@Don.Johnson
How long have you been at CA? 
I have been at CA Technologies since February 19, 2008 – just over 7 years, and with a long future ahead!
Are you a dedicated engineer as part of an enhanced support package?
I am certainly dedicated – some would even say that I should be committed - but I am not a specialized enhanced support engineer.
What was the career path that led you here?
I served as DBA and systems programmer for CA Datacom products at a major confectionary manufacturer for over 10 years (that was a sweet job!), and am now helping support our customers with all that I learned there. Between then and now, I went back to college to complete my degrees, and served in a teleservices company as Director of Technology Services, where I helped build, configure and staff several new facilities.
What product do you support?
I am a principle support engineer for all CA Datacom, CA Ideal and CA IPC products on the z/OS platform.
What keeps you at CA?
The thing that keeps me here at CA the most is that I like to help solve problems for customers and to help others be more effective in accomplishing their goals. While I could do that in many firms, CA Technologies is committed to being the best, and in facilitating their employees’ training and development to make them more effective and happier, which helps them be the best, too.
What is your passion outside of work? What do you like to do?
Wow – I am sure you don’t have room for all that I could write for you here!
Music is one of my great loves, and I play trumpet for my church (where I also serve in leadership) and for other events as requested. I have played consistently since I was 10 years old in many different styles and sizes of ensembles. 
A large amount of my life is also tied to the “Books for Pastors” ministry that I have founded. This is a ministry that provides books and teaching to pastors and church leaders in Majority World countries – in their heart language. You can learn about this at facebook.com/BooksForPastors, and you can also read about a recent trip I took to Honduras to teach and play trumpet at multiple Pastors’ conferences.
For fun, my wonderful wife and I love hiking and camping, and last year, we were able to log over 25 miles hiking through many of the 51 West Virginia state parks, and had a great time camping at Niagara Falls. When not out in the wild, the two of us love driving – to visit our friends, families and four children scattered from New Jersey to Colorado.
What is your educational background?
I took a break from the working world for a few years and went back to college at age 40, graduating from Appalachian Bible College, here in WV, with two degrees: a BA in Bible and pastoral focus, and a ThB in Bible with a Missions/language focus.
How has support changed since you started?
There is a much greater emphasis on providing tools and documents to our customers so that they can more readily solve their problems without needing to open a case and wait for us to serve them. We have also increased our focus on having the whole team contribute to solving a customer question or problem, which also helps resolve the cases more accurately and sooner.
Why should people be involved in the communities?
Communities are the greatest way for customers to help each other and learn from each other! When I worked at my manufacturing firm, we occasionally contacted other firms to learn how to do something better, since the customers have a business understanding and background that you can’t always get from a software vendor. Communities provide the vehicle for customers to share and ask questions with other like-minded people – and everyone benefits from the discussion!
Why should customers read Knowledge Articles?
Customers should read the knowledge articles and documents because I put a lot of effort into writing them and they are a great read! Really, though, most customers often have questions or problems that are identical to those that many others have had – or nearly identical, and the documents we create based on these problems allow the customers to solve their own problems at any hour of the day without having to open a case and wait for a response. To me, this ever-growing pool of knowledge documents is the best way for customers to get an answer to the simpler problems, which allows the support engineers to spend more time focusing on the more challenging problems.
Follow the Support Engineer Here: Don.Johnson