Apple Computer 1 on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC
I’m currently looking for a job in Iceland. Why Iceland? Well, I’ve visited Iceland 29 times since 2000, including a 5-month stint in the winter of 2022 on a remote worker’s visa. No city in the world feels as much like home as Reykjavík does. The nature, the people, the food, and the pools — nothing like it anywhere.
I’ve worked for Reuters, the news agency, for almost all my adult life. Twenty eight years full time, and few more while freelancing. I started off as a journalist, editing video tape for the TV operation, and moved on to help found one of the first Online News publishing teams, becoming a multi-media editor. I moved to the IT side because back in the late 1990s, there were precious few tools to help us do the job. Not being happy with most of them, I helped design bespoke solutions, especially on the publishing side. We adopted XML as a delivery format early on, and managed to push the envelope with many new technologies.
Today, like many, I’ve migrated my skill set to “the cloud”. Our group mostly uses AWS tools, but I’m familiar with Azure. I’ve learned to design various systems, including a pictures ingest-processing-publishing workflow and a systems management service. I helped move text production out of our data centers, and redesign pictures production for the cloud from the ground up. My most recent project was moving our systems management services from our data centers to AWS, rewriting the code-base and redesigning the user interface.
A lot of my work is devops and involves troubleshooting and fixing incidents, keeping atop security, dealing with data, and writing code. I mostly code in Python, but I’m still very familiar with Perl. I’m also strong in Mac and Unix admin, including managing software distribution and inventory for Reuters Pictures Macs using Munki and home built tools.
If your team or someone you know is looking for someone who brings a sharp mind to technical challenges, is able to see the bigger picture, can prioritize what’s needed, and is quick to pick up new technology, please reach out. Please note: I will need a visa sponsor — but do consider that after 28+ years at Reuters, I’m very likely to stay for a while.
Thanks for reading,
Samer