Blog It Forward – Brenton O’Callaghan

Firstly I’d like to thank Midhun VP for asking me to partake in the BIF challenge in his BIF. I must say, kudos to xMoshe Naveh (Old Acct) for kicking this off, it is a brilliant way to get to know everybody on the SCN. SAP has one of the largest and most active communities of like minded professionals on the internet and yet it feels like a small community where everybody knows everybody else!

About Me

Well, as the title suggests, my name is Brenton O’Callaghan and I’m from the food capital (and real capital) of Ireland, Cork. I am currently living and working in the UK and have been here for nearly 3 years now working at Bluefin Solutions. I specialise in Enterprise Mobility, general SAP development and more recently SAP Hana.

Here is an interesting fact to think about – People ask me if there are any big differences between the UK and Ireland – well here is one to think about – over 7.5 Million people travel into London Zone 1 every day – compare that to the entire population of Ireland which is less than 3.5 million – so here is a big difference – Ireland is a lot less crowded 🙂

My grandfather was a watch-maker so I have chosen something in the same vein as a fun fact about where I am from. Above is a picture of a famous Landmark – Shandon from Cork City in Ireland – very near to where I am from. A fun fact about this tower, while it is known for its bells (Shandon Bells) for visitors and tourists, to locals it is known as the “four faced liar”. It boasts 4 clocks, one on each side and most of the time, all four sides show a different time.

What you do in your free time?

As I’ve only been in the UK for just under 3 years, I spend a lot of my free time exploring what the UK has to offer – last weekend I took in the sights from the top of the cliffs of Dover under a 30 degree hot hot sun – not a bad way to spend the weekend!

How you are keeping your skills and knowledge up-to-date?

For me, technology is not my job its also my hobby – when I was growing up I was that child wondering what the big red button did and I always had to press it! So for me keeping up with technology is meerly trying out new things, reading about all the new tech and just keeping my eyes open here on the SCN as well as other places.

What do you think are the key elements for a successful project?

A great team, enthusiasm and a team that is always willing to see that the glass is indeed half full (if not more!). And remember – there is no such thing as an “issue” on a project – there are only “Progress bumps”!

My Questions

If you had to sum up where you think the future of technology and SAP is going in 2 sentences – what would they be?

What in the SAP world (technology-wise) do you least like working with?

Come on people – Blog It Forward – I’m looking at you:

Mark Chalfen

Danielle Brannon

Anooj Behanan

Steffen Schwark

Thanks for reading and I hope you all will partake in the BIF challenge.

Brenton.