachowski@jpmchase.com.
3. Carikcioglu, Sezer. 30-year-old. Programming Supervisor at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Residence: Chicago, IL. Interviewed via E-mail correspondence. Contact: (312) 330-1590/sezerc@live.com.
4. Wolfe, Daniel. Systems Administrator at Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker and Moore, LLC. Interviewed via E-mail correspondence. Contact: dwolfe@bhlmlaw.com
5. Holtz, Anne. 45-year-old. Teacher. Interviewed over phone. Contact: 309-824-7853.