Waiter Turned Tech Pro: How I Became An It Support Specialist | Ft. @KevtechITSupport

[00:00:00] If I could do it, you could do it because I come from a restaurant background. As a guy, some random guy working in fast food, working as a restaurant person, going into IT is super random. Anyone can do it. That's why I started my YouTube channel. Being in Helpdesk or being in IT support, that is a stepping stone for anyone as I watch this video. You're going to start out in Helpdesk. I'll be honest with you, it depends what company you work for. You may like it, you may not like it.

[00:00:26] Kevin Apollinaria, also known as KevtechITSupport. Kevin has a number of years working in IT support and then recently moving into cyber security. Kevin has made a massive name for himself, educating IT techies on his YouTube channel. He has almost 90,000 subscribers at the moment and it's only growing. I've been following him for a while and have followed his journey in tech and have also learned a lot from watching his videos online.

[00:00:56] He has a massive following on YouTube and on LinkedIn. And today he's joining us for another incredible episode. In this episode, you will learn about the role of an IT support technician or a help desk technician.

[00:01:08] You will gain key advice for aspiring professionals in tech, whether it's IT support or cyber security. You will hear about Kevin's incredible journey and an interesting story from his career.

[00:01:21] This was an incredible conversation. Before we get into it, I have to ask what I always do. Please like and subscribe to the channel to help us get more amazing guests like Kevin onto the show. Let's get right into this episode.

[00:01:39] Really in this episode, we want to take the opportunity to get to know you and understand your story because you have a truly incredible story.

[00:01:50] So if you could walk us through your journey of getting into tech and talk about the key moments that help you to get to where you are now.

[00:02:01] Yeah, sure. I have a restaurant background. So I did about 12 years in a restaurant. I did four years in NYPD volunteers, actually NYPD. And then I wanted to transition over to IT.

[00:02:12] I was always a big gaming head. So I played a lot of PC console games as well. So I played Counter-Strike Source and I remember one of the guys that I played with was a veteran.

[00:02:25] So the veterans were super, super cool with me. The veterans told me about the CompTIA plus.

[00:02:33] And that's how I learned about certifications because they were telling me, oh, you could get a certification and you go into IT.

[00:02:42] And when you said A plus, I thought it was like a grade. He's like, no, it's a certification.

[00:02:45] And I'm like, oh, okay, that makes sense.

[00:02:47] I remember going to a school and I did technical training in there. And then that's where I got my A plus.

[00:02:52] I learned about hardware, software, networking. What's a mouse? What's a keyboard? Northbridge, Southbridge. What's a CMOS battery? What's the difference between RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10?

[00:03:04] All those fundamental knowledge or information, I learned it from being at a school.

[00:03:08] I remember my teacher was teaching me like the fundamentals, teaching me a little bit about computers.

[00:03:13] And he really liked my personality. And they ended up calling one of the hiring managers that was hiring for the Department of Education.

[00:03:20] And he interviewed me the following day, like literally interviewed me.

[00:03:24] He said, oh, you want to do an interview with him? Like, yeah, sure.

[00:03:26] And then I interviewed with the hiring manager. And the only reason why he hired me was because of my personality.

[00:03:32] Nothing to do with IT skills, more about my personality.

[00:03:35] He liked the way that I'm able to like have empathy for customers.

[00:03:38] And he liked my background and coming from a restaurant background, fast food.

[00:03:42] Oh, yeah, I think you could you should be able to handle the customers.

[00:03:45] If you have that fast food background experience, you should be fine.

[00:03:48] That's literally how I got started in IT.

[00:03:51] I slowly moved like little by little to different jobs like I did.

[00:03:54] I was a Mac repair guy working for like a retail Apple store.

[00:03:59] And I did Apple repairs.

[00:04:02] I did MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros.

[00:04:03] I did iPhone repair while being in the school when I was in the school for a bit for over a year.

[00:04:09] Then I transferred over to doing Macintosh repair.

[00:04:12] While being in the school, I got my ACMT, my Apple certified Macintosh technician certification.

[00:04:16] And I got experience with Mac machines because of that.

[00:04:20] And then I transferred over to like a retail store that does Mac repair.

[00:04:25] I did that for a bit.

[00:04:26] And then I wanted to go into a different job.

[00:04:30] So I ended up going to an MSP company.

[00:04:32] I've actually worked at MSP as well.

[00:04:36] And one of the things that I understood very quickly is that your role may be one thing at this MSP, but you're doing so many other things and you're involved in so many other things, which was pretty cool.

[00:04:50] And just on your story and what you've said so far, I know you've been in tech for so long.

[00:04:56] That is such a long story.

[00:04:57] And there's so many different areas that you've worked.

[00:04:59] Yeah.

[00:05:00] Some things that stood out so far from your story is that one, you went from the restaurant business.

[00:05:07] Correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:05:08] The restaurant business to being a police officer to working in tech.

[00:05:13] And so what was it about your previous roles that made you want to move into the tech industry?

[00:05:20] What was it about IT and tech that interested you and made you want to make that jump?

[00:05:26] Yeah, I like I like accidentally fell into IT.

[00:05:29] But with me is like I was always this is super random.

[00:05:34] I was always good with like breaking and fixing stuff.

[00:05:38] So like I would be very curious.

