Seeking New Opportunities

TLDR;
Veteran technology professional seeking new opportunities. If you are requiring 35 years of career success in the software technology realm that spans startups through to large enterprise environments, then I'm your guy!

I have tonnes of experience and I can hit the ground running. I can work as a senior project manager, an enterprise solution architect, as a scrum master and build a team focused with agile approaches, I can design databases and related structures for your business analytic projects, and I can own your Business Intelligence initiative. I can provide strong, and proven, leadership. And if need be I can occupy the technical director level. You will find I provide great business benefit and good value, my experience provides the ability to save you more than I would cost.

A history of project success
I'm back to consulting in the technology realm. Being a technology consultant has provided my clients, and myself, many project successes. These successes have been both with technology startups and with medium to large business environments. For more details describing some of my project successes please read these two posts describing projects I have managed and provided technical leadership over the last decade;

Increasing Access to Education - this collection of eight projects helped CLEBC become one of the globes premier legal educators.

Career success in three year cycles - These four major corporate initiatives leveraged all my abilities to help PAL into their next level of technology capability and realized business value.

Where I can help the most

I can have an immediate positive impact to any technology initiative within large and small organizations. This success can come with startups and enterprise environments, or something new that can leverage my skills, knowledge, and experience.

There are five roles to where I can bring the greatest immediate business value;

1. Enterprise and Solution Architecture - The solution side of designing technical architecture has most often been my preferred role within a software development initiative. I've done this for small startups and large enterprises. Good solution architecture creates a better technical solution that saves development costs, improves quality, and ensures alignment with business needs and the other technologies within the business ecosystem.
2. Senior Project Management and/or Managing a Software Development Teams - Through time I have managed many projects with software development teams varying in size from 3 to 30. I have proven track record of bringing projects to completion on-time and on-budget. I seriously enjoy assisting a team of technical people to ship software.
3. Data Analytics Project (Architecture and Team Management) - The B.Tech undergrad degree I completed in the 80's was focused on database management. And since that time my career has had data as its foundation. I do very well with data management [including the design of data structures and related communications (read API's)]. I can also work well within big data projects as my experience with big data goes back to the 1980's. Read one of my big data posts from a few years back to get a sense of this capability; Big Data; Similarities and Differences.
4. Technical Mentorship - I'm an educator and have experienced many startups during my time in Vancouver. If you want to discuss the technical side, the team management side, and/or the development methodology to an innovation project (startup or otherwise) I can help here.
5. Innovation - Many times in my career I have taken business strategy and made it happen. If you have a business strategy that requires software innovation I can make it tactical and implement. 

I'm willing to travel

A single flight from St. John's Newfoundland is my preference. I would also be very interested in consulting work in Vancouver (my home town). I have family there and could easily have all the amenities I require for extended working stays. In a previous blog post I describe how I consider the size of the St. John's marketplace to be 40 million people. I also need to consider the St. John's market to be a single flight away as I seek out new challenges and opportunities. My list of cities I will immediately consider consulting opportunities, include;

1. Halifax: it's a morning flight away, and can be there and back including a full days work. I'd also stay for a few days if required.
2. Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal: single 3 hour flight, couple of days then return home for remote working
3. Vancouver: longer stays and longer aways... I have family in Vancouver, so it would be a very nice approach to working.
4. London, England: An outlier, but... It would be nice to work in the EU and I have a British passport so it would ease my travel and work permitting.

One personal constraint
To be succinct, I require work-life balance... mostly it is about having time to care for middle-school age children and aging parents. This means I am available part-time or full-time with loads of schedule flexibility.

The St. John's NL 40 million population

I was inspired by a conversation I had earlier this week. Actually I was inspired by many conversations this week. A really great week all around. One of the great conversations was about the size of the St. John's NL business marketplace as it is associated with what is within reach by a single hop flight. Well... I consider the St. John's population to be over 40 million and includes two of the largest business cities on the planet (London & New York).

http://stjohnsairport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SJIAA-Route-Map-Jan-2018-edit.jpg

So when looking at the direct flights available from St. John's and consider the cumulative population of these cities [ London (12.6 million), New York (19.1 million), Toronto (6.4 million), Montreal (3.8 million) ] and their collective global financial influence, the market for St. John's is massive and with solid financial footings.

