Hi, I’m Jessica Canino—the person behind DE Computer Girl.
For more than 25 years, I have designed networks, supported people working around the world, investigated complicated technical failures, strengthened cybersecurity, and taken on projects that others might consider too large or too difficult.
I love a good technology puzzle—and I love turning the solution into something that makes your life easier. Computers, networks, web systems, security, and workflows are all connected. My varied experience helps me see the whole picture, find the real problem, and build a solution around the people using it.
Solving problems is my work.
Connecting the possibilities is the fun part.
I love fixing and securing technology, but I am just as excited to help you imagine what it could do next. Consulting gives me the chance to listen, ask the right questions, and turn a complicated wish list into a practical plan for your home or business.
AI With a Practical Purpose
I bring hands-on AI experience and a love of experimentation to my work. I enjoy helping customers understand AI, explore useful applications, and build confidence with new tools. The goal is always the same: make technology more useful, with thoughtful attention to privacy, accuracy, and human judgment.
Workflows That Fit Your World
Designing workflows between different programs is one of my favorite kinds of problem-solving. I enjoy connecting the tools my customers use so information gets where it belongs and repetitive tasks take less effort. I have extensive experience working with APIs and writing interoperable scripts that connect systems and work across Mac and Windows environments.
Consulting That Sees the Whole Picture
My experience spans computers, networks, cybersecurity, web systems, and business processes. That range lets me look beyond a single device or application and help you plan how everything should work together. Whether you need a repair, a more secure setup, or a smarter workflow, I am ready to dig in with you.
Learning Today. Protecting Our Community Tomorrow.
I continually learn and attend cybersecurity seminars so I can bring useful knowledge and strong security tools back home to my local community. I recently attended the Cybersecurity Summit in Philadelphia, where I gained valuable insight into how AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape.
AI is already part of many of the security products I use. I choose those tools for the protection they provide and how well they meet my customers’ needs. As the technology evolves, I keep learning, evaluating, and explaining what it means for the people I help.
I am ready to help our local community understand, use, and stay protected in the new era of AI.
From Hospital Networks to Elevator Shafts
Early in my career, I assisted a team of six Cisco wireless engineers with the development of a seamless wireless network for Albany Medical Center. Over approximately 3 months, we helped connect 26 remote locations and create a more unified wireless environment.
I later worked with that same team on a similar wireless design for Cape Canaveral Hospital in Florida.
My wireless experience has taken me into environments most people would never associate with network engineering. I have helped install and support wireless networks in elevator shafts, oncology units, medical facilities, and other technically demanding locations where reliable connectivity truly matters.
One of my favorite projects was performing a wireless site survey and assisting with an installation at Capital One’s outdoor campus in Virginia. Designing dependable wireless coverage across an outdoor environment brought together engineering, investigation, adaptability, and plenty of creative problem-solving—the exact combination that makes me love this work.
Supporting People Wherever Their Work Takes Them
I also remotely supported hundreds of New York Times reporters working in the field from locations around the world.
When reporters are working under deadlines and far from a traditional office, technology cannot become the obstacle. I helped resolve connectivity, VPN, authentication, device, software, and access issues so they could remain focused on reporting the news.
That experience strengthened one of the abilities that has defined my career: listening carefully, understanding the complete situation, and finding the real cause of a problem—even when I cannot physically see the environment.
The Master of Root Cause
During my time at Dealer.com, I gained extensive experience supporting dealership websites and heavily integrated web systems. I worked across websites, software, accounts, inventory, digital marketing systems, and internal teams to untangle problems that rarely had one obvious cause.
You could say I became the master of root cause.
I have also worked for major internet service providers as a Level 3 technician, handling escalated technical problems and helping customers and other technicians find answers when the easier solutions had already failed.
I have never been satisfied with simply making a problem disappear. I want to understand why it happened, how the systems are connected, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.
Experience First. Education With Purpose.
I earned my degree in Computer & Network Security after I had already spent more than a decade working in IT. I graduated at the top of my class in the Department of Technology and was one of only a few women in a predominantly male program.