[00:05:40] Like I remember one time I tell you a quick story.

[00:05:45] One time I didn't I didn't have I didn't have the money to buy a PlayStation 2.

[00:05:51] So I didn't have the money to buy PlayStation 2.

[00:05:53] And funny enough, me and my brother found the PlayStation 2 on the street and actually we fixed it and we got it to work.

[00:06:01] And I'm like, oh, shoot, is this working now?

[00:06:03] And we ended up playing with the PlayStation 2.

[00:06:05] So someone threw out their PlayStation 2 because it was like they thought it was garbage and it wasn't.

[00:06:08] We actually opened it up and fixed it.

[00:06:11] So I always had like a like a curiosity for like fixing stuff and not not just that.

[00:06:17] Like even even when I had I remember when I had my first my first phone, one of my first phones was a Sidekick 3 and I would open it up and I was just curious about the phone.

[00:06:28] I'm like, how does that?

[00:06:29] How does it do that?

[00:06:30] I was just curious.

[00:06:30] And then so like for me, it was like, oh, I was always curious about certain things.

[00:06:34] And I accidentally fell into it because my mom and dad were like, I think you're good.

[00:06:39] I think you should do computers.

[00:06:40] You seem like you're good with that stuff.

[00:06:42] You seem like you're like good with tinkering and messing with stuff.

[00:06:45] So I remember like I was working at a restaurant and then they had layoffs.

[00:06:51] So I had layoffs in the restaurant and they asked me, do you want to go to a school and study the A plus?

[00:06:57] Do you want to collect unemployment or do you want to go back to being in a restaurant?

[00:07:01] And I remember I had I had the opportunity to be back, go back in restaurant.

[00:07:05] And and I said, no, no, I just want to study.

[00:07:07] I want to study.

[00:07:08] I want to actually go into studying and trying to get trying to trying to get a career in IT because restaurant restaurant is fine.

[00:07:16] And I was doing really well.

[00:07:17] She was getting paid more working in restaurant than working IT when I first started.

[00:07:21] But I took a chance.

[00:07:22] I literally took a chance.

[00:07:23] All right.

[00:07:23] Let me just get into it.

[00:07:24] Let me get into IT and see what happens.

[00:07:26] I ended up falling into IT when I did a computer repair.

[00:07:32] I really like that.

[00:07:33] I'm just it's like super weird.

[00:07:34] But I like computer repair.

[00:07:36] I was always curious about memory.

[00:07:38] I was curious about graphics cards when I worked at a financial firm where I worked at Blackstone Group.

[00:07:46] I worked at a financial firm and I upgraded these guys to like 128 gigs of RAM because these guys have six monitors and they have three monitors on the top, three monitors on the bottom and they're trading and everything.

[00:07:58] So like me, I always been curious about hardware.

[00:08:00] So hopefully that answers your question.

[00:08:01] It's just curiosity.

[00:08:02] Curiosity.

[00:08:03] Curiosity.

[00:08:04] And I think that is a key trait for someone working in tech, being curious and really wanting to look deeper into what you're doing, understand what you're doing.

[00:08:17] Super interesting that you've gone through, you know, working on hardware, working with Max, working in IT support, working.

[00:08:25] It seems like there's such a range of stuff that you've worked on for your career.

[00:08:31] And if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been in tech in years?

[00:08:35] Oh, man.

[00:08:35] I've been in IT for a decade now.

[00:08:39] Over 10 years.

[00:08:41] Incredible.

[00:08:42] And through those 10 years, what are the areas of tech that you've worked in that you'd say you've worked in?

[00:08:48] Obviously, there's IT support that you'd say.

[00:08:51] And what areas would you say you've worked?

[00:09:22] Yeah.

[00:09:24] The majority of the executives I work with, I work with the admin assistant because sometimes their computer's not working.

[00:09:29] They can't trade.

[00:09:31] They are doing a video call and the video call doesn't work.

[00:09:35] Their camera doesn't work.

[00:09:37] Their mic doesn't work.

[00:09:38] They're just like little, little tiny, little tiny things like that.

[00:09:41] It's just like, oh, why is this not working, Kevin?

[00:09:44] I remember working for a Japanese company and I worked for the CEO and he would just take me everywhere with him.

[00:09:51] Even when he would travel, I would go everywhere with him because the CEO is very picky with who his help desk guy is or IT support guy is.

[00:09:59] So I would handle his inquiries or his issues.

[00:10:03] And then that company, they had two buildings.

[00:10:07] They had a building in Texas and then they had a building in New York because I'm from New York.

[00:10:11] And the building in New York is all like executive C-level folks where their service level agreement, the SLA is like less than 15 minutes.

[00:10:20] Everything has to work.

[00:10:21] Very fast paced.

[00:10:23] And it's like there's no opportunity to make excuses or there's no opportunity to say, oh, I don't know why that's not working.

[00:10:29] You know, it's just you have to kind of like fix it.

[00:10:32] So I did executive support for a really long time and financial support for a long time before going into cybersecurity.

[00:10:41] So I did all that, all that, all that, all that customer service, all that, all that, I guess that background that I have from being in restaurant.

[00:10:49] When I got into IT and I got into customer service, it wasn't that bad.

[00:10:53] I'll be honest with you.

[00:10:55] I'd rather do that than work in restaurants.

