Salem IT Pro Receives National Attention

Chris was selected by a panel of esteemed industry judges, including representatives from leading IT news websites and online communities.

Chris Gahlsdorf

(SALEM) - A Salem Systems Administrator for Northwest Human Resources, Chris Gahlsdorf, has been selected in a national competition by Eaton Corporation as the most prolific IT professional in the nation.

Chris Gahlsdorf

Chris applied for the honor in Eaton's first annual IT Grand Master competition, and was recognized for a 26-hour IT system resuscitation the night before Valentine's Day. (You can read a full description of his accomplishment here).

In short, Chris worked tirelessly through the night to save the day for the company and still managed to take his wife out for a romantic dinner.

He was selected by a panel of esteemed industry judges, including representatives from leading IT news websites and online communities.

Eaton honored Chris and presented him with his awards (including a Segway) this afternoon at Northwest Human Resources (1265 Edgewater St NW).

Salem-News.com asked Chris how it feels to receive this honor.

"It feels great to be recognized and to represent Eaton as the IT Grand Master. My hope is that the recognition will help all of us in IT get more appreciation in the workplace. This was also the overall goal of Eaton’s campaign. I hope that it helps break some stereotypes of IT as well. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much work it takes to keep a system up and running in this ever changing world. Demands change, upgrades happen, security updates, patches, etc. etc. My teammates deserve a lot of credit because without them I couldn’t be the IT Grand Master. Their hard work and dedication to providing amazing customer service to our employees is what makes me come to work every day."

Chris described his role as an IT person in Salem.

"I am a System Administrator at Northwest Human Services, whom I have been with for 6 years now. In my day to day activities I may be doing anything from helping with helpdesk calls, maintaining servers, and even some work on the phone system. I wear many different hats around the office."

Chris also commented on how this relates to the state of Oregon.

"I think Oregon is a great place to be for the future of IT. We are seeing more big companies creating data centers in the gorge to obtain cheaper power, and for our more mild climate. The Hillsboro area is known to be Silicon Valley North almost. We have great computer engineering, science, and business courses available to students through our university systems. As more and more smaller business go to electronic, whether it’s customer management databases, electronic medical records, or content management, there has to be staff to maintain the systems. To install and configure them as well."

Congratulations to Chris Gahlsdorf for being named by Eaton Corporation as the most prolific IT professional in the nation.