Wendy Diem’s IT career began at the height of Y2K and has taken her through the many transformations of the industry—from early networking challenges to the rise of cybersecurity as a field of its own.
Today, she channels that experience into teaching Network Specialist and Cybersecurity Specialist program classes. She loves helping students put it all together, guiding them as they build confidence, skills and curiosity. “My job is to help them see the whole picture,” she says. “Seeing how they take an idea I give them, or a headline in the paper and how they run with it, that’s the fun part.”
Get to know Wendy in our FVTC Faculty Spotlight.
What classes do you teach?
On the Network Specialist side of the house, I teach more second-, third- and fourth-semester classes. I teach Network Infrastructure 1, 2 and 3. And then there’s a capstone that follows that for the Network Specialist Program.
On the Cybersecurity side, I teach Risk and Incident Management, Security Monitoring and Operations, then the capstone for that program as well. What’s really nice about the Cybersecurity program is that it’s built off the CompTIA CySA+ exam, which is long, but that book is so full of good stuff. I start with Risk Incident Management, then we pick a bit at Security Monitoring, and I bring it full circle with the capstone. So for a student, it’s easy to see the path that we’re introducing. They work with it a little bit, and then they really showcase what they’ve learned through the whole program plan.
What did you do before you worked at FVTC?
I started my career very young, right out of high school. In the year 2000, there was a big push for anybody that spoke computer. I started at a paper company with an internship, running around installing Office probably 300 times with a CD. I graduated in from college in 2002, right after Y2K came and went when the market was flooded with IT folks; I could not find a job. I got another internship that time learning Windows NT, which gave me the skills I needed to get what I called my first big girl job at another paper company. So the second internship actually led me to my real first job, where I did desktop support for a couple of years. It was not my favorite, but it was a great ‘in’. Then I moved to a smaller construction company doing desktop support with the excitement of doing networking, and that was when everything in IT exploded from faster network speeds to just more availability. After 9/11, a lot of companies started looking at how they could stay up if they lose a building, people or infrastructure. VMware was a big product that allowed us to do a lot with a little bit and then faster network speeds. We could replicate things site-to-site faster. Disaster recovery plans became more exciting and fun to do with technology specifically.
My role really changed from supporting the user at the desktop-level to the network, then to bigger picture; how would we recover from something that could go wrong? In Wisconsin, it’s not hurricanes, but we have other weather challenges, like tornadoes. Our offices were far enough apart that we figured if we lost services in one location, we would not lose them in the other. So I got a lot of experience with that higher-level recovery process, which I get really excited talking about because it’s fun to try to plan how we would do that. Would we move people? Would we move services? How would we do that? Through the years, the answers to those questions have really changed, which is why I love this job, because six months before, we can’t do that. Six months later, here’s what we can do.
All of that was pre-cyber. Cyber really wasn’t a thing we did; it was a part of what the networking group did. And now it’s enormous. There’s just too much for that group to handle that task. It is its own job. Now there are full departments of cybersecurity folks. It’s really fun to see it.
Coming to the college was fun to not only bring my real-life experience, but also to come here at the beginning of what I would call the cyber path and be able to build and work with that program as it grew, has been really fun.
Why did you decide to go into teaching?
In IT, we’re teaching people all the time. We’re teaching them how to use the services that we build and the products that we’ve chosen. We’re constantly explaining why you need this tool or how it makes your job better. My mindset really changed when I learned my job isn’t to learn your job, it’s to help you do your job better. That’s what IT does. We help you do your job faster, more efficiently and make better decisions.
So to me, I was always teaching anyway. Industry is fast: you’re learning and you’re doing things really fast. Here, we get to slow down and have more of a framework: why you do things, the building blocks of why things work the way they do. And I love to learn the history of things. I do a little history walk sometimes with my students, and they’re rolling their eyes like, okay, let’s go. But so much of what we do now is building blocks of what’s been in place for many, many years. For as much as things have changed, they’ve also really stayed the same—what people want, how we make decisions. I love that we can take a product that was built to do a specific thing, and we can use it to do other things: ‘oh wait, maybe we could use it to do that, or we could use it to enhance this process.’ We find ourselves doing that all the time.
What do you enjoy most about the classes you teach?
