Get to Know Green House Data: Josh Larsen

Curious who's updating your vCenter, racking your servers, or answering your support tickets? Our biweekly Get to Know Green House Data series introduces you to some of our fine staff. This week, meet Josh Larsen, Solutions Architect.

Which office do you work in? Are you originally from the area?

I work in the Cheyenne, WY office. I was born in Racine, WI but moved here a little over 20 years ago and never looked back.

What is your favorite thing about living in Cheyenne?

Despite what people say, Cheyenne is a great little town and there’s a great social scene if you know where to look. I’m currently involved in a local weekly concerts series called Fridays in the Hynds. We’re bringing in some really cool touring bands and raising money to renovate a historic building downtown until it finds a buyer.

Overall, I love living in a quiet and affordable city, while still being less than an hour from the mountains and the larger cities down South.

How long have you been in the technology industry?

Overall, about 11 years now. When I graduated high school I worked for WYOPS for a summer as their second employee ever. After school I decided to stay in the IT industry and they gave me a job again. Eventually, after Green House Data was founded, I switched companies, and a few years later we all became one big family again.

How did you first get interested in I.T.?

Probably through video games. When I was in elementary school we got our first family computer. It was a Gateway delivered right to the door in that tacky cow-spotted box. I would stay up all night playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and hanging out in AOL chat rooms. Eventually I wanted to upgrade parts in the computer, which led to building computers, and then it was all downhill from there.

What are some of your favorite work projects? Least favorite?

I’m a very detail-oriented person and I love numbers, so anything that I can throw into a spreadsheet and play with. I also like occasionally putting on my Engineering hat again to help troubleshoot something. Emphasis on occasionally.

My least favorite work is responding to RFPs and proposals that involve labor estimates. There’s just too many unknown variables.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I’m an avid mountain biker and this year I’m making my foray into road biking.  I also play ice hockey and like to run. When the Wyoming weather isn’t being kind, I’m usually hiding down in the basement watching movies, reading, or playing video games. I'm also a certified beer judge and do competitions in the Wyoming and Front Range area.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee! As long as it’s done in a single-cup pour over with freshly ground beans and 202F filtered water. I can be a little bit of a snob…

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Wars, hands down. After all, I’m the guy who started the server naming convention that gave us servers like R2-D2 (remote server) and Yoda (our wiki).

What do you like about working at Green House Data?

I love that we offer an ever-changing variety of products and services, and not just one thing. It’s also been a great experience watching a company grow from nothing into nearly 100 employees.

Check out the previous entries in our Get to Know Green House Data series:

Leif Dvorak, Security & Compliance Administrator
Tim Cook, Senior Systems Administrator
Jessica Hanson, Billing Administrator & Purchaser
Joe Sylvia, Data Center Operations Technician