Young it - digital transformation on a personal level

© 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 dez blanchfield - dez@blanchfield.com.au - +61 414 464 356 - @dez_blanchfield
Digital Transformation on
a personal level..
“constantly re-inventing yourself to stay relevant..”

{ 42 second elevator pitch intro, or TL;DR }
Mainframes, PDP10’s, VAX VMS, CBM 64, Apple ][e, IBM PC “servers”,
Dialup Modems, UUCP, MUX’s, Bridges, Routers, Switches, Firewalls
Pre-Internet, The Internet, ISP’s, Napster, MP3, Y2K, DotCom, Web 2.0,
Virtualisation, Cloud, Containers, Microservices, WebScale, HPC, SMP,
NUMA, MPI, PVM, Hadoop, Spark, Big Data, Openstack, Mesosphere
17k LinkedIn connections, 29k followers on LinkedIn, 92k Twitter followers,
66,000 hours of Tech, Telecoms & Business experience, developed & gave
away the world’s tiniest Hadoop cluster & Openstack appliance virtual
machines, Cloud believer, Hackathons, and I’m an editor on Wikipedia

MY LIFE BEGAN WITH
ME LIVING IN A
TROPICAL JUNGLE
NOW I LIVE IN A
CONCRETE JUNGLE

• Born in Brisbane, moved to Papua New Guniea
• First 14 years of my life living in the jungles Bougainville island
• Did college in New Zealand, skipped university & got a job
• No formal qualifications, I’m 100% self taught, still the case today!
• Worked at a data center after school feeding printers & tape drives
• Wrote Apple ][e apps for my school, and taught my computer class
• Was the only boy in typing classes, got a lot of crap about it ;-)
The early years.. Zero to 14.. What a wild ride..

AT 17 I WAS SO BROKE I
COULDN’T PUT FUEL IN
MY CAR, I LIVED IN IT,
PARKED BEHIND AN
INDIAN RESTURANT I
WORKED FOR, WHILE
TRAINING TO BE A
PILOT

• My dad started out as a dozer operator, ended up running an empire
• Age 9, I pulled my parents first stereo apart, and put it back together
• Wrote my 1st
commercial system age 14, sold it for $1,400
• My 1st
real job was as a data center sysop on the evil midnight shift
• My 2nd
real job involved transforming a software company in NZ
• They funded my move to Australia, to do the same for AUS office
• Ran side projects while living out of a caravan with no wheels
• I was doing open source before open source became a thing
Discovering computers & entrepreneurship..

MY FIRST COMPUER WAS
A COMMODORE 64
NEXT AN AMIGA, AN IBM
PC XT, A XENIX 386, THEN
HP & SUN UNIX SYSTEMS,
AND THEN MACINTOSH

My least favorite bit of hardware.. ever..

A FEW OPERATING SYSTEMS I’VE USED..
BASIC, OS/360, MVS, RSTS/E, RSX-11, VAX
VMS, CPM, MPE, MANY DOS’S, AMIGA OS,
MAC OS, OS X, VENIX, XENIX, MINIX, UNIX,
IRIX, OS/2, NEXT STEP, BEOS, PLAN 9,
PICK, OS/400, BSD, RISK OS, LINUX, SUN
OS, SOLARIS, A+ EDITON, A/UX, AIX, HP-UX,
DG/UX, DYNIX, TMX, VRX, NETWARE, QNX,
OS-9000, DARWIN, OSV, BANYAN VINES,
JUNOS, CISCO IOS, RTOS & WINDOWS

My most favorite bit of hardware.. ever..

• Computer center operator, then shift leader & team manager
• Systems & Network admin, then manager
• Firewall & Router admin, then manager
• Application Developer & Systems Developer
• Project Manager & Programme Director
• MD, IT MGR, CTO, CIO, CISO, COO, CEO
• I’ve made money, I’ve lost money, I’ve even been bankrupt once
A few of the job titles I’ve had over the years..

