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Stephen Ibaraki, whiz kid
A natural with computers, he left a $1,000-an-hour
consultancy to become a teacher, Peter Wilson discovers
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Peter Wilson
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Vancouver Sun
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Thursday, May 02, 2002
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Vancouver Sun
Stephen Ibaraki is a legend in the Canadian
information technology industry. He's an author, teacher, lecturer and
chairman of iGen Knowledge Solutions.
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In the mid-1980s Stephen Ibaraki was a $1,000-an-hour Vancouver-based
computer consultant.
The one-time Kelowna farmboy -- who built his first computer system
from scrounged parts at the age of 10 -- would fly across Canada,
offering advice and expertise in information technology (IT).
His clients were the likes of the Canadian Office Products Association
and Atomic Energy of Canada.
"So I had this idea that all work was like $1,000 an hour,"
says Ibaraki "I remember coming back from a trip to Toronto and I
had a $50,000 cheque in my hand."
Despite such big paydays, Ibaraki felt something was missing -- even
though the work in IT was also personally satisfying.
"But, you know, that's not giving. That's not sharing what you
know."
And, for Ibaraki -- now a legend in the Canadian information
technology field -- helping others in your society was a tradition he
instilled growing up as a third generation member of a Japanese-Canadian
family
"My aunts and uncles and my parents always instilled not just the
work ethic, but also the ethic of being of service, being of use."
Two of Ibaraki's aunts are nuns and he drew inspiration from their
lives.
"They're always giving. They're in their 80s and they're still
working, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and continuing until 12 at
night."
With this and other family examples in mind, Ibaraki made a decision
that completely changed his life. In 1987 he became an instructor at
North Vancouver's Capilano College.
A decade and a half later, the 46-year-old continues with his academic
pursuits.
At the same time, he continues to venture around the world -- both in
real life and virtually, in Webcasts over the Internet -- as a
consultant, writer and keynote speaker.
As well he's chairman and chief architect of the Internet database
technology firm iGen Knowledge Solutions Inc. (www.igeninc.com),
headquartered in New Westminster.
And the honours for his work both in IT and with his students just
keep pouring in.
Last year, Ibaraki was given the Gary Hadford Professional Achievement
Award by The Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS.) It's awarded
for integrity, professionalism and over-all contribution to the field.
Ibaraki was the first recipient from British Columbia, the first
community college instructor honoured and the first Asian-Canadian
winner.
He has also received the IT Hero Award from the International
Technology Association of Canada, is a member of the CIPS Hall of Fame
and is nominated this year for the CIPS Vancouver award as it's IT Rising
Star.
In fact, he's won so many awards and citations that the list seems to
scroll by endlessly on a Web site maintained by his
sister(www3.bc.sympatico.ca/sibaraki).
It's been "a wondrous kind of journey" says Ibaraki, who
studied at both Okanagan College and UBC but never took a degree, because
he was always too busy actually working in his chosen field.
"I would work and study, study and work. Usually, I couldn't
attend classes. So I would go to the prof and say 'when's the final?
What's it going to be on?' And the night before or two nights before I'd
read the text and go and write the exam."
As a teen he developed a reputation both as a computer whiz and
someone who could write about high tech and explain it to others, at all
levels from fellow professionals to the average newspaper reader.
His early years in the IT industry were spent with Database System,
both in Vancouver and Kelowna.
"We used to be the largest company in Canada for the distribution
of computers and the repair of computers. It was a great environment
because you did everything."
When Ibaraki began, computers were primitive by comparison to today.
"When you programmed them you did it by plugging in wires. When
you wanted to reprogram you changed the wires."
From DataBase Systems, Ibaraki went into consulting and then to
Capilano College. In 1988, a year after he started, he won an award for
excellence in teaching.
As well, Ibaraki was working hard to bring certified education into
the college -- for example, Microsoft certification -- so that academic
programs could be integrated with an industry-based curriculum.
"We set up the first client/server lab in the country. We were
the only school, I believe at the time, that was Novel certified,
Microsoft certified and CIPs accredited, plus being government
certified."
This meant Ibaraki spent long hours at the college and came in on
weekends and holidays. He also had a reputation for sleeping only a
couple of hours a night. However, he regards it as all worthwhile.
"Really, it's the best combination of education for a student to
have a practical base plus a technical/theoretical base. Luckily the
college was willing to support that kind of move."
