LinkedIn is perhaps one of the few online social networks that I truly respect. It's sole purpose is to allow its members an avenue to build a professional online presence and to network with other like minded professionals and peers.
You can find me on LinkedIn at
ca.linkedin.com/in/garydavisca
I have had a Twitter account since shortly after the service came out in 2006 however; it's only been the last couple years that I've really found value with the service.
To each their own, and in my case, the group of professionals I've met and connected with on Twitter lately has enabled me to stay on top of the latest discussions in IT surrounding virtualization and cloud computing. When you are building out your datacenter, it's not enough to know how the technology works, you need to know how to break it, then fix it again afterwards.
Many of the contacts I follow on Twitter are data center and/or virtualization professionals like myself and post invaluable links in their tweets almost daily. I invite you to check them out and consider following them, especially my friends at #EMC and #VMware.
Find me on twitter at twitter.com/gary_davis
Skype is the online equivalent to my personal cellphone. To that effect, I would recommend that Skype be utilized for purposes that best suit you. Skype is also an effective service for businesses with significant International or long distance networking requirements and subscribing to a business service is something to consider.
I use Skype for personal networking, between family and friends. It has even allowed me to reach both old and new friends from far overseas at no cost.
Skype does not allow a direct link to a user's online profile like Facebook or Twitter do however; if we have met and you wish to connect on Skype, please feel free to look me up. Keep in mind that I never accept connection requests from people I don't already know.
Geocaching is the perfect recreational activity to get your mind off the stresses and aggravations of the office. It combines outdoor activity, deductive reasoning and mental relaxation in a sport that helps repair your mind after a hard week and contributes to building cohesiveness within your relationships, be they with friends or family or even professionally.
Check it out at geocaching.com. Give it a shot and I'm sure you'll come to enjoy it just as millions of others around the world have done.
Something I do to help me unwind is travel, be it locally or perhaps a bit further. While doing so I tend to take a lot of pictures and shoot a lot of video. Though most of my videos are shared privately with family and friends I do share the odd video publicly.
YouTube is one of two social sites that I upload content to; Vimeo being the other. you can connect to my YouTube account and watch my videos at
youtube.com/lostabroadvideos.
I have a number of technology and virtualization related videos that I may make public shortly. Many of which focus on data center in a box technologies. If they are not online yet then expect to see them in the near future.
Facebook, I'm sure, needs no introduction and like Twitter I've also had a Facebook account, or three, since it started. However, I've long since adapted a single site which I share only with family and friends. In fact I do limit my Facebook contacts to just those people so please do not take it personally should I not accept your invitation to connect.
You need to draw boundaries between your professional life and your personal life. Facebook is not the venue to combine both. In fact Facebook's foggy security principles creates risk to both your personal and professional life should you chose to do so..
Should you still wish to try and connect with me on Facebook, you can submit an invitation through sending me a direct message through my public facebook profile at facebook.com.
The battle rages on between which is best, Vimeo or YouTube, however; I suspect most don't recognize there is a unique separation of purposes between the two. I offer that you keep this in mind: Vimeo is for artists while YouTube is for anyone including.
If you want your work viewed by the masses, YouTube may be your venue however; videos produced to Vimeo tend to be watched by peers and industry professionals alike.
I do have a Vimeo site however; I do not publish to it often. You can find it at:
https://vimeo.com/user4136314/videos
Welcome to garydavis.ca where I will share with you my years of experience in some of the more notable fields of my career. Fields such as Information Technology (data centre architecture and enterprise application services and governance), energy (oil and gas), transportation (railways), government (forestry) and agriculture (farming and ranching).
Understanding human nature and the psychology of social-interaction and politics is key to our development as individuals and plays towards our successes. Recognizing and rewarding the abilities of those around us allows us to succeed in our own goals; be they professional projects or personal ambitions.
The purpose of my site, garydavis.ca, is to impart some of my wisdom in hopes that others may gain from it; perhaps including ideas on how you might apply that knowledge and have it accepted among your peers.
Navigate my site by hovering above each image above to view its purpose then by clicking the image to open that page.
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Success has a keystone, it is crafted from failure
If you have ever stood outside the International departures gate at the Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia, Canada you will recognize this sculpture by Bill Reid. It is known as The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, the Jade Canoe, the story of which can be found here.
For me, this artwork symbolizes the most prolific point my life. It was when I realized that my inaction allowed hopes and dreams to pass me by. It wasn't until I truly recognized and respected this failure that I learned from it.
Acknowledging and taking responsibility for your mistakes does more than allow you to build from them; it earns you respect from those around you who shared in your experience and perhaps nudged you on. They too, learned from your misfortune. Every success is built upon a failure. Sharing both your successes and failures with others helps team build and adds value to the group.
"Here we are at last, a long way from Haida Gwaii, not too sure where we are or where we're going, still squabbling and vying for position in the boat, but somehow managing to appear to be heading in some direction; at least the paddles are together, and the man in the middle seems to have some vision of what is to come."
The sculpture itself is about how a family, a society, even an organization may be diverse, complex, and not always in harmony, but that they still must all come together to succeed.
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Everyone has an opinion regarding Facebook, Twitter, and the likes however; social websites are, in essence, still all about networking; catching up with family and friends and meeting new acquaintances, both personally and professionally. But we must all be wary, just as LinkedIn can do wonders towards accelerating your career, a misspoken status update on Facebook can quickly crash your prospects down around you before you even realized they existed.
If you want to be recognized as a professional by your peers, employer, and potential future prospects you must make the effort to present that same professionalism online.
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Designing Success
I remember it well, Christmas 1982, from under the tree I pull this box with my name on it. It was huge; it was heavy; I remember my excitement and anticipation to this day. What could it be? Was it that remote controlled tank I had spotted in the Sears catalogue? Better yet, was it one of those new ColecoVision or Intellivision game systems. Hey maybe even the Atari 2600! I had gotten myself so riled up I frantically tore through the wrapping paper.
"What the hell is a Commodore 64?" "What are all these keys for?" "Where is the joystick?"
Talk about your mixed reviews. I was in one camp, excited at this new find, and in the other, disappointed in not having a clue with what to do with it. I wanted to play Asteroids. Little did I know then that the C=64 I so casually held in my hands was perhaps the best gift a parent could give a developing child. I could never have imagined that one day I would be surfing that wave of Cloud Computing in the Enterprise. Building out and implementing those technologies and designing processes and policies towards governing and deploying applications into that Enterprise.
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Every now and then I am inspired to write about some event or situation that I feel others might like to read about. As such I've also a personal blog in which I relate these thoughts.
You will find no tech talk here.
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© 1996~2015 Gary Davis. All rights reserved.
Canadian Software Concepts ®.
