This month our article is about a newer volunteer – Matt King.  Matt helps with the Info and Resource Desk on Wednesdays at the new Resource Center in Crossroads Mall.  Matt tells me that he enjoys meeting people and talking to them, and that the Info Desk fits his personality very well.

Matt grew up in San Antonio (Lee High School, San Antonio College) and has made his home here since then.  He did some other things, then worked at USAA for 20 years, retiring in 1998.  When he started at USAA, the pattern was 1 computer for 6 persons.  Six people sat around a table, and all shared the same computer on a turntable in the center.  By the time he left, in his cubicle he had top-of-the-line imaging equipment for his use only.  If you’ve ever been inside the USAA buildings or the Harcourt buildings out on Bulverde Road, you know what it’s like to see hundreds of computers in one huge room.  Astounding!

So Matt got heavy introduction and training in computers while he worked for USAA.  He had an interest in computers from high school days, but never got to develop it much until he worked at USAA.  While there he worked and took classes on the basic MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint), and also learned about Windows NT – starting from the desktop machine, then moving on to the network and then to the Internet connection (TCP/IP and other topics).  He is now close to obtaining the MCSE designation, and is looking for a career opportunity in the IT field.  He would like to be an assistant to a Systems Engineer and then to become one himself. And you thought he was a beginner in computers!

I asked Matt how he came in contact with AlamoPC, and he said he had seen our earlier location at Central Park, dropped by for some literature and a chat, and soon joined up.  He enjoys the “networking” with other people of like mind and the opportunity to learn more about computers and how they work.  Matt calls himself a generalist about computers – he is more knowledgeable about the big picture and how to accomplish a task, but is now learning some of the details like  where the switch is hidden for changing how things look and act. AlamoPC is lucky again to have this interested and knowledgeable person willing to volunteer his time and efforts to the organization.