30 Years at Ivanti: Engineer Reflects on Changes in IT

What is the longest time you've worked at the same place? Five years? Ten years? How about thirty?

That's how long Dave Edgar has been with us here at Ivanti. This level of loyalty warranted a closer look, so we asked Dave a few questions about his time at Ivanti.

What is it about Ivanti that has made you stay?

My 30 years have come about due to the company changing by splitting, merging, going public and going private. I haven’t needed to move in that time. The eight company name changes in chronological order are: Intercom Data Systems, royalblue, royalblue Technologies, Touchpaper, Avocent, Emerson, LANDESK and Ivanti.

The company has maintained the following priorities and traits that have resulted in me staying:

- A commitment to and a recognition of both personal and team achievements.

- An ever-changing technology landscape means the company needs to be able to keep up with change, and Ivanti has successfully done so. This has kept things relevant and interesting for employees like myself as well as for our customers.

- A constant commitment to customers.

What was your professional journey like to get you where you are today?

I have always been part of engineering, starting as a junior developer and progressing through the ranks to my current position (principal systems architect). Some of the more notable projects I have worked on over the years include:

- A project working on ISO standards with the EU for a pre-cursor to WWW

 - The 999 emergency system for the UK

- HelpDesk for Windows – The first Windows (3.1) product developed by the company at that time

- Service Desk – First .NET product and front runner cloud product developed by the company at that time

Unexpected hurdles and triumphs include:

- Solving complex customer issues. It’s always satisfying turning an unhappy customer into a happy customer

- Working in a global environment communicating with people from around the world. Geographical distance and language differences can cause difficulties but once overcome can produce great rewards for both the individual and the company

- Working away from home and the office prior to web – remember having to plan your trip before the day of travel.  Working in India in the early 90’s we had 1 land line that doubled up as a fax to communicate with the office in the UK.  The UPS was a bank of old car batteries in the corner of the office.

Tell us about some of the major changes you’ve seen since you started with the company.

Uptake of the Personal Computer. When I started, we wrote design documents by hand and gave them to a secretary to type up on a Word Processor on a PC.

Ease and speed of communication, whether it be the internet, email, or mobile communication. I was the first person to get an email account in the company (at the time) so that I could communicate and co-operate with universities on a project.

How has your role changed over the years?

I have always been on the technical side. I started as a junior programmer and just progressed through a technical personal development route to a logical point as a technical architect.

As the company has grown, I have had less involvement in man management, customer interaction and other roles within the company. When the company was smaller, we all got involved in all aspects of the business, whereas today we have less responsibility outside our own area.

Give us three words that best describe the Ivanti culture.

Professional, friendly, and rewarding.

What will your legacy at Ivanti be?

Service Desk

And a fun question unrelated to IT: What are your top three favorite movies?

The Italian Job (Original)

The Blues Brothers

The Shawshank Redemption