About Me
Self descriptions…. never easy.
It’s never an easy job to write an “about me” profile, most people don’t even get past the “do I write in the first person or the third person” question. Well I guess I’ve crossed that bridge already, so here goes; honest and straight forward…
I’m a committed and passionate Engineer and have been for as long as I can remember. I deal primarily with systems architecture although a little with software. My key area of interest is in the void between systems teams and software teams and how architectures can be used to improve productivity, clarity, integrity and efficiency in this area. I have plenty of experience architecting large and complex systems, through architecture frameworks such as MODAF and DODAF and with proprietray frameworks such as JUDE and IAF (you wont have heard of them). I am comfortable with highly expressive descriptive languages such as UML for modelling or with implementation languages such as C++, Java and VB/VBA. My particular passions in this area are in assessing architecture maturity and with guiding modelling best practice. I take a pragmatic approach to both Enterprise and Systems architectures, being prudent to add value to businesses without additional unrequired “modelling for the sake of modelling“.
Whilst Systems and Enterprise Architectures are my particular area of expertise, I have a broader background in both systems Engineering and Engineering as a whole, having spent much of my time at an extremely large defence company working in requirements capture and management, test and integration. I have experience in almost all area of the CADMID Engineering Lifecycle. I have plenty of experience in most systems Engineering areas and have never found any of it dull or tedious.
In a previous life, I was a project manager (In the Aerospace Engineering domain) and before that a Mechanical Engineer. All my roles I have found interesting in one way or another and what many people might find surprising is just how well I have found they complement each other. I often draw parallels between manufacturing, product design, systems Engineering and project control. All skills have proven to be complementary, helping to give me a unique perspective to my day to day work.
I am committed to Engineering in every way, through its promotion, application and through exposing young people to the opportunities it affords them. I remain open to any projects or endeavors to help promote Engineering to young people and would welcome contact from anyone who needs help in this area.
In areas outside of work, I am a commited fitness enthusiast (I qualified as a Personal Trainer to learn more about health and fitness) I have dreams one day of being able to use my interest in health and fitness and my Personal Trainer qualification to work with young people suffering from obesity. I am an (ex) budding entrepreneur and a closet techno-geek (I’d imagine that’s how you’d refer to someone who enjoys technology on a personal level). I have a lovely extended blood family living right the way across the world.