When most of Rutgers is winding down for the night, Harry Brickman is just getting started. As an after-hours User Support Specialist with the Office of Information Technology Help Desk, Brickman spends his shifts triaging account issues, watching over key IT services, and making his rounds through the Hill Data Center on Busch campus to make sure everything is running smoothly.
A lifelong night owl with more than 20 years of IT experience, Harry is driven by the challenge of figuring out what’s really behind a user’s issue. He’s currently growing his IT Service Management (ITSM) skill set through Rutgers’ microcredentialing program, and when he’s not on shift, you can usually find him behind a camera, gaming with his kids, or spending time with his family.
How did you first get started in IT, and what’s kept you in the field for so long?
I’ve always been pretty nerdy and geeky. It started with my uncle’s old PCs—I’d go over and just tinker with them. I was so young I’d literally just play with the paint program and make circles, but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
What’s kept me in IT all these years is the troubleshooting. Hearing someone’s issue and thinking through it, that problem-solving piece, has always been my favorite part.
What does a typical after hours shift look like for you?
Besides taking calls and responding to emails, we have nightly priorities to get through. That includes administrative tasks, such as creating guest IDs or early employee NetIDs, as well as service monitoring. We frequently check Canvas, Rutgers Connect, myRutgers, and the network across all the campuses.
And every two hours, we do rounds through the Hill Data Center to check HVAC units, battery backups, alarms, etc., for anything unusual. When we first sit down, we usually open about a dozen tabs and ensure everything stays in the green throughout the night.
How has your background guided your ITSM work, and what was your experience with the microcredentialing program?
At my previous job, I managed the maintenance management software. Even though it wasn’t a traditional ITSM tool like ServiceNow, I realized once I came to Rutgers that the principles were basically the same. That made the transition pretty natural.
I really enjoyed the ITSM microcredentialing program here, especially because so much of it clicked with my past experience. The instructor, Christopher Hart-Ruiz, was great, and I’ve already completed the fundamentals badge. I’m planning to sign up for the next course in February and after that I want to go for the ITIL 4 certification.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I’m a father of four, so a lot of my time is spent with my kids. My older sons are really into music and video games, which is great because it’s something we enjoy together, and my oldest even listens to the same heavy metal I did at his age. The hobby I’ve been trying to get back into is photography, mainly landscape and macro work, or anything artsy with long exposures.
Do you and your kids have a favorite game you play together?
Minecraft, definitely. My oldest loves the engineering side of it and plays games like Satisfactory too, where you build factories or even nuclear power stations. My favorite games are anything Zelda related and Path of Exile.
Let’s wrap up with a quick, rapid fire.
- Dark mode or light mode? Dark mode.
- Windows, macOS, or Linux? I use all three, but probably Windows for the versatility.
- Slack or Outlook? Slack—definitely the mobile app.
- Coffee or snacks during an overnight shift? Coffee.
- Tabs or windows—what do you have too many of open? I’m a minimalist and close everything immediately, but for monitoring, I keep about a dozen tabs open. So… tabs.