For me, that degree was not the beginning of my education. It was a way to strengthen and formalize the knowledge I had already spent years developing through real-world experience.
I could never limit myself to one narrow area of technology. I needed to understand the why and the how. That curiosity led me to build a broad combination of skills across wireless networking, technical support, cybersecurity, web systems, troubleshooting, infrastructure, customer education, and root-cause analysis.
Technology never allows you to become bored. There is always something new to investigate, understand, and learn—and my brain genuinely loves the puzzle. I notice anomalies others may overlook, recognize relationships between seemingly unrelated symptoms, and keep investigating until the pieces make sense.
Taking On the Projects That Matter
Some of my most meaningful work happens here in my own community.
For more than 10 years, I have been the person residents and small businesses throughout my local community call when something goes wrong with their technology—or when they want to make it better. I have repaired computers, upgraded hardware and software, revamped networks, and troubleshot large-scale issues that others could not untangle. Whether someone needed an urgent repair or a smarter long-term solution, I was always ready and prepared to help.
I have also supported local restaurants, liquor stores, and other small businesses with point-of-sale systems, network reliability, and practical security safeguards. That experience has taught me that great IT support is not simply about fixing technology. It is about protecting the business, minimizing disruptions, and helping the people behind it keep moving forward.
I take on large-scale local projects when I see residents or businesses struggling with technology, service quality, or problems that have gone unresolved for too long.
One of those projects involved working alongside Mediacom’s local Director of Operations to encourage better customer service, stronger technician education, and more reliable installations. I was tired of arriving at customer locations only to discover that I first had to correct an installation before I could even begin the work I had been hired to perform.
I am now involved in another local telecommunications initiative intended to benefit families and schools in our community. Because that work is still developing, I am careful about what I share publicly—but its purpose reflects the same motivation behind DE Computer Girl: identifying a problem, bringing the right people together, and working toward a solution that genuinely helps others.
Why I Bring My Skills Home
Why do I choose to use my skills locally? Because giving back to my community matters to me—and because many residents and small businesses might not otherwise have access to someone with my range of experience. Even my email address begins with “help.” That is not simply branding. It is who I am.
I have held some incredible, well-paying corporate positions throughout my career. But when a role began limiting who I could help, what I could fix, or how far I could take a solution, I knew it was time to move forward. I have never been comfortable leaving someone stranded when they genuinely need help.
My passion for technology began when I was 17 and someone gave me a broken computer, telling me I could keep it if I could fix it. So I did. It took a long time—the technical resources available in the 1990s were almost laughable compared with what we have today—but I refused to give up. That experience sparked my love of technology, but it also created my drive to help others. I did not want people to struggle simply to make a computer work. I wanted to educate them, solve the problem, and make technology feel more useful than frustrating.
The deeper I became involved in IT, the more I wanted to learn. I worked my way up through many companies, but no single job title ever captured everything I could contribute. I do not cherry-pick the glamorous projects and leave the grunt work for someone else. I dig in, make systems better, faster, and more secure, and uncover issues that others may never notice.
I always have a plan—or I keep working until I find one. I have never, ever given up on a problem. My creativity strengthens my technical abilities because it allows me to see possibilities far outside the usual box. I am a leader, but I also genuinely enjoy working alongside a strong team, bringing people together, and turning complicated challenges into solutions that make a real difference.
The Bigger the Challenge, the More I Excel
I do my best work when a problem is complicated, the stakes are high, and the answer is not immediately obvious.
Whether I am designing wireless coverage, investigating a cybersecurity concern, supporting someone hundreds of miles away, correcting an unreliable installation, or coordinating a community-scale technology project, I bring the same qualities to the work: curiosity, persistence, technical depth, and a genuine desire to help.
There has yet to be a technology challenge that has made me stop asking questions and looking for a way forward.
I suppose that is why I still love what I do.
Need help fixing, securing, or connecting your technology—or want to talk through an idea? Let’s find a solution together.