Having worked in various high-tech companies for more than 25 years in engineering, marketing and management, new registrar Robert Wise had a change of heart halfway through his career and decided that he wanted a job in education.

Wise, after receiving an engineering degree from Princeton University and working in the tech industry for more than two decades, got his teaching credentials and began working as a substitute teacher.

However, he found that it was challenging to completely shift his career and become a teacher after so many years of working in a completely different field.

Wise asked himself, “What’s the next best thing I could do?”

That decision eventually led him to becoming the school’s new registrar, replacing the retired Jeanne Jamieson. He said he has since found it much more rewarding than any job he could have had in the high-tech industry.

Before coming to this school, Wise worked at various jobs in the Campbell Union School District. He has worked in the Los Gatos Saratoga High School District for the past two years in various roles.

When attendance secretary Mandy Armes was on maternity leave, Wise stepped in to assist for most of the year and found that he enjoyed his position.

“I got to know almost all of the students that year and I just fell in love with the campus and students and people here in the office,” Wise said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

He said that his favorite part about working here is the people.

“It’s the combination of my coworkers here in the office and the students,” Wise said. “The teachers and the staff are wonderful here.”

However, Wise has run into minor challenges in the couple of months that he’s been the registrar. For example, he is still in the process of adjusting to the different system of managing information than he is used to, along with the abundant requests for data, which he did not deal with a lot in previous positions. Additionally, he is faced with the tedious task of maintaining every single file in both a physical and electronic form to abide by state law.

“Learning the nuances of each of those things is really quite a bit to pick up,” Wise said. “But I’m enjoying it.”

Guidance counselor Monique Young said that she has enjoyed her experience working with Wise when he was a substitute for Armes and that he did an excellent job in that position.

“He’s so detail oriented, has really good computer skills, people skills, and he’s so great with the kids here,” Young said. “I knew he was going to be a good fit.”