It’s interesting now that I’ve been here 10 years to watch how much the student has changed, which also changes our approach. It changes how we tackle things, what they need, what they want, and what the classroom brings. We have this constant conversation of if students want to be in-person or online (we offer both). What the student needs and wants also changes how active they are in the classroom, changes what technologies we can offer. This idea that it’s the same rubber stamp every semester is so not true. We are constantly changing how we provide solutions, how people get that baseline toolbox of what they need to know to get that first job, and then how they can build off of what I’ve taught them to go further.
I’m always making them think about what they really want. I call it the golden nugget. Some of them have no idea. Some of them know exactly what they think they want. I think my job is to help them see the whole picture. I always say it’s like a pizza menu, you know? Here are all of your options. Here are all your toppings. Which ones do you want? Maybe you don’t know. My job is to help them see all the choices. So what’s my favorite thing? Probably the people. Seeing how they take an idea I give them, or a headline in the paper and how they run with it. That’s the fun part.
What’s one piece of advice you have for students?
We have students that have done a little bit of life, and we have students that have come right from high school. We have students that tried a job and didn’t love it and came here. You can change your mind. But I think people feel stuck. They feel like they can’t do something else, and that’s just not true. Come here. See what we have to offer. If what you start with us is not quite what you want, we’ll help you find a different path. I’ve had students that started it and they go, oh, I don’t really think it is for me. Great. We have really awesome programs that do other things. I’ve had students start on program A and they’re like, I don’t really know what to do. Maybe I want to do cyber or I started cyber and I want to do software. Awesome. Let’s have those conversations. Let’s talk about what your choices are. That’s my advice. You can change your mind.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice that I received and that I’ve given: find someone that believes in what you want and what you can do. So many of my students that have been successful have just asked someone that is doing the job they want. My mentor was a marketing person and I thought, how do you know anything about IT to help me at all? He just saw my potential. He thought I was good at what I did and thought I could do more than what I was doing, and I had never had anybody talk to me like that before. Find someone who talks to you like that. That thinks that you bring something different to the table and how you can launch that into something that you love doing. That’s my advice. Have coffee. Have lunch with these people that think you’re awesome.
What’s one thing about you that might surprise your students?
I don’t know. I think I think you get a lot of perceptions as an IT person, like that it means I’m quiet and I am afraid of people, or as a woman, I shouldn’t like guy stuff. Right?
Also, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was a kid, so I crochet, I sew. That might surprise them. I like to think that building those things helps me build IT things, which sounds not connected at all, but IT is a lot of building blocks. It’s like those matryoshka dolls—the Russian dolls where there’s one piece that builds another piece. There’s this big thing that you want to build, but it takes all these other parts. I think sewing and crocheting help with that because it’s spatial awareness and there’s a plan.
What do you like to do outside of the classroom?
Outside the classroom family is really important to me, and now I have kids that are big and doing stuff, so it’s fun to watch them. We have piano players, we have saxophone players. Lacrosse is a huge piece of our life right now. We have two swimmers. So we chase them around. We have two dogs. We like to be outside and chase everybody around and keep up with things.
What was your first job?
My very first job was a waitress, and I always bring that up, especially for students that are switching gears with positions that they have. I think a lot of times they think this has no relevance. I look back at that waitressing job at all the different things I did. You bring your previous experience with you, no matter what it was.
What was your best job?
At the second job I had, I loved the projects. I loved fixing a big problem, piecing things together. I do that here at the college too. I’m either piecing together a class or I’m piecing together the program plan, or we’re trying to provide an opportunity for students who want to come to school here. We’re back to quilting. We’re back to the puzzle pieces that come together. That’s what I enjoy doing.
Lightning Round
Vacation: beach or mountains?
Mountains
Winter or summer?
Fall. I love them all. Fall is my favorite, but I love the snow in the winter. But summer is fun because then you go swimming, so I can’t pick.
City or country?
Again, I can’t pick. Country is quiet. But city has the people and the things that I enjoy doing. So both.
Fiction or non-fiction?
Historical fiction
Messy desk or clean desk?
I would love a clean desk. However, it never happens. I have too many thoughts, so it’s always messy.
Cat person or dog person?
I’m allergic to cats, so it’s going to be dogs all day long.
Morning person or night owl?
Morning. I turn into a pumpkin at 10 and I want to get going in the morning. Have things to get done. Goal-oriented.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Chicken salad on a croissant, with a cup of broccoli cheddar soup. It’s fabulous.
What is the last TV show you binge-watched?
The Last Ship
