Why Apprentice?
Merriam-Webster defines Apprentice as “one who is learning by practical experience under skilled workers a trade, art, or calling”. One day I hope to be skilled in the arts of Knowledge Management and Strategy but for now I am happy to learn from others to develop my own skills.
Why Knowledge Management?
Knowledge Management seems like an odd topic to want to excel in, but I believe in today’s knowledge based economy that helping companies, teams and individuals capture what they’ve collectively learned is an important task to stay competitive and relevant.
Why Strategy?
Knowledge Management is more than just a collection of documents, best practices and technology. It should be an integral part of an overall strategy for the team or company. Knowledge Management touches aspects of corporate pay and recognition, corporate business development, career paths for employees, internal and external business processes, product development and professional services. I believe that a successful KM practitioner should be able to help guide other parts of the company to best maximize the benefits of KM.
How I got here?
I graduated from the University of Colorado (Boulder) with a BS in Electrical Engineering. However, in my junior year I figured out I was never going to be a good electrical engineer. I wasn’t very interested in circuits or programming, an odd thing to arrive at for an EE. After leaving college I got a job with a great bunch of folks at a company called Centera Information Systems (also in Boulder). This was a systems engineer position working with computers (not designing them) and interacting with customers (something I enjoy). I got married and moved out to Cambridge riding the dotcom wave to Storage Networks. I learned a lot in a short period of time before the bubble burst, and I was let go downsized laid off. Oh yeah and my wife got laid off from her job too within two weeks of my demise, (different companies, different industries). 
So what else to do but go to India for a month and trek around South India. Into my 7th month of unemployment I got a job at Glasshouse Technologies. I never really fit in at Glasshouse, I think I was too much of an introvert in a startup that required extroverted (and highly billable) skills. Fear not, I eventually left Glasshouse, joined an unamed sweatshop consulting firm, left that and joined Hitachi Data Systems. HDS continues to be a fantastic place to work and grow as an individual. I am challeneged everyday by the people I work with both professionally and personally.
Disclaimer
The contents of this blog are my own thoughts and observations. I blog because I find it helps me to think and organize my thoughts. I don’t divulge company secrets (even if I knew any), make predictions on the company’s future and adhere to the CyberJournalist.net Blogger’s Code of Ethics. If you’re hoping to find something juicy and salacious you’re better off going elsewhere.
Personal
People often ask how I say my name, its pronounced ‘Gee-an’, its 
Italian, but there are no Italians in my family. My mom said she liked the name from a book she read. I was born in the US but my family is from Trinidad and Tobago. I spent most of my formative years in T&T and lived briefly in England and Scotland. My great-great-great-great-grand-parents came from India, where exactly we can’t seem to figure out. My family moved to the US just in time for me to start high school and I stayed to go to CU. My family currently lives in T&T and I visit at least once a year to get away from the Boston winters (right). I am happily married to my wife, the perpetual student.
