We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryan Cole. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryan below.

Alright, Bryan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

In the enterprise software sector, businesses that are going to purchase software solutions that costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars really need to see the software in action before they commit to that. One of the most innovative things I’ve ever done was develop a prototype for, and then develop and lead, a new generation of demonstration platforms based on containerization. It allowed the team members who are delivering software demonstrations to standardize, rapidly reset their environment, and came pre-integrated out-of-the-box so everyone had an outstanding demo environment to use. It transformed the way our entire company operated and was probably the most successful and impactful professional activity I’ve ever participated in – and it was all my idea!

Bryan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a reasonably intelligent person who has benefitted from my ability to understand the occasional opportunity and grab onto it with both hands when it came close. My career in enterprise software started shortly after recovering from my failed first bid at university (pro-tip: attend your classes, don’t sleep in).

I was hired on into a consulting organization, and one fateful Thursday they approached asking if I knew anything about performance testing. When I said no, they handed me the software manuals and told me I was going onsite on Monday. From there, I specialized in performance engineering, which is a sub-domain of software quality assurance, and have never looked back. I’ve worked at vendors essentially my entire career, covering consulting, presales, product management, and many other roles.

One of the biggest strengths that I have is an insatiable curiosity – I want to always be learning something. Whether it is about the first great stock market bubble (about tulip bulbs, of all things), or the process used to create disposable razor blades, I’ll read and learn about nearly anything. In my professional career,

This helped immensely, as while I learned everything I could about the quality assurance market, I also learned about development, IT operations, networking, security, cloud management, and any other topics I could find. This helped propel me upward as a voice that could speak confidently about myriad subjects and address large-scale enterprise challenges in the software market.

Which… can be a mixed blessing. When COVID hit, everything started to change. I had been home office based for many years, so nothing new there, but the economic impact relegated me to a sort of corporate limbo, with no defined responsibilities and no clear goals. We’ll come back to this in a second.

My love of the fantasy and sci-fi genres started when I was very young, with movies like Star Wars and shows like Battlestar Galactica. Reading Dragonlance: Chronicles at an early age really cemented not just my love of fantasy, but also a lifelong passion for reading. Dragonlance led to the Forgotten Realms, and it was a short hop to playing D&D and other tabletop role playing games, which I still do to this day. Telling stories surrounded by friends and laughing at repeated failures (“No, I said I swing like spider man!” or “Don’t you understand? Bad healer!” both make me laugh to this day) … those are memories I cherish.

So, when my professional career was paused as my company tried to find a place for me, my friends suggested that I start taking the many stories and ideas I’ve had over the years, and actually write. As soon as I started writing, I fell in love with it. Words spilling out of me and describing a story that I’d always wanted to read but could never find on the shelves. I’d loved the paladin archetype forever, but they had always been presented as noble champions (with one notable exception – looking at you, Mr. Vader). That archetype is great… when the paladin worships or is tied to gods of nobility, honor, or justice. But what about the other gods? Not just evil ones, but the ones in-between? ReckNor, lord of the seas and skies is a chaotic god who values free will and demands you accept your consequences. What would a paladin called to service by a god like that act like?

This all came together to let me write Beginning of Arrogance, my debut novel. It’s been extremely positively professionally reviewed (though not all books are for all people, so your experience may vary), and this led me to writing the sequel, Futility of Defense (which I like even more than Beginning of Arrogance!). I’m currently working on the next book in A Paladin’s Journey, which is planned to have many more books in the main plot arc.

I’m really proud of the books, and I hope readers pick up a copy and get as much enjoyment reading them as I did writing them!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This happened very early on in my career. I can’t even remember his name.

We were on a consulting project that I was not-quite-but-basically leading, building an extension to a software program. The other person had recently been hired and was put on the project to work with me. He had no experience with the software system we were working on, nor did he have the months of history I had creating the content for it. Additionally, while he spoke English well, it was not his first language.

All this to say that I had a pretty negative opinion about his capabilities and employment.

Fast forward to another project, where the software system was one I was not familiar with yet and we were working together. His technical competence and leadership took off – he knew this stuff solidly.

I had this moment of realization that judging people based on limited experiences is extremely unfair. Nobody shines in every situation they’re in. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. It forced me to reassess my own perceptions and opinions about people, and led to a much more mature Bryan who will generally assume that people are good, decent, hardworking, and trying to be successful. That if I supported and helped them, I would ultimately be helping myself, as well.

I wish I could remember his name. He really helped make me a better person.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’m leading this section with a heavy sigh. Flunking out of university in my first year was an eye-opening experience for me. Definitely not in a good way. My parents were extremely upset. I’d graduated from high-school with honors, straight into catastrophic failure. It was a rough road to recovery, and my parents both supported me, and made me face the consequences of my actions.

That included paying them back for the costs of that first year of university. Only later in life did I realize the privilege I’d grown up in, that they’d been able to save to pay for my education instead of having me take out much in the way of student loans. The consequences of my choices came back around to impact me, and forced me to deal with them.

I decided I didn’t like that. I went back to school, graduating with honors, and landed a job in software consulting, and never looked back. This gave me the money I needed to eventually repay my loans – both to the bank, and to my parents.

Ironically, it’s only just now that I’m realizing the themes of making choices and dealing with the consequences of your actions in my books all stem from this episode in my life.

My parents gave me all that money back when I bought my first home. I love my parents very much :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fatpaladin.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatpaladinbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FatPaladin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatpaladin/
• Other: https://indiereader.com/book_review/beginning-of-arrogance https://indiereader.com/book_review/futility-of-defense/

Image Credits
Vilenko Vujicevic