Ok John…… what are you doing? So…… Kids, Family, Work, activities, food, TV, social, Keeping skills up to date, Work, activities, travelling, Work, Family, Kids, Work, Kids, Family, TV, Work, Kids……. STOP!!!!!
I presume you get it! Blogging didn’t manage to fit into my life for the last few years…….. why is that? I know its not down to the fact that I don’t want to give back to the community, because I do, in other ways…….. Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitch, Facebook, Discord, Workplace, Yammer, Work SharePoint, Teams Channels, Customers and Colleagues, so why cant I seem to keep a blog going?! That is an open question by the way and I think the answer lies within the realm of ‘priorities’.
I know im not on my own here, and with the advent of Tech intensity growing on a daily basis, the need for the IT Pro to keep up to date and specialise I don’t think has ever been so prevalent, and thus cause such a pull on all our time!
Early Days
I have worked in the IT Industry for well over 20 years now, starting off like many with coding my first BASIC program on a C64 (wasn’t posh enough to own an Amiga!), then progressed through to my first 286SX back in the mid 90’s. Had my dot matrix printer and 5.25″ Floppy linked up to my C64 that I used to do all my homework on………. that noise! By the time Id progressed up to a 486DX2 66MHz complete with Lexmark Colour printer, and buying a mates handheld scanner device I was truly hooked on computing.
From recording my walkman into the mic input on my Soudblaster 16bit Card that I had made a special trip into Cardiff to purchase in the Capital Arcade, just to get that Windows Start up sound to be………… ‘All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey’!!! (Please….. I know…… it was Christmas I guess!) But Yes the entire song! As a side note this always puzzled me in later life on how I actually managed to do that. You had the windows recorder that could record up to 1 minute, so I used to record silence for 1 minute then halve the speed of the track and then record silence again, half the speed which left me with 4 minutes of white space…….. I could now record an entire song at a low enough bitrate that it didn’t fill up my 200mb HDD.
By the time I had reached high school I recall coming home to the dulcet tones of a 28.8k modem calling into our ISP and wondering what was going on! Well, like us all, my life was changed. Macromedia, JavaScript, HTML, SQL, ‘Hacking’, MSN Chat, Dreamweaver, Flash, Web Design, IRC, Cans of coke, all-nighters, no sleep, ‘Get off the internet’ my mum would shout, ‘I need to phone your father’……… a welcomed unscheduled break from my all night attempt at trying to get a picture of my mates face to spin in a flash element for his new website!!! My eyes were hurting! These things enveloped my life for several years from about the age of 13 years old and things are kind of the same over 25 years later!
Music entered my life and I quickly turned my attention to building a website for local bands to enter a profile and put some music online….. (*cough* Id love to say Myspace stole my idea…… reality was, I was still learning, lots, and lots, I had no idea about business yet, certainly not how to monetise things……. what the hell does that even mean!)
Then……. the age of Napster! Ahhhhh how I miss…… (no wait must not self incriminate). Anyhow, I now have a iTunes Match and subscription…… moving on!
This was all before I finished college and went on to earn some money by getting a ‘Job’.
This is the first time I’ve actually taken to write some of these memories and my early years with Computing, like us all I’m sure many will resonate with this article, but what is my point?
Well, I dont really have one other than……. after 20+ years of working and earning money in a 9-5, I have grown to fine tune my skill sover that time, not just thinking ‘What is the next big thing’ but how can I help you (my customer) achieve the next big thing, how can I apply my knowledge to your situation, to help you gain from it! I have met and worked with all sorts of characters, many have been superb, helpful, guiding and brilliant, and even though I may not see some of them on a regular basis, they know who they are and the impact they have had on my life and well……. I think its time I really did prioritise my Blog a bit more!
Ill probably try and come back to this post at some point or make a part 2, just to give those starting out in the industry a bit of context to what you need to cut it in IT. As a Consultant and now an Architect I always try and include the people side of IT, enjoy it, laugh about it, call out when you dropped the ball (we are all human and we do ALL drop the ball)…… but above all else, believe in yourself. That knowledge that you picked up may seem insignificant to you, but it is not to others.
So why the Blog John?
I have spent sooooooo long thinking all the things I knew, the experiences that I have had, the people I have met who have shaped me and my life, both positively and negatively have all made me who I am and what my attitude is to life and my work today. I just feel the need to share some of my experiences and add my own little twist to them……. don’t we all do that? Maybe not in public so much?!
So…. over the last few years it dawned on me that the experiences I have had and the knowledge I have gained have no doubt stood me in good stead to carry out my day job to the best of my abilities and make sure that the customers I work with get the best out of me as an individual, I will always try and do the best and then go over and above……… whether its noticed by someone or not, that doesn’t matter, its about being consistent with your approach, don’t demand or even expect reward…….. your reward should be that you are training yourself to be an incredible friend, colleague and worker.
Today they have labelled this style as having a growth mindset, and yes I couldn’t agree more! Look on the positive, not the negative. Learn how to learn, always learn, when your aren’t learning, think about ways in which you can learn! Basically be a ‘sponge!’
I’m going to do my best to make a pledge, a pledge to Blog more! Who knows I may even Vlog! Look out! I would love to see everyones thoughts on this. Tech Intensity, COntact Learning all seems to take priority for me at the moment….. I must say, writing this Blog even feels a bit theraputic.
So….. I have set up my socials and lining myself up to start upping my game to give back a bit more. I would love for everyone to follow me on this journey, Ill try and make it a ‘behind the scenes’ of being a Consultant/Architect, its a job I love and wouldnt change for the world, but it can also be a stressful and hard job with constant change being the only constant.
Anyhow, if you have read all this, then you will either think I’m off my rocker, or you will see Im just tring to get a blog entry for August 2020 on my wordpress site 😉
So, Id love for you to follow but just to add, some of my socials have only just been set up, so please pleas please, could you follow even though there may not be any content on them ‘Yet!’, subscribe to as many of these as you can, and please feedback Id love to hear from you all.
Social Accounts – Please follow and subscribe
Signing off for now, Ill hope to do another post soon 🙂
Cloud Computing with a side of Chipz 