---
id: about-non-it-work
area: about
level: 3
title: "Artefact — Non-IT working history"
claim: "Six roles outside technology — a chalet kitchen in the French Alps · wine service · guided horse tours · a stable build · government administration · thoroughbred stable work."
confidence: historic
period: "1990–2010"
tech: []
metrics: [{label: "non-IT roles worked", value: 6}]
artefacts: []
public: true
last_verified: 2026-10-26
tags: [about, history, work, artefact]
---

# Artefact — Non-IT working history

**Status: stub for the visual treatment.** The roles are final; the presentation lands in Phase 7.

## The roles

| Role | Where | What it involved |
|---|---|---|
| Chalet chef | Merribel, France | Meals for chalet guests, kitchen operations, menu planning, dietary requirements, in a high-pressure alpine season |
| Wine waiter | South Australia and Victoria | Premium wine regions, varietals, food pairing |
| Horseback tour guide | Victorian high country | Guided tours, rider safety, horse welfare, trail navigation |
| Stable construction | Mount Beauty, Victoria | A 24-bay stable build — project management, budgeting, hands-on construction |
| Civil servant | Victorian State Government, Melbourne | Administrative and operational support to state-level programs |
| Horse trainer and stable hand | Sunbury, Victoria | Care and training of thoroughbreds, exercise, grooming, race-day preparation |

## What it proves

That the engineering sits on a wider working life. Kitchen service and production incidents share a shape; guiding strangers on horses in the high country is risk management with consequences; a stable build is a budget and a schedule held by hand. These are the reasons the technical pages read as practical rather than academic.

## Why this is on a technical site

Because leaving it out would make the career look narrower than it is, and because the years it occupies are otherwise unexplained.

## Coverage limit

Descriptions are limited to what the résumé and the evidence notes corroborate. Roles, employers' towns and the type of work are stated; no employer is named beyond the region, and no claim is made about scale, revenue or headcount that the sources do not carry.