Technology & Enterprise Architecture

I consider myself to be foremost a technologist, where technology is a problem solver and enabler. The center of my technical skillset is around API, application development & integration for both on-premises and cloud-primarily using open source, Oracle, and Red Hat 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 the sake of it, but enough to communicate well-thought-out strategies, to enable effective communication and continuity of understanding within an organization. But to be a technical architect means you need to be able to get your hands dirty and be able to create proof of concepts and understand the practicalities of implementing a technical strategy.

The value is in knowledge, but that value is only realized when you enable others by sharing it. This leads me elegantly to why I have (co)authored several books and written a book solo, not to mention written articles for journals, 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, helping in a variety of different 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 being recognized as an Oracle Ace Director. Which I have now stepped down from as I have since joined Oracle.

I’ve been fortunate to work for a variety of organizations, 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 then, 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 started as 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 proceeded to rip a lot of it to MP3 so that I could then take good chunks of my collection with me to work or when I traveled. 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 little bit of an alter ego for me in my more social media.