Bio

Bio

I am Drupalguy, Adrian McKee. I retired from Ma Bell in 2001 after 28 years. While there I went from Janitor to Network/WAN engineer. After beginning as a janitor and went from there to being a telephone installer, and then to data communications (back when 50 bps was considered High Speed Data). I also repaired teletypes and from there graduated to more modern electronics dealing with Analog data transmission systems to Mini-Computers and PCs in the Mid-80's.

Later I took a step back to cable repair (where there was more Overtime) and when my background became known was moved back into Data Communications doing T1s and DS3s Modems Multiplexers. In the late 90's I took a promotion to get into Broadband, Frame-Relay, ATM and Networking and Routers. Worked on IP, IPX, SNA, Apple Talk working on Bay Networks/Nortel and Cisco equipment.

After I retired I became and independent contractor getting into Microsoft, Internet, Firewalls, Web Design, basically a jack-of-all trades/master of some and worked for a Florida ASP doing field service work and tech support via telephone.

In the 90's I started running a BBS for those who were members of my faith and from there I started learning HTML to move my BBS to a Website. My next step was to move it from pure HTML to Joomla. In 2012 there was a push for others of my faith to make use of Drupal for creating websites (nibahai.org) and they offered a class to get started with a Drupal distribution that was created for that purpose.

I liked how that worked and have used Drupal to create other website, one for a Bluegrass Band I was involved in and a site dedicated to early African American influences on music in this nation (UnityBluegrass..org).

During this time I learned there was a Meetup group that was focused on people interested in Drupal so I joined and attended meetings. It was being involved with this group that I was able to network and learn about the Drupal community. I was impressed by its sense of Community and how it aligned with my Faith's believe in the power of cooperation and the focus on the good of the community and being of service.

During this time I was also becoming very discouraged with how those in tech were being treated by the larger companies in how we were undervalued and being abused by their (often) difficult conditions we were being made to work under. This enabled me to make the decision to change fields and work towards becoming a full-time Drupaler.

Through the meetup I was involved in I met and got to know the community and I was able to make contacts that made this happen.

I am now associated with a Drupal Agency, Net2Community (Net2Community.com) and I have been here since September, 2017. For them I am a Developer/Site builder, learning and expanding my knowledge. I am gaining knowledge and experience in theming and coding, mostly rudimentary things, but I try not to shy away from things I don't know (though there are probably times I should, or after the fact feel I should), but I enjoy learning. I am very happy with my new field and focus and am looking forward to continuing it for years to come (despite being on the downward slide of life ).

As far as other endeavors I am involved in, I have a love of photography (having shared a darkroom with my brother when we were kids) and today, enjoying pursuing photography in the digital realm. I also love music, having preformed music full time when I was younger. I must admit, with all the time I am spending learning Drupal, I don't have the time I used to have to pursue music, it is still a part of me and I hope to find time in the future to begin playing and performing once again.

Currently one thing I do with my wife, is that we (along with others) are working on creating a not-for-profit, Pizza and Social Justice (PizzaAndSocialJustice.org) that is dedicated to encouraging people to get together to discuss race and social justice in a non-threatening manner. When I am not doing Drupal I am working on that end.