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CA PPM Featured Member For March - Nick Darlington

By C.J posted Mar 12, 2015 10:28 PM

  


Get to know Nick Darlington


nick.jpg

 

 

Location: 

Plano, TX

Current Gig: 

Principal Support Engineer for CA PPM

One word that describes how you work: 

Tenaciously

How do you use CA Communities and any suggestions for others?
It gives me a different insight into what’s hot and how our customers are implementing and using the product.  Within the Product Support world we often deal with just fixing the things that are broken or not understood, but when customers are asking us how many others are doing certain things or whether another customer has implemented or integrated with something before – we either don’t know due to lack of visibility or can’t say due to confidentiality.  The same question asked on the communities however can receive direct answers and from a wider audience than we have knowledge of.  It’s like the biggest and most global users group.  I’ve recently taken to using the blogging feature of the communities as a place that I can share things that are perhaps not ready enough for prime time in a Tuesday Tip or KB article, but I’d still like to be found when someone runs up against a challenge I’ve previously faced through some self-help searching before they get to the point of exhaustion and having to ask for help by posting or raising a support ticket.  It’s a new venture so the articles are few in number for now, and will increase in time: https://communities.ca.com/people/nick_darlington/blog

Mac or PC?
I’ve had an iMac for the past couple of years for casual use and learning/writing iOS applications.  Otherwise I’m predominantly PC for professional and hobby/gaming/programming uses since the fall of mighty Commodore Amiga some twenty years ago.

Mobile Device?
Here again I play both major sides with an Android phone and an iPad for a tablet.

Apps/software/tools you can’t live without?

KeePass, Eclipse, Visual Studio, XCode, Virtual CloneDrive, Notepad++, Google, Lync Communicator, TrackIR, NVidia 3D Vision, Oculus Rift, and Steam

Besides your phone and computer, what's your favorite gadget?
It’s a tie between a bottle opener or my growing pool of virtual reality equipment (that’s still computer related though).

What’s your daily work space like?
One of the best things about my work place that I like to mention is having a great daycare facility on the premises for my son.  My work space is more virtual, an area filled with XML files, database queries, java code, memory dump files, various different builds and configurations of Clarity / CA PPM, and working with my colleagues in Support, Services, and Development who are all over the globe.  There’s not much other organization to speak of as there’s always the need to juggle multiple problems and make rearrangements to help solve or prevent an escalation occurring.

How do you balance life/work?
I’m quite strict about putting a hard finish on work at the end of the day.  Don’t take it home for the evening or weekend, that’s family time instead.  Maintaining a healthy work/life balance like that is essential for both my productivity and sanity.

Best advice you can give and you have received?
Work to live, don’t live to work.

What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?

Guitar Hero !  So long as ‘anyone else’ doesn’t include my brother.

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