You can’t miss Kobie, who has a big smile with a personality to match. From childhood, when his parents gave him his first computer, he’s had the desire to explore and test technology. “I remember sitting up at night writing simple programs in an attempt to make a small pixelated ball bounce around the screen randomly.”

While technology was a passion, it wasn’t the direction Kobie headed in college. “I have a background in theater and drama, which taught me how to think creatively when addressing challenges.” While pursuing his creative major, he designed and built sets, controlled the lighting, worked in wardrobe and also assisted with music. “This taught me how to integrate several areas into a production that matched the director’s vision.” Kobie believes that his experience in theater is now reflected in his role as a systems administrator, as he often has to integrate many different technical areas, such as networking, servers and applications to combine them into a system that can support business needs.

Kobie is never sure what each week will bring as he partners with administrators, business analysts and directors from each division. He recently traveled to Brussels on assignment. “Through technology and information sharing, we have the ability to support teams around the world.”

As a theater and drama major who is now in information technology, he shares the following advice with recent college graduates, “You have to be flexible and have the ability to shift directions quickly. In our fast-paced field, we adopt new technologies and methodologies quickly, which requires you to constantly be learning and growing.” He sees remote connectivity as an area that will change his profession over the next decade as providing secure, reliable transactions to customers, vendors and partners is becoming increasingly important.

Kobie believes in having a balance between work and life as he and his wife are raising two beautiful daughters. “My wife, Karima, was a big influence in convincing me to work at St. Jude Medical.” When Kobie was previously a contract employee for various companies in California, Karima encouraged him to keep an open mind and explore the possibilities. “St. Jude Medical is a great place to work, especially if you are looking for advancement opportunities.” Kobie is an example of how far you can go. His first assignment was to help establish a service desk. From there he moved across the country to Minnesota and after multiple promotions is now a systems administrator.