About Me

My name is Eoin Woods and I've been working in software engineering of some sort for nearly 20 years. I've been lucky enough to work for a number of great companies during that time, including Groupe Bull, Sybase, InterTrust, Zuhlke and UBS Investment Bank. I also worked as an independent consultant, through my own consultancy company, Artechra Limited, from 2002 until mid-2004.

Since the start of 2008 I've worked for Barclays Global Investors, and now BlackRock, since Barclays decided to sell us to BlackRock and we were taken over on 1st December 2009. So we're now in the middle of the largest integration programme in the investment management industry. At BGI I was head of the Application Architecture group and at BlackRock I still hold this position, now within a larger Application Engineering organisation. On a day-to-day practical basis I'm the software architect responsible for a fantastic new equities portfolio management system that we're building called Apex.

Professionally, I'm interested in a range of areas including software architecture, distributed systems, data management and IT security. On the educational front, I have the usual collection of letters after my name, with bachelor's and master's degrees in software engineering and the FBCS, MIEE (or MIET today), CEng and CITP professional qualifications. I'm also a fellow of the International Association of Software Architects.

Outside work, I'm an enthusiastic amateur trumpet player (playing both big-band jazz and classical music) and I'm keen on anything with an engine that moves quickly (particularly Alfa Romeo road cars and saloon car and Formula 1 racing).

In case you were wondering, you pronounce my first name "Owen". It's an Irish name (I'm originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland). To find out more about Irish names, take a look at the Irish FAQ.

If you'd like to contact me, the best way is probably via email.