Throwback: Ben Climer Featured in the Williamson Herald for SkillsUSA Nationals (2011)
Ben Climer is an IT professional in the Kansas City area.
Hi, I'm Ben Climer. I’ve been taking things apart and figuring out how they work for as long as I can remember. I built my first computer at age eight, mostly out of necessity after breaking the family one. By twelve, I was coding websites with streaming embedded music. As a teenager, I competed in national contests for web design and computer repair, and discovered early on that I enjoyed solving problems that others found frustrating.
After high school, I started working in IT, eventually spending over a decade in the MSP world. I held a mix of technical and leadership roles, often jumping between fixing urgent issues and planning long-term solutions. That experience shaped how I think about automation today. Automation started as something the MSP I was working for didn’t do, scripting, and turned in a career passion.
I now work at Rewst, where I help others build better workflows and automation. I focus on making tools that are reusable, easy to understand, and built to scale. I'm also involved in community training, internal process improvements, and building things like Schema Doctor to make technical work a little smoother for everyone.
Outside of work, I’m into cars, road trips, and co-hosting my podcast, Panda Award Show.
I live in Kansas City, Kansas, and I still find joy in chasing down bugs/issues that make no sense on paper.
In 2011, when I was still a student at Independence High School, I experienced one of my first major moments in technology. I won the Tennessee SkillsUSA state competition in computer networking and earned a place at the national conference in Kansas City.
The Williamson Herald covered the story at the time, and it remains one of my favorite throwbacks(Though they don’t show the picture on the website): Read the original article here.
That year I competed against some of the best high school students in the state. The contest required skills in computer and network configuration, troubleshooting, and IT problem-solving under pressure. Weirdly one of the challenges I think that helped me was a mapped drive challenge. Waiting for the state results was one of the most intense moments of my life, and I was thrilled when my name was announced as the winner.
What stands out even more is the support that surrounded me. My CTE(Career and Technical Education) teacher, Keith Steffens, guided me and pushed me to refine my technical abilities. Community leaders and local businesses also stepped up to help fund my trip, showing how strongly Williamson County values technology education and workforce development.
For me, this event was not just about winning a medal or earning recognition. It became a launching point. At 17 I was already working on web design projects and consulting for clients, but SkillsUSA gave me a clear view of what a future career in IT might look like. It proved that the hours I had invested in tinkering with systems and solving technical challenges were building something real.
Looking back, I can see how this competition influenced the path I would take in my career. It encouraged me to pursue opportunities in managed services, automation, and building tools for the MSP community. It also showed me the value of mentorship and community support, which are still themes in my work today.
If you would like to revisit that moment, here is the original coverage from 2011:
👉 “Indy’s Ben Climer advances to SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference” – Williamson Herald
