In this interview, Tom Hollingsworth welcomes Roy Chua, the founder and Principal at AvidThink, as one of our newest Tech Field Day delegates. Roy shares his background starting as a network software engineer, moving into product management, and eventually transitioning into the analyst space. He discusses the challenges of staying up-to-date with the rapidly evolving technology landscape and how his company focuses on more targeted and cutting-edge areas to add value. When asked about his dream job, Roy expresses a fondness for books and mentions that running a small bookshop would be a really fun job for him. Thanks for joining us at Security Field Day, Roy!
Connect with Roy
Roy Chua is a Field Day Delegate and the Founder and Principal at AvidThink. You can connect with Roy on Twitter or on LinkedIn. Find out more about AvidThink by visiting their website.
Transcript
Tom Hollingsworth: Welcome to Tech Field Day! My name is Tom Hollingsworth, and I’m here to meet one of our newest delegates.
Roy Chua: I’m Roy Chua, a principal and founder at Everything We Are, a research and analysis service.
Tom Hollingsworth: So Roy, it’s great to have you as a Tech Field Day delegate. How did you get started in IT and this whole thing?
Roy Chua: Yeah, I started a long time ago, as many people do, as an engineer. I was actually a network software engineer, writing code for ATM networks. Yeah, those 53-byte cells were a thing. I thought they were pretty dumb, actually. But that’s how I got into networking in the first place. Then, from there, I moved on to technical marketing engineering, as many people do, and then into product management for networking and security products. I started a couple of companies in networking and security as well. And eventually, I co-founded a research group called SDXCentral, which became an independent company. We now do research and analysis in networking and infrastructure technologies.
Tom Hollingsworth: So, you started out doing hands-on stuff, writing code, and now you’re doing analysis on the back end to provide data and insights. It’s an interesting career path. Did you ever think you wanted to do any kind of research?
Roy Chua: No, I think I fell into it. Historically, I’ve always been around engineering and product management. The path through media, which I never thought I would do, is a weird thing to go through media and then emerge on the analyst side. But it’s kind of fun. As an analyst, you get to see a wide range of products, from Fortune 500 companies to hyperscalers, to Tier 1 service providers, to the latest networking and security startups. I do like that diversity in company size and technology types.
Tom Hollingsworth: When I ask some people about the big challenges they face in their job, they usually talk about dealing with users and other things. But in your unique space, what are some of the challenges you face?
Roy Chua: For me, the big challenge is keeping up with all the information. It’s getting worse as time goes on. The expectation for analysts, including me and the contract analysts I rely on, is to keep up at a breakneck pace. Everyone is converging on virtualized and software-defined infrastructure, which makes it challenging to track so many companies and technologies. The flood of information and the expectation to know everything all the time is tough.
Tom Hollingsworth: Do you think you might be able to narrow it back down in the future, or will the market keep expanding and broadening what you need to cover?
Roy Chua: The advantage for us is that we’re not Gartner or IDC, so we don’t have to be comprehensive. We try to navigate and avoid things as they become more mainstream. We focus on more targeted and cutting-edge areas where smaller and more nimble analysts can add value. When something becomes mainstream, the established companies can do a good job of covering it, and we move on to new areas where there is less coverage or no magic quadrant yet. That’s how we operate.
Tom Hollingsworth: Okay, now, take your IT hat off for a second. If you could do any job in the world, what would you do?
Roy Chua: It’s a weird thing, but I’ve always liked books. I used to browse bookstores and second-hand bookshops to read books at a low cost. It’d be nice to run a small bookshop somewhere. I just like physical books. I used to overcollect them because I liked the topics and the covers. Maybe if I had a bookstore, I’d have a little bit of free time to read them all.
Tom Hollingsworth: Well, Roy, it’s been fascinating to learn more about what you do and your career journey. We’re glad to have you as a delegate in our community. Thank you for being a part of Tech Field Day. And for those watching, if you’re interested in becoming a Tech Field Day delegate, head over to our website at techfieldday.com. We hope to see you soon, and we hope to see more of Roy in the future.
Roy Chua: Thanks, Tom.
