Andy Konecny
  Technical Lead
  Andy Konecny
  Community Profile
  LinkedIn
  https://www.konecnyconsulting.ca/
  https://www.konecnyad.ca/chaosadventurer/

Languages: 
English (some claim marginally, due to technobabble). Tech and SF technobabble, and minimal smatterings of a number of other languages, even though my Quebec accent comes through clear on the bit of French I can barely do.

Product expertise: 
GroupWise and email security in general such as SMG & Retain, OES

Community focus:
GroupWise, OES, Retain, ZCM, SMG

Career journey:
Grew up surrounded by amateur radio DYI hobbies of my IBMer Dad, so always building stuff. So naturally I ended up in IT despite a pause for Civil Engineering in College. Started as grunt level in a government IT shop keeping a pilot token-ring system working, and IT-Finance liaison. Then into a SCADA engineering shop to kept the basic PC and networking going, then sliding into their new IT Consulting group that became a Novell Platinum partner. When that group lots its way and was shut down, started up our own consulting company with my wife, having many clients follow. I had interacted with the Novell forums since Compuserve days, so was please to have grown my interaction enough to join their Knowledge Partner program in 2012. Now securly supporting a number of small-medium clients that have retained the tighter security of the continuing evolution of those products.

Importance of the OpenText Community: 
How much I learn just by helping others. I often get to see issues in the Community before I have to face them in person, so I often have it figured out or someone else's experiences to tap into before being under the gun to fix something. The Community has also been great when I've had issues to help work through them. The funnest thing is to search a problem and find that I had helped someone else previously with it, and had my answer to myself already there.

Hobbies: 
Reading, especially Science Fiction. Wine tasting given we are surrounded with wonderful wineries. Various bits of DYI from converting an old super server to a liquor cabinet, some model rocketry, and even a spot of cross stitch to accompany my wife without losing myself in reading. Following the some forums on how are civilization is struggling to shift from fossil fuels as they get more costly to extract what is left deeper in the ground.

Closing thoughts: 
Search for your questions and issues first, because it might already have been answered (perhaps even by yourself). And even if you don't find an answer, it will help you frame your own question. Even if sounds simple or stupid, ask. We all are new to many things, even if we've earned more than a few grey hairs.