meet me room
What made you decide on a
career in the IT industry?
When I was 12 I received a bulky
expensive Commodore 64 for
Christmas. My dad (who is Greek)
is keen on keeping items in pristine
condition, so he was shocked to see
me take a screwdriver and pull it
apart. I loved discovering the insides
of this fascinating machine. Later,
I pursued a career in tourism and
specialised in airline ticketing
(Gallileo), but again ended up
repairing the PCs and printers at the
travel agency instead. It took me a
while to turn my hobby into a career,
but I never regret being a ‘geek’.
What is your biggest
pet peeve?
People who totally ignore you whilst
you are trying to give a presentation
they have asked for or when you are
trying to explain something that they
clearly don’t understand. It drives me
up the wall to see their disinterest.
I just stop and refuse to continue
until they give it the appropriate
attention. I have sent people out of
my presentations when they behave
similarly. Showing someone respect
was a very important part of my
upbringing and I have no tolerance for
people who lack that.
In addition to earning a
living, how else has your
career created value in
your life?
I’ve always strived to learn and
understand more. At the beginning
of my career, I started as a field
engineer for a banking program within
their tech support and intervention
team. After working with the team
for a few months. I wanted to seek
out more information on how the
program was built, so I took some
programming courses along the way.
Working directly with customers and
facing many challenges changed
my perspective and passion for IT.
Today, more and more technology
integration exists and that affects
my life to the point where I’m an
international traveller, with family and
work responsibilities. Technology
has made the European continent
accessible and has enabled me to
discover more places and lifestyles.
I’ve become a true global citizen in all
aspects, including culture, languages
and established friendships all over
the globe.
How would you encourage a
school leaver to get involved
in your industry? What are
their options?
My biggest suggestion to a potential
school leaver is to stay in school
for as long as you can. It’s not the
content of what you learn but the
amount of information you process
and the methodology on how to
process it, that is far more important
than the content itself. But if you
do leave school, and a graduate
programme might not be within reach,
Dimension Data always strives to
welcome young talent through our
internal recruiters. Helpdesks are a
good place to start if you don’t have a
lot of experience. But programming is
also a good starting point that can get
you very far in the IT industry.
What is the best piece of
career advice you have
ever been given?
Never be content and always
challenge yourself more. If you don’t
wake up with a smile on your face
and go to work, find another job.
You’ll be surprised what you can
achieve with passion and a strong
If you’re bored in your career, just know
that you are the only person who can
change that.
work ethic. If you’re bored in your
career, just know that you are the only
person who can change that.
Do you have any
personal heroes?
There are a few senior colleagues
who I look up to, who have given me
guidelines and mentored me through
the years. I would consider them my
heroes. The heroes outside my job
would be my partner, who supports
me in my active international life, and
my cat Skye. He’s a large Turkish
Angora who is such a comedian and
can always makes those dull days
working from home hilariously funny
when he reclaims my laptop every
time I get up from my desk. He’s also
known to make a cameo in the middle
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