Personal Credo

I’m known for several innovations and ethical hacking within Information Technology and Automotive industry. I’m currently holding a senior innovation lead role at Dimension Data.

 

Early life and Education

I’m Chaldean, one of the native people of Mesopotamia; born in lovely Ankawa district of the city Erbil in northern Iraq. I went to Hasarost primary school for the first 6 years of my never-ending education story, then off to Ankawa college until year 8.

Due to political instability in Iraq, my family migrated the country and moved to Jordan in 1998, this created an enormous opportunity for me to have an exposure on Computer Systems and Internet.

At the age of 14 years, I gained a lot of computer experience, began freelancing as a computer techie, specialising in building and selling NT and internetwork ISDN links. Within a year I built sufficient reputation, connections and cash flow to establish and operate the very first internet café in Zarqa, this was few years prior to the boom of Internet cafés in the middle east.

In 2001 I moved to Sweden and completed the first year of Teknikprogrammet at Rodengymnasiet but [un] fortunately in 2004 I had to move again, this time to Australia for family reunion reasons.

I landed and permanently settled in Melbourne, continued my studies towards Advanced Diploma in Computer Systems Engineering at TAFE, but in the course of my work experience I was offered a permanent position thus I never went back to TAFE.

 

Pre professional career

I’ve been lucky to have had the chance to contribute into the community, and establish several start-ups. I registered a website for my community in 2008 that today is the largest social media platform for Christians around the world. In parallel to that, I’ve been managing a web development business that to this minute is still proud to serve a number of well-respected businesses.

 

Personal life

I’m the youngest child to a rather large family, have five sisters and a brother. My father was teacher by education, but in politics and trade by choice. My mother; by nature, has been supper housewife and the backbone of the family.

In 2005 I met Mary, we got engaged in 2010 and married in 2011, together we have a beautiful daughter, Gabriella (b. 2014).

 

Cultural diversity and travel

Born as a Christian in a Muslim country, my Chaldean ethnicity has been a shrinking minority for few decades, constantly oppressed by larger dominate tribes. My first overseas trip wasn’t a holiday, but rather a flee for survival. As much as I wished things were different, I embrace the fact this experience has imparted me to appreciate the importance of cultural diversity.

 

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel around many countries in Europe, North America, Asia, Middle East and North Africa. Being able to see, learn and live other cultures and traditions hugely fascinates me. Today I live in a country torn along the lines of ethnicity, class and religion and that very well aligns with my values.

 

Professional Achievements

Information technology, electronics and mechanics have always been my passion; I’m being told I was able to proper turn a screwdriver at age of one.

I have completed my certifications in many technologies within Datacentre space, these include VMware, Cisco, Microsoft, HP and EMC. My professional career began as an IT Support Engineer looking after dial-up modems, progressed into service and solution design and implementations of major datacentre transformation projects for Australia’s top financial institutions, education and government sectors.

Since 2006 I’ve held several positions working for Dimension Data. Dimension Data is a specialist IT services and solution provider that helps clients plan, build and support their IT infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise in networking, cloud, security, storage and contact centre technologies and its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services.

In my current hybrid role, I provide a strategic level of professional and technical expertise to Managed Services arm of the Dimension Data business, with focuses on tools, innovation and implementing automation solutions to internal IT systems. Whilst it has a structured problem solving and technical leadership at its core, it also involves a great deal of establishing and maintaining strong relationships with key internal and global stakeholders.

 

Interests and hobbies

Time is my biggest problem – If you could read my mind, you would find that it’s full of crazy plans; from software development to home automation to Audi retrofits… I also spend a good portion of my time in scripting, programming and developing automation systems. My interests also include computer hardware, travelling, playing chess, listening to music and swimming.

And as to the question that gets asked occasionally; why there isn’t enough information about my family. Well, there are a lot of people that browse my site, and quite frankly there are too many nuts out there! So I try to keep my family’s profile as low as possible 🙂