Transcript



Ashley:

What's going on y’all! This is Culture and Code, a podcast brought to you by Render Atlanta. If you're not already familiar with what Render Atlanta is, we are an organization dedicated to increasing the presence of black and brown people in all stages of the tech pipeline. We do so with different events and at experiences focused on not just tech, but also culture and how it brings people together. Our main experience, which I am personally super excited about, is our annual Render Atlanta conference held in Atlanta. Our next conference will be June 1st through fourth in 2022. It is super exciting. We have a ton of great speakers lined up some amazing food, and even an after party music festival, it's going to be incredible. And I absolutely cannot wait for y'all to experience it. You have got to get in on it if you haven't already. To learn more about us and keep up with our events, you can visit our website renderatl.com. You can also follow us on Twitter or Instagram @renderATL and join the conversation on our Discord at renderatl.com/discord.



Hello and welcome. This is an episode of Culture and Code brought to you by Render Atlanta. My name's Ashley. I am a developer advocate for Render Atlanta. Today, I'm here with Ezekiel Price, who is the founder of IT Firefighter. And we're going to be chatting a little bit about what IT Firefighter is and just other unconventional career paths in tech. I had the privilege of being able to meet Ezekiel at our super fun Render tour events back in 2021. Specifically, we got to meet up at our Atlanta event and it was super great chatting with him. So I've really been excited to get back to chatting with him since. So hey, how's it going, Ezekiel?



Ezekiel:

Greetings, greetings. It's going great. Nice to talk to you. And it was really nice meeting you at your Render event. I do remember having a great time. It was so much of a line that I didn't get any food, but I didn't have enough time to get food, but it was a pleasure being there and meeting you there for sure.



Ashley:

For sure. Yeah. That's actually a pretty common bit of feedback that we get at Render is that the food is just so good that it just goes so quickly. Maybe you'll make it to another Render event one of these days and you'll be first in line.



Ezekiel:

Oh, right on.



Ashley:

Awesome. So I did want to dive a little bit first into just your general background and how you got to where you are today tech-wise?



Ezekiel:

Okay. So I first got into tech when I realized, in middle school I helped teacher out with a problem in one of our classes, and this was back in Windows 95 days. So it wasn't so easy. And I helped her transfer a file over the network. And they called my house. We had caller IDs, so it said Johnston Middle School. And I thought I was in trouble because they called me during the winter break. I didn't know what I did. And they said, "well, you've helped us fix this." They talked to my grandmother. They said, "you helped us fix this problem before. Can you come back and help us?" And I came back during the winter break when there was no kids there and did the same little task over. And the next semester when I got back to classes, I was presented with a $50 Border's gift card.

So this was in eighth grade, and I was like, oh, there's a little bit money in this. It's kind of cool, or rewards, should I say. Ever since then, I've kind of been keeping up to date with technology magazines, technology forums. And I went to college for computer information systems. There, I was awarded a chance to work at IBM. And I realized from there that the software engineering type wasn't for me, the introverted kind of type wasn't for me. So I had to kind of find my own way in the industry. But I realized that tech was kind of a place where I could fit in, I just had to fit in my own kind of way. And so that's my little background from how I got interested and how I got to now.



Ashley:

For sure. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. That's amazing that you got in early, and then you found it so intriguing and rewarding that you decided to continue that. And I do totally understand what you're talking about with how it feels, like certain personalities and traits tend to feel like they fit in better with different roles. So that is a perfect segue into my next question, actually. So when we met at the Render tour event, we did talk about your business, IT Firefighter. So could you talk to me a little bit about what it is exactly, what problem it solves and how you got into that problem space?



Ezekiel:

Sure. So IT Firefighter, the name came from a whole bunch of things. But in just a little story, IT Firefighter is a service that I provide. It is providing emergency IT services for corporations. And I've done that in about 17 states, which is about a third of the country. And I've done it, for me, over 1600 times, and developed two or three other people to get on this platform with me and kind of put out these emergencies. And I guess the thought behind it is that they're kind of burning money when their registers are down, when their network is down, when they want to do some kind of upgrade and somebody messed it up or somebody didn't do it as prescribed, then there becomes this emergency that needs to be solved. And turns out it's a little bit cheaper to have me come out from wherever I'm at then for them to send out maybe another technician, fly them out, put them in a hotel. I cover all those expenses, and then they just pay me to help them out last minute and I'm there for them last minute.