[00:10:57] So it's not it's not as bad as people think it is.

[00:11:01] It's just like, right.

[00:11:02] If you have the right attitude, the right personality.

[00:11:07] And also, if you like reassure the customer that everything is going to be OK, they're not going to get mad at you.

[00:11:13] You just got to know how to talk to the customer.

[00:11:15] And also the important thing about that, too, is when you're working with executives or C-level folks, just because they're not tech savvy doesn't mean it gives you the opportunity to make them feel dumb or silly or stupid.

[00:11:27] Like you have to be super non-technical with those executives.

[00:11:30] And then some of them don't even care how you fix it.

[00:11:33] They just want they just care if it works.

[00:11:35] That's literally all they care about.

[00:11:36] So you got to be super non-technical and also be able to like communicate with them and just keep them, you know, updated to everything.

[00:11:43] So it's just those things are important.

[00:11:45] Yeah.

[00:11:46] Yeah.

[00:11:46] Yeah.

[00:11:46] That makes so much sense.

[00:11:48] And I'm glad you bring that up the about about working in IT support and how, you know, people sort of look at IT support and say, ah, this is this is difficult or I don't wouldn't like to do this.

[00:12:00] I haven't specifically worked in an IT support role as an IT support engineer, but many aspects of my role, especially working at MSP in the early stages.

[00:12:10] I've had loads of IT support kind of tasks and things that I'd have to do.

[00:12:16] So I've experienced IT support and I wanted to talk with you about this kind of the outlook and how certain people do look at this role of IT support.

[00:12:31] I think a lot of the time people want to get into tech and the first role they're going for is IT support.

[00:12:39] It's the role that people are able to get into quite easily.

[00:12:46] But a lot of the time, well, it's not it's not easy to get a job, but IT support is one of those roles that if you learn the hardware, if you learn how to, you know, do a customer service, you can get into that role without, you know, lots of, you know, any degree or anything like that.

[00:13:04] And so people definitely target that as a first role.

[00:13:07] But a lot of the time people look at IT support as the entrance, the stepping stone.

[00:13:14] And people online say, don't get stuck in IT support.

[00:13:17] Don't stay here.

[00:13:18] Move on to other things.

[00:13:20] Use this as your one or two years of experience to get into something else.

[00:13:24] What are your thoughts on that?

[00:13:26] And do you believe that IT support is that stepping stone?

[00:13:31] What do you feel?

[00:13:32] Yeah, no, I 100% agree with you.

[00:13:34] Like being in help desk or being in IT support, that is a stepping stone for anyone as I watch this video.

[00:13:40] Like you're going to start out in help desk.

[00:13:42] And I'll be honest with you.

[00:13:44] It depends what company you work for.

[00:13:45] You may like it.

[00:13:46] You may not like it.

[00:13:48] But with certain companies you work at, that's why it's important that when you go for a job interview, you want to make sure that you do research about the company.

[00:13:56] But you want to make sure that you're in a good company and you're not in a crappy company and you're going to be miserable the entire time while being in help desk or IT support.

[00:14:03] So you want to make sure you do some research about the company.

[00:14:06] So that's very important.

[00:14:07] And also keep in mind that you're not going to stay there forever.

[00:14:10] You're not going to be helped us for 40 years.

[00:14:12] That's not how that works.

[00:14:14] It's just like you have to and I'm going to say this now because the people I know people are going to watch this.

[00:14:20] Like you have to get out of your comfort zone if you want to grow as an IT person.

[00:14:25] So like if you get situated and you get comfortable and you don't want to learn anything and also you don't want to adapt to the environment, you're not going to be able to get out of help desk.

[00:14:35] If you want to learn and grow, you have to that mindset needs to be in your brain.

[00:14:39] So it's like, oh, I'm just going to do password reset all day or I'm going to do this all day.

[00:14:42] Like you have to you have to learn other stuff outside your outside your eight to five job.

[00:14:48] If you're working like you're doing health desk, but I'm saying outside of that, you have to learn other stuff because if otherwise you're not going to be able to grow.

[00:14:54] You just have to be stuck in that job for two, three years, four years.

[00:14:57] It's just it goes back to skills.

[00:14:59] It goes back to certifications.

[00:15:02] It goes back to your portfolio.

[00:15:04] What's your how's your resume look like?

[00:15:06] And also it goes back to other other stuff like LinkedIn, being on LinkedIn, networking.

[00:15:12] You know, it's very involved.

[00:15:13] But what I'm trying to say is like if you're trying to get out of the help desk or IT support, all those things are involved when you're trying to get out of that field.

[00:15:21] And I always tell everyone, like if you're going to do help desk, IT support, a year or two is good enough.

[00:15:25] That's it.

[00:15:26] You don't have to go any more than that.

[00:15:27] It's just good enough.

[00:15:28] And if the company pays for your certifications, even better.

[00:15:31] Take advantage of that.

[00:15:32] Let them pay for your certifications.

[00:15:34] That's my advice.

[00:15:35] That's that's that's some great advice.

[00:15:38] And it's it's it's really interesting that you say that and great to understand that.

[00:15:43] I mean, you've helped so many people getting into IT support and getting those first roles and understanding IT support and getting jobs.

[00:15:52] You've helped so many people with your presence online and your your YouTube channel and your content.

