Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation: Recent Episodes
Venturi Group: CTO, Data, Development, Cyber Security, Business Intelligence, Infrastructure, Cloud
Venturi’s Voice brings you conversation with leaders from various technology disciplines - data, cyber security, development, cloud, infrastructure, business intelligence and more… Each week you will be able to relate, take inspiration and action the business education from our compelling guests. Outside of technology we tend to cover; career progression, influences, best practices, leadership, talent, recruitment and the inspiration behind our guest successes in career and life!
We sit down with Ben Chen, Product and Engineering Manager at Assemble, a dynamic seed stage startup, to explore the realms of career transitions and fair compensation.
In this interview, Ben shares his invaluable experiences and expertise, shedding light on crucial aspects of professional growth. Discover the key considerations when transitioning from larger corporations to the fast-paced startup environment, as well as the unique challenges and opportunities this shift presents.
Ben also provides guidance on fair compensation, empowering the audience to become aware of what to look out for from their employers. Learn about the essential questions to ask during negotiations to ensure that your value is recognized and properly rewarded.
Becky is VP Product at infogrid
Infogrid is changing the world through building intelligence. Our AI-powered platform gathers and analyses data from the smartest IoT technology to drive our mission of making every building healthy, efficient and sustainable.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Becky to discuss Becky's career in tech, her experiences as a female in the tech space, female leadership, and advice for businesses to promote more female leaders in their organisation.
This week Ben sits down with the leadership team at CURE at their HQ in Berlin!
CURE are building the "one-stop-shop" platform for healthcare. Our app allows our customers to get medical consultations, prescripted and over-the-counter medication delivery, and physical, psychological, and social healthcare.
Ali El-Ali is CEO & Co-Founder @ CURE
Manuel Aberle is COO & Co-Founder @ CURE
And Victor, who is leading Market Performance @ CURE
We would like to thank CURE for welcoming us into their incredible offices in Berlin and taking the time to have this discussion, we loved meeting you and the office dog!
Ben and Co-Host Shaun Smallridge visited the SAP offices in Walldorf, Germany, to sit down with Florian Heretsch and Martin Lang to discuss the future of business and mobile technology, how this space is developing, and Florian and Martin's views on leadership.
Florian is Vice President, Head of Mobile Experience & Engineering @ SAP.
Martin is Mobile Experience - SAP Product Management.
SAP is a German multinational software company. It develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. The company is the world's leading enterprise resource planning software vendor.
Thank you to SAP for hosting us in their offices and sharing some incredible insights into Mobile and Development.
Ben Fry is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Expert Thinking.
Expert Thinking design, build, and support powerful, dynamic, and cost-optimised Azure and AWS cloud solutions.
During this episode, the two Ben's sit down to discuss Ben's career history and development in the industry, his leadership style and the culture he fosters at Expert Thinking.
Safa is CEO @ Autocab, an Uber company.
Autocab is a Leading SaaS provider of taxi and transport dispach technology acquired by UBER in 2021. Creator of iGo ground transportation marketplace connecting demand generators and operators with millions of jobs exchanged.
Ben sits down with Safa to discuss the story behind Autocab, and having recently been acquired by Uber, what that means for the business and its culture. They also spoke about Safa's leadership style and how that has developed over the years.
Thanks to Safa and Autocab for hosting us in their beautiful offices in Manchester!
Aymeric is CTO @ Qonto
Aymeric has built multiple innovative services with a strong focus on customer experience, innovation, quality and reliability. He loves fast-moving projects and entrepreneurial cultures.
Qonto is the leading European business finance solution. It simplifies everything from everyday banking and financing, to bookkeeping and spend management. Qonto energizes SMEs and freelancers so that they can achieve more.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Aymeric to discuss the way the organisation is structured, how Aymeric leads teams of teams, and the different methods of working outside of scrum & Agile.
Shaun Anderson is a Field CTO at NearForm
Shaun is the inventor of the Swift Method, a DDD based process for quickly understanding behavior of very complex software systems. He is also the creator of software tools that analyze existing systems, provide analytics and recommendations for modernization strategies.
NearForm offers a new kind of partnership combining the development of both products and skills to accelerate digital delivery.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Shaun to discuss what modernization in tech means.
Richard is Group Chief Technology Officer at Haymarket Media Group.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Richard to discuss his incredible career in tech, some of his biggest learnings on this journey, and the importance of being a pragmatic technologist.
Lana is Technology Director, Data & AI @ TPXimpact.
TPXimpact delivers impactful, sustainable, digital transformation that enriches how individuals and society experience the world.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Lana to discuss how to encourage and inspire the next generation into pursuing a career in technology.
Anna Ratala is CEO & Co-Founder @ Zvook.
Zvook helps brands find the most relevant podcasts and book host-read ads in just a few clicks.
Anna joined Ben in New York to discuss the ever-expanding world of podcasting, Anna's incredible career journey, and the catalyst to start the business.
Moritz Waldstein-Wartenberg is CEO @ Mitte.
Mitte® improves life with better water. They replace bottled water and enable users worldwide to turn tap water into individualized, better water with revolutionary connected home appliances.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Moritz to discuss how the business was started, the challenges of bringing a physical product to market, and the exciting future of the business.
Daniel Bartholomae is a Berlin-based founder, manager, and developer. After writing his first program at the age of six, he built his interest in technology, data, and self-management.
