Hey Everyone,
This is Jeremy. I wanted to do something for everyone to get to know a little bit more about the people that work here at Singlehop. So I thought I would interview a person and put what they said up here for your viewing pleasure. I started with Andrew Brooks, and this is what he had to say.

How did you get into hosting computers/servers? - I started off as a member of the Linux community a few years ago, getting started as a newbie. Eventually, I made some friends in the community who wanted start their own forums or web sites or just servers in general. One thing led to another and I started breaking some things, fixing some things, etc. At the point where I was fixing more than I was breaking, I started doing some freelance work, mostly security based, which eventually turned into a career working with dedicated servers and complex hosting solutions at SingleHop!

What subject brings out the best in you?- Security. I’ve always had a passion for system and application level security technologies and that particular skill set is something I really enjoy delivering to our clients.

Do you have any hobbies?- I play a lot of TF2 and I am looking forward to Prototype when it’s released. I work full-time and go to school full-time, so when I do have some spare moments I like to spend them with my girlfriend. I also read a lot and consider myself as somewhat of a lifetime learner so I am always reading up on new issues, mostly technology related.

How did you find SingleHop?- I actually found SingleHop by talking with Ronald Cotoni, the datacenter manager on IRC. He mentioned that work was busy and I told him he should hire me to take the load off. That same day I had send my resume to Andy Pace and the rest is history as they say.

Something interesting about yourself?- I worked as a professional chef at some upscale restaurants in the metro Detroit area prior to pursuing my love of computers.

Anything funny happen to you while at work?- It’s rare when something funny doesn’t happen at work! SingleHop is an incredibly fun place. While there is lots of work to be done, the group of people I get to work with are both professional and entertaining. I don’t think there is anything more rewarding than actually enjoying your job and the people you have to spend 40+ hours a week with.

What is your most memorable moment at SingleHop?- Hmmm…One of my most memorable moments at SingleHop was when I was performing some in-house security development. The fun part wasn’t necessarily a particular moment, but the enjoyment I derived during the weeks I was working on this project. I remember that it was great being immersed in the level of system security I always wanted to work in. It was a great exercise in applying what I had already learned and learning more along the way. Then there was the time Dan Ushman walked into the office wearing a pair of stilts. That might be a close second.

What hardware/software do you use for your work computer or home computer?- I have a few machines I work off of at home. My desktop is an Intel E7400 Wolfdale, 4G of RAM, 500G Seagate drive, Radeon HD3879, nothing terribly fancy but it gets the job done! As far as operating systems go I have Vista Business which I use for work, and my primary OS is Vista Ultimate 64-bit at home. I also run some Slackware, CentOS, Ubuntu and Fedora Core 11 virtual machines that get used for various things.
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Andrew Brooks (we call him Brooks) is a pretty entertaining guy. He works upstairs and every time he comes down stairs he usually has something funny to say. He is a great guy to work with and makes even the crummiest days a little better ☺ Hope you all enjoyed this interview, and you can look forward to more of them.