First Person is the show where we meet the most interesting people in IT, and learn from them what makes them tick by focusing only on their firsts. First job, first great boss, first failure or first pet. Learn from interesting people talking about serious things in a not-serious way. Contact matt_egan@foundryco.com
We meet Derek Ashmore, a career-long consultant who says the first thing we need to know about him is that he learns for a living. Derek talks about a fortuitous entry into the industry when accountancy turned into coding, but how a lack of political acumen (and patience) almost derailed him. The answer has been to work in consultancy, joining teams to act as mentor and mentee, learning and guiding to successful outcomes. Derek tells us how he doesn't believe in failure, but that his biggest mistakes have been not staying the course and trusting his judgement. But overall his career has been successful because he has given and taken something from everyone he has worked with.
We meet Eamonn O'Neill, founder and CTO of Lemongrass. Eamonn tells us that he is a technologist first and foremost, as excited about tech today as he was decades ago when he got his first Spectrum computer. He describes his journey from typing out code from magazines through an engineering degree to getting the enterprise software bug working as a graduate. He explains how his peers have been his mentors, and advises those starting out in tech to be excited about the future, do the background reading, and learn from other people. Eamonn ends by sharing his excitement for the future and his view that AI will amplify the efficacy of the most talented people.
We meet Linus Hakansson, who became a Chief Product Officer by way of developing mobile apps, architecting cloud solutions, and a spell of consultancy. Throughout his career Linus has succeeded by applying technology to solve real problems. Linus explains how his progression was due to a mixture of skill, hard work and good fortune. Espouses the value of a mentor who knows talent where he sees it, and explains how he was never more stressed than when his job was stress free. We discuss why good health is the only thing that matters (and critical to career progression) and digress into naming animals after footballers. Finally Linus explains how he views the AI revolution as a good thing for those entering the workforce - if they can be solutions orientated.
We meet Aaron Momin, a seasoned cybersecurity and cyber risk professional with over 30 years of experience in managing cyber and technology risk. Aaron tells us how he studied computing at college after becoming obsessed with the technology taking to pieces his Compaq PC. He talks about taking that approach into the workplace and benefitting from a really hands on technical grounding, but building his career through knowing how to translate technical to business language - how to connect with people, build the network and drive value for the organization and your peers. Aaron speaks a little about how travel, culture, and moving countries in his childhood helped furnish him with an open mind and an ability to connect, and offers advice on how to build a successful career: never stop learning, and always be building the network.
We meet Emma Philpott MBE - academic, cyber security expert and business leader. Emma tells us how her career has meandered to a good place, and that is okay. That when she was underestimated and frustrated early in the piece her best boss saw her potential and gave her the support to grow in her own way. And how she landed in the right place through adversity: changing tack and building communities of cyber security firms, driven by a sense of fairness. She explains how mistakes and failure can be turned into opportunities with the addition of a sense of optimism. Emma closes by explaining how the organisation she founded and runs succeeds because it is inclusive and proactively recruits neuro-diverse people. It's not just the right thing to do, it's good for business.
We meet Daniel Avancini, an academic turned entrepreneur, analyst and business person turned coder. He tells us about how he doesn't always know his final destination, but he understands the direction in which he wishes to travel and makes decisions so he heads that way. How he hedged (in his parlance) by keeping one foot in academia and one in corporate life. And Daniel has some great advice for those starting out who are challenged by the impact of AI on the future of work: understand your passion and what you are great at, and add value by doing things that AI can't do.
We meet Dr CJ Meadows - from the US, based in Singapore, having worked around the world from Japan to India and beyond. An accountant by training and IT pro by practice, CJ is an entrepreneur, consultant, and educator who runs a not-for-profit using tech to bring access to education to excluded folks. We spoke about how her career (and life) path has never been linear or conventional. We discussed how the future of work will require leaders who can use design thinking to focus on solving new and real problems rather than building the shiniest tech. She explained how her best bosses showed empathy and support, and that those same skills are useful in family and personal life make for great business success. CJ ends with some great lessons for life: follow your own path, and try not to kill each other. Words to live by.
We meet David Jones - a chief architect, CTO and CIO who describes his work as elevating business technology strategy through architectural excellence. David introduces himself as someone who loves collaborating, doesn't do politics and is always honest. He tells us how he got started by choosing to study electrical engineering inspired by his brother and a French pen pal, and espouses the value of practical, in-industry training over academic learning (although he returned to his own school to teach). David tells us how he was supported to accelerate his career by studying bleeding edge tech whilst he was working in an operational business, and how that taught him a valuable architectural lesson: the best solution for the organization you are in may not always be the most current technical solution. David's message to those starting out is to follow your passions, learn, and be open and curious - you never know where life will take you.
We meet Arno Schilperoord, a global leader for Heineken who believes that coding is magic and poetry, offering the opportunity to create something from nothing and infinite possibility. Arno tells us how studying physics and using computer models and writing computer code to help in the analysis was his way into IT. He says that in IT everybody was learning things for the first time, and explains how designing resilient high-performance solutions was just a small step from his current practice of architecture. Arno tells us that great bosses are able to spot and resolve problems early, and that great leadership isn't just about technical expertise, it's about awareness, timing, and creating a culture of high performance and creating an environment where people feel safe and feel supported.
We meet Jim Wilt, a voraciously curious CTO, distinguished chief architect and engineering advocate. Jim's enjoying a stellar career with roles as CTO, CDO and chief architect across a multitude of enterprise organizations. In this conversation we learn about his success and failures, and how he may have learnt more from the latter. He takes us from being inspired by a Disney movie to learn to code on paper because he couldn't afford access to a computer, to working in medical research and winning prestigious awards for huge organizations. He describes a great boss in McDonalds who taught him the value of giving your best to everything you do, including the story of the janitor at NASA who sent a man to the Moon. Jim shares how he needed to be convinced of his own expertise, and shares the view that material success follows passion and focus - don't waste your time being safe.
We meet Paul Preiss, the CEO and founder of the IASA, the not-for-profit professional association for all business technology architects. In our conversation Paul describes himself as unbelievably passionate person about everything he does, personal and professional, and how that helped him steer and build a storied career in technology. He describes how he went from doing a degree in Japanese, to what he describes as his calling: IT. His first roles in development, moving to become an architect with Dell, and on to great success. Paul tells us some of the things he learnt along the way, outlines his failures and what he learnt from them, as well as introducing us to some of the great leaders who helped shape him and his career.
Sponsored Links