Transition time

The summer is now well gone in this part of world and with the fall coming I am taking a new challenge: I am starting a new project to modernize one of the oldest and most complex system in the Government of Ontario. The system was built over time starting more than 30 years ago and handles the provincial drivers, vehicles and carriers registration and myriad of legislation packages governing them. My role is to lay the groundwork for a solid architecture foundation so new components and applications can be built to support business and system requirements. I expect to be a long and sometime difficult process but I am exciting to apply my experience and analytical skills in a structured environment that recognizes the need for architecture more than other places in the private sector.

For me this is a transition back to public service from private sector, where I spent more than 3 years in various projects, of several degrees of complexity. It was a great opportunity to play with exciting technologies and business domains - Rich Internet Architecture and Ajax, SOA, ESB, CRM, etc. just to name a few - but also meeting great people with very diverse background. I got the feeling of being connected in a truly global economy, I had the taste of outsourcing - the good and the bad - and I managed to get a better understanding of where the future directions are in the IT consulting business.

I think we are facing interesting and challenging times ahead in the IT industry but I feel better prepared now to look for opportunities where before I saw annoyance or roadblocks.