Rugby, dogs and IT with Citrix's Soepono

update Q&A profile Dino Soepono is Citrix's regional manager, Asia Pacific, Server Virtualisation & Cloud Computing at Citrix Systems, but he's also a rugby coach, so he's got a good hold on strategy.

Dino Soepono (Credit: Citrix)

What was your first job ever?

My very first job was at the age of 12 as a dog walker in Bondi for my neighbour. It started out as a favour but word on the street got out and went from one dog per week ($5) to more than 10 dogs per week ($50). Although the money wasn't a lot, it taught me some key lessons in being responsible and the value of money. My first job out of university was as a programmer, writing COBOL programs for IBM Token Ring systems.

What do you most like about working in Australia's technology industry?

The Australian technology industry tends to adopt new technologies at a faster rate than other countries, which makes it an exciting industry to work in. Areas such as virtualisation have a very high adoption rate in Australia and working with emerging technologies such as cloud computing make it far more interesting.

What's your hobby?

I have four boys under the age of eight, so my hobbies have transformed to activities which involve a lot of outdoor sports. I am a rugby coach for an under 6's, 7's and 8's rugby union team during the winter as well as a nippers age manager (coach) for my youngest during the summer.

What can Australia do better to help grow a great technology sector?

In my opinion, cloud computing is the next IT wave but one area we need to improve on is accessibility to broadband services. Compared to other developed countries, Australia needs to improve the broadband services if we are to be competitive on the global stage.

What/who has been the biggest inspiration in your career?

I was fortunate enough to work in Santa Clara in Silicon Valley for a number of years, working with some great people. The first person who comes to mind was one of my former managers, Sajeena Warrior. She led by example and instilled some key values such as loyalty and respect.

Updated at 9:19am, 20 September 2010: it was reported that Dino Soepono's title was regional manager (Asia-Pacific) for Citrix Systems. His title is, in fact, regional manager, Asia Pacific, Server Virtualisation & Cloud