Thanks for dropping by and welcome to my dgregscott.com website. I write stories about ordinary people who need to resolve extraordinary situations.
Meet my alter-ego, Jerry Barkley. Jerry is a middle-aged bald guy with no superpowers and an expanding waistline.
Just like me, Jerry is an IT professional with an interest in cyber-security. He is not ex-military, he never worked for the government, he has no friends in high places, and no corporate PR departments to make him look polished.
People use words like geek, techie, resource, and misfit to describe him. But Jerry doesn’t see himself that way. He has his quirks, but he’s a professional and all he really wants is a little respect. And paying customers. Every once in a while, somebody notices Jerry’s work and says thanks, but Barkley IT Services mostly operates invisibly and barely brings in enough money to pay the bills for Jerry and his family.
Jerry amazes me with what he comes up with. Armed with nothing but an antique PC and an Internet connection, he can diagnose Internet errors that people with fancy titles never consider. Creativity. That’s his ace in the hole.
One of these days, all that know-how in Jerry’s head will pay off.
A few people have asked me how IT people stay sharp. The short version is, we scavenge equipment and tinker with it late at night. And we read lots of books. Here are a couple pictures.
