I should have been doing this 20 years ago. I love engaging with customers to assist in changing their view of data from historic database and transient messaging. Confluent, the leading provider of Apache Kafka, enables organizations to stream events continuously with historical context to make decisions in real time. This is how organizations practically and functionally work, so why shouldn't our systems?Presidents Club 2022, 2023NASDAQ Listed IPO CFLT, 2021

Responsible for all architecture and integration as well as management of the group. Projects included:* Ecommerce implementation* Design and implementation of Customer Data Hub using Hive, HBase, and supporting Hadoop technologies and frameworks* Oracle RMS implementation* Manhattan OMS implementation* Develop IT methodology and planning for acquisition strategy* Build architecture practice with a focus on TOGAF and modelling* Spearheaded and implemented initiative to systemically capture all integration flows between all applications. This data is aggregated into our Enterprise Architecture repository for generating stakeholder viewpoints* Third party marketplace design and implementation

Some of the smartest people I have ever worked with in my life are at OCLC, just pure native intelligence. My role while there was to serve as the lead production database architect for several multi-terabyte mission critical databases. I also provided lead input on capacity planning and database application design, as well as *tons* of performance testing.

I was responsible for the installation, configuration, support, and tuning of over 100 production databases varying in size from 2GB to 100GB.I also supported a 250GB Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.7 installation comprised of the AP, AR, PO, GL, and HR modules.

I have often said I learned more about life in three months doing this than I have at any other point. In the go-go Wall Street years, a young person coming out of college couldn't move straight into the role of a stockbroker ( I watched "Wall Street" far too many times) for a wirehouse (both old terminology, I know). The summer of my junior year, I got the bright idea to sell educational books/materials door to door for the summer to prove my commitment, and in hopes of having a Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, etc. type of firm hire me.Upon arrival in our assigned city (suburb of Houston, in my case) after a week of training in Nashville, we had to procure housing as well as build a business from scratch. The responsibility, and as I look back now, danger, were enormous. In a city that was over 1,000 miles from where I had grown up, we got creative to find a "host" family to put us up for the summer (I had two roommates doing the same thing). We somehow convinced and stayed with a sweet retired woman named Lottie who has long since left us. I appreciated her and remember her fondly.I met and sold to individuals that summer from all walks of life; the head of cardiology at a Houston hospital to an impoverished family trying to provide their kids with the best education they could. I was impressed by everyone I met along the way, and they each had an impact on me to this day, even if only in the aggregate.We worked six days a week from 8AM-9:30PM. It was complete exploitation of young, ingenuous college students as I look back, but it isn't with any regret; literally none. Again, I learned to run a business, interact with all types of folk along the spectrum of life, and build a profound sense of personal responsibility that accompanies me to this day.

I hung plants in an indoor greenhouse where it was was incredibly humid. I learned a ton about life doing this, not the least of which was humility and almost perfecting the Spanish I learned in high school. I worked with a lot of honest, hard-working people.

I ensured the careful and meticulous delivery of daily periodicals in print format to almost 100 customers. I braved rain, sleet, snow, and one morning in the spring of 1981, a tornado that touched down. I reluctantly collected subscription fees, which is so odd I can only blame it on youthful inexperience. No one was ever home, and this was before electronic billing. With what I did collect, I purchased a Califfo Deluxe moped (almost 40mph in a straightaway!). While riding it I was promptly struck by a pickup truck, breaking my leg in three places. This ended my career in "the news" :)

Accomplishments* Won a lot of games* Struck out a lot of battersChallenges* Everyone else reached the same growth stage I had earlier, ending my career

Took initiative by arriving early every day to set up chairs for the rest of the class, comprised of yelling five year olds.