About Me

Well, what about me?! First off this is my website. Welcome! Nice of you to drop in.

I really don’t know why I’m blogging but I think it is because I want to learn how to communicate a little better in text. The other reason for me is to share some of the important/wonderful/curious/cool/geeky stuff out there with you.

For those who do find something interesting here and want to link/copy/steal something from here that usually isn’t a problem. Drop me a comment or an email so that I know. Please watch out for any other trademarks and copyrights that might apply.

As for myself I’m what my wife calls a daylight compatible geek. I think what she means is that I’m a geek and I’m still socially somewhat acceptable. I sincerely hope she’s right (well she did marry me….so it can’t be THAT bad). Well, what am I geeky about?

• Computers in general especially Macs and Ubuntu stuff
• Testing as that’s my job (more to that later)
• Photography
• Reading & Podcasts
• Movies
• Motorcycles
• Much more stuff that changes as the day goes by

So those are generally the topics you can easily strike up a conversation with me. Things like “Quantum Mechanics relateing to Alcohol Consumption of Fruit-Flies” won’t really peek my interest (…with a topic like that it really only speaks to your character!). But don’t feel put off and do try to engage me with whatever topic you want. I do need to broaden my horizons on occasion.

My work is IT too. I am a Test Manager for a company called DATACOM. Short explanation what a tester is: “A tester is to a developer what a food critic is to a chef”. Most people can do something with that explanation. One of my specialities is performance testing. That again is like being what Clarkson (ref. TopGear)  is for a Ferrari just for software. Sometimes it is even as exhilarating.

Lately I have been expanding into more public speaking and sharing of know-how. Mainly on testing but also on other topics that I think could be interesting for others.

In 2009 I joined ToastMasters to become more at ease with public speaking. This will ultimately lead to more testing presentations at testing conferences. The first one being STANZ 2010 later in the year. Current speaking topics are all performance testing related but my ToastMaster fellows of Mt Victoria tell me that I can also competently speak about oceanic noise pollution.

Another one of my newest endeavors is to help spread a bit of testing know-how. Not buying-into the whole ISTQB certification junket I have chosen the path of helping start the WTANZ or Weekend Testers Australia/New Zealand. This is currently a fortnightly online meet on weekends where testing lore, know how and contacts are exchanged. This is all very new and in it’s infancy but the gain is already measurable. I foresee a great future.

Enough about me now. Read my blog entries and you’ll learn a lot more about what moves me. You can also follow me on Twitter.