Ambassador Profile: Randy Hammer
My name is Randy Hammer, and I'm a DO-IT Ambassador. I studied computer science and networking for my undergraduate degree at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. After working for about ten years, I studied technology management for my master's degree at City University of Seattle. I started my technology career supporting end users, mostly in desktop and application support. Over time, I moved on to managing teams and projects.
Currently, I'm a systems analyst. This means that I translate customer and company requirements for our products into specific language for software developers. I also support applications, provide pre- and post-sales support to our sales and marketing teams, and roadmap future product development. In short, I'm the bridge between those who work on the technical side and those who don't. I work to make technology understandable for nontechnologists and provide guidance for the technologists. The product I work on helps to prevent fraud and identity theft, which is a fast-growing crime. I take a lot of pride in my involvement in the product and feel that I am directly advocating for the consumers and companies impacted by fraudulent transactions and activities.
I am completely blind, so I use screen reading software to access computers. Early in my career, screen readers didn't work with all computer applications. As screen readers have improved and mainstream computer hardware and software have become more accessible, I have gained more and more access to applications, including those pertinent to my job. As of now, the only real job functions that I cannot perform relate to creating or analyzing diagrams. Computing to me equates to access to information. I always look to learn, experience, and grow. Computers and technology provide me more access to information than I could have dreamed.