About

I am a network engineer who has spent the last 12 years or so working for ISPs, systems integrators/consultants and in the enterprise space.  I have a great job as a senior network engineer at an end user organisation, with plenty of flexibility regarding work hours and working remotely, which is especially important with having three kids under the age of 4.  I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering (telecommunications) and numerous IT industry certifications.  I’m currently balancing work and family commitments with a master’s degree in management (information technology).

So if I’m happy with my current job and they provide the flexibility that I need, it begs the question as to why I would choose to undertake this journey.  Is it for money?  While the money could always be better, the answer is no.  The reason is that after 12 years I’ve come to the realisation that I don’t want to do IT support for the remainder of my working life.  I don’t want to be approaching age 65 and still be doing on-call after hours support, or working for a systems integrator and worrying about booking billable hours.  So for me the obvious answer is management.

Will I ever reveal my real name?  Unlikely.  Since the whole point of this blog is about changing roles I do not intend to jeopardise my chances of getting a new position or damage the relationship with my current employer by publicly advertising when I apply for new roles.  Do I have a timetable in which to achieve this goal?  No, in fact it is likely that I will never get there.  Now this may seem counterintuitive when the whole premise of this blog is based on becoming a CIO, however my main priority in life is my family and not a personal quest to become a CIO.  I will certainly do what I can to get there, however I will not sacrifice everything to do so.

I hope that as this blog grows that my thoughts and commentary will provide useful information to those interested in moving from a technology based role to an IT management role, and in turn will encourage others to share their knowledge and insights with me.