Why would anyone leave Wollongong? Well, it is a university town. I had become an embedded engineer but that is not the way I was making a living. I had become very good at UNIX as well but did not see it as a marketable skill. Instead I was selling cars, motorcycles, pickup trucks to anyone who came along. I was also helping an entrepreneur set up one of the first ISPs in Wollongong.
There was an abundance of students looking for cheap transportation. Where did my merchandise come from? People were giving away their troublesome vehicles or selling them for a pittance when they did not run. I got them running well or fixed the brakes and sold them. Then, one day, I was given a large vehicle with all its tyres flat. I think it was a Vauxhall Cresta. It had died with its nose to the wall of a house. A shed had been built against the other end of the car so it was boxed in. I had to drag it out sideways with a Land Rover, flat tyres and all. I inflated the tyres, got it running and my accomplice drove it away.
Then it seemed I became famous overnight. I had a reputation. So many people had seen me revive dead cars that this last event achieved the critical mass that launched the legend. Everyone seemed to know me. I was not happy with this. I was pigeon-holed as the motor-man. My secret life reviving UNIX servers just wasn’t glamourous; and wasn’t it secret anyway?
I answered an advert for a break-fix bloke at a company in Melbourne. This is completely unrelated but I had recently noticed a tourism poster for Melbourne. There were happy people sailing dinghies in the protected harbour. I found a cheap place in the back blocks. They required me to get MCSE certification so I did that. Then I answered an advert for another company that wanted a UNIX admin. They paid a lot more so I thought I would try that and that led me to where I am today. I still have not gone sailing.
Me
Why would anyone leave Wollongong? Well, it is a university town. I had become an embedded engineer but that is not the way I was making a living. I had become very good at UNIX as well but did not see it as a marketable skill. Instead I was selling cars, motorcycles, pickup trucks to anyone who came along. I was also helping an entrepreneur set up one of the first ISPs in Wollongong.
There was an abundance of students looking for cheap transportation. Where did my merchandise come from? People were giving away their troublesome vehicles or selling them for a pittance when they did not run. I got them running well or fixed the brakes and sold them. Then, one day, I was given a large vehicle with all its tyres flat. I think it was a Vauxhall Cresta. It had died with its nose to the wall of a house. A shed had been built against the other end of the car so it was boxed in. I had to drag it out sideways with a Land Rover, flat tyres and all. I inflated the tyres, got it running and my accomplice drove it away.
Then it seemed I became famous overnight. I had a reputation. So many people had seen me revive dead cars that this last event achieved the critical mass that launched the legend. Everyone seemed to know me. I was not happy with this. I was pigeon-holed as the motor-man. My secret life reviving UNIX servers just wasn’t glamourous; and wasn’t it secret anyway?
I answered an advert for a break-fix bloke at a company in Melbourne. This is completely unrelated but I had recently noticed a tourism poster for Melbourne. There were happy people sailing dinghies in the protected harbour. I found a cheap place in the back blocks. They required me to get MCSE certification so I did that. Then I answered an advert for another company that wanted a UNIX admin. They paid a lot more so I thought I would try that and that led me to where I am today. I still have not gone sailing.
Barry McKenzie
Melbourne