David C. Lin, MBA GDBA BComp(IS) MCP CCA ASCM

Member of International Electrical Electronics Engineers

(IEEE) Member of IEEE Computer Society

Member of Australian Computer Society

Born in 1974, in Taipei, Taiwan. Lived, and studied mostly in private schools in Taiwan for 14 ½ years.Migrated to Australia on 28th Nov 1988 and vowed never to study in a private school again (Oops)! So mum arranged for me to spend my first 3 weeks in Melbourne in the ESL class at Camberwell High School. Well, that was kind of fun, knew pretty much no-one and couldn't really communicate "effectively"!

It was then however, that I set out to do whatever it takes to assimilate into this vibrant new world/culture. After one semester in the Language School, I was back on deck. Now being a little more efficient with English, I was starting to make more friends! One of my hobbies, later become a passion, and now part of my everyday working life - Computers - helped me to find one of my very first friends, a guy named Gareth Shaw, who later become the President of the SRC in 1993. Incidentally after 10 years of on-and-off communications, I was asked to be one of his groomsman at his wedding back in February 2002, for which I was very touched.

Back in my school days, being an Asian, I was always different! Being someone who's into computers, not just games, but application programs, operating systems, BBS, FidoNet (the predecessor of the Internet in Australia), well that make me literally a minority, somewhat an un-cool nerd. Who would have thought that everyone is trying to be good at "IT" today! (Well, I did!) And us un-cool are now okay. I guess if the one thing Bill Gates did right, this would have to be it.

(Well, maybe second to being the world's wealthiest! :opHa, ha, ha!)

After graduating from CHS, naturally I got myself in a computer course at Monash University. Being with people who are like-minded with the same kind of passion and drive, I was starting to feel like home. However, after not too long, I was feeling too comfortable and I managed failed my 1st year. "Oops" I thought to myself, "Now I am not going to have a clean record, it's going to be tough to compete for a position in a good company with people who has! What should I do now?" So I took a part time job at a local corner computer store as a sale assistant and technician. Looking back, this was the something that I should have done back in High School days!

After being there on and off for the next two years I moved on when the shop closed and took a part time customer service and technical management position with an Internet startup company in 1996. I did this for a year until I was finally allowed to change course and scrape through my supposedly 3 years undergraduate course in 4 ½ years! :op After finishing off my course in mid '97, I was looking for a more permanent role with better pay. Just by chance I was speaking with an old junior school friend of mine; before long I was working with two of the CHS guys at Trilynx Systems. Looking back I missed those days struggling to get to work at 8:30am and leaving most of the times at 6:30pm (well, what has changed?). Working day in and day out with John Whiteman and Marcel. However with the constant pressure of serious retailing, I was beginning to miss the good old Uni days. So I looked into doing a basic graduate diploma course in management, just so I could "have a break from work" and quieten my parents, seeing they've been "pestering me" to "get some qualifications in management" for a number of years.

Fate as it may, one of my clients just so happened to be the vice principle of La Trobe Graduate School of Management (LTGSM). Not long after I had a chat with Bret over the phone, our roles changed! I quit my job and now I was one of his clients. The funny thing was that I didn't know that I was enrolled in with the Master of Business Administration (MBA) students until my very first class when the head of the school carried out the induction. I asked the guy sitting next to me if I have heard correctly and he verified that we were in the right MBA class. Time flies, 6 months have passed, and I got my Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (GDBA).

To my surprise, I was asked to stay on to complete the MBA program. Somehow I have worked through my (GDBA) full time double loaded and managed to get an average mark of Credit. So I thought, okay, I am probably never going to have another chance to do this again, why not stay on for another 6 months to "try" to get a Masters degree. So I did, amazingly I ended up with an average mark of B, and a few doctorate positions offered. Now I didn't even know how I've managed to get through my last 3 months with a full time study and a full time job with Austin Repatriation Medical Centre IT plus over time! But I did it and that's what matters. Not bad for someone who has managed to failed his year 8 and 14 times in mathematics at uni! :op

Well I guess the moral of the story is that if I made it, there is still hope yet for many who's currently struggling. Though I have now an MBA, but I am still pretty much into technology. I guess "old habits die hard"! Once a techno geek, always a technology man! It was by chance that I got a job with my current employer, one of the Top 150 blue chip public listed companies, Smorgon Steel Group Ltd. It is fun working with a huge nation wide corporate network(s). Many things do go wrong, with endless nights working side by side with my colleagues, learning and problem solving. It was a privilege to be posted at the corporate head office; managing its computer networks and systems; working alongside many elites whom I have high regards! It was a pleasure and an even special privilege to work for our chairman, Graham Smorgon, one of the top Australian movers and shakers of today's Australian and International business. I have learnt and am continually learning a great deal from these dedicated people.

David.