2000 → 2025 · 25 years of work, learning & technology

I didn't start
with networks.

My career did not begin in IT. It began in 2000 with merchandising and e-commerce — suppliers, orders, fulfilment, customers and the early mechanics of running an online business. In 2003, an internal opportunity moved me into IT. From there, one problem at a time, the scope got bigger.

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01 · Origin

Before the network diagrams, there was the business.

The career story begins in 2000 — before IT became my profession. Those first years in merchandising and e-commerce taught me how suppliers, orders, fulfilment, customers, procedures and technology all connect. In 2003, an internal opportunity opened the door into IT.

2000–2003 · Merchandising & E-Commerce

My working career began on the business side: supplier relationships, purchasing, merchandising, order fulfilment, customer enquiries, webstore updates and operational procedures. It was not yet an IT role, but it was where I first learned that every process depends on another process — and that technology sits inside the business, not outside it.

2003 · The move into IT

An internal opportunity became available. I took it, and my manager recognised the interest and potential. The IT work started at L1: user support, POS systems, Finance users, printers, new-PC setup, faulty hardware replacement and daily operational issues across more than 30 branches.

I started by learning how the business worked. Then I moved into the technology that kept it working. As the years progressed, the responsibility moved deeper — from customers, orders and operations to users, endpoints, systems, servers, connectivity and networks.
02 · Journey

Growth was not a title. It was a wider problem to solve.

Each stage widened the scope — from business operations and branch support to systems, infrastructure and eventually regional operations.

2000–2003
Business Foundation · Merchandising & E-Commerce

Learning how work flows before learning how networks flow

The first chapter of my career was on the business side. I began in merchandising, then moved into e-commerce operations — working across suppliers, purchasing, fulfilment, customer service, merchandising and the webstore. Looking back, this was where the systems-thinking started.

Merchandising foundation
  • Supplier credit-account applications and relationships
  • Daily purchasing and supplier coordination
  • Liaison with marketing and editorial teams
  • Helped establish relationships with 20+ suppliers
  • Helped establish operating procedures, standards and controls
E-commerce operations
  • Order fulfilment from sourcing through packaging and delivery
  • Customer enquiries and offline email ordering
  • Supplier ordering and database maintenance
  • Webstore content and product updates
  • Refund and suspected-transaction screening procedures
  • Customer-service email documents and operating processes
  • Handled suspected online-fraud cases, including lodging reports at police HQ

Online commerce also introduced me to a different kind of operational problem: fraud. One suspected case led to my first visit to police HQ to lodge a report — an early reminder that putting a business online creates new risks and responsibilities alongside the opportunities.

Career begins · 2000MerchandisingE-Commerce20+ suppliersFulfilmentCustomer serviceWebstore operationsProcess designFraud response
2003–2006
Foundation · Branch Operations

Learning the ropes at branch scale

The first stage was practical, repetitive and invaluable: keeping day-to-day technology working for users across a large branch footprint.

What I was doing
  • POS and Finance-system support
  • Printer troubleshooting
  • PC preparation and replacement
  • Faulty hardware diagnosis
  • Remote branch-user support
  • Participating in large-scale branch stock-take operations
  • Travelling across Malaysia to branches for stock-take exercises
  • Daily operational incident handling
What I was learning
  • How business depends on technology
  • How one issue can affect an entire branch
  • How to troubleshoot before replacing
  • How to support users remotely
  • How IT supports physical business operations such as stock take
  • How to keep operations moving
30+ branchesPOSEnd-user supportFinance supportStock takeHardwareL1 operations
2006–2013
Depth · Systems & Connectivity

Moving behind the user's screen

Problems stopped ending at the desktop. The responsibility increasingly included the systems and connectivity that made branches work in the first place.

Stock take was one practical example of that progression. I first took part in physical stock counts alongside the operation across Malaysia to different branches as part of the exercise. As I moved into more senior IT responsibilities, I became responsible for the IT side of stock take — an early lesson that technology is only useful when it supports the real business process behind it.

Systems & operations
  • Windows and Novell environments
  • POS, databases, email and backup operations
  • Dell PowerVault storage
  • Business continuity and store readiness
  • Taking charge of the IT side of branch stock-take operations as responsibility grew
  • Operational security responsibilities
Networking growth
  • TCP/IP and legacy IPX/SPX
  • Broadband and branch connectivity
  • Switching
  • VPN, WAN and LAN
  • Untangle firewall exposure
WindowsNovellTCP/IPIPX/SPXSwitchingVPNWAN/LANDell PowerVaultStock-take IT operationsMalaysia branch travelUntangle
2013–2014
Delivery · Projects

From supporting infrastructure to delivering it

The next chapter shifted toward implementation: turning technical requirements into working environments for customers and users.

Delivery scope
  • UPS deployment projects
  • Group PC deployments
  • Open-source firewall projects
  • Implementation and testing
  • Troubleshooting and handover
What changed
  • More ownership of outcomes
  • More customer-facing coordination
  • More structured deployment work
  • More responsibility for go-live readiness
UPSPC deploymentOpen-source firewallTestingHandover
2014–2017
Infrastructure · Engineering

Building the environment behind the business

The scope broadened again into migrations, office infrastructure, virtualization, network equipment, wireless, firewalls and physical-site readiness.

