The Principal Podcast

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:47:50 +0800

As a middle-aged man who works in tech, it has been a matter of some consternation that I have never appeared on a podcast. Well, this terrible state of affairs has now come to an end.

Here’s the blurb:

Had a great time recording this episode of The Principal Podcast with Dennis Black, where I broke down what I’ve learned helping customers get more value from GridGain¹, solve complex technical problems, and build the knowledge to become more self-sufficient.

My career into consulting was never really planned. It started almost by accident, but over time I realized I was most energized by working directly with customers, understanding how they use technology, and helping them solve problems that have a real business impact.

Here are three lessons I shared from that journey:

The best consulting does more than fix a problem: it explains the how and why so the customer can handle more on their own next time.

In enterprise technology, technical value is only part of the equation: you also have to navigate stakeholders, compliance, and the realities of operating at scale.

Growth often starts with awareness: there are still many Apache Ignite users who could benefit from GridGain but simply do not know the connection exists.

Hosted by Dennis Black, this conversation goes into product consulting, customer education, open source, enterprise sales, and the opportunities ahead for GridGain.

Listen to the full episode:

I don’t typically talk of the specifics of my work here, but I think I need to provide a little context. Until recently, I worked for a company called GridGain, who were behind the Open Source database Apache Ignite. Recently they were bought by MariaDB, another database company. And that’s where I work now. ↩︎

This is ZX81.org.uk

The Principal Podcast