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About Me — Mike Scarpiello

A life defined by adventure and not a 9–5 job

Mike Scarpiello
About Me Stories
5 min readJan 29, 2024

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The author on Mt. Shasta in Northern California / Photo credit: Mike Scarpiello

As far back as I can remember, I never wanted to be anything. Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher knew they wanted to be comedians when they were in their early teens. I also think it’s more common in the internet age to hone in on a career because you can easily look up job descriptions, companies, or get career advice at the click of a mouse. When I graduated with my Sports Management degree in the late 80s, I still didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do. I pretty much just worked at the job that was in front of me.

Jobs and career paths

After a brief stint in retail, I moved from Cleveland to Orlando and found a job in Data Processing. Data Processing is the term that would eventually become Information Technology, or IT. I worked on IBM mainframes and mounted reel-to-reel tapes on drives connected to the mainframe. Personal computers did not yet exist, and I am part of the last generation that mainly used what were known as “dumb terminals”, or CRTs. It was just a screen and a keyboard connected to the mainframe, and there was no email, internet, or anything else to use it for but work.

After three years in Orlando, I took a promotion and moved to Chicago. I continued with my Data Processing career at Trans Union — one of the three…

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About Me Stories
About Me Stories

Published in About Me Stories

A publication dedicated to bringing out the stories behind the writers themselves. A place of autobiographies. Types of personal stories include introductions, memoirs, self-reflections, and self-love.

Mike Scarpiello
Mike Scarpiello

Written by Mike Scarpiello

UX Designer, writer, musician, poet, political satirist, musician, bull runner, craft beer enthusiast, and UX Design mentor at https://shorturl.at/jRV2i

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