I consider myself to be foremost a technologist, but not an advocate of technology for the sake of it, but the application of technology to solve genuine problems. The centre of my technical skillset is around Integration and development technologies both on-premises and cloud-primarily using open source, Oracle and Red Hat technologies.

The application of Technology in my professional life is informed by the use of architectural practices - such perspectives help to ensure that particularly on large transformational initiatives you can trace the business needs and decisions through to specific technical decisions. This isn't documentation for the sake of it, but enough to communicate well thought out strategies, to enable effective communication and continuity of understanding within an organisation - SMEs are important, but a dependence on a single individual is unhealthy for that individual, but also the organisation.

I believe there is value in knowledge, but that value is only realized when you enable others by sharing it. This leads me elegantly to why I have (co)authored several books, written articles for journals, blogged, and presented.

Getting out and presenting is a great way not only to share but also to learn. The more situations you discover, the more ideas can be adapted to be reusable, and therefore worth sharing. I am active with the UK Oracle User Group - working as the Dev & Middleware stream lead, helping in a variety of different ways from planning events, sourcing submissions to reviewing articles for the journal.

This emphasis on enabling others with an Oracle focus has led to being recognized as an Oracle Ace Director. Now Alumni as Ive joined Oracle.

I've been fortunate to work for a variety of organisations, global IT consumer/customers, System Integrator (SI) / consultancies - both niche and large, Independent Software Vendors, and technology manufacturing. This has meant I've gained a broad and diverse set of perspectives.

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