[00:15:58] And it's amazing to hear, you know, the path that you kind of set out and recommend.

[00:16:07] And so there are people who, you know, they get that first job in IT support and then they move on.

[00:16:13] And there are also people who, you know, they get into IT support and they want to move on.

[00:16:19] But they get kind of stuck.

[00:16:21] You know, they they they perhaps don't feel like they're ready to move on or they have the skills to move on to those other roles, which they actually prefer or are their target roles.

[00:16:32] So what do you say to those people?

[00:16:34] How do they get out of being stuck in those roles?

[00:16:39] And this is for people who truly want to move on to other areas.

[00:16:43] Maybe they want to move on to cyber security roles.

[00:16:46] They want to move on to cloud engineering roles or whatever the case is.

[00:16:53] What sort of advice would you give to those people?

[00:16:56] Yeah, that's what happened to me.

[00:16:58] So I was stuck in IT support for a while and then I wanted to do cyber security.

[00:17:05] So the thing is with me is that I don't know what I wanted to do in cyber security.

[00:17:08] Cyber security is big.

[00:17:11] Saying you want to get into cyber security is like saying I want to be a doctor.

[00:17:14] Like what kind of doctor do you want to be?

[00:17:15] Right. There are different types of doctors.

[00:17:17] Right. So it's the same thing with cyber security.

[00:17:20] I didn't know what I wanted to do.

[00:17:21] So like this is my advice to someone else is I would recommend you look at try to hack me.

[00:17:28] Try to hack me is something that I would recommend.

[00:17:29] Try playing around with different rooms.

[00:17:31] So I would do like the blue team soccer room.

[00:17:33] If you're into blue team, I will do the red team room, depending on what rooms to try out.

[00:17:37] Just try all different rooms and then figure out what's your cup of tea?

[00:17:42] Like what do you like to do in cyber security before you dive into it?

[00:17:46] Because I don't want you getting a job and you hate it.

[00:17:48] Right. So once you figure out what you want to do, rather than just I'm just throwing sock as an example.

[00:17:53] Once you figure out what to do, then you know that obviously for cyber security jobs and for sock, you're going to have to have security plus.

[00:18:00] So I will work on the security plus certification while being in help desk.

[00:18:06] And a lot of executives, they love the CYSA.

[00:18:12] So a lot of companies will look at the CYSA as a good certification to have.

[00:18:17] So I would recommend doing the blue team room for sock, doing security plus, getting certified and then building a home lab based on blue team stuff.

[00:18:28] So like if you're going to go into a sock analyst row, create your own little incident response.

[00:18:33] So what you could do is you could set up a lab environment, setting up Microsoft Send No, and then you could set up Microsoft Defender for XDR.

[00:18:39] And then you could actually set up Defender on a server, on a machine, on the endpoint.

[00:18:46] And you could just play around with that.

[00:18:47] And also you could you could actually set up Splunk if you want all these.

[00:18:50] There's like a lot of third party tools you could set up and you could set up your own portfolio and build a lab based on that.

[00:18:56] And add that experience on your resume.

[00:18:58] So anyone that's watching this, whatever you're trying to do, it doesn't have to be sock.

[00:19:02] I'm just I used to that as an example.

[00:19:04] That's what I did.

[00:19:05] I just learned blue team stuff.

[00:19:07] Then after that, I got my I got a job into you because of that, because I learned the blue team stuff.

[00:19:12] And yeah, and that's what that's literally what I did.

[00:19:15] And I just I just read that in my whole resume.

[00:19:18] Instead of instead of it being tailored to IT support, I tailored it to cyber security.

[00:19:22] And I started applying for jobs after that.

[00:19:25] That's that's what I did.

[00:19:26] So this is my advice.

[00:19:28] Amazing.

[00:19:29] Amazing.

[00:19:29] And that is a great like plan that you've set specifically for cyber security.

[00:19:34] And there are ways to do that for other roles.

[00:19:37] Right.

[00:19:37] There's ways to do that for your whatever your target role is, whether it's maybe it's DevOps,

[00:19:42] maybe it's, you know, cloud specific roles, cloud security or or whatever the case is, network engineering.

[00:19:48] There are ways to sort of structure a way to make yourself well versed in that area.

[00:19:55] I mean, the way the way Kevin did it is, you know, by by going on to, you know, try hack me and and setting up the home lab and working on that stuff and then creating a CV that looks like pretty much you are a cyber security engineer.

[00:20:11] You do this stuff like and that's what your CV represents.

[00:20:15] And for those people who are trying to switch from IT support into cyber security roles, when you are applying, your CV should look like someone who is working in cyber security through the labs that you've done, through the work that you've done outside of your job or through the things that you've learned that are related to the role that you want to get into.

[00:20:40] Your CV should be structured in a way that looks like you're already doing that.

[00:20:45] And that's some great advice that you've given, Kevin.

[00:20:48] Really appreciate that.

[00:20:49] Thanks, of course.

[00:20:51] And so I wanted to talk a little bit about your journey online.

[00:20:57] Kevin, like you've built a massive following and community online through sharing and putting out your knowledge and insight and just sharing your journey.

[00:21:11] How have you found that and what inspired you to document that journey and share it with people on LinkedIn and YouTube and other places?

[00:21:20] Yeah, for me, as when I was starting out in IT, I didn't have like that mentor.