• Founded an ISP called Geko & survived to tell the story
• Built, Operated & Sold one of AU’s largest banner networks
• Built bank platforms, most recently 23x of them at the same time
• Worked on submarine projects behind concrete & lead walls
• Relocated monster data centers during the Sydney fire season
• Digital transformations of multi-national organisations
• Scanned the surface of the earth using full size planes as drones
A few of the more fun things I’ve done workwise /1

• Monster outsourcing projects for Fed Gov, run a Federal Election
• Ran mission critical Y2K transitions on Mainframes & Midrange
• NAS before NAS was a thing with a gizmo called Yellow Machine
• Cloud IaaS before it was a coinage ( Universal Server Farm )
• Cloud PaaS before it was a coinage ( Downer EDi Data Centers )
• Built Cloud companies, Built Data Centers, Built telco networks
• Paid hacker, chased hackers, spammers & DDoS bot farms
A few of the more fun things I’ve done workwise /2

WATCHING TV IS SUCH A
HORRIBLE WASTE OF
TIME, SWITCH THE TV OFF
AND BUILD SOMETHING,
STUDY SOMETHING,
DON’T’ BE A CONSUMER,
BE A SUPPLIER

Something I built at night in 1998 in a hotel room..

IF YOU ARE NOT RE-
INVENTING YOURSELF TO
REMAIN RELEVANT, BE
ASSURED SOMEONE
ELSE IS, AND THEY WILL
GET THE JOB YOU WANT

Re-invent yourself you will.. Many times I hope..

• A career path is whatever you make it, starting day #1
• You define your career, it doesn’t define you, unless you let it
• Don’t waste life doing something you hate, you only get one life
• You won’t love every job you have, some just pay the bills
• Don’t expect someone else to make your life awesome
• Live life like you’re going to die at the end, because you will
• Develop your own mantra, and live by it, be true to yourself
To get ahead of the pack.. Change the rules..

WANT TO BE MORE
SUCCESSFUL THAN THE
OTHER GUY?
JUST WORK A FEW
HOURS MORE PER DAY,
AND WATCH WHAT
HAPPENS!

The 2x basic rules I measure my lot in life by:
•Am I being shot at?
•Am I hungry?
The 3x rules I live by with all things work related:
•Work with interesting people
•On interesting projects
•A fair days pay, for a fair days work
Mantra.. You said mantra.. So what’s yours?

WHAT MAKES ME THINK I
CAN OFFER ADVICE
ABOUT LIFE IN GENERAL
I’VE ALREADY LIVED A
FULL LIFE, AND IT’S ONLY
JUST GETTING STARTED

THE CURRENT RATE OF
CHANGE IS CAUSING US
TO SPRINT
IN MULTIPLE RACES, AT
THE SAME TIME

I make it a habit to write, all the time, blogs, LinkedIn posts, articles, white papers, eBooks:
I’ve written for WIRED magazine:
•Internet of Things -- The Space Junk Challenge => http://j.mp/iot-spacejunk2
Here’s a few of my pieces on iTnews on Cloud Computing & Openstack:
•Intro to OpenStack cloud => http://j.mp/openstack-01
•Hands on DIY tiny Openstack build => http://j.mp/openstack-tiny
•Download my tiny Openstack appliance => http://j.mp/openstack-testbed
Here’s a few of my pieces on Big Data & Hadoop for iTnews:
•Intro to Big Data & Hadoop => http://j.mp/bigdata-01
•Hands on DIY tiny Hadoop build => http://j.mp/hadoop-testlab
•Download my tiny Hadoop appliance => http://j.mp/hadoop-tiny
•Building a business case for Hadoop => http://j.mp/hadoop-bizcase
Stay busy.. Write.. A few of my recent articles..

WRITING ABOUT
SOMETHING, EVEN IF
ONLY A SHORT 450 WORD
BLOG, FORCES YOU TO
KNOW THE TOPIC WELL
ENOUGH TO SPEAK
AUTHORATIVELY ABOUT
IT

Stay busy.. Blog.. Publish.. Learn to communicate..
I leverage almost ever platform I can find that will allow me to write, publish, interact or be #social:
My own Wordpress blog:
•A quick HOWTO on Apache Drill
• Quick & dirty guide using LinkedIn contacts CSV export - http://j.mp/apache-drill-in-5-mins
A short vendor focused blog for “InsideAnalysis.com”
•Bringing Analytics to the Data
• The New Movement in Big Data Analytics - http://j.mp/1ptYMOn
I love Reddit AMA’s, this one was focused on the Hadoop platform:
•Reddit AMA on Big Data & Hadoop => http://j.mp/hadoop-reddit
Some of my talks hosted online via SlideShare, BrightTalk, and YouTube
•http://www.slideshare.net/dezblanchfield1/presentations
•https://www.brighttalk.com/search?q=Dez+Blanchfield
•https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUlfuIbAon-7oGjAju7s_sQ

