deRhodes.com

Wow, I can't believe it has been 9 months since my last update, and already 14 months since I earned my MBA! Well, since starting my job at Kaiser Permanente last May I've been incredibly busy. I already feel a great sense of accomplishment in the work I have been doing. A lot of my time has been spent taking all kinds of data from many sources, and turning it into some kind of business intelligence. The tools I have been using are pretty standard really: Microsoft Access, Excel, FrontPage, SharePoint, ftp and telnet. I've also had some wonderful exposure to NetScout nGenius, CA eHealth v5.7/6.1, and some other network performance management tools. The results have been exciting: I have taken what I have been told previously took a week to do and got it down to a couple hours or less. Need to know where there is asymmetric routing on the network? Give me a few seconds. Need to know the utilization of all of our MPLS circuits last month? Child's play! Using regression and some historical data, I can even predict what next month's WAN traffic might be. 

All of this and more gets published to a Metrics Dashboard that I created. It helps management to get a better sense of the health of the network, and make the important decisions that need to be made so e-medical records can be accessed by members and physicians without incident, and so that the network is robust enough to handle digital X-rays, VoIP, and videoconferencing. It feels great to be a part of all that. 

I have three months until my one year anniversary, and my hope is that I can turn my attention to automating some of the processes I have put in place and migrating the data I have collected from Microsoft Access to MySQL.

Below is a pic of my team, a great bunch of people with an impressive collection of skills and knowledge. My boss is missing because someone had to take the picture :) (I'm second from the left.)

Life as a Network Capacity Planning Engineer at Kaiser Permanente is going well after my first two weeks. That's not to say I don't feel like a deer in headlights sometimes as I am buried with all kinds of new networking and Kaiser acronyms, but I'm absorbing it all quite well. And I can't complain about my team at all...a great group of people who are willing to share their knowledge and mentor when the opportunity arises.

The commute out to Walnut Creek from San Francisco isn't as bad as it might sound! I bought a bike which gets me from the Pleasant Hill BART station to the Kaiser Permanente data center in Walnut Creek, and I'm totally loving biking down the Contra Costa Canal Trail twice a day, five days a week. I'm not looking forward to the start of the rainy season later in the year because it will mean keeping the bike at home and hopping on a bus.

Things at school have finally wrapped up now that the graduation ceremony is behind me. While I'm not into ceremonies all that much, being able to see my former classmates and the faculty again made it all worthwhile. Below is a pic of me and my friend Eva - we took a marketing and a finance class together, and I'm glad to have this parting shot of both of us!

Change is in the air, and as much as I like to, I'm not talking about Obama! In one week I'll be taking on my new role as Network Capacity Planning Engineer at Kaiser Permanente! This will be a welcome change for me as I finally make my transition from recent MBA grad to the next stage of my career. It's an exciting change for me because my target industry in grad school was health care, and Kaiser Permanente was the subject of two projects in my MBA program. More details of my new role can be found under my professional experience section.

I'll be on BART a lot, so I'll have lots of time to read and keep up with my other interests: business strategy, biotechnology, and changes in the business climate in Vietnam. I'll also be exploring professional certifications, and see which ones make sense in the context of my career path. I recently read an article in BusinessWeek that highlighted "evidence of an emerging structural shift in the U.S. economy that has created serious mismatches between workers and employers" ("Help Wanted", Coy, May 2009). I'd prefer not to get caught up in all of that, and will be giving lots of thought to the kinds of skills that are needed in our highly dynamic economy. Fortunately, I enjoy learning tremendously.

Since I have a fews days off before work begins, I'm totally going to use the time well and see the new Star Trek film, as well as X-Men Origins: Wolverine !!

Well, it's been nearly four months since school ended, and the job search goes on. With the current economic downturn and unemployment at its highest level in 25 years, I couldn't have timed my graduation better! I've been in this situation before, and I know that eventually something will give. My job search has become very healthcare/biotech-focused, and the good news is, these industries aren't doing too badly. I've enjoyed learning more about the biotech industry, and the big industry players such as Roche, Genentech, Amgen and suppliers to the industry, such as Millipore. I've been making use of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to network with folks in the biotech industry and have had some surprisingly positive results. I'm very much looking forward to the Biotech Bay Career Fair which I'll be attending on May 6th.

Later in May I plan on attending the Ninth Annual Graduate Business Hooding Ceremony and Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Convocation at San Francisco State University. I recently received an honor student nomination, so I'm just beaming about that - thank you Dr. Wong! To receive a Distinguished Achievement Award for my graduate work would really be a feather in my cap...we'll see how it goes.

Until then I will keep plugging away on the job search, continue exploring my target industries and firms, and hope for opportunities that will allow me to leverage both my professional experience and investments in education.

I'm done! I've attended my last class and my research project was approved! This has probably been the fastest 16 months of my life, but also probably some of the best months of my life. Getting my MBA at San Francisco State University was such a great decision. I've enjoyed the personal growth as well as the many new friendships. With a graduation ceremony in May, the experience will go on for a bit longer. A big thanks to my family and friends who made the journey smoother than it would have been otherwise! I've been so lucky to be surrounded by so many supportive people.

