Blog It Forward – Stephen Millard

We all have choices in life, and the only one who makes them is you.  I think therefore I have affected my career choice in almost it’s entirety.  However there is someone who actually made a significant difference to the way I make all of my decisions.  When I was 16-18 I studied at Mathematics and Further Mathematics at my local college.  One of my tutors for the courses was Fred. Fred was (and I would bet still is) awesome.  He really brought out in me my ability to think differently.  I was already adept at seeing patterns and ways to apply mathematics, but Fred helped me to see the world differently through thinking mathematically and creatively at the same time.

I owe Fred a huge debt and I doubt he’ll ever know how much he changed my life.

What is the most fun project you’ve participated in?

I usually wouldn’t dare admit to this sort of thing, but I guess you can all keep a secret right?  Quite simply it was being the lead on a number of projects where my team rebuilt several applications from scratch (in a language called CTD).  I enjoyed it as I did a large part of the requirements gathering, most of the design, a huge amount of the coding, the user training and a good portion of the support.  The investment and ownership I had in the project was just so fulfilling nothing else even comes close though I would say I have had numerous more successful projects in terms of delivery of features, cost savings, time savings, etc.

If you weren’t in your current role what would you be doing?

I can’t imagine not working in some sort of IT role.  My wife thinks I take sustenance from the glow of a screen so I guess I’d be doing something similar, but it really could be anything IT related.

If working in IT weren’t an option I think I’d probably be in some sort of troubleshooting role?  I like the challenges in creating new solutions to seemingly impossible problems … though if I’m honest I bet 90% of them would incorporate some sort of technological aspect.

Fun Facts

I guess I have some interesting points to share on this one but I’ve added in a few extra ones that are maybe not so true.  Can you spot which ones are true and which are not?

1. Islander?: I grew up on an island shaped like a banana.
2. Sees the World Differently?: I once took part in a scientific experiment about visual perception where from a sizeable sample of subjects I was the only subject to be categorised to a particular quadrant.
3. Romantic?: I proposed to my wife in probably the world’s largest grave yard.
4. Tea Total?: I don’t drink alcohol but I do drink lots of tea.
5. Potty?: I have a signed first edition of every Harry Potter book.
6. Chiroptophobic?: I suffer from an irrational fear of bats.
7. Coach?: I hold a qualification in executive (business) coaching.
8. Scarred?: I have two scars. One from playing football and one from a gun fight.
9. Surprising?: I once surprised a ‘colleague’ whilst visiting another city when, as he loudly verbally berated me to his colleagues for not answering my phone, I walked up behind him and whispered “that’s because I’m behind you”.
10. Charitable?: Whilst at university I won a charitable physics challenge and had dinner with Professor Stephen Hawking.

1. What is your greatest professional achievement and why?
2. What’s the most interesting interview question you’ve asked or been asked and what was the answer?

So here’s to another year of SAP and meeting folk on SCN. Blog on … there’s nothing more to see here.