Jazz in Flight

http://rsjazz.wordpress.com/

About this blog

This blog is all about the IBM Jazz Products and especially Rational Team Concert or RTC. The focus of the blog is going to be extending Rational Team Concert and automating tasks in RTC.

About Ralph

Hi, my name is Ralph Schoon and I live in Wiesbaden, Germany.

I have always been fascinated by computers and software and work as a professional in computer related industries since 1993 when I graduated in Kiel in the northern part of Germany.

Over the years I have worked in various roles such as administrator, developer for IT and embedded systems, consultant and IT specialist for development tools. I joined IBM 2003 in the acquisition of Rational Software as an IT specialist and consultant for development tools covering application lifecycle management.

I had the opportunity to meet Erich Gamma 2007 to get a first glimpse on the emerging Jazz technology. It was obvious to me, that Rational Team Concert was the tool that I had been always looking for as a developer. So I decided to get involved with the Jazz technology.

I joined the Jazz Jumpstart team in 2010 and, enjoyed to work with this great team helping users all over the world in adopting the Jazz tools.

Mid 2013, the initial mission of the Jazz Jumpstart team was achieved. I will continue working on supporting the success of the Jazz Products in the Unleash The Labs Team, with a similar focus.

When I am not working on Jazz tools, I like biking and hiking in the Taunus mountains and the vineyards of the Rheingau that stretch out from the mountains to the river Rhine, where I live today. I also like reading a lot, especially science fiction and science books. I am also into playing computer games.

Recently I reanimated an old hobby – remote controlled airplanes.  I tried starting this fascinating hobby when I was a teenager, but it was simply unaffordable for me then. Today simulators and a much cheaper and better technology especially for batteries and motors make it a lot simpler. Building airplanes from scratch using PDF plans, foam plates, carbon spars, cutter, glue, some color, battery, motor and electronics and get it through the maiden flight is still a challenge. This also has a lot of similarities to IT projects and the general challenges in the area I am working in.