Resume for Greg Rodgers
Writing
I started writing in highschool for fun, but only recently did I realize that I could use it to buy my next bowl of noodles. Now my writing has been featured in print and across the web. What were they thinking? [grin]Accomplishments and experience:
My vagabonding blog enjoys thousands of daily readers from all over the world. I currently write feature articles and do celebrity interviews for Tops in Lex magazine. I was hired by American Eagle in 2007 to write a blog onsite in Acapulco, Mexico for 1 month. I am the creator and editor of StartBackpacking.com. I won the 2007 "Gonzo Travel Writing" award. I won the 2008 SpongeFish Travel Moment contest. My work has been featured in:
- Kentucky Living Magazine
- Tops in Lex magazine
- Brave New Traveler Ezine
- Bootsnall.com
- TheTravelersNotebook.com
- RoadJunky.com
Photography
I enjoy photography as much as I do writing, despite the equipment costing slightly more! As usual, my focus is travel but I do have experience with equine, event photography, and macro work.Accomplishments and experience:
I shot over 2000 photos and did videography for American Eagle for 1 month in Acapulco, Mexico. I currently do event photography for Tops in Lex magazine. My equine photos from the 2008 Kentucky Rolex were used to create a new product line by LV Harkness. I was invited to showcase my work at the Limetree Gallery in Louisville, KY. Managed to get point blank photos of a grizzly in Alaska without being eaten! 
I spent 1 month working as a full time photographer at the Kentucky Horse Park. Enough bragging, go take a look at my photography portfolio!
Travel
Traveling the world has been the best education that I could ever receive. It opened my eyes and changed me from the inside out. I always travel alone and as a backpacker. I have budget travel in developing countries down to a fine art. No resorts or swimming pools for me! (or AC for that matter)I have become a voice for vagabonding travel and have even been interviewed on internet radio and podcasted in the UK. My website StartBackpacking.com has actually inspired a number of people to take control of their own lives and to escape the rat race.
A few of my travel experiences include:
Studying Shaolin Kung Fu at the famous school in China. Hiking the soon-to-be dammed Tiger Leaping Gorge in China. Wreck diving and scuba diving with sharks in Egypt. Driving through the north of Thailand on a motorbike. Exploring remote Angkor temples (away from the main site) in the jungle of Cambodia. Bungee jumping, sky diving, solo rock climbing, cliff diving, and other stupidity! I learned just enough language to get into trouble in Chinese, Thai, Russian, Italian, and Spanish.
Go here for pictures of my adventures or check out a short list of my travel experiences.
For a list of the countries I visited, please look at my vagabonding travel page.
Military
6 years as a 13F Forward Observer for the US ARMY
My job was to sneak forward and use a radio to call in artillery and/or air strikes on enemy positions. I learned attention to detail, teamwork as well as self reliance, and how to stay mission oriented. (while still managing to have a little fun). A description of my job in the ARMY can be found here.
6 months of Basic and AIT training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma Learned how to operate intimately in a small team within a bigger organization Received certification for battlefield first aid Served as a section chief over a 5 man FO team Called artillery fire for an infantry unit Learned to be self sufficient in the fieldTechnical
Have a look at my current web projects.All of my life I have been a hacker, tearing apart anything I could get my hands on to see what made it tick. I love technology and the satisfaction of watching a complex system work together. Unfortunately, earning a living in IT isn't nearly as fun as experimenting at home!
7 years as a Network Engineer for IBM Global Services (Mar 1998- Dec 2005)
I planned, designed, and maintained enterprise networks for IBM and its customers. My customers included LexMark, SquareD, General Motors, and others. I performed 24/7/365 support for Cisco LANs, SANs, and wireless networks all over the world. I also did media such as fiber cabling, wiring closets, and rack building. I maintained several Linux servers for my team and coded tools in PERL, HTML, and shell.
My last year was dedicated completely to network security and I performed security audits, received a SECRET level clearance, and even participated in the FBI's infragard program to help protect the nation's networks from hackers. I received security clearances from the IRS and possess a SECRET clearance from the Department of Defense.
3 years at LexMark as an electronics technician (Jul 1993 - Oct 1996)
I worked in ECAT as well as Research and Development to troubleshoot circuit boards, build prototype circuits, and make engineering changes on boards for chipset changes. Lexmark put me through electronics school and I received certifications on various equipment.
There were other various gigs, assignments, projects, and jaunts that did not make the list. If you are REALLY interested, please email me for the full scoop!
