Rutgers.edu
Junil Park, telecommunications analyst
What do farming and telecommunications have in common? Junil Park. Park is a telecommunications analyst in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and has shared what it’s been like juggling remote, in-person and hybrid working and learning environments at Rutgers as well as some details on his farming technology passion project.
What did you want to be when you were younger?
I always wanted to be a farmer. I grew up in a big city in South Korea and just gravitated toward the idea of what rural life would be like. Watermelons are my favorite fruit and I’ve really had a desire to grow them myself one day.
What made you get started in the IT industry?
When I was 19, I was given an opportunity to work at an IT company. It was a simple entry-level job at Verizon Fios where I would go to the customers’ houses and set up their cable boxes. I wanted to learn more about IT while I was working, so I decided to study for the Cisco certification. I wasn’t initially interested in video-related IT, but I was obligated to learn about it in order to do my next job. With that said, I had no idea how unique video-related IT was. I found myself getting more and more interested in it, so I applied to an open position at Rutgers and have been here ever since.
Can you describe your position at Rutgers?
I am a telecommunications analyst, and I work with the Enterprise Infrastructure Telepresence and Conferencing team in OIT. I install and manage video conference rooms and video solutions at Rutgers. I am in charge of designing the classroom or meeting room, configuring the unit, and then working with the network installation team to set it up. I do performance checks on rooms from time to time and if a team is conducting a Webex or Zoom call in a room and runs into any issues, I am responsible for determining what the problem is and trying to resolve it.
What are you most passionate about in your job?
I love that technology is something that changes every day. Everything that I learned in the past is different today and the newer versions of technical services that come out, I get to learn and adapt to. The beauty of IT is that you never get bored, and you never stop learning. You are always evolving for yourself and the audience you serve.
How did the pandemic impact your job?
Before the pandemic, we mainly focused on hardware solutions in conference rooms at Rutgers. Once the pandemic hit, the Rutgers community needed high-end software like Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Zoom on their personal computers at home so they could stay connected virtually. My team worked really hard to transition workers from using voice and video services via hardware solutions to software solutions. That was a big challenge as we had to completely shift and do it really quickly. With the current hybrid environment, we work on both hardware and software solutions.
Outside of work, what are your passions and hobbies?
I am such a nerd, even in my own house I experiment with new computer technology. I am currently testing this tiny computer with a test kit I bought and it sends signals to gadgets. I basically use Python, a programming language, to play with my large farming ideas on a smaller scale. The goal is to create smart farming systems that monitor the temperature and humidity of chicken coops, open their doors automatically, and move things remotely to different locations so that even livestock can be tended to from a computer. I am working on making my childhood dreams of being a farmer a reality.