Ashley:

Nice. Awesome. Thank you for describing that for me. So when you brought up IT Firefighting in general, I think it took a couple tries for me personally to wrap my mind around what exactly it was. And it just seems like such a niche field from the outside, looking in on that sort of thing. So when we have these conversations about breaking into jobs in tech, I'm sure you've seen them as much as I've seen them as well, most of the time the narratives angle towards the traditional software engineering desk job, the traditional business analysts or product manager kind of job. And those are all obviously wonderful opportunities, but it seems like there's a huge lack of education around what you're doing, which is it integrates that technology knowledge with the physical aspect. So what do you think we could do to raise more awareness of those other professions in tech that are available aside from the ones that are more popularly socialized?



Ezekiel:

The main thing would be, there's IT companies that are nationwide, and we really don't have an IT company in our heads that's like that's the IT company. You can think of maybe Surf Pro, or Stanley Steamer or some kind of name in some kind of field that would help you out in a situation. But with IT, it's so segmented across the country that there's not really a standard action plan for technicians. You can get a technician that you don't like. You can get a technician that's late. You can get a technician that's superb. You can get a technician that's very knowledgeable. But there's not really a standard across the whole country, or even in a state that says, we can call this person, and they're going to make sure they get it done, and we're going to be happy with their service and they have the best reputation.

When you actually change the control of the company to something that's a little bit more popular or a little bit more standardized and has a great mission, then you can start saying, hey kids, you can start presenting kids and people looking for jobs with reputable job that says, oh, I can be a IT Firefighter perhaps. Or just that's my brand name. But just in any sense of being a technician, if we just made it a little bit more appealing and made it a little bit owned by people that were more personable, then I think that would be a great start.



Ashley:

Yeah. That sounds good to me. That's kind of the whole working at Google thing that I feel like a lot of colleges kind of present to you as the pinnacle of success. So that makes a lot of sense to me. And who knows, IT Firefighter might be the, you get to work and be an IT Firefighter, that might be the pinnacle of this side of the industry. So that's really exciting.



What's going on y'all? If you're loving this episode so far, we'd love to invite you to join the conversation about it by hopping into our Discord at renderatl.com/discord. We'd also love to have you at our upcoming conference this year, June 1st through 4th in Atlanta, you can visit renderatl.com for more information. You can also find us on our updates on Instagram and Twitter @renderATL.



Something else that you mentioned in your earlier comments as well that jumped out to me was kind of we need to have a good example, basically, of what success and, I don't know, how cool the field is. And for software engineering, we've seen that evolve. We have shows like Silicon valley, where it shows all the different stereotypes of people in the industry, all these influencers on TikTok that are like, this is how you can break in and make six figures in tech. Do you see a future like that for your profession or for other unconventional pass? And if so, where does that start? How do you get that out there?



Ezekiel:

I think the most appealing part for me is the freedom. So right now, I'm taking some time off, and I'm on this big balcony talking to you and making sure I have time to get stuff done that I want to get done. And just two weeks ago, I was doing 32 jobs in a week. And so if I want to work for one week and take two weeks off and get stuff that I want to get done, that level of freedom is a 60 year old's level of freedom. I just don't know too many people this young that can leave and come when they please. And so, I believe if more people had that freedom or knew that level of freedom and know the source of how this all works, maybe somebody with more entertainment value, I think I'm pretty fun, but if somebody was a TikToker or a social influencer that knows how to move an audience were to come along and see what this kind offers or even take part in it, I think there could be a chance for some real appeal there. The substance is the freedom.



Ashley:

Absolutely.



Ezekiel:

For me.



Ashley:

No, yeah. That is super compelling. Even someone that, like I work a nine to five. And it's great, because it's still pretty open and flexible, but I don't get to just decide I can take two weeks off and also sort of group what jobs and the money that I make into other weeks. And that seems like a whole other luxury in itself. So that's awesome that you get to experience that.