If you are growing a business or thinking about starting a business in St. John's (or any city within single hop flight of your own city) the market is a lot bigger than you think. So maybe shift how you perceive your market, reach out across your cities direct flights, consider what is at the other end, and book some flights. Use the global communications network to your advantage, visit each of these cities on a regular basis, budget for it in your business planning. Given the St. John's mid-Atlantic location, the future is indeed bright!

auto-delete all email

My life has offered me an opportunity to go off the digital grid for an extended period of time; five weeks, or 36 days to be exact. On July 27th I fly to Calgary to join my Family as we move from Vancouver, BC to St. John's NL. On August 31st I arrive in St. John's to start a new life adventure.

How I define off the digital grid:

• No social media - No Google+, No facebook, No linkedIn, No Twitter! Essentially, I never open a browser on any device. I will post a status update to my being off the grid, so people know to contact me on or after September 1st.
• No email -I will not check my email ever, on any device. I will set-up an out of the office notice, and I'm going one step further; I will auto-delete all my incoming email.
• No browsing - The only reason I will ever open a browser is to research travel details, book accommodations, or to get further information regarding a site we will be visiting. If I need to leave contact details with a booking or something, I will use my cell phone number.

Why I am auto-deleting my email?

Because I don't think there is anything so important that could be in an email. Most important information in my life is face to face or a voice conversation. But why auto-delete and not read my email when I am back on-line? Because its the past... its forever gone. If something matters to someone so much and it can't wait a few weeks, they can call me or send me a text. I also want not to have a a massive email box to go through at the beginning of September, and I don't want the possibility of thinking about the build-up of email and think about getting a jump on emptying the email box at any point in my vacation.

The morning we departed Bowen Island

I believe this gets into a conversation about mindfulness and being present. As I grow older I find that being present within a situation provides the most success for everyone involved. What I mean by present is I am not distracted by tasks and/or information from another context or situation.This holds true for when I am with my children, being with my spouse or family, when I am at work, and just going through my day. So really, why should I be concerned about an email that was sent a few weeks back. In a way, all email is spam.

What is my fear? Well not really...

That I will miss an email that is really important. If it is important they can call me or send a text. What about a work opportunity or a life opportunity that I will regret having missed. Honestly, I don't believe that these kind of opportunities come from a single unsolicited email. If it is important, it needs to be important to all involved, and therefore the others involved will honour my vacation and get back to me in September. If the opportunity is gone, then it wasn't an opportunity that would have interested me.

What is my preparation?

The two weeks leading up to my going off-line I will make status updates across all my social media, so people know of my being unresponsive. And if they want to contact me before my departure they are given an opportunity.

Why am I doing this?

Because I have five weeks with my wife and children, and I want to enjoy every moment. I don't want to find myself wondering off into some other context or perceived obligation. I don't want to be distracted by something other than exploring the amazing country of Canada, every moment. I don't want to miss something in my immediate proximity by an information thread from somewhere else. I also want to read a few paperback books... which has eluded me over the last while. I want to play in the immediate and enjoy all that my five senses have to offer. I believe all this will be more available without a digital connection to my past or my future.

Emersive Learning

What is it about emersion that works so well? A couple of months back I wrote about how progressive inquiry and tranformative learning are a great way to learn. During my recent family adventure I was presented the opportunity to spend 24 hours in Wat San Goo. I was excited by spending time in a traditional Thailand Wat and was looking forward to what I would also learn. I really had no idea what was going to unfold and as the time to emerse myself neared I became increasingly hesitant. Throwing myself into a world I had never experienced and being surrounded by a language I was only just beginning to hear was creating a little fear. Needless to say I was pushing a few boundaries.

What emerged from the 24 hours became the subject of a rather detailed blog post. And what stands out for me was the amount I learned during the 24 hours. I would almost say I created a transformative learning experience for myself. Could it be that my hesitancy and mild fear pushed me into a heightened awareness that enabled me to assimilate more information and the unfamiliar surroundings increased my ability to learn about these surroundings?