[00:21:28] I didn't have anyone to help me out as much.

[00:21:30] So it was I helped me out with the veterans, like to get the A plus.

[00:21:32] But that's about it.

[00:21:33] I didn't have I didn't have anyone guide me or I didn't have a mentor.

[00:21:36] I didn't have anything.

[00:21:37] So when I got my first job and then when I was actually working in the field, my my my teacher is like, oh, you should you should make a video.

[00:21:47] You should make a YouTube channel and just see what happens.

[00:21:49] And I made I made my first video.

[00:21:51] I remember I made my first video on Mac and Windows.

[00:21:54] I think it was El Capitan or something like that was a while back.

[00:21:59] And people really like that video.

[00:22:01] Oh, OK.

[00:22:02] I started just making random videos of me teaching like what I actually do in my job.

[00:22:08] And there's not there was not a lot of content creators that do that.

[00:22:11] So it's like, all right, let me teach.

[00:22:12] Let me teach this.

[00:22:13] Let me show what I do in my job as a typical day of IT support person.

[00:22:18] And I just started teaching certain things and people were like, wow, this is huh.

[00:22:23] This is wait.

[00:22:24] What?

[00:22:24] This is free.

[00:22:25] And it was our watching my videos.

[00:22:27] And then, yeah, and then became popular after that.

[00:22:29] So I started I started making videos because I didn't have a mentor and I didn't have someone that that was that's put stuff out there.

[00:22:38] That's free, like relatively free.

[00:22:40] So I wanted to help other people.

[00:22:42] So I just make a video on this.

[00:22:43] See people like it.

[00:22:44] And people were just commenting on.

[00:22:45] Oh, this is a great video.

[00:22:48] And I just sharing what I know because I know there's a lot of gatekeepers in IT.

[00:22:54] So just sharing what I know.

[00:22:56] And also when I when I went online to ask for help, when I first started IT, I had a lot of negativity.

[00:23:02] So it's like I had like people from Reddit being negative, a lot of negativity online.

[00:23:09] So I just wanted to show people that, you know, you could teach you could teach IT.

[00:23:15] You could do things.

[00:23:16] You could show people how things are in IT.

[00:23:19] So I just wanted to make up like most of the reality of being IT.

[00:23:22] So I ended up just showing everything that I do in IT, which is why I started my IT channel.

[00:23:27] That's how I started it.

[00:23:28] And I just wanted to show people like if I could do it, you could do it because, you know, I come from a restaurant background.

[00:23:35] Right.

[00:23:35] So like as a guy, some random guy with working in fast food, working as a restaurant person going into IT is a super random.

[00:23:44] You know, anyone could do it.

[00:23:45] Right.

[00:23:45] So that's why I started my YouTube channel.

[00:23:48] Wow.

[00:23:49] Incredible.

[00:23:49] Incredible.

[00:23:50] One thing I appreciate about you, Kevin, is your realness, but more so your vulnerability online.

[00:24:01] I think you share things.

[00:24:03] You share your journey in a way that even some great content creators wouldn't share.

[00:24:08] You know, you share your mistakes.

[00:24:11] You share, you know, I remember like you when I think I don't know if it was during COVID or something that you lost your job and how you shared that on LinkedIn.

[00:24:23] And I was like, wow, Kevin's actually sharing this stuff.

[00:24:26] And I remember, you know, how you were looking for another job and, you know, talking to your network saying I'm looking for a job.

[00:24:32] And I think for people, especially people with large followings, one thing that could be one thing that they wouldn't be likely to do is like, ah, no, I have a large following.

[00:24:43] So I want to look a certain way to these people.

[00:24:45] I want to show that, you know, I'm looking for a job.

[00:24:47] I'm supposed to be able to get a job easily or things like that.

[00:24:50] And that kind of, you know, pride that comes with that.

[00:24:53] But I really appreciate how vulnerable you are online and how you just share it how it is.

[00:24:59] And I think that truth in your journey that you share with people is something that really draws people to you and really helps people to understand the realities of working in this space.

[00:25:11] Yeah.

[00:25:11] You know, no, I know.

[00:25:13] I'm like that because I remember I remember I took the CompTIA A+.

[00:25:21] And A+, ain't no joke.

[00:25:22] You know, people will look at me like, oh, this exam is easy.

[00:25:24] It's not.

[00:25:25] I took it when you have no experience.

[00:25:28] Right.

[00:25:28] And I took it and I share my failures.

[00:25:30] Right.

[00:25:30] Like I actually failed the exam twice in a row and I took it again and passed it.

[00:25:34] Right.

[00:25:35] And people look at me like I'm crazy when I'm not.

[00:25:38] It's just like I failed it.

[00:25:39] Like literally it's not an easy exam.

[00:25:40] So like when I tell people like I keep it real.

[00:25:43] Right.

[00:25:43] I keep it 100% real.

[00:25:44] Like if you had a like like the exam ain't no joke.

[00:25:48] And if you don't have it, if you have no experience, zero experience like me because I had no experience back then, obviously you're going to have a hard time passing the exam.

[00:25:56] So I like to share like my failures and my success.

[00:26:00] I don't mind that.

[00:26:01] Like I don't mind doing that because it's to show everyone that like I'm not a robot.

[00:26:05] Right.

[00:26:05] I'm not chat GPT.