Ezekiel:

Also to make it more appealing, just to shout out how the underpinnings of this lifestyle, three things I would like to share that I would never have thought how this started out is that I do afford a driver. I do afford a rental BMW, which allows me to feel comfortable and not have to have car back problems or something from being in the car all day. And I do have discounts around the country for where I can stay. So it kind of, along with the freedom of the job, then comes of how you spend your time outside the job or how much you're in demand. Okay, well they're willing to make sure that all your accommodations are taken for. Maybe not directly. Maybe there's just per job, they'll pay you a travel fee or something like that. But when your travel is kind of covered, it kind of makes the job not so hard on you. But you got to get stuff done and you got to have a great reputation.



Ashley:

For sure. Yeah. That's super dope that you get all that stuff taken care of for you. That's amazing. That's definitely not a benefit that the average desk tech worker gets. So that's really good to know too. I think that's an angle that I've really appreciated lately is the things that working in certain professions can afford you. And I feel like that has really, as the pandemic has kind of shifted and created more class consciousness and all that stuff, that's something that is really empowering for people now. So that's really great that you shared that stuff too, because-



Ezekiel:

Later on, I would like to hear what those stories are. That sounds pretty interesting, what people can afford with their types of job. That sounds so cool.



Ashley:

Yeah. No, yeah. I've seen just tech jobs in general just changing people's lives around. And it's just wild to see people posting their stories of doubling, tripling their salaries over a certain period of time, or people taking IT Firefighter style career path and being able to have weeks off and have the rental BMW. It's just very inspiring, I think to hear all of those stories and know that just in general technology is what is able to afford people that privilege. So it's super cool to hear that from you as well. So pivoting now, I'd like to ask you more of a Render question that we love to ask all of our guests. So you travel a lot, it sounds like. What food do you find reminds you the most of home?



Ezekiel:

Louisiana food. I'm from Houston, but some good gumbo or some good jambalaya or catfish. If I can find some of that anywhere I'm at, then I'm good. There's a little spot in Atlanta that I like. There's a little spot in Northern California that I found. Yeah. When I find Louisiana food, I'm right at home.



Ashley:

That's awesome. You got to find 1 in all 50 states then.



Ezekiel:

Ooh, that sounds kind of fun. Really fun.



Ashley:

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So we are right at time with our conversation. It's really flown by. Thank you so, so much for taking the time to chat with me. Really appreciate it. And I really appreciate hearing about your philosophy and your line of work and everything. So to close out, I wanted to know if there's anything you'd like to plug. It can be personal. It can be an organization or a cause you support. Or even just, I even encourage people to share memes that they really like. So whatever you want, go ahead and now's your time to plug it.



Ezekiel:

Okay. That's awesome. Thank you for that. So my next project that I'm working on is IT Firefighter Utility Vest. And I really have a lot of other projects that I'm going to start working on because they just make me satisfied. And I just kind of want to plug the fact that I'm going to be looking for strategic partnerships coming up because I need a lot of help. I'm not really trying to start a huge business where everybody has to leave their jobs and quits what they're doing to start a brand new startup. There's plenty of that going on. But I am going to start reaching out to people, and I do encourage, if anybody wants to chance to reach out for me, I'm fine. But I would like to start making strategic partnerships to get some very useful products, very useful concepts out to the public.



Because as a traveler of the country, I've just seen so many amazing landscapes, and concepts and types of people that start to make sense in a certain kind of way that I kind of want to do a show and tell, like, let me show y'all what I found. There's some pretty amazing things about America that once you step outside of your own home, it's pretty fun to share. So I look forward to that. And in a few months or in a few years, you ever hear about me, just know I'm always open to work on something amazing.



Ashley:

Awesome. Thank you. Is there a way that folks can reach out to you, if anyone here is interested in chatting with you?



Ezekiel:

Right now, I just only have a Instagram. You get there to the page and it says, it's too easy. So that's how I like to try and live my life. It's pretty hard, but I try and make it look easy. And in the future, I'll have everything more polished. I'll have my websites and all these things so I can be marketable. But right now, I'm just enjoying growing organically.



Ashley:

For sure. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you so much again for taking the time to chat with me. Thank you everybody for tuning into this episode of Culture and Code. We will see y'all next time. Please don't forget to stay looped in on all things Render. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @RenderATL. And we'd also love if you join the conversation with us at our Discord. You can find that at renderatl.com/discord. Thank you everybody and we'll see you all next time.



Ezekiel:

I look forward to getting some more blacks, and minorities and people that look like us into STEM, for sure.



Ashley:

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Ezekiel.



Ezekiel:

Take care.



Ashley:

You too.