What's all this then? What's a jimako?

Welcome to jimako.com. My name is Jim Karabatsos, and I am a techie based in Melbourne, Australia. Keep reading to find out what a “jimako” is.

I am not going to put a resumé or bio online, but to give people some context, I have worked in both the public service and private enterprise, in very large and very small organisations, and across a range of computer architectures from big mainframes in the seventies, minis and Wintel PCs in the eighties and nineties, and more recently doing web application development in Java, Python, PHP and Go on various platforms.

Much of my time has been spent in training and mentoring roles, and much of my expertise is in working with organisations to come up with a process that works for them. So it will come as no surprise to those who know me that much of the content on this site will revolve around software development, from both the technical and development process perspectives.

This is my private web site. It is a place where I put up all manner of stuff that I am involved or interested in. It is not a commercial site and there is nothing to buy here, so leave your wallet and credit cards at home.

Since 2018, I have been sort-of retired. Sort-of? Well, yes. During the Covid lockdowns, I started doing some temporary teaching work at a couple of TAFE institutions, both with students studying advanced IT subjects and helping out in prisons to provide prisoners with some basic skills that will hopefully assist them to integrate productively and successfully into society when they are released.

Now that the lockdowns are over, I find that I still enjoy doing some part-time teaching, so that is likely to continue when I am in the country — my wife and I travel for extended periods each year.

I am not available for any long-term professional engagements, but I am happy to consider any short-term (say, up to three months) projects, especially those involving software development. However, that doesn’t stop my ongoing desire to keep in touch with people doing interesting things, so please feel free to drop me a line.

But computers, IT and all that other geeky stuff are not all that I am involved in. I have a number of interests that are totally unrelated to the computer industry. I am an Australian of Greek descent, and my Greek heritage is important to me. I worked for several years towards a black belt in Karate in a more general bid to get fit and live long enough to see my kids grow up, and have a very real (and very personal) interest in weight management. I am involved in various charitable organisations and I am an active member of a Masonic Lodge.

And, more important than all of the above, I am a family man with a wonderful wife and three fantastic children whom I value above all else.

All of these areas will likely be reflected in this site as it evolves. Remember, I am not trying to chronicle everything here in any structured sense – rather, this site is like an online journal and notebook that I will add to as time and interest permits, and that I am sharing with anyone who might find it interesting.

Originally, this web site was implemented using a combination of a Wiki and Blog. However, this was overkill and too easy for bad actors to corrupt. So in 2023 I have ported some of it to a static web site. There is no commenting, but feel free to drop me a line if you like.

I have not bothered to port across articles and posts that are totally dated and of no value, although some of what I have ported makes reference to dated topics and technologies. These items contains what I hope are interesting observations so they have been preserved.

Finally, here’s where the term jimako comes from.