From Wrenches to Contracts: My Journey to Becoming a High-Stakes IT Negotiator
I didn’t start in procurement. I started in a basement. From airplane mechanic to multi-million dollar tech negotiations, here’s why I built Negotiator Elite to help others do the same.
I Dropped Out of High School and Became an Airplane Mechanic
I never had the patience for sitting in classrooms and listening to lectures. So, despite being an honor student with above-average SAT scores and an engineering scholarship waiting for me, I decided to drop out of high school and start working.
I did eventually finish high school by earning a “Graduation Equivalency Diploma,” so I’m technically not a high school dropout. But a few years later, I was probably the next worst thing, a 20-year-old living in my parents’ basement, making just enough money to work on my car and hang out with friends.
Eventually, I realized I couldn’t satisfy my caviar tastes on a McDonald’s budget. If I wanted a “real” income, I needed a “real” job. And to get that, I needed a “real” education. So I enrolled in a trade school to become an airplane mechanic while earning a two-year college degree.
You Can’t Always Turn a Hobby Into a Career
I loved working on cars, mine, my friends’, anyone’s. Oil changes, tune-ups, brakes… even the electrical stuff.
I figured as an airplane mechanic, I’d be doing the same thing, just on a much bigger scale, on something that actually flies. And I’d be getting paid for it. What more could a 20-year-old living in his parents’ basement want?
Well, it turns out that wasn’t what I wanted. Tinkering with cars had always been a hobby, something I did for fun and only when I felt like it.
As a mechanic, I didn’t have those options anymore. If someone was paying me, I had to do the job. It didn’t matter if it was -20°C and all I was doing was refueling planes for 8 hours, I had to do it. And I hated it.
We’re Brainwashed to Believe There’s Only One Path
I didn’t like being an airplane mechanic. I didn’t like the cold on very cold days, or the heat on very hot days. I didn’t like bouncing between day and night shifts. I didn’t like the grease permanently under my fingernails.
Most of all, I didn’t like that I’d need to spend years doing grunt work and paying union dues before becoming a “real” mechanic, someone who got to use their mind as well as their hands.
So I stopped. I left the hangar and took a job in retail, eventually working my way up to store manager for a high-end electronics retail chain.
Making a Leap Into the World of Suits and Ties
My retail career was short, but incredibly fulfilling.
When I quit being an airplane mechanic and joined a high-end electronics store, I started on the bottom rung. I had no sales experience, but I knew the products which got me hired.
But I almost lost the job just as quickly.
In my second week, a customer asked a technical question about an amplifier. I didn’t know the answer, so I asked a colleague and then closed the deal.
A few days later, another customer came in asking about a TV spec. Rather than checking the manual, I looked for another salesperson to ask.
My manager saw me and said, “I’ll help the customer. Go grab something from the warehouse.” After 15 minutes searching for this non-existent item, I came back to find him making the sale under his employee number.
Afterwards, in an expletive-laden rant, he told me if I was going to lean on others instead of learning the products myself, I’d be cleaning the warehouse full-time.
I was furious. I hated him. I hated the job. I hated retail.
But mostly, I hated the feeling of being embarrassed for not knowing something.
I had a choice: quit and find something else… or double down and prove I could become the best.
So I came in on every day off for the next two weeks. I read every manual. Memorized every spec. Played with every piece of demo equipment. I became so proficient in video editing gear that AV techs from local TV stations started asking for me by name.
I also realized something important: my manager wasn’t out to get me. He saw potential and was pushing me, in his own colorful way.
Within months, I was the top salesperson. Within a year, I was promoted to Assistant Manager.
Giving the “IT Thing” a Try
I stayed at that company for three years.
In my second year, the president asked me to take over one of the lowest-performing stores in Chicago. It was ranked 83rd out of 87 nationwide. I rebuilt the entire staff, trained every new hire, and together we brought it up to number 4 in total sales.
And then I quit.
By that time, I was married with a daughter I barely saw because retail meant working mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays. During Christmas season, I practically lived in the store.
I told the company president I was leaving. He asked, “What are you going to do?”
I pointed to a computer we had on display and said, “Maybe something in IT. That seems to be a thing these days.”
He laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. “You’re a high-end electronics sales guy. You don’t know anything about IT.”
I said, “Sure, but before this I was an airplane mechanic. I didn’t know anything about electronics sales, and that turned out alright.”
He replied, “If you want to give IT a shot, go ahead. But if you ever want to come back, there’s a place for you here.”
I never went back.
Make All of Your Conversations Meaningful
My first job in IT wasn’t really IT, it was IT purchasing. I worked a contract on IBM’s procurement help desk in New Jersey, supporting their client Lucent Technologies.
Lucent employees would call in asking about delivery status, basic computer support, or internet issues. It wasn’t competitive, but I couldn’t settle for “average.” Within months, my call metrics were the best on the team.
That performance got me noticed.
One team lead, Kevin, managed a small group responsible for Cisco switch configuration and procurement. I started asking him questions:
“How do you learn to configure switches?”
“Do you need an engineering designation?”
“Is there a spot on your team?”
Turned out, IBM offered Cisco training for new hires. I had the qualifications—and Kevin couldn’t ignore my help desk stats.
Soon, I was sitting in Cisco’s office learning from network engineers. Before long, I became Kevin’s right-hand man and a familiar name to Lucent’s technical team.
Then IBM decided to relocate the help desk to Boulder, Colorado. I wasn’t moving. So I looked for another contract.
At the same time, AT&T (which had spun off from Lucent) needed procurement help. They called Lucent for referrals. My name kept coming up.
Just like that, I had a new gig.
The Moment That Changed Everything
Unfortunately, this was May 1999.
By December, mass layoffs hit. Y2K paranoia had frozen hiring.
On January 10, 2000, I was in a New Jersey hospital room with my wife and newborn son when my phone rang.
It was Jane, a senior lawyer I’d met only through brief coffee shop chats in Jersey City. She had recently joined Citibank as interim head of IT Procurement and was looking for someone she could trust with technical buying.
On February 1, 2000, I started working for Citibank.
Jane let me sit in on her contract negotiations—as long as I promised to help her husband (a lawyer, but not great with computers) whenever he needed tech support.
Over coffee and lunch, Jane answered my questions:
“What’s an indemnity?”
“What’s a limitation of liability?”
“Why do payment terms vary between suppliers?”
Eventually, Jane saw my aptitude for contracts and recommended me to Ted, Citibank’s SVP of supplier management. Ted became a mentor and gave me the formal training I needed to become an elite technology contracts negotiator.
I Got to the Top of the Corporate Ladder… and Jumped Off
That was over 27 years ago.
Fifteen years ago, I took a leap and started my own consulting firm.
Since then, I’ve founded and sold a SaaS startup, helped clients save over $300M on IT deals, and developed a custom training program for IT contract negotiation that I’ve been delivering for the last 5 years.
If you’ve ever felt underestimated, overworked, or outgunned in a vendor negotiation, I’ve been there.
Now, I’m here to make sure you never feel powerless at the table again.
Welcome to Negotiator Elite.
Let’s get to work.
— Mohammed
If you're in IT, procurement, or legal and you're tired of being outplayed by vendor sales teams, this newsletter is built for you. I’ll teach you the tactics that saved my clients over $300M—no MBA or legal degree required. Just real strategies, from someone who's lived both sides of the deal.
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