Today we’re launching a new recurring feature on the OpenDNS blog, “Five Questions with an OpenDNS User.” Longtime readers of the OpenDNS blog may remember a similar feature from a few years back. Let us know in the comments what you think, or shoot me an email if you’d like to be the next featured OpenDNS user.

Genesis Career College is a seven-campus vocational school in the southeast U.S. The man in charge of keeping students and staff safely and securely connected is Director of Technology Robert Warren. Below, he answers five quick questions:

How long have you been working at Genesis?
I have worked with Genesis Career Group for a little over two years. Great company to work for. Very innovative in the higher education field as we are expanding into online education and want to offer a vast array of cloud-based services to our students.

How did you find your way into IT?
A friend of mine gave me an old Compaq PC back in 1996 I believe. It had Windows 95, 128 megs of memory and something like a 400 or 500 MHz CPU. Pretty much a door stop today. I played with that PC, upgrading hardware and Windows, until one day I literally blew it up. I added a new CD drive, hit the power button and the power supply literally popped and then the dreaded smoke. I quickly learned the phrase “let the smoke out.”

I had realized at that point what I really wanted to do so I built another PC from scratch, took some courses and the rest is history as they say. From then to now has been an exciting path with constant learning, which never stops. I love IT and am very passionate about what I do. It is great to have a career you love and can make a good living in.

What problems were you seeking to solve with OpenDNS?
We wanted an effective yet easy to manage and deploy solution to stop the general time wasting by employees and students on non-business related websites. We also wanted to have added protection from phishing and malware sites. We looked at hardware solutions but due to the geographical nature of our company that was too costly. We chose OpenDNS because of the cost (obviously), simplicity and great functionality of the service.

Favorite gadget or tech toy?
My phone. The new Android powered phones are great devices. I am not a big Apple fan and I think the Android phones will definitely give the iPhone a big headache! Google rocks!

If someone was going to take a look at your Web surfing habits, what are your top five time-wasting Web sites?
Hummm… well first would be Facebook, chatting with friends and family. Then would probably have to be (as of recently) BP’s website following the progress in the Gulf. Then I would have to say IT related stuff (I know pretty stereotypical, I guess I am kind of geeky). I like to read online articles, check out new products and of course stay up on the latest mobile devices. I like to hack my phones and my Droid is a pretty awesome device.