Mark Edge riffs on IT in schools, his best business trips, and Curious George
What was your first job, and how did you get into IT?
My first job was cleaning windscreens at traffic lights in Auckland! IT was the fault of a recruiter, who insightfully explained the salary difference between a wine salesman and an IT salesman, immediately after I got my wine diploma. Despite this, the wine course was the best week's study I've ever done.
Which fictional TV character is borrowing ideas from your life?
Jason Bourne. I can never remember what I did last week.
What is your favourite joke or the one you heard most recently?
Between the sales guys I have working for me, and my 10 and 12 year olds, it's best I move on quickly from this question.
"In my dreams ..."
I don't have to wake up.
What was your best business trip or junket ever?
This is a tough one. Our recent sales event in Shanghai, earlier this year was an introduction to an amazing city. It's right up there with a trip to Finland, with my customer Nokia, where we took part in activities like skidoo (snowmobile) riding on a frozen lake, abseiling down icy cliffs and smoking salmon in a tepee -- although I'm confident the indigenous Finns have a more sophisticated word for it.
What was the best holiday you ever went on?
It's a tie between a long weekend in Sevilla (amazing affordable tapas), and a family holiday at Sheraton Salobre in Gran Canaria (seven pools for three kids, making for some quiet time).
If you had a week to live, how would you fill it?
Beating Australia in the final Ashes Test at Lords, eating at a different Michelin starred restaurant everyday, driving to each in a different supercar, and a taxi home. I'd top it off with a visit to Noma (voted the best restaurant in Europe) in Copenhagen.
"I never..."
Say never.
What would your superpower be?
To be invisible. But I couldn't possibly say why.
Do you use social media?
After 20 years in the industry, the line between business and personal social media is very blurred. But the Curious George in me can't resist seeing who knows who and what they're doing.
Will the economic recovery continue?
I'm sure it will; a little piece of everyone loves to shop.
What does the channel most need to learn this year?
Why A10 is growing 150 per cent plus annually. Joke!
Is IT well taught in schools?
I graduated in 1990 and never saw a computer in a classroom, so I'm not best qualified to answer that. I can tell you though that my 10 year old daughter can use a PC better than some of the sales guys I have worked with.
Mark Edge is sales director for EMEA at A10 Networks