Infrastructure work
  • Windows Server migration projects
  • VMware environments
  • Office relocation and go-live
  • Structured cabling and rack deployment
  • ISP provisioning
  • Door access and physical security
Network stack
  • Dell switching
  • Aruba wireless
  • FortiGate deployments
  • WAN connectivity
  • Implementation validation
Windows ServerVMwareDell SwitchingArubaFortiGateWANISPCabling
2017–2025
Regional · APAC Operations

The problems became regional

By this stage, the work had moved from individual sites into multi-country network and infrastructure operations — supporting APAC environments while working with global engineering teams.

Regional operations
  • L3 network and infrastructure support
  • Remote branch migrations
  • Deployment validation and connectivity testing
  • Change implementation
  • Troubleshooting across multiple countries
  • Knowledge transfer to L1/L2
Technologies & reach
  • Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
  • Zscaler ZPA / ZIA
  • Azure networking for Meraki vMX
  • India, China, Philippines and Australia
  • Documentation, KBA and migration procedures
APACCisco Meraki SD-WANZscaler ZPAZscaler ZIAAzure vMXL3 operationsChange managementKT to L1/L2
03 · Progression

One continuous line of cause and effect.

The story is not “I used many technologies.” The story is that each new layer became necessary because the previous layer led naturally to the next one.

BusinessSuppliers, orders, customers and fulfilment.
UsersSomeone cannot work.
EndpointsPCs, printers and hardware.
ApplicationsPOS, Finance, email and databases.
SystemsServers, storage, backup and virtualization.
ConnectivityBranches, WAN, VPN and ISPs.
NetworksSwitching, wireless, firewalls, SD-WAN.
Regional OpsMulti-country infrastructure and L3 support.
04 · Perspective

My understanding of IT changed as much as the technology did.

When I first moved into IT, I thought the job was simple: technology worked for the business. Experience gradually changed that view.

FOR the business

Keep it working.

Early on, IT meant responding to users, fixing problems and keeping the systems the business depended on available.

WITH the business

Understand what it needs.

The deeper I went into operations, the clearer it became that good technical decisions require understanding the process, the people and the dependencies behind the request.

PARTNER to the business

Help it move forward.

At its best, IT is not merely a support function waiting for something to break. It works alongside the business — helping it change, grow and operate better.

I learned the business before I learned to support its technology. Then I learned the technology behind the business. Eventually, I realised the strongest outcomes happen when the two work as partners.

05 · Network Mindset

Networks taught me to think in dependencies.

Addressing, segmentation and routing are technical constructs — but the larger lesson is how interconnected systems behave when something changes.

One address space. Different needs. Deliberate allocation.

VLSM is a simple example of a larger engineering habit: understand the requirement first, allocate what is needed, preserve room for what comes next, and avoid breaking existing dependencies.

That same mindset carries into migrations, firewall changes, remote branch cutovers and troubleshooting.

Understand firstSegment logicallyValidate dependenciesLeave room to grow
Conceptual VLSM network allocation graphicA conceptual network block divided into differently sized subnets for branch, office, infrastructure and point-to-point requirements. 10.20.0.0 / 22 conceptual address space Branch users/23 · largest requirementOffice/25Infrastructure/26Services/27P2P/30 requirement → allocation → validation → growth
06 · Scale

The numbers are supporting evidence, not the story.

They show how the scope expanded over time — from local operations to distributed branches and multi-country support.

25years across the 2000–2025 career journey
20+years of professional IT experience since 2003
30+branches supported from the early IT years
8+years supporting APAC regional operations
4APAC countries highlighted in remote migration and deployment work
07 · How I Work

The technology changed. The troubleshooting instinct did not.

The most durable skill is not memorising a product. It is understanding how the environment is connected before changing it.

01 / OBSERVE

Understand the environment first

Identify connections, services, dependencies and the actual business impact before deciding what to change.

02 / CHANGE

Make the smallest useful change

Implement deliberately, document the plan and avoid introducing unnecessary variables into a live environment.

03 / PROVE

Validate the business outcome

A change is not complete because the device is green. It is complete when the required service still works for the people who depend on it.

“Understand the existing environment before making changes — then validate that the business-critical systems still work afterwards.”
08 · Technology

Tools I have worked with along the way.

A selection of technologies encountered across different stages of the journey. Some became core operational tools; others belonged to specific projects or environments.

Cisco Meraki SD-WANZscaler ZPA / ZIAFortiGateSonicWallAruba WirelessDell SwitchingVMwareWindows ServerAzure networkingMeraki vMXWAN / LANVPNTCP/IPIPX/SPXNovellDell PowerVaultPOS systemsBackupStructured cablingISP provisioningUPSUntangle
09 · The next chapter

That's the story
so far.

From merchandising and e-commerce operations, to L1 support across more than 30 branches, and eventually regional network and infrastructure operations across APAC, every chapter added another layer to the same question: how do we help the business keep moving?

I know where the story has been.
I'm curious where it goes next.

Could your company be part of the next chapter?

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