This blog is a little different from my usual technical ranting and something that is very much personal to me. Additionally, for me, it’s about taking a moment for self reflection as I embark on the next phase of my journey. Reflection and a humble appreciation for all the people that I’ve met along the way, people that have shaped, influenced, supported and collaborated towards way I am today.
So, a sum of all the parts, a title inspired by Ed Sheeran, which maybe familiar if you’ve watched his documentary on Disney+. Also personal to me, but a story for another time 😉
The parts in this context are the various consultancy’s I’ve worked for in my career as a:
- Report Creator
- Information Analyst
- SQL Developer
- Business Intelligence Developer
- Application Developer
- Integration Developer (For info, this flavour of integration was working for the NHS, dealing with HL7 messages in JavaScript, great fun!)
- Data Management Specialist
- Data Management Technical Lead
- Data Engineer
- Data Architect
- Solution Architect
- Technical Architect
- Technical Strategist
- Enterprise Architect
… and probably some other titles along the way!
Those parts and that experience now coming together as Cloud Formations. A company founded with my business partner Daniel Addy. A company that I can call my own and apply everything I’ve learnt over the years and everything I’m passionate about to.
That said, the Cloud Formations logo that I designed can be viewed in a few different ways. Sure, I took inspiration for the Azure Icons that I look at daily (in Visio) when designing solutions for customers. But hopefully, given the above, I can tell you a different story about how it came to be.
⁃ The purple, relating to Purple Frog Systems, where the excellent Alex Whittles showed me the ropes as a consultant and introduced me to the wider data community.
⁃ The blue, representing Adatis, where I worked with a great team of people. Refining my trade and supporting others with Azure data architecture challenges.
⁃ The grey, to reflect my time at Altius Data Consulting and a definitive career milestone moving through the ranks. Engaging with bigger customers on a much bigger scale.
⁃ The orange, referring to my time at Avanade. Time that was the result of (in my opinion) a bumpy acquisition of Altius. But where I joined a new global “playground” for me to evolve into a technical leadership role. A role where I became part of the center of excellence (CoE) team spanning 23 operating countries supporting businesses in all industry verticals. Time spent tackling some mind blowing enterprise challenges of mega scale and complexity.
My career would not be where it is today without any of these companies. I value them all highly and wouldn’t change the path I took.
To the present day, for me, the above is now distilled and represented in the Cloud Formations branding and the design of the logo.
In the next chapter, yet to be written, I’m really looking forward to seeing and sharing with you where Dan and I can take things and the huge value we can deliver for our customers. As I’m sure you know, a consutlancy (any consultancy) is so much more than the branding. Its about the people. The culture. The passion. The branding is just a fun place to start and reflect on.
I hope you found this post interesting. As mentioned. Its very personal, to the point I almost wasn’t going to publish it. That said, I think starting a company is personal for every founder so why not share some feelings for a change 🙂
Many thanks for reading
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