I took the time to interview my neighbor, Martin Ross Serpico or as I call him, Marty. He invited my sister, my mom and his daughter to come with him to his work so he can give us a tour of where he works. I always wondered what exactly Marty did for a living so this was a very good and interesting experience for me. He works at AMC Networks, which broadcasts the channels AMC, WE, IFC and Sundance. He started working there in October 1984 and worked from a trainee all the way up to what he is now. Marty’s official title is Director of Technical Operation Center and Transport Encoding. Some people won’t know what you do in that job. He’s responsible for the department that takes the channels that AMC Networks owns and broadcasts them throughout North America. That seems like a very hard job to do and Marty even said that there are many difficult things you need to do in his job. The most difficult thing he’s ever done so far is firing someone because you don’t know how they’re going to feel about it afterwards. Marty made some mistakes when he first started working at AMC Networks but the biggest one was when he rewound a show that was on air. Everyone noticed and he got really embarrassed. He lost his place and thought he was rewinding the machine before it but it was the wrong one. The most important skills and abilities needed for this job are troubleshooting, having good computer skills and having a technical mind so you are able to understand the technical parts of the job. To direct a department is a lot of responsibility because any mistakes that his staff makes, he’s responsible to explain to his boss. He also loves the good feeling that he gets when he sees his staff following his directions and having a good outcome.The most difficult thing for him to do is firing somebody because you know that they will be upset, get mad or cry. AMC Networks has changed a lot since he joined because when he first started, everything was on tape and analog. They only broadcasted in standard division and today, they broadcast their shows from a computer, completely digital and in high division. A typical day for Marty at work is in the morning, he needs to make sure that everyone in his department has what they need for the day. Throughout the day, he sometimes has to attend meetings and work on new projects, which can be very stressful. If he had to pick a career for himself again, he would pick this one because it’s interesting. He likes to learn new technology and he gets paid to watch TV. If he could give advice to someone who wants to do what he does, he would say that you have to be willing to work in a job that doesn’t offer a lot of praise for doing good work but there is a lot of consequences for doing bad work. Marty learned that the hard way from making his first mistake. From the tour and this interview, I learned that he is a very hard-working person. I also learned that everyone makes mistakes and you need to learn from them so that you can do better.