The IT Guy I Never Planned to Be: Passion, Curiosity, and the Cost of Playing It Safe
The IT Guy I Never Planned to Be: Passion, Curiosity, and the Cost of Playing It Safe
Technology has intrigued me for more than three decades. It's been a hobby, a passion, and something I've continued learning about long before I ever considered turning that interest into a business.
Some things came naturally to me. Other things required research, experimentation, and plenty of trial and error. Either way, I enjoyed the process of figuring things out.
Yet for years, I let something hold me back: the idea that I needed the right credentials, official papers, or some kind of external validation before I could take that interest seriously.
I tried a couple of technical schools back in the day and even spent a year in college. Those experiences weren't wasted. But I eventually learned that I understood things better when I could read about them, watch someone demonstrate them, listen to different perspectives, and then put the knowledge into practice myself.
I needed to work through the information, connect the dots, and figure out how to apply it in a way that made sense to me.
That's how I've learned most of what I know about technology. And it turns out that approach has helped me understand a lot more than technology.
The Hobby That Never Went Away
For almost two decades, I worked in retail. Technology never stopped being part of my life, though. It was still the thing I gravitated toward outside of work, the subject I wanted to learn more about, and the challenge I enjoyed tackling.
I wasn't a programmer. I wasn't a computer repair technician. But I was the person who wasn't afraid to investigate when something stopped working.
Somehow, even when we had an actual IT person, I often became the unofficial one. If something broke, I'd see what I could figure out. Most of the time, I could resolve the issue myself. Other times, I knew when the problem required access or assistance beyond what I could do, and I'd call technical support.
I had a different way of looking at problems. An “out of order” sign wasn't necessarily a dead end. It was a challenge. Could I figure out what was wrong? Could I find the information that explained the problem? Was there something I could do to get things working again?
That curiosity never really left me.
Looking back, I wonder how much sooner I could have pursued technology professionally if I hadn't spent so much time thinking I needed permission, credentials, or a particular title to do so.
I'm not saying every hobby needs to become a job or that everyone should monetize the things they enjoy. Sometimes a hobby is best left as a hobby. But sometimes, the things we naturally gravitate toward are pointing us in a direction worth exploring.
The challenge is recognizing the difference between genuinely not wanting something and being afraid to pursue it because we don't fit the conventional mold.
For a long time, I think I confused the two.
I Was Learning More Than I Realized
While I was working in retail, I wasn't just learning about technology in my spare time. I was also learning about business, people, and how organizations actually operate.
I learned from coworkers, customers, managers, and the way the business was run from the sales floor to the corporate level. I paid attention to what was changing, why decisions were being made, and how those decisions affected the people doing the work.
I wasn't always happy in that job. But I was paying attention.
And that made a difference.
I wanted to understand more than what I was being told to do. If a policy changed, I wanted to know why. If a new process was introduced, I wanted to understand what prompted it. If the company was heading in a different direction, I wanted to see the signs before the change landed in front of me.
I became someone people came to for information. Sometimes I knew what was happening before others did, not because I had some special access, but because I was looking for information that was already available.
The information was there. You just had to look for it.
That became a recurring theme in how I approached work and life: don't stop at the announcement. Look for the explanation behind it. Don't just learn what changed. Try to understand why it changed in the first place.
Find the why behind the why.
That's where things get interesting.
The Deep Dive Before There Was a Deep Dive
I didn't have a name for this approach back then, but I was already doing what I now think of as taking a deep dive.
I would read, research, compare information, and try to connect the dots. I didn't want to memorize a talking point or repeat something someone else had told me. I wanted to understand the reasoning behind it.
When I found something useful, I'd try to share it with others. I'd explain what I'd learned, where the information came from, and how they could find it themselves.
Sometimes, that went over well.
Other times, I'd get a response along the lines of, “That's too much work,” or, “I don't understand all that. I'm just here for a paycheck.”
I could understand that perspective. Not everyone wants to spend their free time researching a company or digging into how a particular system works. People have other priorities, and a job is a job for many of us.
But I also believed there was value in understanding the environment you were working in. You didn't need to become a corporate analyst or spend every evening reading business reports. You just needed to know enough to recognize what was happening around you.
Because changes don't usually happen in a vacuum. There are often clues, decisions, and developments that lead up to them.
And if you're paying attention, you have a better chance of seeing them coming.
The Day I Decided Never to Be Blindsided Again
That mindset didn't come out of nowhere. One of my earliest lessons came during a part-time job I had in high school.
We were all called into a room and told that the location was closing. We had a few weeks to transfer to another location or find another job.
Just like that.
I hadn't seen it coming. I didn't have the experience or perspective to recognize what might have been happening behind the scenes. I was young, working my job, and assuming things would continue as they were.
