Native to the area, Jimmy’s childhood was spent in Philly, around the art museum.
By the time high school came around, his engineering interests were beyond the scope of a traditional high school, so his parents smartly enrolled him in a technical high school.
He went to CAT Pickering technical high school (CAT = Center of Art & Technology) with a concentration in Electronics. He took to it like the budding engineer he was. By his senior year, he was building BattleBots.
Another notable project of his was to make a rail gun.
Rail Gun: a device that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles versus conventional propellants.
Electricity instead of gunpowder.
Jimmy’s rail gun used only AA batteries, but it was still, in his own words - “wildly dangerous.” “It was so powerful that we had to put a governor on it to keep it ~ “safe.”
At this point Jimmy gleefully recounts the building and performance of the project:
“We used 3-4K capacitors from disposable cameras! With 50 AA batteries - it shot a giant green plasma ball out the front!”
“It made a giant magnetic field on launch that knocked out nearby computers and a few cell phones.”
Being the engineer/nutty professor that he his, he refers to it as a “overall successful” experiment.”
When it came time to have his project reviewed and graded, a NASA technician and defense contractor came into school to judge it.
He thought he was just going to get graded (he did get an A) but they began talking to him as an equal. The dialog bloomed his interest further.
After high school he attended DCCC for Electrical Engineering and really enjoyed the hands on of it.
He approaches tasks “like an engineer;” that is - with an eye on the technical how and why of things, versus just procedural.
This makes him a discerning problem-solver, one that isn’t stymied by glitches because, knowing the principles and mechanics of a lock or power source, his conclusions aren’t a simple “it won’t work,” but a tidy set of reasons and possible solutions to the problem.
Why We Hired Jimmy:
Handed a failed part - what’s the problem?
The Guy We Didn't Hire: the wire is melted.
What’s the solution?
The Guy We Didn't Hire: Replace the wire.
#wompwomp
* * *
Same failed part handed to Jimmy - What’s the problem?
Jimmy: "The inline fuse is rated for a higher amperage than the wire can handle, this made the wire act as the fuse and it failed before the fuse, but this means that the line itself was getting too much power and so the power source, if it wasn’t just a surge, is incorrect for the gauge of wire being used."
Solution?
Jimmy: "Install the correct inline fuse, one that is rated to fail before the gauge of the system wire and one that’s rated in sync with the output of the power source. Also, check the specs on the power source to see what amperage it was feeding the line to determine if it was a power surge of some sort because this problem could be a symptom of a larger problem, not just an isolated failure."
That kind of answer is why we hired Jimmy.
A problem isn’t really fixed unless you know that repairing it to function will not simply set up the scenario for another, subsequent failure.
We’re betting Jimmy has that on a T-shirt somewhere.
Jimmy took to ALS for the variety of tasks, the type of work, the myriad of different problems and always meeting interesting people.
And Jimmy is certainly one of those interesting people himself. His skill and curiosity are the kind of assets that dovetail with our mission to be the region’s dominant Go To resource for electronic and mechanical Security work.
Cameras are a sound decision
We can install surveillance cameras for inventory control or, as in this store, for simple monitoring of spaces so - with a quick look - you can tell who's where, doing what.
Here, Jimmy tweaks the video monitor that watches musical practice rooms.
The More the Better
Jimmy enjoys the variety of places, people and problems he gets to deal with.
He's got one of those hungry minds that really enjoys all the variables and complications he encounters every day.
When Small is Big
Door alarms are meant to be sensitive, but this means small adjustments can make a big difference.
Get Jimmy out there, he'll get it working right.