Jaques, a.k.a. JC, joined MIS Solutions in August 2016. He previously worked as a systems engineer and senior network specialist for several large corporations including Siemens, Deutsche Bank and KPMG. Born and raised in South Africa, JC currently lives in Pretoria.
Tell us about your family. I’m living the bachelor lifestyle, no kids, not married. I’m an only child. My father is deceased and I have a very close connection and relationship with my mother.
What’s your favorite food? Veal cordon bleu
Name something on your bucket list. I would love to visit as many World War II memorial sites in the States and in Germany as possible. I have a very big appreciation and love for WWII history.
What’s the craziest/funniest/most outrageous thing you’ve ever witnessed/ done? When I was 18 I got my first BMW and thought I was the talk of the town, as you would expect at that age. I thought I was the coolest thing since sliced bread. So one night I was out with some friends when we stopped at a traffic light. Next to me was a black Golf GTI with tinted windows. I was sure they wanted to have a race, so I accepted the challenge (even though there was no challenge) and it was a furious race from the one traffic light to the next. When I stopped at the restaurant the same car pulled up behind me and out of it got four police officers. They were undercover; I had just had a race with the police. They entertained arresting me. Needless to say, when my Mother arrived at the police station to fetch me, she was so mad that the police actually released me as they could clearly see that I was going to have a far worse time in her hands than in theirs.
What is something most people don’t know about you? I love classical music and listen to it often. I also have a big love for and collect medieval memorabilia.
Tell us a little bit about what you do each day. Tend to the clients that have technical issues. As a member of the service desk team, I endeavor to have a client run at full operational capacity with regards to IT on a daily basis.
What’s the most fun thing about your job and why? Even though the infrastructures for clients are somewhat the same, the challenges and issues they face daily are different in their own respect, and being able to answer the call and have their issues resolved swiftly is a rewarding feeling. If the phones don’t ring, I have a sense of pride knowing that all our clients are running at full operational capacity and they, in turn, make their clients happy.
What is the most challenging part of your job? Multitasking between various issues at any given time and being able to resolve these matters in a timely fashion regardless of the client and the issue. As much as I would like to fix every single issue in the next two minutes, this is hardly possible and to be able to manage the expectations of a customer can be challenging at times.
What do you like to do for fun outside of MIS? I enjoy socializing with my friends on weekends, playing video games from time to time and spending time with my family. I would like to start traveling and seeing more interesting places around the world. I like the beach as well.