Like many in the IT industry, I started my pre-teen years with a strong interest in computer hardware, logical programming and networking. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that I would earn my first role in a cloud and master data management, as an offshore oilfield IT technician. In this capacity, I was tasked with building mechanisms and infrastructure required for delivering run-time and performance data of custom, purpose built sub-sea equipment that was deployed offshore. This data was often updated on semi-daily intervals (or more frequently) to the engineering and operations management groups onshore.
As you can probably imagine, there were many existing p60 – p70 solutions in this sector at the time, but the leadership of my business unit needed a working proof-of-concept (POC) which leveraged existing hardware and service subscriptions, and was tailored to their needs.
After accomplishing the majority of their core objectives and automating deployment to new systems with a series of Bash and PowerShell scripts, I began to look for other tasks and work in the IT field of this company. Unfortunately, oil prices were dropping and layoffs were common (as they often are with top-line oriented organizations) leaving few of the original leadership team, and even fewer willing to view my proposals.
Through a colleague, I would quickly find work with a family owned, R&D focused production optimization company, which sought to combine many of my skills in hybrid-cloud architectural design, networking, automation, and your various data governance task; to include data enrichment and master data management. Though they were a smaller organization, this would be my first experience with enterprise scale data sets and challenges around data governance and master data management. Again – Bad luck on my part, the company would close it’s doors within about a 18 months, but the owner gave us ample time and support to find new roles.
The Past Decade
Again through a colleague and professional reputation, I was able to find work immediately; this time with a multi-national technical services and project management consultancy, primarily focused in Oil & Energy, Chemical, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing as well as Financial and Healthcare industries. When I first arrived, my role was to translate the founders loose, somewhat ambiguous goals with data governance, and work to consolidate their data estate and numerous SLA’s and SaaS suppliers.
Compliance with NIST SP 800-53 and ISO27001 were among my top priorities as well, as technical consultancies are often required by their client to hold similar standards. I was also charged with developing a roadmap to completion and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for tracking progress through various delivery phases of the above.
Within a few months, due largely to work ethic and my willingness to put in the work to adapt & learn quickly, I was able to work ahead of our initial timetables. Because of this, I was asked to split my time solving similar technical challenges for our clients and partners on an as-needed basis, while still maintaining our ongoing infrastructure and compliance goals
This would prove a pivotal point in my career, as not only I would rapidly gain and leverage expert levels of multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud competency, perform nearly 60 migrations and develop complex (hybrid) ETL and data enrichment pipelines in IoT and Industrial IoT environments; but I would also gain in-depth, first hand experience and insight into a broad range of enterprise scale challenges.
The Next 3 Years – Professional & Academic Goals
In the somewhat immediate future, I would like to find work focused on Architecture, Data Governance, Data Management and Data Pipelines in the Houston Area – preferably at the next level of enterprise scale. It’s ideal that this would be a hybrid role or on-site, as I like to interface with stakeholders and asset managers, but I would be happy to work remote for the right opportunity.
In the longer term, I’m chipping away at the following over the next several years:
- Complete 4 Azure Certifications in Ministration, Architecture, AI and Data Engineering
- Complete 4 Databricks certification, to Include Azure Architecture and MLops
- Finish my B.S. in Cloud Computing with WGU
- Start a M.S. degree, also with WGU
It is my hope that in combining nearly 12 years of diverse experience and the above credentials, I could bring much as an Cloud SME to an organization’s goals in Data Governance, Master Data Management and ETL or enrichment, in alignment with cutting edge technology and Data Estate TCO reductions. With the proper organizational alignment and sponsorship, this could serve to achieve any organizations long-term goals in scalability and gaining deeper insights into their business and operations.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that we can grow together for many years to come.