I am an Information Technology Professional having worked with computer systems from the late 1980s onwards while serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a Senior Telecommunications Operator.
I have resided in three countries (New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom) working typically in either Military, Government, Telecommunications, Cloud Services, or Security in a variety of roles from Support through Engineering, Architecture & Design, Operations Management, Project Management and People Management. I like helping people to use technology and finding a better way to deliver a solution or outcome; whether that be performing a deep dive of a system log, teaching somebody how to use a product, or scoping a new environment to deliver a new service or function.
Throughout my professional life I have worked with a variety of operating systems from AS/400, BSD (FreeBSD and OpenBSD), Concurrent, Linux, Minix, OS/2, Unix (AIX, DGux, HPux, SunOS and Solaris) and Windows. I like learning the in’s and out’s of an operating systems and these days I typically work with mainly Linux and Windows. I’ve been working with Linux since the early 90s having discovered Slackware and Yggdrasil and a local computer shop and being told by the IT Manager where I worked at the time (New Zealand Lotteries Commission) that it’ll never take of and I’m wasting my time playing with it. So many people at the time just didn’t understand the whole Open Source ideology.
As I mentioned I like learning and keeping myself up to date which includes taking and passing the various industry certifications. In the past I have various certifications including Microsoft (Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet / Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), Red Hat (Red Hat Certified Administrator / Red Hat Certified Engineer), Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL Foundation), Linux Professional Institute (LPIC Level 1), RSA Security (RSA SecurID Certified Administrator / RSA SecurID Certified Engineer), RSA Security (RSA Envision Certified Engineer). Presently I hold my Amazon Web Services (Associate Solutions Architect) and Tanium (Tanium Certified Operator) and am working towards obtaining the Tanium Certified Administrator examination.
My previous role was as a Cloud Support Engineer with Amazon Web Services which I joined as one of the first engineers in Sydney, Australia in December 2012. I played a key role in the development of the business unit from the original team of 12 engineers and 2 managers to well over 600 engineers and 25 managers supporting in excess of 200 services. During my time within Premium Support I achieved my SME (Subject Matter Expert) for the Simple Email Service (SES) twice (had to requalify again after changing roles); assisted in numerous public AWS Events; wrote and published a number of public facing articles; coached and mentored number colleagues and interviewed over 500 candidates looking to join the Premium Support Team. I left AWS Premium Support having come to the conclusion there were limited opportunities for development and promotion within the business unit but but also that it was time for a change and a reset, to clear the cobwebs and return an area I enjoy – IT Security.
Presently I work for a company called Tanium as a Senior Support, Technical Account Manager supporting customers and assisting my colleagues to help our customer better use the Tanium platform. The team I work is in quite young and relatively new however it’s the mentality, perspective and support here that I love the most. It is the only company where I have worked as an engineer where I will join a conference bridge with a customer only to have numerous team members join me and offer suggestions to help our customer. The learning curve is steep but its interesting and the product itself is excellent; one I wished I had 10, 15 years ago when managing large complex environments.