About

I'm Mark Burke — a technologist based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, working across systems, networks, and infrastructure for the better part of three decades. Most of that time has been spent in the space where a business's technology is supposed to just work, and someone has to understand it well enough to make sure it does.

I try to hold my beliefs the way I'd want anyone to: loosely enough to update them when the evidence says I should. Integrity matters more to me than being right — doing what you said you'd do, especially when no one's checking. And I'd rather ask a good question than assume I already have the answer. Carl Sagan put the case for that better than I ever could:

"Again, the reason science works so well is partly that built-in error-correcting machinery. There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths. That openness to new ideas, combined with the most rigorous, sceptical scrutiny of all ideas, sifts the wheat from the chaff. It makes no difference how smart, august, or beloved you are. You must prove your case in the face of determined, expert criticism. Diversity and debate are valued. Opinions are encouraged to contend — substantively and in depth."

— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Outside of work, the thing I invest in most deliberately is the people in my life. This site is where I keep my notes in public — if something here saved you an afternoon, that's exactly what it's for.