When a civil engineering company went through layoffs during tough economic times, its 28-year-old project manager suddenly found himself promoted to the company’s top IT role. Just a few years after doing desktop support at the same firm, he was thrust into the position of IT manager, meeting with the CEO and running the show for everything tech.
“At 28, there were a lot of things I didn’t have experience with,” says Chris Cantrell. “At that point I was at the top of the food chain when it came to IT. I used to be the guy who fixed their printer and now they needed to see me in a different light. They needed to see me as a business executive, not as an IT technician.”
