Pinpointing the difference

Most people don’t like writing about themselves, and I’m no except, but many people do like to know who they’re dealing with, so here it is…

Childhood

I grew up on a farm on Eyre Peninsula and my first recollection of what I was going to be, was to be a pilot of a fighter jet in the Air Force. Unfortunately I later discovered that this meant 100% dedication to school work and that was never going to happen!

I then decided to be a Farmer and so I obtained a Certificate in Agriculture, but differences of opinions with my Dad resulted in me leaving after a year.

One night after coming to the decision it would be good to try travel for a couple of years, I was down at our local general store and post office, just before closing, and our shopkeeper Ian “Bishy” Bishop asked if I’d like to stay for a beer. A few drinks later and he suggested I try Geophysics and get paid to travel Australia.

This sounded like a pretty good idea to an 18 yr old, so Bishy made a few phone calls and I spent the next 5 years working in Geophysics as a Fieldy and Crew Leader. In the last year, I started my first business with a co-worker, and over that time, visited many places that most people don’t get access to.

We were also working with cutting edge technologies, which I loved, and some of which were produced by the CSIRO, and I also loved that Australia was a leader in areas that were making our country better.

One of the best parts of the job, was the people.

It was a really diverse bunch, most University educated, most well travelled, and most from overseas. They really challenged your ideas, which were pretty narrow for someone that had grown up in a small, remote, farming community, and, at the same time, opened your eyes to the rest of the world and how they thought and lived.

That experienced really changed me as a person, and while I appreciated technology and its potential to enhance our lives, this considerably broadened my thinking about not just technology, but it’s application to enhance and work with humans and nature.

But all good things must come to an end and eventually I fell in love and was sick of the constant travel, so using the “shotgun” approach, I applied for a pile of jobs in the middle of a recession and eventually got one with, at the time, Australia’s largest offset web printer, owned by none other than “Uncle Rupert”.

Uncle Rupert

So the next few years saw me working for Rupert Murdoch in one of his printing companies as Distribution Manager for SA & NT. 

Murdoch was, I’m not sure you’d call it “affectionately” known as, but – often referred to as “Uncle Rupert”.

It was a job, and I did it well. 4 promotions in 6 years saw me end up as Operations Manager for Western Australia and living in Perth.

Difficult Times

After 6 years, a disagreement with a new CEO over how my staff were treated saw me moving on. This was a difficult time. I’d put everything in to my role and my staff of 15 permanent and 120 contractors and it really knocked the wind out of my sails to see myself and my staff treated in the disposable manner we were, but looking back, I guess that’s corporate life.

It made me realise though, that you have to live with yourself, and that I’d rather be out of a job and struggling financially, than treat people as dispensable.

It’s up to all of us to make the world a better place, at times, that means sacrifices and hardships.

Microsoft

Wondering where next to turn, I investigated a lot of options and eventually decided to become a Microsoft Systems Engineer, so a year studying with Microsoft and I obtained my MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), the most coveted certification in Server and Systems engineering.

Studying isn’t my first love, but it’s essential in this job. Every day you spend a lot of time learning, it’s a constantly changing environment, and while the principles haven’t changed that much over 30 yrs, the delivery mechanisms have and continually do.

I worked for a small Perth company and the first job was an IT Rollout for Hamersley Iron in the Pilbara at Mt Tom Price.

Here I was, almost a decade after leaving the mining industry, back in the mining industry, well sort of!

The company I worked for grew fast and was bought out by a huge company, Marconi (formerly British Telecom). We went from 40 employees, to 30,000.

A strange link, we had Marconi equipment on the farm I grew up on! And, my next assignment… another mining company.

I worked at WMC (formerly Western Mining Company) for Marconi, until I was approached by Cube Consulting. I gladly accepted their offer as Marconi wasn’t a lot of fun, and started a 20+ year association with Cube, which continues to this day. And who was I consulting to… WMC!

Same chair, different polo shirt!

At Cube, I also met Hordern IT staff and now I consult to them as well.

You don’t get to have 20+ year associations with companies unless you know what you’re doing.

More to it

Of course there is so much more to tell on the work front and then there is sport, music (I played lead guitar in a band for a while), community works, families, animals, moving states with job promotions 4 times, being poor and not so poor, phew…

Life’s triumphs and disasters are best shared over a bottle or two of home brewed Emu Flat Bitter.

So here we are, I’m now almost 30 years consulting in Technologies across a number of industries, in a number of roles.

My life experience makes me a big picture type of guy and my experience with people, makes me want the best for everyone. And I think there’s an extra “win” there if we look hard enough.

win-win-win

That’s me.

That’s what I bring to Pinpoint and I hope, to you and your business.

Cheers Big Ears!

Mark