I MAKE TIME EVERY
MONTH TO HELP OPEN
SOURCE FOLK GET THEIR
PROJECTS PUBLISHED IN
WIKIPEDIA, I TEACH THEM
TO FLY SOLO

OVER THE LAST 25+
YEARS I HAVE HELPED
ENTREPRENEURS KICK
OFF 400+ STARTUPS OF
ALMOST EVERY SIZE,
SHAPE & FORM, NOT ALL
OF THEM IN TECH SPACE

I make it a habit to speak at conferences & events ( some paid, some just for fun ), here’s a few recent examples:
CeBIT 2015 in Sydney:
Day #1 = Big Data & Analytics - https://www.slideshare.net/secret/Hm53Q5EVZY07Sl
•Putting Data on Your Balance Sheet - Treating Data as a Perishable Commodity
Day #2 = Cloud & Openstack - https://www.slideshare.net/secret/iLQopfh3xfD3x9
•Cloud Building Beyond Theory – How to Start Small & Scale
Day #3 = Internet of Things - https://www.slideshare.net/secret/pE8wUIAQROQwEM
•Open Platforms – Avoiding The Space Junk Challenge
2015 Chilli IQ Information Governance & eDiscovery summit:
•Latest developments & trends in Big Data, Analytics, Tech Platforms & Cloud - http://ediscoverysummit.com.au/
2015 to CAUDIT Forum ( CIO’s of AU & NZ Uni’s )
•Digital Transformation briefing => http://j.mp/caudit-cio-briefing-2015
Data Centre Dynamics 2014
•The Rise Of Big Data => http://j.mp/dcd-2014-bigdata
Stay busy.. Speak.. Present.. Get out there..

BILLION DOLLAR
COMPANIES BUILD
PLATFORMS LIKE
LINKEDIN, TWITTER ETC
AND YOU GET TO USE
THEM FOR FREE, BUT DO
USE THEM WISELY

Stay busy.. Be Social.. A few of my #social efforts
A yes I mean ever single platform I can find – especially those driving the #social revolution, such as:
Twitter
•93,000 followers – probably far too many random bots, but 99% are awesome human beings ;-)
LinkedIn
•17,000 1st
level connections – I use LinkedIn the opposite way they want you to
•29,000 followers – I usually cull a few thousand a month ( usually folk chasing me for a job )
•473,000 members of groups ( about 86 groups currently, wish I had time for more )
A few of my favorite LinkedIn groups ( these focus on Big Data, Hadoop, Cloud, OpenStack, & Data Science ):
•Big Data forum ( 8,000+ members ) => http://j.mp/li-bigdata
•Openstack forum ( 7,000+ members ) => http://j.mp/li-openstack
•Hadoop forum ( 6,000+ members ) => http://j.mp/li-hadoop
•Data Science forum ( 500+ newly formed group ) => http://j.mp/li-datascience

Stay busy.. Do Events.. Get on air & do podcasts..
I get involved in projects of all sizes, the bigger the better:
I love hackathons & participate in lots of them around the world:
•GovHack 2015 ( 2,800+ attendees AU & NZ wide ) - https://www.govhack.org
Co-host a weekly Digital Radio Broadcast & Webex series for Information-Management.com & Inside
Analysis:
•DM Radio => http://j.mp/bg-dm-radio
•Tech Lab => http://j.mp/bg-tl-201601
•Hot Tech => http://j.mp/bg-ht-2016
•Tech Wise => http://j.mp/bg-tw-2016
•The Briefing Room => http://j.mp/bg-br-2016
I recently did a personal episode on the Fourth Wave podcast:
•The 4th
Wave - Ryan Tassotti interviews Dez Blanchfield – http://thefourthwave.libsyn.com/004-tfw-dez-blanchfield
I publish eBooks using a “book sprint” methodology I developed, here’s one I did for Stratospheric:
•An Introduction To Cloud Computing: Grab a copy here => http://j.mp/itcc-ebook

