My original career path was to become a Red Seal chef. I still enjoy cooking at home but do not enjoy working in restaurants. Everyone, including Red Seal chef’s, work very long hours at relatively low wages. Additionally, there are actually very few positions that truly utilize a chef’s skills and art; mostly the position is just managing high turnover, disengaged staff.

I grew up in Vancouver, BC skiing and eventually rock climbing and then mountaineering and ice climbing. In addition to cooking I was pursuing a career in adventure tourism. I spent 10 years volunteering with Lions Bay Search & Rescue and attended Thompson Rivers University for their Adventure Guide Program.

My climbing partner and I attempted to start my first business, which was planned to be an outdoor clothing and equipment company. One aspect of this company was going to be an extremely functional and fun website; this was in the early 2000’s when websites where necessary for business but not always very functional. I wrote a website in Adobe Flash that loaded 1 of 6 language translations, hosted & played outdoor videos, and would eventually allow for online sales. The plans & concept were sound, in my opinion, but:

1. It was virtually impossible to get products into outdoor retailers without a reputable brand and full product line.
2. It was impossible to get funding without physical assets as collateral.

Of course this was all before Kickstarter and VC funding so we had to fold the company. At this point I also left the adventure tourism career path as I felt being dependent on physical health it was too risky.

I was working in a restaurant and knew that was not a long-term career but also knew adventure tourism was not a smart move. A friend, who was a server in the restaurant, said he would get me a job in an insurance office while I sorted things out. That was in 2005, I’ve been working the insurance industry since, and I really enjoy this industry. Initially, I leveraged my background in adventure tourism and after working as a retail broker for 3+ years I took a position underwriting adventure tourism risks. My co-worker at the time always said “it’s easier to take a climber and teach them insurance than to teach an underwriter to climb”.

2005

During my early years in insurance I came to my second startup concept; amorphous_projects. The company was named in a way to cover many, varied ideas. The many concepts were 3 inter-related web apps for identifying risk, planning/managing risk, and mitigating risk. I already had some minimal PHP experience from the outdoor company so I built on that and started building my web apps. Between being extremely busy at work and never being happy with the product I’ve not managed to release anything meaningful in this realm, yet. I also have only found 1 company that offers an application that barely competes with the concepts I have planned.

Combining my work in insurance and in technology I’ve come to really enjoy information security and IT risk management. In fact, a number of years ago I was asked to speak at a Microsoft organized event about the similarities between physical asset risk management and digital/information risk management. I have already provided great value to employers in the insurance industry by leveraging my intimate knowledge of insurance, technology, and information security. I see this niche getting ever more important as data breach risk grows and technology use grows (and catches up to banking and other now high tech industries).

2015

Going forward, I am taking courses in tech including project management, agile practices, and language specific. I am also keen to complete the CISSP in the next 1-2 years. I am also keen to obtain the CEH designation. I have been planning, for a number of years, to enrol in the Laurentian University insurance specific MBA and I still do hope to do that as soon as possible. Part of the MBA includes the CIP designation.

I believe that combining insurance underwriting, development & project management, and information security domains I can be of great value to the insurance industry by providing highly functional technology solutions that address information security risks.

Update Dec 2021

You may or may not know that in July 2016 I was hit by a car while cycling home from work. This near-fatal crash has had a massive impact on my life, functionality, rest & relaxation, personality, socializing, etc.

I’m now working as a part-time senior full-stack developer and not involved in the insurance industry at all. The company I worked at when I was hit by the car was described by one of my doctors as “the worst return to work I have ever witnessed”. The president of the company expressed frustration & anger about the inconvenience my crash had on him and the company. That experience soured my opinion of the entire insurance industry and my 15-year career.