Technology & Enterprise Architecture

I consider myself foremost a technologist, where technology is a problem-solver and enabler. The centre of my technical skill set is around APIs, application development & integration and more recently, the application of AI for primarily using open-source and Oracle technologies.

The application of technology in my professional life is informed by the use of architectural practices – such perspectives help to ensure that, particularly on large transformational initiatives, you can trace the business needs and decisions through to specific technical decisions. This isn’t documentation for its own sake, but enough to communicate well-thought-out strategies and to enable effective communication and continuity of understanding within an organisation. But to be a technical architect means you need to get your hands dirty, create proof of concepts, and understand the practicalities of implementing a technical strategy.

The value is in knowledge, but that value is only realised when you enable others by sharing it. This leads me to why I have (co)authored several books and written a solo book, not to mention written journal articles, blogged, and presented.

Getting out and presenting is a great way not only to share but also to learn. The more situations you discover, the more ideas can be adapted to be reusable, and, therefore, worth sharing. I am active with the UK Oracle User Group, working as the Dev & Middleware stream lead and helping in a variety of ways, from planning events and sourcing submissions to reviewing articles for the journal.

This emphasis on enabling others with an Oracle focus has led to my recognition as an Oracle ACE Director and to my status as an alumnus since I joined Oracle.

I’ve been fortunate to work for a variety of organisations, global IT consumers/customers, System Integrators (SI)/consultancies – both niche and large, Independent Software Vendors, and technology manufacturing. This has meant I’ve gained a broad and diverse set of perspectives.

My professional profile can be found at http://linkedin.mp3monster.org

Personal View

When not engrossed in technology, my life is dominated by two things – my family and music. My love of photography, cycling & motorsport also gets the occasional look-in. So my blog, Twitter stream, etc., get peppered with bits and pieces from these passions.

Books

Phil Wilkins with 1st published book — Showing off our 1st book

Where Did MP3Monster Come From?

Its origins date back to a joke in the late 90s. A friend introduced me to MP3s (still fairly new at the time) and thought his double-digit MB collection was substantial and warranted bragging rights (back then, we measured disk sizes in 100s MB, and compressing at 128bit meant albums didn’t use up too much space, so a CDR could hold at least a dozen albums.

Even in those days, I had a large music collection and ripped a lot of it to MP3 so I could take good chunks of it with me to work or when I travelled. As the ripping progressed and I started buying CDRs in bulk, the collection was more than once described as ‘monstrous’ in size, which became MP3 Monster. The period of constantly ripping CDs to MP3s conjured the image of Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, and the inspiration for my logo.

MP3Monster, or just Monster, has become a bit of an alter ego for me on social media.