DELL Inspiron 6000 is an Ubuntu workhorse

Four years back I purchased a new DELL Studio to replace my old DELL Inspiron 6000. At that time I formatted the drive in the Inspiron and installed Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft). And now five years later the Inspiron 6000 is more of a workhorse than the new DELL Studio. It is running Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) and has been used as a development workstation running apache, mysql and php to develop RESTful applications. It has hosted lucene and solr for architectural learning. It has done a whole plethora of technology tasks. It has traveled with me for years and now it is on the road in Thailand used as a rogue for blog posting and uploading images. Its a workhorse and has yet to let me down. Given I have another few weeks on the road I hope I haven't jinxed this with this post... only time will tell.

So why the DELL Inspiron 6000 over taking the DELL Mini 9 or the DELL studio.

1. The inspiron is running Ubuntu and I figured it would be easier to fix when on the road than a Microsoft OS.
2. Even though the DELL Mini is my personal road warrior machine, the wife and kids don't like the small screen or keyboard. And we wanted to be able to watch DVDs...
3. The DELL Studio is running Vista... enough said.
4. If the laptop was lost, broken or otherwise, no great loss it is over eight years old.

I really don't want to hurt this old laptops feelings. It is by far my favorite machine ever! It has written more great code than any other machine I have ever worked on. It has generated more content than any other machine. It has generated the most revenue. It has always worked for me. No longer having this laptop would be a great loss! It would be like losing an old friend.

Sharing the trial with mountain goats

Lisa, Lucas, Kai and Peter bag
Quiniscoe Mountain

My family and I spent the last week in Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park. What stood out for me the most is how our two young sons Lucas (6) and Kai (5) went on long hikes and bagged a few peaks each over 2500 m. They were pretty flipped-out in getting to the top of Quiniscoe Mountain (2551 metres). And to be honest, I am one proud father to think of the effort, endurance and goodwill they both showed in getting to the top of this mountain.

Quiniscoe Mountain seen
from Quiniscoe Lake

The Cathedral Lakes Provincial Park is an outstanding place to bring a family and both the Ranger (John Henry) and all the staff at the Cathedral Lakes Lodge were outstanding. During our stay in the park, we spent the first three nights camping and the last two nights in the lodge. During our last night of camping the temperature dropped to -2 degrees Celsius. All good as we had brought good sleeping bags and fleecy jammies... The food prepared in the lodge was outstanding and it was good to meet others who had spent their days hiking in the park and exploring its many lakes and mountain peaks. We even took the time to do some trout fishing, and Lucas caught his first lake trout. We cleaned it and cooked it on an open fire... yum. Unfortunately my presentation of the cooked trout wasn't the greatest and the boys refused to eat any. Note to self, when having the boys try a new food, presentation is important.

Another significant event was sharing the trail with two mountain goats. We were very fortunate to sit ourselves just off the trial and allowed these amazing creatures to pass.The fun part was having the goats peer back at us from over the small bluff after they had passed.

What were my big lessons while on this family trip?

• Lucas and Kai love wildlife... they always want to see creatures, big and small, in their natural environment.
• Sometimes, children need a firm reminder that they are capable and need to push though to achieve their goals (even if they have been set by their parents)
• Durvla Murphy is correct in that we need to be reminded we are still animals and spending time in the solitude of the mountains is time well spent.

...To me that perfection of stillness is the grace of the mountains poured into one's soul.....I know and have always known that we 20th century humans need to escape at intervals from that alien world which has so abruptly replaced the environment that bred us. We need to be close to, and opposed to, and sometimes subservient to, and always respectful of the physical realities of the planet we live on. We need to receive its pure silences and attend to its winds, to wade thru its rivers and sweat under its sun, to plough thru its sands and sleep on its bumps. Not all the time but often enough for us to remember that we are animals. Clever animals yet ultimately dependent, like any other animals on the forces of Nature... - Dervla Murphy