[00:26:07] I'm not AI.

[00:26:08] Right.

[00:26:08] I'm a human.

[00:26:09] Right.

[00:26:09] So like you have to show people that you're a human.

[00:26:11] Right.

[00:26:12] When you fail, you fail.

[00:26:14] That was fine, man.

[00:26:14] You fail like it's totally fine.

[00:26:17] If you if you fail tomorrow or like it goes back to mindset.

[00:26:21] Right.

[00:26:21] It goes back to how you perceive everything.

[00:26:24] Right.

[00:26:24] If you fail today, the only the only thing I ask you to do is try to pick yourself up and try again.

[00:26:30] Right.

[00:26:30] Like it's more important to like like how would you how do you handle the situation when everything goes bad?

[00:26:38] Right.

[00:26:38] What would you do?

[00:26:39] Right.

[00:26:39] How do you handle it?

[00:26:40] Right.

[00:26:40] So you got to have the right mindset.

[00:26:42] Like how to handle those negative situations, which is why I talk about, you know, I talk about positive stuff.

[00:26:48] I talk about negative stuff because I get motivated like I get motivated through failures and through hardships.

[00:26:53] That's just how I am.

[00:26:55] And David Goggin style.

[00:26:58] Right.

[00:26:58] I just I get motivated like from from being put in awkward situations.

[00:27:04] So that's why I share my success stories and my failures.

[00:27:08] So, yeah.

[00:27:10] Amazing.

[00:27:10] Amazing, Kevin.

[00:27:11] And I really appreciate you doing that even before knowing you before being able to, you know, speak to you here.

[00:27:18] And I'm so sure that others who follow you and follow your journey really, really appreciate that vulnerability as well.

[00:27:27] And I wanted to move on into my favorite part of the podcast.

[00:27:33] And this is the part where.

[00:27:37] The guest says an interesting story with the audience and we've had some amazing stories recently.

[00:27:48] Some stories people share, you know, their most memorable story that is bad, terrible horror story.

[00:27:55] And, you know, some of our horror stories, lots of people have been watching them on TikTok recently.

[00:28:01] But there are loads of horror stories that people have of times that haven't gone well.

[00:28:07] So you could share one of the one of your stories with us or perhaps you could share a good story when something went really well or, you know, something went fantastic and you saved the day or whatever it is.

[00:28:20] I think, Kevin, you've been in tech for so long that I might subject you to both.

[00:28:27] Give me one negative and one positive.

[00:28:31] Yeah, I have a lot of stories, but yeah, sure.

[00:28:37] I'll share a negative story.

[00:28:39] So I actually, I remember my last cybersecurity job, I got let go.

[00:28:45] They had layoffs in my job and I really couldn't do much.

[00:28:48] I literally woke up.

[00:28:50] I remember I woke up.

[00:28:51] I was trying to log into my computer and I was able to log in.

[00:28:55] But then it was weird.

[00:28:57] Like I got like a random email and then I joined the call and then, oh, yeah, our whole your whole department has been eliminated.

[00:29:05] So like they eliminated everyone in our team.

[00:29:08] And I really couldn't do much just like out of my control.

[00:29:11] Right.

[00:29:11] I was like, oh, shoot, I'm screwed right now.

[00:29:13] So I remember being out of work for a couple of months.

[00:29:16] And then what you said, like I literally put I'm open for work and I posted on LinkedIn that I was open for work and I was out of work for a couple of months.

[00:29:27] And the amount of people that reached out to me for a referral was insane.

[00:29:32] Like a lot of people reached out to me to like give me a reference.

[00:29:37] Oh, yeah.

[00:29:38] Kevin, yeah.

[00:29:38] Go apply for my job.

[00:29:39] Go apply here.

[00:29:40] And even though I got the referrals, I still couldn't get a job.

[00:29:44] It was crazy.

[00:29:44] I could not find a job at all.

[00:29:48] So I ended up like I ended up just like it was like going down.

[00:29:54] It was like going south.

[00:29:55] Everything was not working out for me.

[00:29:56] So it was like, all right, whatever.

[00:29:57] I can't really do much.

[00:29:58] Right.

[00:29:58] And then I remember I got reached out by one of my buddies, my cybersecurity buddies.

[00:30:05] And he asked me if if I want to go to Romania.

[00:30:08] It's a super random.

[00:30:09] So you want to go to Romania and speak?

[00:30:11] You want to go to Romania to do a talk?

[00:30:13] I'm like, but I'm like, I don't have a job right now.

[00:30:15] And he said, no, come on.

[00:30:18] Just go to B-Sides Romania.

[00:30:20] Let's do a talk.

[00:30:20] And I did a I did a talk with him.

[00:30:24] And by the time I got out of that talk, I found a job.

[00:30:27] So I remember I was doing a talk at Romania and I flew back.

[00:30:31] We flew back and I already had a job lined up for me on Monday morning.

[00:30:34] So, wow, it's just like I was struggling for a couple of months.

[00:30:38] Not finding I couldn't find a job.

[00:30:39] And people were like, how can he how can Kev not find a job?

[00:30:42] He has a big following.

[00:30:43] Big following has nothing to do with it.

[00:30:45] Like you have all the followers in the world.

[00:30:47] But like if no one's hiring, no one's hiring.

[00:30:50] Hey, what are you going to do?

