I am an expatriate Scot based in Durban, South Africa, and have been operating as a freelance IT specialist since 1997 after leaving formal employment.
I am semi-retired, but physically active and still in my thirties in my mind. The prospect of stopping work scares me skinny (I wish). I am mentally too active to spend my days playing golf, watching daytime TV, and following other geriatric pursuits.
I have been everything from an R&D programmer to an applications programmer to DP Manager to IT salesman, to ICT Bid Manager, to IT Director of two Universities in the Eastern Cape of SA, to providing onsite and remote global interim, contract and temporary support as a senior executive in general and ICT management. For my company start-up, I worked as an out-and-out techie selling, installing, and supporting PC and SMME network hardware and software.
My 30 or so years as a senior IT Consultant and Team Leader/Manager exposed me to a wide range of industries and service companies. It generally involved working with internal stakeholders, especially the Executive Corridor, including the business owners and other senior management professionals such as the CFO and CIO. It also taught me how to write and present effectively.
Since semi-retiring in 2021, following a drop-off of on-site work due to the pandemic, I have been working remotely as a project manager and providing strategic guidance and advice to organisations moving to or revising an online platform.
To fill in gaps and keep my industry knowledge up to date, I ghostwrite documentation for several technical journals.
My employment history includes ICT Directorships at ththe Universities of Transkei and Walter Sisulu, a senior IT position with the University of Pretoria; European, Middle Eastern, and African ICT consultancy assignments with my own company and other leading consultancies, including Groupe Bull, Coopers & Lybrand, and Ernst and Young. I have also worked in Afghanistan, an experience in itself.
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