As well as teaching, Ibaraki continued with consulting and much of the
result of that made its way back to the students.
In 1999 he was the lone presenter at a 10-session IT conference in
London, England sponsored by Xephon, a technical and market research
organization that specializes in information systems for large companies.
For the conference, he produced 10 book-length manuscripts that were
professionally bound and given to the participants.
When Ibaraki returned to Canada he passed copies of the same books on
to his students.
"For someone who attended that conference from North America it
would have cost them something like $10,000. And we were able to give the
manuscripts away for free to our students, who just can't afford access
to that kind of material."
Later, he discovered one of his books was being used by a major
accounting firm to distribute to training centres. It had been brought to
them by one of his former students. Rather than be miffed at this use of
his work, Ibaraki is cheered by it.
"We're not putting strings on it. That's the whole point. Hey,
that's what its all about, making a difference."
For Ibaraki, this difference extends to individual students, whose
success he follows with enthusiasm.
"We have students working at Microsoft in Redmond and Pivotal and
Crystal here. We have some of them consulting in Europe.
"We get e-mails from them. It sort of brings joy to you when they
say, 'my God, I'm in Europe and I'm consulting for SAP and I'm travelling
here.' That really is the purpose, isn't it, to facilitate their dreams
and help them meet their needs?"
One particular memory sticks in Ibaraki's mind, that of a student who
was a mother who had never had a chance to finish school.
"I think she was the first one in her family to ever achieve a
college diploma. I remember her happiness. And I remember she came back
and said her children said, 'gee, Mom did it, we can do it."
Ibaraki says he once read that if you make a positive impact on
someone's life it might last three generations.
"You can't do that in any other way than by teaching. You can't
do it by speaking at conferences or writing software. But you can do it
by actually touching someone in spirit and thought and perhaps
facilitating their needs, their dreams and their goals."
And, he adds, that can then be passed on by the students to people
they know "and from there to their children and their children's
children."
As a continuance of this philosophy, in 2000, along with fellow
Capilano College teacher, David O'Leary, Ibaraki formed iGen, which also
takes the information it produces as part of work with clients and shares
it with students.
"We decided we would take what we learned from using and
employing and demonstrating technology and helping companies use it and
give back to the educational community.
"There's nothing so rewarding. It's absolutely the most rewarding
thing you can be in and my partners feel the same way."
networks@pacpress.southam.ca
- - -
AN IBARAKI SNAPSHOT
Favourite meal: Homemade chicken soup with dumplings and crusty French
bread.
Sport: Karate, or any martial art. "Especially the katas, which
are like a silent, gliding ballet where you practise your techniques in
prearranged patterns, up to 65 moves or more. Something like Tai Chi, but
faster."
Reading for relaxation: "Human physiology, the workings of the
brain, religion, history, hard sciences such as physics, psychology, art,
politics, medicine, pharmacology, quantum mechanics, astronomy. And
finally (you guessed it) computers. No fiction."
Most essential software: E-mail (Outlook Express, Outlook) and word
processing (Office XP).
E-mails answered first: Requests for reference letters.
Writing done each day: "Poetry, which I share with my
partner."
Best source for IT information on the Net: For the IT profession in
Canada, www.cips.com, especially their News from National publication
with its weekly links. For IT News www.zdnet.com and www.silicon.com
Music: All kinds. From classical to rock to some rappers who have a
good message. Classical, "since it inspires me to write
poetry."
Hobby: Books. "That's one thing I have more of than anything
else."
Favourite laptop:
A Sony with a 15-inch screen, 20- gigabyte hard drive, Pentium III 800
MHz mobile processor, two lithium ion batteries, 3.5-inch floppy drive,
RW-CDROM/DVD, 512 megabytes of RAM, USB and 1394 Firewire ports, 100 Mps
Ethernet port, 802.11b wireless LAN card, 56K modem. wireless optical
mouse and wireless keyboard. Operating systems are Windows 2000 Advanced
Server and Windows, Windows Enterprise Server, Windows XP Professional.
If I had to do it all over again:
"At the heart of everything I do I'm a teacher. You can weave a
mosaic in the fabric of time, space and history with teaching in its
various forms. It's something where you can partner with others to make a
substantive difference.
"You can shape the past, the now and the future -- for
generations to come. It just can't get better than this."
© Copyright 2002 Vancouver
Sun
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