I am primarily a web designer ... but ...

Someone mentioned to me recently that I don't make enough noise about the fact that I am digital tourism consultant. I just presumed people knew. I have a few strings my bow and when people ask I tell them "Well I am primarily a web designer .. but...". But it got me thinking about how people perceive you and from time to time you need to remind them. So here goes.

IT Technician

My first job in Macardles Brewery was as an IT Technician working for Guinness. I was fresh out of Dundalk Institute of Technology and back in 1994 the brewery only had about 12 computers. By the time I left it had about 200 hundred and someone needed to fix them. So I learned all things IT/Networks/Phones/Email/MSOffice and all of that good stuff. It hasnt actually changed that much and I can still just about fix a p.c. or two when I really need to. It was my first ever job... I loved it and I still run the www.macardles.ie Historical Society website. I also run the www.gatheringheritage.com website which collects Oral Histories around Dundalk.

IT Consulting

When the brewery closed in 2001 I setup my own company Jascom Ltd (Jason + Computers) and have been trading in all things it ever since. Having a limited company has opened many doors for me as I went back to work for Diageo Ireland (Guinness, Baileys etc) for a time and doing all sorts of IT installations, migrations and changes at a time when they wanted to move alot of stuff around Ireland and the UK. Having a company with "Consulting" on the end means you can be very flexible on the type of services I delivered so even though I started to build websites I kept my options open to consult on major and minor IT projects ever since.

Web Solutions

Being a web designer nowadays means doing more that just the design part. You need to register domains, provide hosting, website maintenance, SEO, Cybersecurity and Backups. I also run several online servers and some people in the business call that Dev Ops so the IT background I learned way back in 1994 has stood to me when I need to run cloud based servers too. When I login each day I run through a checklist of kinds of systems and alerts to check. It's taken me over 20 years to spot something in a single email alert that needs investigation in a sea of emails, reports, screens and notices. Nowadays the jobs is only about 20% Design and about 50% Cybersecurity. The rest is Sales, Admin and Updates.

IT Trainer

I went back to college in DKIT in 2023 to mark my 50th year and graduated with a certficate in Digital Marketing and Digital Media Management (thanks to Skillsnet). It reignited a desire for teaching in me and even though I am on the Louth LEO training panel I am half way through a FETAC "Train The Trainer" course (thanks again to Skillsnet) so I can formally teach others what I have learned over the years. I have also built Elearning Platforms and my own online courses. The hightlight of the year so far was being asked back to DKIT as a guest lecture for a 3rd year Marketing class who wanted to learn more about Search Engine Optimisation.

Digital Tourism

I diverted into becoming a Digital Tourism Consultant in 2015 (10 years ago!!!) when I first joined Fáilte Ireland as a Test Manager for their www.visitdublin.com project. It was only for 6 weeks but since then was a project manager for www.meetinireland.com - then www.discoverireland.com and more recently helping to digitally enhance the Boyne Valley Ancient Destination Development Plan (ADEDP) across 6 destination websites in #Louth and #Meath. It's a labour of love as I am passionate about tourism and lucky to be living in one of the most beautiful (and tidiest 2024 winner) - www.visitblackrock.ie and am PRO on the local tourism group. I am also chair of the Louth Tourism Network and Louth Economic Forum for Tourism so I wear a few different tourism "hats" depending on the day.

In Summary

The next time someone asks you "what do you do" maybe think about all the thing you do before you reply. Do you help out at a sports club? Do you manage a kids football team? Do you pick up litter at the weekends? Do you have a sideline hobby that you enjoy but people don't know you are passionate about?

Then don't be shy - let people know as they may be able to help you out or even offer you a job. You may never have told someone you know well ... just because they never asked.

So what do you really do ?

END.