GETTING NOTICED ISN’T
ALWAYS ABOUT EGO
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
ISN’T EGO, IT’S ABOUT
LEADING IN THOUGHT,
MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Stay busy.. Do stuff.. Get noticed on merit.. /1
The more I do, the more I seem to get noticed, funny that:
I was a 2015 LinkedIn “Power Profile”:
•Top 10 tech profile in Australia - http://j.mp/linkedin-2015-power-profiles
HP MPV for my work around Cloud, Big Data, Analytics & Internet of Things:
•HP Most Valuable Professionals - http://hdn.hpcloud.com/content/most-valuable-professionals-page-1
A bunch of folk stick me on top 100 lists:
•Rise Global rank me as #7 in the top 100 influencers in Cloud Computing
•+ https://www.rise.global/the-cloud-social-influencers-power-100
•Data Science Central also ranked me #13 in the top 20 Big Data gurus to follow
•+ http://j.mp/datasciencecentral-top-20-big-data-experts
•Dr. Vincent Granville & Data Science Central rank me as #11 in the top 25 Big Data influencers on LinkedIn
•+ http://j.mp/datasciencecentral-top-25-data-scientists
•KD Nuggets rank me as #15 in their global top 50 Big Data & Analytics gurus to follow:
•+ http://j.mp/kdnuggets-top-50-bigdata-experts

Stay busy.. Do stuff.. Get noticed on merit.. /2
Did I mention that the more I do, the more I seem to get noticed, oh, wait, I think I did already:
Maptive ranked me in the top 100 most influential people in the world in Big Data & Analytics:
•http://j.mp/maptive-bigdata-top-100
Onalytica rank me in the top 100 most influential people in #cloud and #bigdata:
Top 100 most influential people in the world in Big Data:
•2015: http://j.mp/onalytica-bigdata-100-2015
•2016: http://j.mp/onalytica-bigdata-100-2016
Top 100 most influential people in the world in Cloud Computing:
•2015: http://j.mp/onalytica-cloud-100-2015
•2016: http://j.mp/onalytica-cloud-100-2016
I was awarded as Panel Judge at the 2015 Data Centre Dynamics Asia Pacific Awards
•http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/awards/asia-pacific-awards/

IF YOU WANT PEOPLE TO
SIT UP AND PAY
ATTENTION TO YOU AND
WHAT YOU’RE SAYING,
RESEARCH A TOPIC AND
START PUBLISHING YOUR
FINDINGS FAR & WIDE

Research stuff.. Because you can.. $Cost of DISK

Research stuff.. Because you can.. $Cost of RAM

WHEN WAS THE LAST
TIME YOU BINGED OR
GOOGLED YOURSELF?
OTHERS WILL, WHAT WILL
THEY SEE, WHAT’S THE
WEB SAYING FOR YOU

Research stuff.. Stuff you like.. Hadoop distros..

Research stuff.. I never stop.. Cloud Providers..

Research stuff.. Obsessed? Jobs data..

MENTORS & PEERS ARE
GREAT, BUT MAKE SURE
YOU’RE CAREFUL ABOUT
JUST WHO YOU SELECT,
FOR NOT ALL MENTORS &
PEERS ARE CREATED
EQUAL, OR ADD VALUE

Mentors & Peers.. Get a few.. Use them well..
It’s important to build yourself a network of mentors:
•Life
•Family
•Friends
•Work & Career
•As you grow and develop, become a mentor yourself for others
Surround yourself with peers:
•Friends come & go, and enemies just accumulate, so make more friends & less enemies
•Actively and regularly seek out and hangout with peers, in real life, as well online
•Go to events, do meet-ups, run meet-ups, go to forums, don’t hesitate to reach out to people
•Try to be someone who others consider a peer, as they will in turn seek you out in time !!

WHATEVER YOU DO, TRY
NOT TO EXPECT
SOMETHING IN RETURN
WHERE POSSIBLE, TRY
TO TO GET PEOPLE TO
PAY IT FORWARD

THANK YOU.
Dez Blanchfield
@dez_blanchfield
+61 414 464 356
dez@gara.guru

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