Lawrence Systems

Tom Lawrence

My Story

I was born in the suburbs of Detroit, where I still live today.

  1. Childhood

    The Beginning

    My adventure started with 128 bytes of RAM and 4 kB of ROM on the Atari 2600. I spent many hours playing games on this system, losing myself in that simple 8-bit world.

    Atari 2600

    When I was not playing the Atari 2600, my other prized childhood possession that helped me explore the electronics world was the “160 in ONE” electronics project kit from Radio Shack.

    160 in ONE electronics project kit

  2. 1986

    My First Computer

    Then my life was forever changed when I got my first computer, the Tandy TRS-80. My parents picked it up on clearance at Radio Shack in the mid 80’s, and it opened up a whole new world of programming and coming up with ideas. I was hooked right from the start.

    I did not get into the IBM world of computers until I took a Pascal class in 10th grade back in 1992, and another computer class in 1993 where I learned some COBOL. These early days of computing had me hooked and launched my career.

    Tandy TRS-80

  3. 1995

    My First Tech Jobs

    I worked at a few small computer companies that mostly did sales and service for the retail market, working the longest for Southgate Computers. I was also selling at the weekend computer trade shows around the Michigan area.

  4. 1998

    My First Sysadmin Job

    I started as a junior sysadmin for a tier 1 transportation company, managing Linux mail servers, AIX, Windows, and database systems.

  5. 2000

    Promoted to IT Director

    The company grew rapidly and the head of IT left for personal and medical reasons. I was put in charge of all computer and communication systems. I also managed the team developing new software to build business automation systems. My annual department budget was $1.1 million, which covered both the dev team and the costs of all communications, including satellite tracking systems and cell phones.

  6. 2003

    Started Lawrence Systems

    Due to many internal issues with the leadership, the transportation company was broken apart into separate companies. I took that as an opportunity to move from being an employee to launching Lawrence Technology Services, which serviced those individual companies.

  7. 2005

    Suburban Electronics and Computers

    I bought into an existing company, Suburban Electronics, and rebranded it as Suburban Electronics and Computers. I expanded the offering from retail electronics repair of TVs, VCRs, and high-end audio to also include computer repair, then started doing eBay auctions for high-end audio equipment under the same brand.

  8. 2007

    Launched PC Pickup

    The partnership did not work out with Suburban Electronics and Computers, so I started another retail business. Many clients were still calling for electronics repair, so we continued servicing audio equipment and TVs for the first two years, then phased it out as flat screen prices made that service impractical. Our first retail location was in Taylor, Michigan, and we moved the retail operations to a new location in 2017.

  9. 2014

    Started the YouTube Channel

    Officially, this was the launch of the YouTube channel.

    But as with many channels, I did not have any clear vision of what to put on it. The postings were random and inconsistent, and very little effort was put into it.

  10. 2017

    New Location and YouTube Studio

    We moved to a new building in Southgate, Michigan. We did much of the build out ourselves.

    One of the big reasons for the move was to build a studio for YouTube and the podcast I was co-hosting. I was starting to come up with more of a vision and execution plan around content creation.

  11. 2019

    Stopped Retail Operations

    I decided the retail market was not for me and started winding down those services. We continued to take walk-ins throughout 2019, but did not actively engage in any retail services and started referring people to other retail computer stores.

  12. 2019

    Launched the Forums

    I launched the Lawrence Systems forums, a self-hosted Discourse community where viewers ask technical questions and help each other. It has grown to more than 7,000 members.

  13. 2023 to 2025

    IT Management Partnership with CNWR

    Partnered with CNWR, a solutions provider, where I collaborated on infrastructure, storage, and network projects. We separated at the end of 2025.

  14. April 2026

    Joined Huntress

    In April 2026, I started working at Huntress in a community and content role, creating practitioner-focused security content for MSPs and IT teams. Lawrence Systems stays independent: Huntress has no rights over my content and no influence on how it is made. See the content ethics policy.

  15. Present

    What I Am Doing Today

    Creating technical content on YouTube under the Lawrence Systems brand.

    As of 2025, I’ve returned to handling projects directly through Lawrence Systems, continuing to provide consulting, education, and content focused on open source, self-hosted, and on-prem solutions.