While he may not have begun his career in the conventional way by studying IT at university, Huckerby's commitment to lifelong learning, and sheer hard work, has enabled him to quickly climb to the top of the Australian tech ladder.
Besides having a father who had run computer companies, Huckerby's first exposure to the industry was a job installing and selling PCs. He accepted a position in the mid '90s as Systems Engineer at Praxa, which was right at the beginning of the Microsoft wave. In 1996, Huckerby completed his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer training, and moved to the UK the following year.
Within a few weeks, Huckerby landed his first contract working in technical project management at Woolworths. He also spent time at BBC Worldwide, Tetley Tea, Unipart and Global Crossing.
-I had prior experience in the area which, combined with my MSCE, made it very easy to find work," said Huckerby.
Huckerby's career took on new momentum when he was appointed Programme Manager at Global Crossing, where he was responsible for $US50 million programs, and managing dozens of staff and contractors from different countries, rolling out 55 new sites across Europe.
-All the sites were installing different technology, and building their own IT infrastructure. As a result, there was no consistency, and certainly no economies of scale," said Huckerby.
Huckerby's job was to standardise and rationalise the technology into just one program of works. Despite the enormous external factors that had to be addressed - including substantial change management issues - he managed to achieve his brief within just 12 months. It was, according to Huckerby, one of the greatest achievements in his career.
On his return to Australia, Huckerby was appointed CIO of Panthers Entertainment Group, where he is responsible for the overall IT infrastructure, including structuring the IT function, and developing and executing IT and e-business strategy.
The Key to Success = Focussing on Education
While Huckerby did not start out his career with an undergraduate degree, he has focussed on training and education to position himself for each new role. In addition to his MCSE, Huckerby completed training in Prince 2, the UK standard for project management.
While in the UK, Huckerby began searching for a management course for technologists.
-I had my sights set on becoming a CIO, and a key part of that was ensuring I understood business strategy in addition to my technical knowledge," said Huckerby.
After extensive evaluation of the courses available in the UK, he decided to embark on the Australian Computer Society's Certification Program, specialising in Managing Strategy and IS. The key attractions were the pathway ACS offered to the APESMA MBA (Technology Management), the distance education mode of study, and the work-based learning structure of the course.
-At the time, I was travelling extensively with my job, often at very short notice, so I needed a program that I could study anytime, anywhere. I simply couldn't have committed to campus based study," he said.
-An added advantage was the fact that I could apply my studies to my job through the work-based learning format of assignments. It enabled me to immediately apply the theory to real-life situations.
-The learning experience has been great," said Huckerby.
Having completed the ACS Certification Program, Huckerby is now working his way towards an MBA (Technology Management), which he expects to complete in 2003.
Looking ahead
Huckerby still has lots he wants to achieve at the Panthers Entertainment Group, which has gone through a massive growth period, expanding from one to thirteen sites in a little over a year, doubling revenue, membership (130,000) and staff. His role involves developing and executing IT and e-Business strategies whilst restructuring the IT function.
At just 32, Huckerby is among the youngest CIOs in the country, and his success is the result of working hard and smart, and his commitment to ongoing study.
-I had a clear focus on where I wanted my career to go, and I've worked towards that.
-I'm committed unreservedly to lifelong learning, and have been prepared to sacrifice virtually ever weekend for the last three years to ensure I get the most from my studies," he said.
Rung by rung, Huckerby is making sure that every step counts.
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Please, if the road to success was this easy many more of us would have made it. Here is a more realistic view of the world.
Top 5 Tips for Success
1. Personality: To be successful you need to posses some key pesonality traits; desire, ambition, motivation, determination and commitment. You also need to realize that most people that get to the top usually do so at the expense of others. Not everyone wants to sell their sole for the sake of success.
2. Background: I'm talking about school, parents, location and wealth. You can't tell me we all have the same opportunities as a person with a private school education living in a wealthy suburb whose parents are in senior corporate positions.
3. Appearance: It is basically a statisical fact that a tall attractive person has an advantage when climbing the corporate ladder.
4. Intelligence: I am not saying you need to be a genious but you certainly need to be reasonably intelligent and posses common sense.
5. Luck: There are plenty of people that have all these qualities and experience but at the end of the day the top of the pyramid has room for only a few and this is when luck comes into play. You have to be at the right place at the right time with the right collegues in the right conditions and even then you still need some luck to go your way.
I'd like to see a comparison between number of lotto winners versus number of CIO's or CEO's.