After graduating in Computer Science from Aberystwyth in 1990, Marcus has been dedicated to mainframe technology throughout his career. He has succeeded in various roles including programmer, systems programmer, consultant, database administrator, and played diverse roles in production support. Currently, he serves as the lead product developer at BMC Software. Marcus holds credentials such as MBCS, CEng, CITP, etc. He is recognized as an IBM Champion for 3 years, co-chairs the UK Db2 User Group, serves as an Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, and contributes to committees like IDUG Content and GSE Conference Planning. In his free time, Marcus volunteers as a STEM Ambassador, leading Code Clubs in Welsh-speaking primary schools to inspire the next generation towards careers in technology. He also contributes as a part-time Welsh translator for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and engages in blogging and podcasting activities.
His favourite IBM product is DB2, “ It’s been putting food in my stomach since 1992. It’s the biggest and best relational database management system on the planet!”. He is continuously contributing to the Community through various engagements like blogging and speaking; “The type of advocacy that I love the most is presenting – whether at conferences, customer visits, or guest university lectures. Nothing beats face-to-face personal engagement. (Though I do generally need a nice cup of tea and a quiet sit down afterwards). I love helping people to help themselves. Running a weekly lunchtime Code Club at a local Welsh-language junior school is further evidence of that! My latest “advocacy” is hosting a podcast for IDUG with my friend and co-IBM Champion, Julia Carter. It’s called Db2 Table Talk, and we interview the names and brains behind Db2”.
“Being a Champion (and Influencer/Ambassador) gives me the opportunity to promote the mainframe as a platform, enthuse and educate others, and maybe persuade them to pursue mainframe as a career. I can’t work forever, you know. I have to retire sometime!”
He has many significant achievements in his career such as saving £3M in CPU costs by automatically preventing bad SQL from hitting production, or £450K merely by REBINDing packages, but his favourite accomplishment is watching his Code Club grow from 16 kids last year to 47 kids this year. He is really excited to share that 32 of them are girls students!. He also shares his interests and a career option for a parallel world; “I grew up in a South Wales coal mining community. My dad was a third-generation coal miner. He used to joke when I came home from work, “How many tons of coal have you shifted today, boy?” I like to think that he might have said, “How many lines of code have you shifted today, boy?” instead! He, and the rest of my family, were keen musicians. My wife and children are too. I think my dream job might have something to do with music. It gives pleasure, brings pleasure, and taps into and expresses the deep emotions of the soul. It is the noblest of pastimes. After coding!”
Marcus has presented in several events in 2023 like IDUG EMEA 2023, and hosted the Db2 stream at GSE UK. He continues to participate in events like SDUG (Scottish Db2 User Group), GSE UK Virtual, GSE Nordics and SQLAdria in 2024.
Lightning round:
- What would be your superpower and why? Either Time-travel – to skip to the end of long and boring meetings…or… Teleportation – because I’m lazy.
- Ice cream or cake? Probably cake, but Gelateria Nico in Venice does a nice praline ice cream.
- Cats or dogs? Depends how they’re cooked. Seriously though, dogs. Definitely.
- Summer or winter? Autumn.
- Morning or evening? Evening.
- eBook or paper book? Hardback.
- TV shows or movies? TV shows on my own, movies with the family.
- Cannonball into the pool or dip a toe in first? Neither. Sit by the side with a drink.
- Go-to karaoke song? “Start the car” by “Whoever’s Driving Me Home Because I Hate Karaoke.”
- Favourite choon – Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto.
- Drive or fly? See Question 1!
Connect with Marcus in LinkedIn and Community page
#IBMChampions
#IBMChampion-Spotlight
#ibmchampions-featured-blog-home
#ibmchampions-featured-blog
#IBMDb2
#Db2
#Mainframe