As the Technical Services Coordinator, Casey Ailiff has one of the District’s ultimate behind-the-scenes jobs: he is responsible for keeping the District’s technology infrastructure—servers, wireless, phones and switches—humming along smoothly. His job is equal parts problem solving, trouble-shooting, repairing and customer service. It’s a job that requires a cool head and a willingness to consider problems from many angles. It’s no surprise, then, that Mr. Ailiff loves to head to the golf course when he’s not too busy at work or enjoying time with his two children.
Read more about Mr. Ailiff, his pathway into technology and his passion for golf.
Did you always know that you wanted to go into Information Technology?
I lucked into it. I signed up to go to ITT Technical Institute right out of high school. I wanted to do computers, but all they had at the time was electrical engineering. I knew that wasn’t for me, so I took a year off to reassess. In that time, they happened to open up the computer networking program. So the next fall, I was able to go into the two-year program and field that I’d wanted to go into.
Here at Shaker, we offer students a lot of pathways. What’s your advice to students who want to attend a two-year college or enter a skilled trade?
A four-year college isn’t for everyone. There’s a lot to be said for pursuing a trade that you’re interested in and earning a two-year degree. In a lot of fields, it’s more about the certifications you can obtain and the on-the-job experience that really matters. In my case, I was able to get a job right out of ITT at Crestwood Schools, where I grew up. It’s a smaller district, but I ended up staying there for seven years and getting a lot of experience. That enabled me to get a job at a company that helped school districts who outsourced their IT work so I got more experience as a tech director. Then that job enabled me to get a job at Kent State as the network director and then that gave me the experience I needed to come here to Shaker.
What changes have you seen in technology at the District since you started?
When I started here five years ago, the whole staff came on mostly at the same time. What we came into was an extremely old infrastructure with old switches and old servers. I still remember on my first day here, we lost Internet service for four hours. Since then, we’ve completely overhauled everything: new switches, new servers, new wireless, new phones. Our biggest challenge now is the configuration of our buildings because they’re older. So, we go into a classroom and we make a plan to improve that room and then we go to the next room and the plan has to change because each room is different. We try to standardize as much as we can so that everyone has the same experience. Overall though, our department is really strong and we all get along so well. I love our department. I couldn’t ask for a better team.
Tell us how you got started playing golf.
I had been playing baseball for a long time, but I picked up golf my senior year in high school. I remember that some of my friends asked me to hang out and play golf. I really wasn’t interested, but I did it. That first time, I shot a 45 on nine holes and realized that maybe golf was for me after all. So after that, I joined our high school golf team and ended up starting our last four varsity matches. I remember that in our last three matches, I shot a 38, 39 and 40. Then, when I was working in Crestwood after I finished at ITT, they asked me to be the varsity golf coach. That was a lot of fun while I was there.
What is it that you like about golf?
It’s a way for me to decompress. You’re outside in nature and you really don’t have to think about anything else. Plus, I try to take a golf trips when I can with friends—one of my favorites was Arcadia Bluffs in Michigan.
Any correlations between your job and the game of golf?
Both require patience. That, and an ability to not let too much bother you. In golf, if you have a bad hole, then you have to be able to move on without it affecting the next hole. And here at work, when things don’t go as you’d expect, you have to be able to roll with it.
Is your job at Shaker 24/7?
For sure, always one of us in the department is on call, at night and on the weekends. And that’s important because at the end of the day, our teachers are basing their classwork and instruction off technology, so it’s really important for them and for students that the technology we have is working.