Episode 1 – Owen Reynolds - The Solutions Architect Experience Podcast

You don’t realize how much work goes into a production until you come out the other side. The same can be said for an IT project, DIY project, or really anything you focus 110% on for a duration of time.

I had the pleasure and the opportunity to sit down with Owen Reynolds on Saturday night for an epic discussion through Owen’s career, the start-up, the journey he took, and ultimately the path that led him to become a Solutions Architect for Micro Logic in Quebec.

The interview lasted over two hours, and since then I have played it back three times. I am tired from all the work and stress leading up to the episode and then listening and relistening to my own imperfections. I did an edited version of the podcast which let me shave 10 minutes off of the show, but the quality suffered from what sounded like skips and rough cuts. I ended up letting the episode play in its entirety. I made this choice so we would have the very best audio quality we could offer.

Thank you, Owen, for being the first guest and letting me tear down the wall and put myself out there. I wish I talked more, asked more questions, and enunciated a bit more clearly at times. But there is no such thing as perfection, and I have been hypercritical of myself.

The whole point of this was to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and it is safe to say I have accomplished my goal. It is 3 a.m. as I write this blog post, my eyes barely open, my mind barely functioning, but I wanted to write this blog post to accompany the episode, and since it was quiet and I was awake, it felt like the right time. Two cups of coffee down and ready for my third.

Third cup of coffee has now been poured, and my eyes and mind are waking up.

The episode with Owen was more than I expected. I was very nervous leading into the show, but Owen put me somewhat at ease, and we ended up talking for over 2 hours and 10 minutes recorded. That doesn’t account for the pre- and post-show conversations we had as well.

I learned quite a bit from doing this first episode, and there are things I will change for the next call to keep the time shorter, talk more, and remain a bit more in control of the show. Owen offered quite the detail to my questions, and it was a very interesting first conversation on this path down the road to the discovery of how people became technologists and ended up as solutions architects.

I spent so much time on recording and practicing the intro and closing to the podcast, learning to be less stiff and gain some comfort behind the mic and, I guess, what they call mic control. I think the audio sounds really good, and I am very happy with the choices I made and the equipment I selected for the show. Using my Audio-Technica equipment made me very happy, as that’s my audio brand—from mic, headphones, to my turntable.

I must have done over 150 takes between the intro and the outro, and thanks to my wife for helping with the editing and rearranging of the script a bit. For the show, I planned to stay on script but found myself using it as more of a frame of reference than being hardcore scripted.

There are a few flubs in the audio in the beginning that I was not able to edit out without it sounding worse than the flubs. But this is where my wife says I am being hypercritical of myself.

This was a learning experience; this was my first time doing a show. Also my first time editing audio and patching a show together with intro and outro music, closing remarks, and fading in and out.

Ultimately, I am very proud of myself and proud of this inaugural episode of The Solutions Architect Experience Podcast. As an introvert who doesn’t often put himself out there, this time I truly did. I am ready to take a few more days off to prepare for the next guests coming on the show. I have reached out to a total of six architects of many types and from many different geographic locations, and the response has been very welcoming. Thanks, everyone, for making this dream come true.