Shane started at St Columba in its inaugural year, 1997, as a Year 5 student. In 2000 he was a member of the first class of Year 8 students to enter the Middle School and went on to study Year 12 in 2004 as one of the College’s first group of Year 12s to complete their SACE. “Being part of the first group of students right the way through was both exciting and challenging – we were always the leaders and that understanding of leadership has helped me enormously. In Year 12 I challenged myself and was the first St Columba student to study all the big subjects at once – Maths 1, Maths 2, Physics, Chemistry and English Studies. My overall scores weren’t as great as I’d hoped for but they did the trick and got me to uni.”
“When my parents first told me I was starting at St Columba from Smithfield Primary, I wasn’t keen – in fact I think I spat the dummy a little. Now I look back I’m glad I didn’t influence their decision because both my friendship group and career are the result of my move to St Columba. As a student I was a hard worker, but I knew what I needed to do to get the grades. I knew when I could relax which I think is important to stop the stress from getting to you.”
Shane had a fascination with computers and what he could make them do since he got his first one at around nine years of age. “Games never interested me as much as making the machine do something that others couldn’t. I’ve always had a natural understanding of what they are doing and how I can manipulate them and it was my clear career path from fairly early on. I started to develop my real skills in 2002 when the College let me work with Barrie Stephens (Network Administrator) to help build their new network and develop the intranet which is still there today. From that point on I couldn’t get enough of the challenges IT presented me with and I was hooked. Barrie Stephens, although not a teacher, had a huge impact on me as a student and what I’m doing today. When I started down this path Barrie trusted me and gave me the opportunities to actually learn real world skills. Without that opportunity I doubt I’d be where I am today.”
When Shane finished Year 12 he started a Computer Systems Engineering degree at UniSA. “Uni is a whole new experience compared to high school and there is no one there to push you – you’re on your own. It didn’t take me long to figure out that what I was doing wasn’t for me. At the end of my first year I was already collecting a few small clients for my business and I transferred to a part time software engineering degree. Six months later I made the tough (and frowned upon by some) decision to leave university and pursue my career in business.
“Caznet Solutions is my company which I started in 2005. We work in Corporate IT developing business software and network design for medium sized businesses and schools like St Columba College. When I started, it was just to generate some money while I was at university, but fortunately for me I landed a few big jobs and it grew way beyond that quite quickly. By the end of my first year at university I had to make a choice – business or study. After a lot of thought and advice from friends and family, I chose my business and that decision has turned out to be the best one I’ve ever made.”
Growth for Caznet Solutions has been slow and painful, but Shane believes that you get out what you put in. Today, he has two staff members who work in the software development and desktop support areas and he’s looking for a trainee developer to become his third. Shane has partnerships with a range of businesses around Adelaide which give him access to staff specialising in web design, network engineering, internet and corporate IT support. These partnerships have been critical in his success as a business.
Shane says he learnt many lessons at school which are still useful in both his business and everyday life. “The two most important lessons I learnt at school would have to be that trust is something you earn, it’s not a right, and that persistence is essential – if you want to be successful you should never take no for an answer! It’s probably also worth noting that today St Columba is one of my biggest clients. I believe you should take every opportunity to impress people and not burn your bridges; you never know where what you’re doing today might lead you. Be persistent, take challenges and risks, and think outside of the box. Accept others and keep an open mind.”
We asked Shane about how Caznet Solutions has managed to survive and thrive through the tough economic conditions which currently prevail around the world. “The GFC and the ongoing economic nightmare have presented every business owner with challenges, including me. Private business clients (the bulk of our customers) are tightening their belts and preparing for the rainy days ahead. Others are still recovering from the downturn of the past few years. At the heart of it, it’s really just another challenge and is only a problem if you don’t use your imagination to find a way to use it to your advantage. I did, which is why in the past 18 months we have doubled our turnover, secured our first $100,000 per annum client and signed our first government contract.”
As the IT sector continues to expand and diversify, we asked Shane for any advice he had for students looking to forge their own career in the industry. “The IT industry is interesting in that it doesn’t necessarily value qualifications as much as it does aptitude and experience. You do not need to have a degree to be successful, but simply be able to learn. There are more technologies and tools on the market today than you could ever learn in a degree or in a lifetime, so if you want to be successful in IT learn how to research and how to learn. These skills are far more important and if you have them, employers will snap you up – me included. A degree, TAFE qualification or even SACE certificate does not necessarily put you ahead in this industry.
“As far as starting your own business is concerned, be prepared for hard work – it demands nothing less than your full attention. Be ready to take outrageous risks and when you fail at something, which you will, admit your mistake, learn from it, and get on with the next challenge. You should always follow your gut; most of the time you already know the answer, you just need to trust yourself. Also, don’t put too much emphasis on the opinion of others – they can’t possibly share your vision. If you think you’ve got the passion and drive to take on your own business, do it! It’s worth it! Keep it simple, do something different every day, have passion for what you do and never give up.”
Work keeps Shane busy but with summer comes the opportunity to spend time on the river – his favourite place. “I’ll spend most weekends out on the boat skiing and generally having fun with friends. I’m not very good at it mind you, but it’s fun just the same. I keep close tabs on the V8 Supercar racing and the Clipsal 500 is the one and only holiday I give myself religiously. My biggest achievements outside of work were finally being able to afford my own home and then buying the dream car I’ve always wanted. My house is a renovation project which has come a long way already and I guess working on and improving the house on my weekends is my number one hobby – I like to try and do it myself and be proud of what I’ve done.
“In terms of my peer group, I’ve got a small, close knit group of friends, some of the closest of whom are people I did Year 12 with. We’ve all taken different paths since we left school but after being so close at school I can’t imagine not seeing them anymore.”
Shane tries to focus on what he can do today and deal with tomorrow when it gets here. Having said that, his number one goal right now is to keep growing the business so it becomes autonomous and doesn’t so much rely on him. “My job is unique in that if I can achieve that I will have the flexibility and resources to be able to get stuck into some of the other projects, business and otherwise, which are simmering away in the back of my mind.
I would also love to travel to the UK and the US when things settle down here to see some of the world and get a different perspective on what we do here. I’ve got a lot of family in the UK which I’ve never met which I’d also like to meet one day.”
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