Introducing Me! A Digital Nomad

Here there and everywhere

(Turned in to a my life post)

I'm part of that transition generation, born on the cusp of Gen-x and Gen-Y, holding on to the traditional values whilst evangelising all things new and shiny. I grew up in a military household until my mid teenage years. This was great in that i saw a lot of the world and grew up in a protected close community, but means today I don't have many long term friends from my childhood.
I was born in Germany, although I'm English, as Dad was stationed in what was West Germany at the time. There was heavy snowfall the night i decided to make an entrance to the world, so the ambulance couldn't make it to the base and hence i was born in a German hospital, which didn't have maternity wing. The nurses apparently wouldn't let mum make too much noise as i was born!

I did go back to Germany with the family again when i was about 8, we stayed there whilst Dad again served Queen and Country for 4 years. At first i was scared about moving to a different country, i didn't realise I’d be in a English school with other English kids, and I thought all the food would be terrible. I quickly came to love Germany, it's people, culture and food. Still to this day Schnitzel is my favourite food. Until Brexit, Germany would have been my country of choice if I ever came back to Europe (yes, i left, we'll get there)

In the UK i've lived as far as you can go North, in the Shetland Isles, about as far as you can go South, in Cornwall. I've live in the East of the country in Lincolnshire, and spent most of my teenage years in Hereford on the border with Wales in the West if England. I moved approx every 18 months, apart from when we went to Germany, where we stayed for 4 years. I still get "Itchy Feet" every 18 months and in true Gen Y style usually change jobs, or at least have a good look around at what’s out there.

After i'd completed school my Dad was running his own computer store after leaving the military. I went to college for about 6 months studying business but spent more time in the library playing with the computers that in class. I decided to leave college and work full time for my Dad in his store. It gave me a great exposure to computer repair/support, retail and running a start-up small business. I really loved being presented with new challenges everyday with people bringing in their computers to be fixed. I still miss the challenges and rewards of working in a retail workshop.

Early after the Millennium i had a customer ask if i'd like to come work in Sweden for him, building systems for the Kuwaiti ID card system. It was an adventure i couldn't miss out on and took him up on the offer. I moved to Stockholm about a month later. I spent 18 months in Sweden. Such an amazing place. As a young, single 20 something with lots of disposable income, it was a great place to be alive. I spent A LOT of time in bars and clubs partying. I did get out and see some of the surrounding areas, and did immerse myself in some of the culture. I was lucky some of my friends had Swedish wives, and the Swedish people who i worked with invited us a long to lots of their events. Christmas in the snow, with he Glug etc was magical.
During my time in Sweden i was super lucky to head down to Kuwait for a short time to see the facility we helped build for the government. It was still dicey down there, there was still evidence of the first Gulf War about 10 years earlier, and just before the 2nd gulf war in 2003. In fact i remember having to get our backups out of the country before the 2nd war kicked off as part of a disaster management plan. Surreal. The food in Kuwait was awesome, sitting in the Souk smoking shisha and drinking lemon tea was a favourite other memory.

I came back to the UK after 18 months. I think I'd had enough of computers at the time and wanted to do something a bit different. Heading in to a recruitment agency, they set me up with a job working at a freight forwarding outfit. My job was to process orders for tropical fish, pick them up from the airport as they came in to the country and deliver them to tropical fish shops around the UK. You couldn't get much different than that! I loved being in the Van by myself, listening to the Radio and just driving. Whilst working there though, i got to know a guy who worked in the special freight division. They dealt with AOG (Aircraft on Ground) parts, which were parts of things airlines needed to fix grounded planes urgently. I became his number 1 go to hand courier. I'd take pieces of airplanes, or tools in carry on hand luggage from our Depot at Heathrow and fly to wherever they were needed and give them to an engineer. As i was flying for the airline i'd usually get upgraded to business, and then spend a night at which ever airport or city i was flying too. I got paid extra and expenses! One of the best jobs ever! Unfortunately a internal political contest between my manager and mate forced me out of the company and i went over to be an Import/Export clerk for another freight forwarder. Our main route was to West Africa, mainly Nigeria. Having to deal with dodgy Nigerian business men trying to move stuff in and out of their corrupt country was certainly a challenge!

Next up, I wanted to fulfil a childhood wish of being a solder. I did apply when i was about 17 but was turned away by a fat dude behind the desk as i'd had childhood asthma. He had the nerve to call me unfit! By this time i'd been symptom free for many year and so I applied to join the Army. I decided on joining the Military Intelligence unit, it took a while to go through selection but I was finally accepted smashing their linguistic selection tests. I was to be enrolled as a translator, either listening on enemy comms in a bunker, or out in the field working with locals. At the same time as getting accepted i met a beautiful girl (now wife) and so after about 3 months in the Army, developing stress fractures in my legs, and staring down a 4 year contract ( you know how much of a flight risk i am) i decided to leave the Army and come back to normal life. I really enjoyed my brief stint in the Army, which lead to further things down the track.

After getting out i went back to IT, joining IBM working in their internal support dept. My job was to ensure that all the printers at the campus were working. I'd fill paper, change toner, clear jams etc. It was cruisie work and I really enjoyed it. I've been in IT ever since then, i guess it's my passion

It was coming up to Winter, my previously mentioned girlfriend was an Australian, and had told me she couldn't stand another British Winter. She was heading back to Sunny Perth in Western Australia, and she wanted me to come with. Another adventure, there wasn't a question here. In Dec 05 we moved half way across the world to Australia. Once here I managed to score a job in IT pretty quickly, Perth IT scene was very insular, everyone knew everyone, so a good rep was easy/hard to maintain. Luckily I found a great job in a bank and didn't look back.

I got interested in Bitcoin and Crypto currency about 3 years ago, which culminated last yeat in opening West Australia first Bitcoin exchange. It was a massive learning curve. My partner and I managed everything from marketing through to the signing of contracts and the management of the exchange it's self. Typical StartUp madness. Unfortunately after about 6 months we ran out of Capital and i decided to walk away from the business leaving my Partner to run or wind it down. He wound it down a month later, which is a real shame as it was a great idea, we just needed more cash. Steemit reignited my interest in the Crypto community and i'm eager to see where the content generation goes.

To give back to the country that accepted me, and to allow me to support my local community by providing service (and to fufil that need form the army) i joined my local volunteer fire brigade. I spent 5 years fighting fires with people who i now consider borthers (and sisters). Putting your trust in people when faced with 20-30m flames really bonds you. Leading people in these situations really hones your leaderships skills for sure!

At the turn of the year I moved to Sydney with my current employer. A change from people to process focus. Being a ITIL expert and a ISO2000 qualified process person, i took on the role of managing a process for a new customer. Part of the initial role was to transition in Services. Luckily this meant traveling to India, Philippines and New Zealand to complete knowledge transfer and due diligence on the outbound supplies. People everywhere we went were really nice, despite knowing we were coming to take their jobs in effect. It was good at the same time to be on shoring close to 50 roles to Australia, and support our own local workforce and economy.

So there we have it, sorry it ran on so long. There are 1001 other stories i could tell about each of these moves and roles, perhaps will make it in to other posts.

I am digital, i am a nomad.