[00:30:51] Right.

[00:30:51] So I that was like my that was like my worst story.

[00:30:55] And I found a job.

[00:30:56] And that's it.

[00:30:57] And I got a job after that.

[00:30:58] But I remember speaking at a conference and I got a job afterwards.

[00:31:01] But that was like my worst story in IT.

[00:31:06] Amazing.

[00:31:07] Amazing.

[00:31:07] And it is incredible to I almost feel like you explaining this story is

[00:31:14] something I know already.

[00:31:15] Like I watched this in real time.

[00:31:17] Like Kevin was on the Kevin shared it.

[00:31:19] He was like, yeah, I lost my job.

[00:31:21] And she shared this on LinkedIn.

[00:31:22] I was like, damn.

[00:31:23] And then he was like open for work, looking for a role, giving us updates.

[00:31:27] I was like, wow, this is real.

[00:31:29] Like the story you just explained.

[00:31:31] I was able to follow it like from from LinkedIn, which is really cool.

[00:31:36] Really cool.

[00:31:37] And no pressure.

[00:31:38] But if you have.

[00:31:41] Well, I guess that was a good and bad story.

[00:31:43] You know, you got there.

[00:31:44] But if you have another story to share with us, you can go ahead and do that.

[00:31:49] Another one that you feel like you'd want to share with the audience.

[00:31:52] Yeah, I remember.

[00:31:55] This is a this is this is a story based in New York.

[00:31:59] I remember I had I had this one guy that.

[00:32:03] So I got invited.

[00:32:05] I got invited to go eat in New York.

[00:32:08] And we had a get together.

[00:32:10] And it was super random because I went I went to a restaurant to go eat.

[00:32:15] And the guy knew who I was.

[00:32:17] So he's like, oh, what is this?

[00:32:18] Isn't that that guy from YouTube?

[00:32:20] And then I went and I ate.

[00:32:23] And it got invited.

[00:32:24] I got invited with a bunch of friends.

[00:32:25] I was like I was like with like 10 people.

[00:32:27] It was a lot of people.

[00:32:27] And we were eating together.

[00:32:30] And that guy knew who I was.

[00:32:31] And he didn't say anything like throughout the whole food or whatever we were eating.

[00:32:36] And then finally he got up and he talked to me.

[00:32:38] And he said, oh, yeah, aren't you that Kev type guy?

[00:32:41] I'm like, yeah, that's me.

[00:32:43] So and then that guy literally like he gave me a hug.

[00:32:45] It was so random.

[00:32:46] He gave me a little awkward because he gave me a hug.

[00:32:49] And and I mean, I'm not saying I'm not into hugs.

[00:32:52] I'm just saying that it's just an awkward hug.

[00:32:55] And and I'm like, why are you hugging me?

[00:32:57] This is weird.

[00:32:58] Right.

[00:32:59] And I said that in my head.

[00:33:00] And I didn't say that to him, obviously.

[00:33:02] It's just like he hugged me.

[00:33:03] And he said, oh, no, I got a job because of you.

[00:33:06] Because of you, I tripled my salary.

[00:33:08] I was working at Rite Aid and I was working at Rite Aid.

[00:33:12] And then I watched some of your videos and I took your resume template and I tripled my salary because of you.

[00:33:18] So I had to I have to at least buy you a drink or buy you something.

[00:33:23] Right.

[00:33:23] Because you're here.

[00:33:25] Right.

[00:33:25] And I'm like, oh, OK.

[00:33:27] All right, cool.

[00:33:28] And then I was just we just we were just talking back and forth.

[00:33:30] We had a conversation.

[00:33:32] And yeah, he got I think he got a job working for a finance for a financial company.

[00:33:37] And he was making really good money.

[00:33:38] And I was just super, super grateful.

[00:33:41] And and I was just telling him, I don't want anything.

[00:33:44] I'm not asking for anything.

[00:33:45] I don't want anything.

[00:33:46] I just literally I'm just here to eat dinner.

[00:33:47] And that's it.

[00:33:48] No, no, I got you.

[00:33:49] I got you.

[00:33:49] OK, that's fine.

[00:33:51] So, yeah, sometimes you'd be very surprised.

[00:33:53] Like when you're when you walk around, not even New York, I flew to several conference events.

[00:33:59] People know who you are.

[00:34:00] So you show up and people are like, oh, hey, aren't you that?

[00:34:04] Yeah, that's me.

[00:34:05] So, yeah, sometimes you have you have things like that where people know who you are and then you make an impact.

[00:34:13] Right.

[00:34:13] And you don't know about it.

[00:34:14] And then people tell you about it.

[00:34:15] And then you're like because sometimes when I when I make these when I make videos on YouTube or when I'm on LinkedIn or when I'm just putting out content out there.

[00:34:26] For me, it's like, am I helping someone or am I not helping someone?

[00:34:30] Right.

[00:34:30] So you think about it.

[00:34:31] Right.

[00:34:31] It's like me.

[00:34:32] It's like I don't know if I'm helping someone.

[00:34:33] So like so that's why I like when people tell me, oh, yeah, you help me.

[00:34:37] You help me with this.

[00:34:38] I appreciate you, Kevin.

[00:34:39] I'm like, oh, OK, cool.

[00:34:41] I'm actually doing something right.

