This was my first introduction post to the SAP Community back in 2010. It was a great relationship and I met a ton of wonderful folks in the enterprise space. In terms of opportunity it was probably the equivalent of Github in more recent times.
So, since it’s my first blog here on SDN I decided that I would share some of my background and where I come from, where I am, and, where I hope to be some day.
Lets start at the beginning, I was born in a small town called East London, South Africa in 1980, attended a couple local schools and found my interest for computers digging through left over PC components at my fathers business. Since putting the components together did not quite represent Jonny from the movie “Short Circuit”, my interested turned to software programming at the tender age of 13, which happened accidentally. In my pursuit for i386 memory I purchased a copy of “Computer Shopper” magazine which included Visual Basic 3.0 – along with a few tutorials. From there it was a downward spiral.
I started coding everything from simple hello worlds to web based active x controls to manage my skateboard collection – which subsequently never loaded due to dial-up internet and extremely inefficient code! High school in general was never in my lists of passionate topics (even though it was great fun), I wanted to learn what interested me and obviously excelled in topics I took pride in, including technical drawing and Science. My hobbies took preference over school work and I spent a considerable amount of time surfing and riding dirt bikes. In 11th grade a very interesting lady by the name of Julia Prior gave a presentation from a local university about a Computer Science degree and I found my calling.
College kicked off in 1999 which was pretty boring due to my background in coding; however one course sparked my interests. Information Systems 1. It was taught by a gentleman by the name of Steven and based on SAP 4.5B. What intrigued me was the software’s ability to be so broad and how it supports an organization from all aspects of the business. After 4 years, a couple awards, competitions and finishing up my honors degree in Port Elizabeth I decided I wanted to pursue a career in business systems. I was also lucky enough to find a job in the USA with an automotive supplier. I started at the company in 2003 and have worked my way through the ranks from Cross functional Analyst/Developer and Architect to currently being the Information Systems Manager.
Along the way I have spent a considerable amount of time developing software and systems to support the company and drive business performance. At heart I am the same person I was 20 years ago, I still enjoy rolling up my sleeves and developing something which puts a smile on my face. Some of my more interesting projects include a SAP ECC 6.0 implementation as PM, developing a custom middleware solution based on web services and a .NET custom SAP integrated portal. Alongside my day to day work I have also been lucky enough to start, build and sell a small App Startup, twice (One in the social space and another in PM) and have also built multiple proof of concept applications and systems which compliment ERP systems.
Technically speaking my background is in .NET, PHP/AJAX/MySQL etc., Integration, ABAP, EDI and the NW platform. I have business experience with SD, MM, FI/CO and PP (Core ERP modules). I enjoy public speaking and have given a couple ASUG talks in the NC/SC Chapter and enjoy promoting the “reusable” aspects of development through technologies and advancements like Enterprise Services, Open Standards and Process Integration.
In my spare time I work on building innovative ERP micro apps and am hoping to share these concepts and ideas through this blog. In the next couple of posts I will go into some more detail about some of my past projects – what made the projects a success or failure.
I will also be attending SAP TechEd 2010 for the first time, if you planning on being there I would love the opportunity to meet you and hear about your interests in SAP and Enterprise software.
If you are interested and would like to hear more about what I have to say, please follow my blog – I look forward to building a collaborative blog where we can learn and share together.If you are interested in following some daily comments and links regarding business, SAP and a wide range of other topics that I find inspiring or interesting follow me on twitter or connect via LinkedIn.
