5 minutes with Ruckus' Carl Jefferys

1.    Where did you grow up?  I haven’t.

2.    Go to school?   Sorry,  to answer this question would compromise PCI compliance issues.

3.    First job?  I can answer this one seriously.  After HSC at a secret school, in 1980, I secured an engineering cadetship with the iconic AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) in North Ryde. This was back when Australia still had a manufacturing industry and companies provided a formal program that rotated apprentices and cadets through a diverse range of technologies and experiences: avionics, defence electronics, telephone exchanges, speech recognition, fibre optics, professional audio, computers, field maintenance and, funnily enough, plenty of wireless – although the devices then still had valves and bits of string inside them.  What a fantastic experience this was for a geeky teenager with a real passion in electronics!

4.    University?  Electrical engineering at the Institute of Technology in Sydney – now known as UTS.  Later on I did a masters of management at Macquarie University.

5.  How did you get into IT? Electronics led me to IT.  It all started when, as a guitarist, I figured out how Peter Frampton’s talkbox worked and started building and selling my own versions to other musicians.  This seemed to impress the selection committee at AWA enough to give me a job which led to IT and, ironically, ultimately to the wireless business I’m in today.

6.    How long have you been at Ruckus?  I’m in my 14^th Quarter.

7.    What is the biggest challenge of your role?   As a rapidly growing challenger to the traditional vendors, such as Cisco and HP, we need to grow our channel quickly. I’ve noticed that finding networking systems integrators that have the ability to go beyond simply farming existing accounts and find new business opportunities themselves is rare.  We need VARS that come with their own batteries to supplement our lead generation activities. There is plenty of business out there in a very buoyant market.  Apart from this, I guess I’m no different to anyone else who  doesn’t have enough hours in the day.

8.   Hobbies / extracurricular activities?   The band is suffering since trying to schedule four guys with IT jobs and who travel significantly is not easy.  I collect vintage guitars, analogue effects pedals and old valve amps.  I’ve always been a runner, however my 10km times are getting slower.  I’d like to do a few more marathons.  The race itself is pretty straightforward but the hard part is devoting the time to get up to speed.

9.    Wife / kids?  One wife / two boys - one used to be a teenager.

10. What technology you can't live without?    240V AC,  Microsoft Excel and decent wi-fi.