GET TO KNOW
Much like open-source , my team is itself an open community where any discussion or questions are welcome .
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
I like to read , and I like to play golf . I ’ m a better reader than a golfer , but I find them both relaxing !
If you could go back and change one career decision , what would it be ? nature and not all that much dependent on a specific area . But it seems to me that there is a correlation between companies attracting young and upcoming talent , and companies that are willing to implement new technologies over and over again .
I think what ’ s important here is that the correlation works in both directions : new talent is often needed to implement new technologies , but new technology also attracts new talent . It ’ s an important cycle for companies everywhere , to be able to modernize with the right new technologies and the right talent .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
I can think of many small things I ought to have done differently , but I ’ m happy with where I am and how I arrived here , so I don ’ t really have any major career regrets to speak of . I was lucky in that my first-ever supervisor gave me the advice to focus on data and data processing , since that ’ s the core function of IT when it comes down to it . That advice has guided my career , which has been a pursuit of increasingly reliable and performant data processing technologies .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
We want to increase our already robust involvement and contributions to the open-source communities we ’ re involved with . I believe that any business can improve its IT posture by enabling greater employee involvement in open-source projects , even where those solutions aren ’ t directly a part of their own technology stacks . At the same time , open-source communities and co-operation pay dividends , and you get out what you put in .
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry ?
Pursuing Digital Transformation and the open-source data-layer technologies best able to support that transformation is the key focus for enterprises and service providers alike . Open-source solutions are particularly well-suited to supporting Digital Transformations : they are certainly budget-friendly , they are easy to test drive and they represent some of the most efficient and scalable enterprise-grade technologies available .
For this reason , Instaclustr was built around pure open-source technologies , as opposed to ‘ opencore ’ solutions that are mostly just excuses to saddle customers with lock-in and steep license fees . My job has been to make sure the open-source projects we utilize deliver powerful results when it comes to helping customers achieve their Digital Transformation goals .
Steep hierarchies are in opposition to my preferred management style , and I ’ m very glad to say they are disappearing across the industry .
My advice is to embrace opportunities to lead as the first among equals and by your example . Be a good team member , motivating your team by working side-by-side within the same trenches . Also , really put yourself in their shoes and be the leader you would want to have . p
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in North America ?
I think that being afraid of the changes that come from implementing new technologies and thus instead sticking with well-known legacy systems is human
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