What does your job entail?
Provision of all the infrastructure services to Ordnance Survey internal users
and customers.
What was your first job?
I had a job in an engineering factory in Glasgow, by the docks – it’s
now a furniture warehouse, of course.
How did you get into IT?
I was working in the print industry as a print production manager, round about
the time when PCs and Macs were coming in to start replacing typesetting
systems. I thought this is more interesting than print so I started doing IT
support.
Have you got a mobile device?
I’ve been using a BlackBerry for the past six months. I don’t check it when I’m
driving, but if it throws up an alert I’ll check it. It could be a service
failure or somebody needs to get hold of me. People who don’t have a BlackBerry
say, “It must be a terrible bind to have a BlackBerry”, but you get used to it.
It’s like getting used to bad weather.
Which person do you most admire in the IT industry?
Steve Jobs. Apple makes just the most fantastic technology, and it’s by far the
most influential IT vendor. The first computer I ever owned was an Apple II.
Which technology would you most like to have invented?
The mobile phone. It’s the technology that’s had the most impact on people, far
more than any computer.
What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five
years?
For a while information lifecycle management (ILM) was really annoying me.
There’s probably many more though – just about everything is over-hyped.
Is now a good time to enter the IT profession?
Yes, the market is very healthy if you have got the right skills.
What’s the biggest IT challenges you face?
The organisation wants to do too much too quickly. It thinks that all these
technologies are simple to implement. There are complaints that IT people need
to have a much higher level of business awareness, but I think that business
people need an equally high level of IT knowledge if they’re to succeed.
