Be opsitive!
What the heck does “opsitive” mean? Here’s my definition:
opsitive, adj.: Optimistic despite production outages, communication failures and management headaches.
Sure, it’s a word that I invented specifically for this website. But it does nicely explain what I have in mind starting this new venture: Improving the skills of leaders and practitioners in IT operations, with a smile.
I’ve always enjoyed sharing what I know in a way that others can understand (aka “teaching”). In school and college, I helped my fellow students grasp the topics I was good at. As a Linux trainer, I spent many months at training centres and corporate headquarters. On the personal side of life, tutoring her in maths brought me closer to the girl that is the love of my life and the mother of my wonderful kids.
After developing and teaching a comprehensive system administration curriculum for WEB.DE, one of the leading email providers in Germany, they offered me to start a career in IT management with them. Over the years, the number of people I managed grew, and with it my leadership skills like coaching and mentoring.
When I left the corporate world to start my own web hosting company, I learned how to promote my bootstrapped business without getting overrun by marketing costs. I started participating in user groups and conferences, and sharing my know-how in the form of talks and presentations. On the side, I built a web-based course platform to continue teaching software developers.
A few years ago, the search for better ways to distribute knowledge in my fully distributed team led me to live coding, a new, interactive approach to giving others insight into my thought process online.
Opsitive is going to be a new episode in this ongoing series of having fun sharing what I know, especially about DevOps practices and leading distributed teams. I’m excited to see where it will take me!
If you’d like to accompany me (and learn a thing or two on the way), please subscribe to my newsletter! I promise to add value to your email inbox.
