I graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1996 with a 2.1 BSc (Hons) in Information Systems for Business and launched straight into a graduate programme with CSC Computer Sciences Ltd. This led me to British Aerospace and into SAP as an ABAP programmer as BAe implemented R/3 3.1H as part of a supply chain and manufacturing project. Back then I remember feeling like I was scrabbling around in the dark as there was a lack of people with SAP experience to provide guidance, best practice, development standards, etc., and all those things I now take for granted as a result of experience.

I then decided to move into consultancy and joined a Value Added Reseller as an ABAP and SAPscript consultant before eventually branching out into contracting. This was a really interesting time as I worked on a large number of projects across a variety of different industries. I also had fun trying out different technologies like Java, although when it comes down to it, i'm still a big fan of ABAP. I remember one European wide 4.0B EDI document distribution project for a military vehicle manufacturer, involving parsing SGML using ABAP-OO, it turns out what we really needed was XML and Webservices, but we were about 4 years too early. We still managed to do it though!

After that I thought I'd try giving a large consultancy a go and joined Axon where I crossed over the fence from implementation work to support. Support really opened my eyes to the common problems companies experience after the consultants have disappeared. Typically project time pressure plus poor communication can lead to poor quality, inadequate handover and incomplete documentation which all adds up to trouble. I now have a bug bear about trying to ensure such 'trouble' doesn't happen.

Since then I've moved back into implementation and for the last few years CRM, where I've delivered IC Web, PCUI, ICSS and ISA solutions as well as bespoke solutions with ABAP, BSP and Webdynpro. At one point I was one of only two IC Web consultants in the UK. I now manage the CRM technical team at Bluefin delivering all of the above and I also co-lead the development capability.

One of the things I like about consultancy is that you get to work with good people who know their stuff. What I love about Bluefin  is that you work with great people, who know their stuff and actually share it. I also love the fact that it's not an uber-large consultancy where you get pigeon holed and since I've been here, I've been exposed to all sorts of roles that I wouldn't have before.