Man Behind the Mainframe: Getting to Know Jason McMinn of Byte Ideas & Solutions

It seems that Jason McMinn is exactly where destiny wants him to be.

His first brush with computers was at the age of 6, and it's been the obvious direction for his career path since then.

"My Dad woke up at about 3 o'clock in the morning, and I was on his computer," he said. "I was like 6 years old. I was just putzing with it, and about a week later, he bought me my own Apple II Classic."

He promptly took it a part, and put it back together again, changing some of the parts while he was at it. Now, he's 34, and is running his own IT business -- Byte Ideas & Solutions. (It's based right here in Lilburn.)

Before he was an entrepreneur, he was doing what most people do: lending his talents to a large company. At 16, for example, he went to work for one of the nation's first dial-up Internet providers.

In May 2011, the idea of Byte Ideas & Solutions came to him. He started moonlighting and catching side gigs when he could.

And, then one day, he had enough of corporate America all-together. It was humdrum, and it wasn't very honest either, he said.

Around October 2011, McMinn quit. He hasn't looked back since.

"I've never wanted to be the dude pushing paper behind a desk; I'm a trenches guy," McMinn said. "If my company were making millions of dollars today, I would still be out in closests wiring stuff, or putting servers in."

"I don't want to just get clients, and make money," he added. "I want to help educate people on the importance of their IT."

See our Patch Q & A below for more on Jacon McMinn and Byte Ideas & Solutions.

-----------

Patch: Why did you leave corporate America?

McMinn: "To be brutally honest, the ethics of it... The plain obsolescence of it, the let's-just-fix-it-so-it-lasts-a-little-while-and-then-they-have-to-call-us-back type thing. You know, not taking care of customers. You know, pushing stuff off, 'Oh well, they don't give us as much money as XYZ, so we're going to treat them differently.' That whole thing just really bothered me."

Patch: What do you think sets you apart?

McMinn: "When I sit down with a client I design a solution specifically built for them."

Other larger companies, he said, "They want to slam everyone into a $20,000 server solution, when maybe all the need is a file server that's going to cost them $5,000."

Patch: What is the most prevalent problem you see on the residential side of the business?

McMinn: "It's your spyware, malware viruses; people just generally not maintaining their computer. I always use the old adage: you got to treat a computer like a car. You got to do maintenance on it, you got to give it its regular check up. You can't just sit it on a desk for four years; never have anyone touch it, clean it up, do anything to it and expect it to keep running like the day you bought it."

Patch: What's the most prevalent problem on the commercial side?

McMinn: "Security is a big deal. A lot of people really don't think about their security. And, it's not, in a way, it's not their fault because the average person doesn't know what can happen to them: how someone's going to breach their system. To deal with someone who is a hacker, who wants to maliciously enter your environment is a very IT thing... You have to think like they do."

Patch: What was it like in the early days of your career?

McMinn: "I literally had to teach grandmothers how to turn their computer on over the phone. This is before remote assistance, or broadband, or anything like that. We're talking ancient times."

He added, "Basically, I started at the very low bottom-basement, the lowest thing you can start at, and I've gone all the way through the gamut. I've done, pretty much, every single job in IT that you can do."

Patch: What advice would you give to young people who want to get in the field?

McMinn: When someone comes to me aspiring to be an IT guy, and they say, "How much money do you make?" -- and that's their first question, I say, don't do IT. Don't go into IT, because IT -- you know, everyone's got this stigma that we all sit around, that we all make $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 a year, and we have simple lives, that we sit behind a desk and do nothing."

"IT support, particularly, is one of the most stressful jobs in the world," he added. "It's right up there with traffic control because you are dealing with people who are already completely pissed off."

So, for those young people just starting out: "I tell them don't go into IT. Don't go into IT unless you have a passion for it because it will chew you up faster than anything."

Want to learn more about Jason McMinn, his team and Byte Ideas & Solutions? Call them at 678-280-9051, or check out the company website. They are also on Facebook. Readers can also read more from Byte Ideas & Solutions in their Patch blog.

----------

Don’t miss any Lilburn news. Subscribe to Lilburn-Mountain Park's free newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.