That experience stuck with me.
From that day forward, I decided I didn't want to be caught completely off guard like that again.
I couldn't control every decision an employer made. I couldn't guarantee that a business would survive or that a job would always be there. But I could control how informed I was.
I could listen. I could observe. I could read. I could pay attention to what was happening beyond my immediate responsibilities.
Over time, that meant looking at things other people might overlook: company earnings reports, sales trends, business performance, leadership announcements, changes in strategy, and the broader market.
When a company is publicly traded, it generally has extensive reporting obligations. Earnings reports, financial statements, investor presentations, and other public disclosures can offer insight into its performance and priorities. Even companies that aren't publicly traded often communicate important developments through press releases, leadership announcements, and other public information.
You don't have to understand every number or become an expert in finance to start paying attention.
You just have to be willing to look.
A company might tell employees that it's changing direction, but there may be clues in its financial performance or strategic decisions that help explain why. A store might appear to be doing business as usual while the larger organization is restructuring. A new technology or process might seem to come out of nowhere when, in reality, it's the result of months or years of development.
The information isn't always complete, and not every development is predictable. Sometimes decisions happen quickly, and sometimes even people inside an organization don't know what's coming.
But there's a difference between being unable to predict the future and making no effort to understand the present.
Don't just go to work. Be aware of the business you're working for.
That doesn't mean living in fear that your job might disappear. It means giving yourself a better understanding of the environment you're in, so you can make more informed decisions about your own future.
Information Is Available. Curiosity Is the Missing Ingredient.
One thing I've learned is that people often have access to far more information than they realize. The challenge isn't always finding it. Sometimes it's recognizing that the information matters in the first place.
We live in an age when a tremendous amount of knowledge is available at our fingertips. You can learn how a technology works, research an industry, study a company's performance, or develop a new skill without enrolling in a formal program.
That doesn't mean formal education has no value. Degrees, certifications, structured training, and professional experience all have their place. Some careers require specific credentials, and some skills are best learned with expert guidance.
But credentials aren't the only way to become knowledgeable. And not having a particular piece of paper doesn't mean you have nothing valuable to offer.
The key is learning how to find reliable information, evaluate what you're reading, put it into practice, and recognize the limits of what you know.
That's especially important with technology, where new tools, platforms, and capabilities emerge constantly. You can't learn everything at once, and trying to do so can leave you overwhelmed.
Instead, build your toolbox as you go. Learn what you need, explore what interests you, and add new skills when an opportunity or challenge calls for them.
That's the approach that has worked for me for more than three decades.
Stop Waiting for Permission to Be Curious
I spent a long time letting conventional expectations influence what I thought I could do professionally. I didn't have all the credentials. I didn't fit neatly into a particular job title. And even though I continued learning and applying what I knew, I didn't always give that experience the credit it deserved.
Eventually, I had to recognize that curiosity, practical experience, and the ability to work through a problem were valuable in their own right.
That realization is part of what led me to take my interest in technology more seriously and build Touches of Tech.
I'm still not trying to be everything to everyone. I'm not a programmer or a computer repair technician. My focus is on helping people and businesses use technology more effectively, whether that means building a website, choosing the right tools, improving a process, or making sense of something that initially feels complicated.
I bring the same mindset I've had for years: understand the problem, find the information, connect the dots, and figure out what works.
And I'm still learning. I expect I always will be.
If there's one thing I'd encourage someone else to take away from my experience, it's this: don't automatically dismiss an interest because it doesn't fit your current job, your educational background, or the path you thought you were supposed to follow.
You don't have to turn every hobby into a business. You don't have to quit your job tomorrow or make a dramatic leap before you're ready.
But you should give yourself permission to explore what genuinely interests you.
Follow the questions that keep coming back. Learn the things you want to understand. Pay attention to what's happening around you. Look beyond the obvious explanation and ask why.
Sometimes, the thing you do for fun is simply something you enjoy. Other times, it's the beginning of a skill, a new opportunity, or an entirely different direction in life.
You may not know which one it is until you start exploring.
For me, technology was always there. I just had to stop letting the labels hold me back and recognize that I had been building something useful all along.
I wasn't just a tech junky.
I was learning how to think, how to solve problems, how to find information, and how to understand the bigger picture.
I just didn't know where it would lead me yet.
Thanks for reading The Deep Dive!
What do you think?
Have a thought about this Deep Dive? I'd love to hear it.
Email me at thedeepdive@touchesoftech.com and let me know what you think—or send along an idea for something you'd like to see explored in a future Deep Dive.
I can't promise I'll write about every suggestion, but I'm always interested in hearing what you're curious about.