Who am I?
My name is James MacIvor and I own MacIvor Technical LLC.
I am a leader and engineering professional with many years of experience. I’ve worked on products for several industries, including insurance, library science, financial services, and health care.
You can view my full resume here.
What I care about
Professionally, I care most about building effective teams. I believe that when people know what they need to do and feel empowered to do it - then great things can happen. Effective applications, business targets, all the KPIs, it all falls out from building people up and giving them space to grow.
I feel satisfaction when the team I’m working with reaches a point where they don’t need me anymore. They’re already so effective that my impact, while still helpful, is optional. I don’t want to be the linchpin for the business objectives. I want the team to be the critical piece.
And yes, I care about building good software. I know how to design and write it. I know what good looks like.
Personally, I care about family. I care about friends. These are the relationships that define me and chart the course for who I want to be. These people are the core of who I am and I love them very much.
My history
You can read the resume to see where I worked and a bit of what I did, but here is how I tell the story.
I didn’t start as a developer. I was a frustrated customer service rep with a bad attitude. I knew I was a disposable employee and, what’s more, I knew I was capable of more. Things changed when I acted on that knowledge. I taught myself to code and built the foundation for the rest of my career.
What came after that was a successful engineering career. From the foundation I laid grew friendships and experiences that changed me. I loved being an engineer. I loved solving problems. I loved being an integral piece of the business. I loved that my effort directly led to the success of a business. I felt this at many of my employers: HMB, Rhyme, OCLC. I was only frustrated at places when my effort did not make an impact.
Over time, I realized that being the best engineer was really only part of the equation. I sought to understand leaders, leadership, and what ultimately drove success.
That drive led me to revamp my consulting business to focus on revenue-generating applications.