[00:34:42] Right.

[00:34:42] So it's like those things are important.

[00:34:44] And so like for him to tell me that I definitely appreciated that.

[00:34:49] Amazing.

[00:34:50] Amazing.

[00:34:51] And it's so it's so true.

[00:34:53] I mean, like very recently, someone came up to me.

[00:34:57] Shout out to her.

[00:34:59] She knows who she is and said, yeah, I've been watching your podcast.

[00:35:03] Really, really interesting.

[00:35:04] Really, really great.

[00:35:05] And this was at a tech conference as well.

[00:35:08] And I was like, wow, no one's ever like come up and said, I watched your podcast before.

[00:35:14] It's never happened before.

[00:35:15] And so and at that conference, it happened twice.

[00:35:19] And I was like, wow, OK, people actually watch this.

[00:35:22] People actually interested in this.

[00:35:23] People actually learning something from this.

[00:35:25] A lot of the time when you put out content online, you see 1000 followers and you're like and it looks just it's just numbers.

[00:35:33] Like, yeah.

[00:35:34] But each of those 1000 is a person who clicked and watched.

[00:35:38] But I think on YouTube is at least 30 seconds for it to count as a view.

[00:35:42] So someone watched you for 30 seconds and each of that 1000 is one person.

[00:35:48] But in your head, you don't actually like realize what that is like.

[00:35:54] But but when you see someone say, oh, you really helped me with this or someone messages you and says, this was so great.

[00:36:03] Thank you so much.

[00:36:04] Or someone leaves a comment saying, wow, this had such a great impact.

[00:36:07] I was able to, you know, pass a certification because of this or I was able to get a job because of this.

[00:36:13] You really understand what this actually means to some people and how what you do helps people.

[00:36:21] And Kevin, you've been doing this for so long because I've been watching you on YouTube for so long.

[00:36:27] And I've seen, you know, the way that your content has impacted people.

[00:36:33] So I've seen the comment sections and and there's a reason that you have the following you have.

[00:36:40] It's not just it's there because you've consistently showed up helping people in a way that they need with IT support and in other areas as well.

[00:36:51] And so when people come up to you and that guy came up to you, gave you a hug.

[00:36:57] It's it's it's really it's really a sign of so many other people who, you know, if you saw them face to face, they probably give you a hug as well.

[00:37:07] Because you've been helping a lot of people for a long time.

[00:37:11] And I was even talking to a previous guest.

[00:37:14] He's like, yeah, whatever guest you haven't on here.

[00:37:16] I was like, oh, yeah, we I'm I'm I'm having a call with Kevin.

[00:37:19] So he's like, Kevin, like, like Kevin, like I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:37:23] He's going to come on the podcast and we're going to have a chat.

[00:37:26] And he was like, wow, no, that that's that guy is he's he's done a lot.

[00:37:30] He's done a lot and done a lot to help people.

[00:37:32] So if you in case you were wondering, you are helping people and and and the impact is incredible right now.

[00:37:42] And and I know that you'll continue to do that, which is amazing.

[00:37:49] So to end off this podcast, I want to just give you the opportunity to shout anything out.

[00:37:56] Where can people find you?

[00:37:57] What are your platforms and anything else you want to shout out?

[00:38:01] Go ahead.

[00:38:02] Yeah, definitely.

[00:38:03] So you guys you guys could find me on Twitter as CapTech IT Support.

[00:38:07] I'm on Instagram as CapTech IT Support as well.

[00:38:12] If you want to know more about IT support or help desk or like free content, like things to help you out.

[00:38:20] If you're brand new to IT, I recommend you go to again, CapTech IT Support.

[00:38:25] CapTech IT Support dot com is my website.

[00:38:27] So there's a lot of free resources in there as my counties and there's a lot of stuff in there.

[00:38:31] So CapTech IT Support dot com would be the website I would definitely recommend you guys go to because I have resources there that are free.

[00:38:38] Some are paid.

[00:38:39] It depends what you're trying to do.

[00:38:40] I have a section there for veterans.

[00:38:43] If you're a veteran and you want free resources as a veteran, that website, CapTech IT Support dot com has free resources for veterans trying to get into IT and cybersecurity.

[00:38:54] And I have other stuff in there as well.

[00:38:56] Like people that I'm partnering with because I'm partners with Comptia and a bunch of other companies.

[00:39:00] So I definitely recommend you look at that.

[00:39:03] As far as far as far as far as looking me up, you can find me as Kevin Apollinario first and last name.

[00:39:11] If you put my first and last name, I actually show up on you on Udemy because I have a Udemy course.

[00:39:16] And yeah, that's it for me.

[00:39:18] It's all like socials.

[00:39:19] I want like that.

[00:39:19] That's it.

[00:39:21] Amazing.

[00:39:22] Amazing.

[00:39:23] Kevin, I just want to say another massive thank you for joining us on Tech Certified Podcast.

[00:39:28] Really appreciate you being here.

[00:39:30] Thank you, sir.

[00:39:31] Appreciate you.

[00:39:32] Amazing.

[00:39:33] And to the audience, we're back every week.

[00:39:36] So tune in every Monday.

[00:39:37] Don't miss an episode.

[00:39:39] So much more to come.

[00:39:41] Peace.

[00:39:42] Peace.

[00:39:43] Bye.