Building Your Tech Career Character: Turning Gaming Skills into Project Management Success with Jay Jackson | Ep022

Episode Information Show Notes Career Downloads Episode 022: Jay Jackson Takes Us Through His Journey from Entry-Level Tech to Project Management Success In this episode, host Manuel Martinez welcomes Jay Jackson, a dynamic figure in the tech industry whose career spans sales, project management, consulting, and education. Jay opens up about his fascinating path that began at CompUSA and evolved into a successful career in project management and consulting. Jay shares how his early experience in video games shaped his approach to problem-solving and business challenges. He explains his innovative RAKSE framework for building a professional brand: Reputation: The foundation of career success Ability: Understanding and leveraging natural talents Knowledge: The role of formal education and continuous learning Skills: Transforming knowledge into practical capabilities Experience: Building a track record of successful implementations Key Discussion Points: Converting an entry-level cashier position into a springboard for tech career growth The natural progression from sales excellence to project management expertise Balancing teaching with consulting to stay current in technology Building and maintaining professional networks through authentic curiosity Real-world project management successes and lessons learned Listeners will gain valuable insights into: How to navigate career transitions effectively The importance of building and maintaining a professional reputation Strategies for continuous learning and skill development Practical approaches to project management The value of authentic networking and relationship building Connect with Jay Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayjackson2/ Connect with Manuel Martinez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelmartinez-it/ Follow Career Downloads: Website: https://careerdownloads.com YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloads X/Twitter https://twitter.com/@careerdownloads TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloads LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloads Instagram https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloads FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249 #CareerDownloads #TechCareers #ProjectManagement #ProfessionalDevelopment Transcript Manuel: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads. Where each episode, I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to really learn more about their career. To understand how they navigated it, different lessons that they’ve learned to really try and pull out actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So, for today’s episode, I have with me Jay Jackson. So we have crossed paths on two different occasions. He has a very interesting background. He has done a number of things, different areas that we’ll touch on as we kind of go through the conversation. And I’ll let him explain that, kind of his ideas on professional branding, the different and things that he’s done, how he’s kind of navigated through different career choices and different roles. So with that, I’ll introduce Jay Jackson. Jay: Hey, Manny. Manuel: How you doing? Jay: Good to see you. Manuel: Good seeing you. Jay: Beautiful house here, Manny. Manuel: Thanks. Jay: I like the setup. Manuel: Took a little bit of work to kind of put it together, but I think overall it’s starting to look semi-professional. Jay: Starting to, right? Yeah I like it. Manuel: So what I’ve been doing with the guests is if you can just kind of start off, just give us your current role or position and then just kind of a summary of some of the responsibilities and things that you kind of do in those roles. Jay: So I’ve got a lot going on. So, you know, cut me off if I’m going the wrong direction. But right now I teach at a local college,