the famous CCCCC

Where are they now?

Occasionally we find that Cool:Poser Computer Contractor Contact Club members, for reasons perhaps of extreme wealth, extreme poverty, or a familial change of opinion on the benefits of Cool:Poser Computer Contracting, leave the field and therefore cease to be eligible for Club membership.

But do we cast them aside, abandon them like a pair of used underpants? No! We quietly move their details into the deep dark corner of the CCCCC referred to in hushed tones as... The Lost Legends of the IEF.

Lost Legends

Dave Silsbury
Ever the smooth-talking well-dressed contractor, Dave slipped easily into the role of smooth-talking well-dressed pimp, complete with the umpteen-storey house in Amsterdam and a hand-built sports car that cost almost as much. However, we at the CCCCC forgave his little indiscretions because after all, Dave was one of the founding members of our illustrious organisation, and did occasionally take on the odd Gen contract in order to show his minions how it should be done. Add to that the fact that his company, Companion IT, is one of the most well regarded and best run agencies in Holland, and so we just let his membership ride. At the last census, though, Dave's conscience got the better of him, and he announced that he had left Gen altogether and was instead working as a BA for ING Bank. We have a sneaking suspicion that this was merely an attempt to get a nice obituary like this one.

Glenn Smyth
Something of a knight in shining armour in the Gen world, Glenn's speciality was to rescue failing projects and bring them to fruition despite the best efforts of management. Justifiably famous for bringing home the bacon in Utrecht and in Mallorca, he finally amassed enough lucre to build a mansion in Adelaide, where he now idles away the time creating a family to fill it.

Roger Tilbury
After ten years at Ford, Roger retired in November 2004 and bought a rustico in Italy, where he now lives on a much reduced income, but says he has never been happier. He is now working hard reclaiming the 5000 square metres of terraced hillside that has been wild for a decade, losing weight and recovering from the stress of his daily battle with the M25 and the Inland Revenue on IR35.

David Doyle
Founder and operator of the excellent Cool:Gen listserver duick.com, David has finally decided to spend more time with his family, settle down and go permie. Luckily for all of us, he is still working in the Cool: field, and so the server should continue unaffected. Good luck, David.

Phil Clarke
Original co-founder co-chairperson of the CCCCC, Phil's shiny head has been spotted in pubs and bars worldwide. Some years ago, after endless sleepless nights interspersed by occasional alcohol-sodden games of Risk, he finished coding his epic Data Composer tool, now beloved of Cool:Folk worldwide as the only solution for accurate relational test data (can I have that beer now, Phil?). While he still provides support for DC through his partners Canam Software, Phil has finally thrown in the Cool:Towel and is now working from home as a VB consultant.

Muzza
Paul Murray has long been a colourful character on the Cool:circuit, and was often seen carousing in one of his selection of silken 'pulling shirts'. Muzz was always fascinated by the stock market, and after a slightly shaky start, he managed to amass a sizeable pile of loot, at one time rumoured to top the million. Be that as it may, he gave up work, travelled the world, and has now settled down to the life of a gentleman investor, truly an inspiration to us all.

Graham Brant
This wizened seventy four year old part time 'rave' D.J. and keen member of the women's institute was last seen around 1997, fleeing Amsterdam before the management at Mitsubishi cottoned on. Graham can be recognised by his taste in hats (none), his affection for Hell's Angels and remarkable resemblance to an anorexic, geriatric Jasper Carrot. Possibly the only man ever to actually admit to waking up one morning in bed with a roast chicken, Graham is known to have a fondness for alcohol, matched only by his inability to handle it. He has been recently sighted once more in the environs of O'Reilly's in Amsterdam, so perhaps rumours of his retirement to the Isle of Wight were premature.

Mark Pullen
Easy-going shaven-headed Canadian with a penchant for fine wines and large breasts, Mark was a regular sight stumbling glazedly around the streets of Utrecht in the latter part of the millennium. Easily shocked by decadent European habits, he eventually fled to his homeland where he not only took up a permie position, but worse, cross-trained as a SAP programmer.

