Who is Michael “Mike” Risser?

Introduction

Mike is a Systems and Network Administrator with over 22 years of experience in all areas of I.T. He started out working in the back of a little “mom & pop” computer shop (although he began working with computers way back in about 1978 or 1979). From there he moved in to web design, and then on to installing, configuring and maintaining web servers, and also started doing some network administration. and system administration for the U.S. Government and worked for a couple of different staffing agencies.

During this time, he began working with virtualization technologies, Vmware mostly, some Microsoft Hyper-V, but no Citrix (at least not yet). He has deployed and maintained virtualization environments ranging from small to medium, clustered and unclustered. He’s worked as an I.T. consultant, full–time employee and as a freelancer; for companies large and small, the Federal Government and a local/city government.

Most of the knowledge Mike has in I.T. has been self–taught, and gained through experience, although he has attended a couple of Vmware classes, a Microsoft Certification Boot Camp, and a CompTIA training course. He’s currently busy with the network security of a local government, which he really enjoys.

Certifications

Mike is CompTIA Security+ Certified, and was lucky and got my certification just before they changed over to expiring certifications, so his doesn’t expire .

Additionally he hold several Microsoft Certifications:

  • Microsoft Certified Professional
  • Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate Windows Server 2008
  • Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Infrastructure, Configuration
  • Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration
  • Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator on Server 2008

Hobbies & Interests

Of course Mike not all about work, he does have several hobbies. Fishing is big on his list for relaxation, and so is kayaking. Often times merging the two. He finds being out on the water to be very peaceful.

And when the weather, or the fish, aren’t cooperating, you can find him engaged in one of this other hobbies, Amateur Radio. Mike has been a licensed ham radio operator since 2000, and is currently an Amateur Extra Class licnese holder, you can find his ham radio site at kg6ecw.us.

Mike is also passionate about photography, especially nature and wildlife photography, although anything that catches his eye and will hold still long enough, is fair game.