Hello Dr. Mohamed,

It is always nice to hear from you (whether late or not) and many thanks for your reply.

I hope you enjoyed your stay in USA. Was it for business or leisure?

It is good to hear of the ITI graduates association. I checked the web site www.itiga.org yet I couldn't find how to join. Is there someone who I can contact for this? I also need to know of the association objectives and events. I would greatly appreciate if you could help me.

Not sure what to say about my career, but after ITI I worked with Mostafa Shawki & Co (by that time they were representative of Deloitte and Touche in Egypt, but currently they are Mazars'). I then joined Oratech in its early stages. I witnessed the corporation of Raya Holding and I was the first to implement Oracle HRMS in Egypt (for Shell Egypt N.V.).

Afterwards, I moved to Giza Systems with a hope that Telecom Egypt would be the second clients for Oracle HRMS in Egypt. When this hope faded away and that there were no more projects for Oracle HRMS in Egypt, I realised that it is time to move abroad. I then joined Hyperlink in UAE (by that time an Oracle partner and one of the main implementors of Oracle ERP). I was the first Egyptian to join then followed by many others. With Hyperlink I built a good reputation in the gulf and was the team leader for many big implementations including Etisalat and Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity (ADWEA). I then received an offer from KPMG - Dubai and IBM - UK, and selected IBM - UK.

I worked for IBM in many big projects (Home Office - UK, Petrochemicals Industries Company - PIC - Kuwait and Office for National Statistics) in addition to some other successful biddings and pre-sales activities including Saudi Telecom and Etisalat - Phase two.

Shortly after joining IBM, I obtained my CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) certification and realised that I can do much better as a freelancer. My first project as a freelancer was with Tube Lines (the company running the underground metro /tube in London), and I was the Oracle HRMS Team Leader. I did very well, and received excellent recommendation from the clients, which helped in winning other major projects like: Merrill Lynch, NHS (the second biggest implementation in the world with 1.4 million employees), Carillion (via Accenture) and then Scottish Executive (the government of Scotland). I did very well with them and received outstanding recommendations from each one of them. This helped me to position myself well among the A-list Oracle HRMS consultants.

I then had been selected as the Oracle HRMS lead in Vodafone - UK, they assigned me to the nearly impossible task of implementing their Absence Management module, which had been implemented twice (first by Accenture then by another freelance consultant) and severely failed in both attempts. I successfully implemented the module and rolled it off to all Vodafone UK employees via self service (14,000 employees). It is one year now, and the system proved to handle the most complicated scenarios and had already been integrated to other systems.

While I was with Vodafone, I obtained my PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environment Methodology) certification and matched the highest score ever in the history in the exam. To my surprise, I was not alone, and I had two colleagues in the same class that matched the score as well. So I think out instructor was really excellent.

I soon will start my new project with Cap Gemini in a major implementation in Norway. This will be my first project in Northern Europe, so please wish me luck.

In my short term plan, I'm looking forward to invest in the excellent reputation I built within the short period I stayed in UK (four years). I hope within the next two years I'll start hiring people and win bids as a company rather than a freelancer. I can start this immediately, but being an Egyptian passport holder will, unfortunately, make it very difficult obtaining certain tax benefits, obtaining bank loans dedicated to UK “local” companies, winning UK government projects, and work and move freely in the European Union.

I think these are enough information about my past, current and future career plans :-) so I hope it was not too much detailed for you.

By the way, congratulations for Satyam agreement. I was in contact with some of them and I knew about ITI agreement with them. Wish ITI and you all the best of luck.

May I express my gratitude to ITI and its role in my colleagues and my career?

ITI helped shaping the future for many of its graduates. Now many of them hold excellent positions in their companies and many have further enhanced their career obtaining MBA and PhD. The skills acquired during our studies in ITI were the base for this progress. I strongly believe ITI graduates are the future IT leaders in Egypt.

I would greatly appreciate your kind help contacting ITI graduates association and how to join or participate in its activities.

Best Regards,

Tamer El-Tonsy, CISA, PRINCE2

Tatonsy Consulting

Senior Oracle HRMS consultant/solution architect/project manager

Mobile: +44 7891 12 12 10