Paul Sparkes
Jovial, cockney sparrer wideboy, Paul Sparkes was one of the early legends of IEF. Posessor of one of the most hilarious nicknames in computing, Sparky could often be found talking to his agent on a mobile phone oblivious to the risks of cancer. The proud owner of a large collection of loud check suits and 'bright' ties Paul could often be heard telling permies 'I wouldn't get out of bed for 1500 quid a week'. In around 1996 he was spotted selling used Case tools in the Heathrow area.

David Mueller went permie at the Australian Tax Office. Rune Mesel gave up :Gen to work in real estate. Shaun Hanna is now an analyst with EDS in the UK. Amanda Carr and Tony Buckley went permie in Telford, UK; Ken Montoya switched to PowerCenter, and Stephen Anslow couldn't find any :gen work in LA so switched to .Net. Anderson Harden, Arnie Diamond and Barry Lanza have all retired from the Cool:World. Jack Levin has retired completely. John Lavender has gone permie in Chesterfield, UK. Srivatsan Srinivasan and Kavita Singh have gone permie at Publix SuperMarkets, Lakeland, FL USA. Chris Uttley tells us that he has actually been doing something called "Forte" for the last five years, and Lee Thomas has given up :Gen and moved to New Zealand, in what he tells us is "an elaborate scam to get to see the British lions play the All Blacks at rugby". Richard Thomas is doing something else in London.

Peter Bennink and Daniel Prosser have gone permie in Holland. Job de Bruyne and Pete Flynn no longer do Cool:Gen. Darren Farmer has gone permie at EDS in Telford. Louis Kerswil is doing Java in Cape Town for Intec. Kit Wong seems to be doing something non-Cool:Gen in Melbourne. A little birdie tells us that Marnix Timmermans is a permie informations analyst at NN in Holland. Clarence Berry tells us that he has retired from contracting. We also hear that Inddy Chohan is working permie in London as a data modeller, that Luc Geritz, Dave Simmonds, Keith Mabbit (Keefy Mabs) and Job de Bruyne have gone permie, and that Terry Hacket is now a permie at Consignia (that's the Post Office to you and me) in Farnborough, England.

Also it has come to our attention that Russell Ilgenfritz, whose photo has long graced our Free TShirt Page (at least, his lady friend did the gracing. Russell is just standing there) is now working permanently, and has been keeping it quiet. Shame on him! Sam Rajakumar has gone permie in Tampa, Florida. Gordon Barr is a permie at either Conway or Consolidated Freightways in the US (we're not sure which). Aart Verspuij, John Coulson, Anand Katuri, Stephan Warywoda, Danny Pollet and Christopher Macias have all thrown in the towel.

Kevin McCarthy is working as an e-commerce analyst in Edinburgh. Diane Blake, who gave up Cool:Gen for a life of leisure, has now returned to other (non-Cool) employment. Howard Powers in Dallas has finally admitted that he isn't doing Cool:Gen any more. Phil Moss went permie in Boulder, Colorado. Allan Gray is doing e-commerce at Ford in England, and Maria Lo Nigro is rumoured to have gone permie at a consultancy in London Docklands.

Jon Hannaford, Firoz Maula and Millan Mavani are still at BT in London, but they've all switched to Oracle. Malcolm Passmore went permie for EDS, while Neil Harvey succumbed to permieship in San Francisco. Kevin Bingham is rumoured to be working as a permie for those nice chaps who make GuardIEn. Arun Kalavath, Wayne Green and Akil Chomoko have also gone permie, and Warren Muller has gone into Java, internet and ecommerce.

Downgrades

The following people appear to quite simply have disappeared off the internet. If anybody knows where they went or how we can contact them, then please immediately shop them to us. You know it makes sense.

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