Rob Turner
Information Services Director
We’re excited to feature Rob in our April Employee Spotlight!
Years at Capitol Lien: 16 years
- What have been some of the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career? Situations that require patience and empathy are the most important lessons/tools/skills I’ve relied on. Planning for major infrastructure changes whether it is Server or Network related are the most intimidating things I face. Security of our hardware devices hosted out of St Paul and now within AWS have a wide range of complexity that make it very difficult to perfect each step of implementing a change. But, helping an employee who is unable to work because of an unexpected problem with their workstation feels like the hardest and most important challenge we work on. Being there to listen and to help maintain a sense of calm and control in the face of frustration really makes me dig into my empathy to try and see the situation from the user’s perspective. We always want to help and never want to be a hindrance/obstacle!
- Share a professional success story that you’re proud of. The migration of our old in-house production server CGC from an on-site self-hosted solution to an off-site hosting solution was a major step forward for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. I used to have nightmares of the machine that hosted that critical application failing and needing to figure out the fastest solution to restore it.
- How do you think your role helped shape your team’s culture? IS Director was a lofty title to take on. The potential scope of the role was and is still intimidating. My approach to it is to stay positive, hopeful, and trusting to myself and those I work closest with. I feel honored to be blessed with such an immense responsibility by Brad and all the leadership here at Capitol Lien. Never trying to talk down to about technical problems or situations is my #1 goal in daily communication, staying helpful and positive keeps me going and I think my team aims to do the same!
- What do you love most about your job and why? Working with the staff at Capitol Lien. Getting a lead on new technology and seeing if or how it would improve everyone’s day to day workflows/quality of work life. While making changes is a tough sell sometimes, it usually ends up working out for the better each time!
- What techniques help you stay organized and productive? I use Google Calendar (with all the reminder alarms!) and Google Keep for quick notes. I also rely heavily on internal chat and our help desk software Spiceworks to keep on track day to day. Project tracking with Bamboo has been a great help in staying focused on longer lasting tasks/objectives. Mandy and Patrick are both a great help in reminding me of anything else I let slip through the cracks!
- What is a dream that you want to make come true one day? I’d love to bring my family to Ireland and Scotland; it is a lifelong dream to see the Dinnie Stones in Potarch, Scotland. I have a set of handles and weights that I occasionally lift to see if I could get close to lifting these, but I have work to do! (414.5 lbs and 318.5 lbs) I’d even be happy just lifting the heavy stone alone!
- What is your favorite meal or food? I like pretty simple things. Grilled meat with rice/potato/grain and roasted vegetables are my ideal meals. Steak and potatoes/Teriyaki Chicken with Rice, along those lines.
- What is your favorite quote? From a video game named Path of Exile: “There is a fine line between consideration and hesitation. The former is wisdom, the latter is fear.” ~ Izaro
- What is your favorite band or genre of music? GWAR is my favorite band, Death Metal is my favorite genre. Thematically it is brutal in sound and presentation, but it is also inlaid with a struggle to find meaning in the world and put purpose to humanity.
- Do you have any pets? A Cat named K3 – she adores us all…from a distance
