A  unique  individual  in  this  industry,  ​brandishing  An  avalanche  of  experience

"Gate automation is an unforgiving balance between equipment choices and installation practices.  There's just no escaping this reality, making it crucial to continue to learn and adapt every day."  -  Jacob Gilliam

Jacob is a Master-Level Gate Technician & Certified Electronic Technologist who has specialized in gate automation since 2004.  In the electronics world, a "Technologist" is the little-known professional who falls between a Technician and an Engineer.  Jacob has the knowledge, skills, and experience that well exceed that of a typical technician - his experience, installation, design, and troubleshooting abilities stand out in the industry, and his international experience arms him with a bottomless bag of tricks.

Born & raised in Houston for his younger years, spent his early teens living and fishing on Galveston island where he developed his lifelong passion for coastal fishing and conservation, until moving to Bastrop TX for the High School years, where he graduated with Honors and other accolades (accepted into the National Honor Society, featured for multiple years in the publication Who's Who Among American High School Students, and a nearly flawless school attendance record).  He moved onto College in Texarkana Texas where he chose to exclusively study electronics at what was hailed as the best electronics program in the state at the time. He's very fond of his years with Professor Robert King (who's work could be found in the text books used across the nation) and Professor Scott Williams who Jacob endearingly comments: "he and I became friends, remain so today, and I cherish that sweet, goodhearted and wonderfully caring man. Now, Robert King was a strict military man, and often misunderstood and even disliked by many of his students, but I learned the single most important lesson from him that I believe has served me the most as a tech, and I love him for it. That is: a good tech never assumes they are always right." Jacob continued his academic excellence with their electronics program -- he was even sometimes called upon by Williams to give the lesson for the day, and served as a lab proctor -- until the sudden passing of his older brother, Marty, in 2004, who owned & operated his own gate automation company in Houston TX. While going through college, Jacob was running a music store in Texarkana, where he repaired musical instruments, amplifiers and sound equipment.  When Marty passed, having both electronics training & repair experience, as well as experience running a company, Jacob was petitioned by his family to move back to Houston and take over his older brother's company. Jacob took up the challenge and uprooted from Texarkana. Thankfully, by that time, he had already completed all the required classes for his certification and had moved on to some advanced electronics classes, so he had acquired what he wanted under his scholastic belt, and more, and moved to Houston with that satisfaction & a new adventure on the horizon. And the rest, as they say, is history - he's been passionately moving gates since 2004... 20+ years of daily experience.  He's been in nearly every state in the Union, advised in all of them, as well as England, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Africa, Guam, China, Mexico, Panama, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, South America, Ireland, and more.  He comments: "it's funny how life can take you where you never imagined. I guess my only regret is not buying and using a quality camera more... there's so many people I wish I had photos with from over the years. My first cellphones were simple flip phones, and those cruddy low tech images weren't great to begin with, and what few you did take would be lost forever as soon as the cellphone died a sudden death... usually from a disagreement with water or pavement [belly laugh]."
​to be continued...