Now it's time to enjoy the holidays, but also intensify my job search. So all you hiring managers out there, please be sure to check out my experience and career goals!

After seven weeks in Vietnam, I'm finally home and mentally preparing myself for my final semester in the MBA program at San Francisco State University. My summer trip to Vietnam was VERY productive. I got to meet lots of interesting people whose insights will surely make their way into my final research project which is due this December. I got a better handle not just on the macroeconomic issues facing the country, but also better familiarity with the transportation industry, consumer preferences, human resource challenges, and Vietnamese language, history, and culture. I learned more about the education system, Buddhism, the role of women in Vietnamese society, as well as many details about doing business in Vietnam.

So it was quite a multifaceted adventure, and each day was a learning experience.

The fall semester starts this Wednesday and I'll be taking these three classes:

• IBUS 859: International Business Negotiating with Dr. Baack
  
• BUS 890: Seminar in Strategic Management with Dr. Baack
  
• BUS 895: Research Project in Business with Dr. Nicholson and Dr. Wong as readers.
  

The spring semester is officially over !! Well, it was four days ago, and I couldn't be happier. Two semesters down, one to go! As always, I can't thank my friends and family enough for their tremendous support. There are so many things that can derail a person, but their support really allowed me to stay focused and accomplish some really great things this semester.

Now I get to enjoy my summer, and this will be the first time since 2004 that I won't be taking any summer classes. How weird !! Anyway, I've made some great plans so it's not like I'll be blowing the summer MTV style on some beach drinking booze and then posting stupid pictures on Facebook.

I plan on visiting Vietnam for seven weeks in an effort to see if a business opportunity that I've spotted is worth pursuing. I will conduct market research, evaluate distributors, and try to learn more of the language. I know about 300 words...not nearly enough...but I should be able to pick up a lot more since I'll be immersed.

The good news is that a lot of the information I uncover on this trip will be included in my final research project for the MBA program. I hope to uncover what is really needed to successfully do business in Vietnam, at a much deeper level than what you might read in a U.S. Commercial Service publication.

Stay tuned for what I think will be some very exciting updates!

With winter break just about over, things are going to start getting hectic again. I'm so glad that I had time to spend with friends here in San Francisco, although I didn't get to see everyone unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to the classes I will be taking in the spring semester which starts on Monday (the 28th). Here's what I've got scheduled:

• Seminar in Project Management with Dr. Vijay Mehrotra.
• Seminar in International Financial Markets with Dr. Yuli Su.
• Global Strategic Managment with Dr. Buddy Ungson.

25 Jan 2008

One semester down, two to go! I'm very happy with my grades (three A's and one A-), and am looking forward to the spring semester. But first, I'm going to enjoy my winter break and try to exercise more. Studying all the time can leave you feeling rather stiff...

My thanks go out to family, friends, and others who have been so supportive during a very busy semester. It is because of you that I can be so successful at all of this !!

Happy New Year !!

Another quick update since I have a new pic to post !! Whe hew !!

This is me and Dawn Walker, president of the Board of Directors of the Alumni Scholarship Association. We were at a dinner and reception for winners of the Alumni Scholarship Association awards (9 Oct). I won the award for a graduate studying business administration. It was very cool to be honored and surrounded by many talented people from all kinds of disciplines ?cinema, accounting, sexuality, nursing, you name it. School is going well, but I’m kinda like a deer in headlights with the amount of work I have to do. Here are some topics I’m covering this semester:

• Strategic Marketing. My team is working with a small adventure travel firm, and we are tasked with putting together a strategic marketing plan for him so he can grow his business.
• International Business seminar. My team is looking at Vietnam’s entry into the WTO and how this is impacting the country (which has been both positive and negative).
• The Strategic Use of Information Technology. My team is looking at one of the largest health care companies in the United States, and looking at how they use information technology to create a competitive advantage.
• International Marketing Research. This time I am not working on a team, so single-handedly I am analyzing the market potential of Vietnam and designing a plan for a small California company to enter that market.

So I keep busy as you can imagine. Anyway, until the next update, enjoy this pic.

After having returned to school in January 2005, I have finally gotten my undergraduate degree at San Francisco State University! Very exciting. A big hearty 'thank you' to family and friends who have been soooooo supportive.

I'm currently enrolled full-time in the MBA program at San Francisco State University. My emphasis is again International Business, with a geographic focus on Vietnam (although I'll be exploring other parts of the world as well). I hope to finish by the end of December 2008.

Further updates to come (time-permitting)!

Cheers,

Jeff deRhodes ( I'm LinkedIn !! )

PS. A recent picture (7 Aug 07) taken at Saigon Hi-Tech Park, site of Intel's largest assembly/test facility in the world! Well, it will be in 2009. Now it's still pretty much an empty field... That's Mr. Le Thanh Nhan who helps manage the park and took time out of his busy schedule to tell me all about the park.