Many of you have probably heard the name Brian May recently. A relative newbie to the i world, May has quickly become somewhat of a superstar as one of the two chief coordinators for YiPs, the community of Young System i Professionals. But May's path to fame in the i world has not been one that anyone could have predicted. In fact, it was none other than true love that led May to his current vocation. So friends, pull up a seat, and I'll tell you the tale.

It was the year 2000, and a young musician full of dreams was making his way around the United States. A recent college dropout, this starry-eyed young man was starting to make a name for himself as a saxophone and guitar player. Traveling around the South, he played countless shows, got some studio time as a for-hire musician, and was starting to get his feet wet in sound engineering. But one night, while playing in a smoky club, this young man met the woman who would one day become his wife. Smitten from the beginning, he knew that making a life with his love would require, well, let me put this delicately — a regular paycheck.

On his quest for a "real" job, he applied for an accounting position at Garan, Inc. His resume mentioned some programming classes in college, and he was referred to the programming department instead, where he was hired as a business developer (or "code monkey," as May likes to call it). He has been working his way up ever since and is now the project lead for management information systems at Garan. May returned to school and completed an associate's degree in business information systems in 2007. He plans to return to school and complete a bachelor's degree next.

So far, May has been thrilled about the move to a 9-to-5 job: "My workplace is great. We have a very small number of people in our office (about five), and we have a casual atmosphere. This is definitely a blue jeans type of place," he enthuses. May's department runs two System i's and, save for "a couple of niche things," the company uses the i for everything. May's last major implementation was "a custom system to handle purchasing of outsourced goods." Previously, the company ordered and managed outsourced goods with spreadsheets, but because of the new program, it can now use previously unavailable data, centralize data, and automate related tasks to simplify and speed the whole process.

As a coordinator for YiPs, May always has his finger on what's happening next with the i via his frequent conversations with fellow YiPs. "YiPs is a very gratifying experience for me personally," he says. "I have enjoyed building the new website (youngiprofessionals.com) and making new friends in the process. As a member of the YiPs committee and heading up the website development, I have the opportunity to interact with the membership frequently."

When I asked him where he sees the i headed in the next few years, he responded, "Um, you know that's under embargo, right? Ha, ha." But kidding aside, May expects to see many more young people flock to IBM i as they learn more about the many ways in which to use it. "I love this system because of its flexibility and stability," May says. "Typically, for an enterprise-level Windows application, you need a database server, an application server, a web server, and backups of each of those. But, when running apps on an i, I have it all in one box. I don't have to worry about load balancing Wintel servers or analyzing which server might be a bottleneck. If I need more performance, I upgrade my i, and all elements of the application benefit." And May feels surrounded by other young devotees committed to the box, praising his fellow YiPs for their commitment: "It is more than anyone could ask for," he says.

And if May's future plans are anything to go by, we should all feel confident in the future of our favorite box. "In five years," he says, "I hope to be a VP somewhere managing a company that uses the i."

Erin Bradford is an associate editor for System iNEWS

Job: Project Lead Management Information Systems Garan, Incorporated

Age: 31

How long have you been working with i technology? Seven years

Free time: I love to spend time with my wife and daughter (she's four). I also spend a lot of time working with YiPs, and to relax, I like to play my Wii or play music

Favorite music while working: Depends. For writing code, I like something heavy. Usually Fallout Boy or Metallica. But for planning, I like to slow it down and listen to Harry Connick, Jr. or Michael Buble.

Job if you weren't a developer: Definitely a writer. Probably fiction.