Daniel is currently CTO @ optilyz. He is building the product and engineering team by improving product focus, setting up cross-functional teams and enhancing software craft.
Optilyz is Europe’s leading direct mail automation & programmatic print software.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Daniel to discuss the modern role of a developer, to solve user problems, and using code as a tool to achieve this. The role of "Product Developer" follows from this idea. But what if we follow this idea and setup the full Product and Engineering organization around this goal?
Seth Weinheimer is technical co-founder @ Listo Global
Listo is on a mission to lift people everywhere by empowering organizations to find, hire and pay global talent with a world-class team and technology platform.
Seth believes in a high trust and autonomous work environment, so during this episode, Ben sits down with Seth to discuss the benefits of this way of working and the mentality shift that goes with asynchronous work.
Tom is CEO and Co-Founder @ Orka Technology - an API-first WorkerTech company.
Orka is on a mission to improve the way the world works by creating innovative WorkerTech that enables a workforce seeking a fast, fair and flexible work life. As technology evolves the way people live, Orka is evolving the way people work - providing a digital-first workforce with the tools to find, onboard and get paid for the work they choose.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Tom to discuss Orka's growth, the business's current state, and what they are working towards.
What makes a perfect candidate for a start-up, as well as knowledge and experience to help aspiring CEOs.
Anwar Sultan is Chief Digital & Strategy Officer at Ello Group
Anwar is a digital leader and board director passionate about using technology, data & marketing to drive and deliver business growth. Experience working with various sizes businesses with a proven track record of developing, coaching and mentoring high-performing teams and individuals.
Ello Group are the experts in acquisition, engagement and loyalty, building relationships between brands and consumers.
During this episode, Ben is joined by co-host Georgia Royle and Anwar to discuss the business, Anwar's amazing career history, and his thoughts on leadership and business culture.
Mike Brits is Senior Engineering Manager @ Booking.com
Booking.com is an online travel agency for lodging reservations & other travel products, and a subsidiary of Booking Holdings.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Mike to discuss how businesses can use internal culture as a tool, as well as the differences between working in a small and large tech business.
James Yorston is CTO @ Zero Gravity
James is an accomplished Software Engineer with experience operating within Fortune 500 engineering teams. Keen technologist with a background in Computer Science and published industry research, applying proven engineering principles to create effective, high-quality teams and products.
Zero Gravity is an award-winning tech startup that propels students from low-income backgrounds into the UK’s best universities and careers.
During this episode, Ben sits down with James to discuss the business growth from the early days, how the culture has developed, and how Zero Gravity breaks down barriers to opportunity.
At the time of recording Jose Sanchez Loureda was Chief Data & Analytics Officer @ The Crown Estate, and now is CTO @ Mode
Jose is an Innovative Technology, Data & Product leader with considerable experience in driving digital business transformation and providing strategic leadership that has had a demonstrable impact on business performance.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Jose to discuss how Jose Leads the data & analytics transformation, encompassing people, technology, governance and culture across the organisation.
Jay Jetley CTA at Trinny London & Taher Khaliq CTO @ Trinny London
Founded by Trinny Woodall from her kitchen table in 2017, Trinny London was founded with one purpose – to give everyone the tools they need to feel their best. They have achieved tremendous growth since 2017 and we’re proud to be one of Europe’s fastest-growing beauty brands.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Jay and Taher in the Trinny London offices to talk about the business's early days, what that was like, and the tech developments that have shaped the business, resulting in dramatic scale and success.
Brian Jenney is a JavaScript enthusiast who learned to code well into adulthood. He wrote his first line of code nearly a decade ago and since then has worked around the SF Bay Area as a full stack developer at startups and large companies as well as taught at a few bootcamps.
Currently, Brian works as an Engineering Manager in Clorox’s DTC (direct-to-consumer) group. His small, front-end focused team works on the e-commerce site experience for Clorox’s wellness brands.
Clorox DTC is a newer group at Clorox and is helping drive innovation within the larger Clorox organization as they venture into the direct-to-consumer space. The engineering team, while small, plays an integral role at DTC and is currently working on creating scalable solutions to launch e-commerce sites for multiple brands.
Jesal Gadhia is Engineering Manager @ BetterUp
Jesal is a seasoned engineering manager & full-stack developer from Los Angeles. Started his programming adventures at an early age, writing code for fun. His journey has taken him from co-founding & leading engineering at a dev shop, to now Managing the Engineering team at BetterUp.
BetterUp helps organizations drive transformation through lasting behavior change for all your key people.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Jesal to discuss his entrepreneurial journey within the tech industry.
Keith Myers is Creative Director of AVimmerse
After years spent creating quality 360 audio-visual content for a number of high-profile clients, the founder, Keith Myers, sought a new challenge - to master the art of experiential storytelling. To create truly immersive worlds in which users didn’t just control the narrative, but could also explore and engage in a whole new way.
During this episode, Ben is joined by co-host Jacob Ovendale and Keith to discuss the Metaverse; where we are now, the future, and how the Metaverse can be defined.
Thanks to The Regency for providing excellent hospitality for this podcast recording.
Neil Kimmett is Director of Engineering at ClassPass
This is Neil's second appearance on the Venturi's Voice Podcast, and this one was recorded in person at Neil's offices in New York.
During this episode, Ben sits down with co-hosts Frank DeLeo and Evan Farragher to have an open conversation with Neil about the recent news of ClassPass being acquired, and what that means for the business, team structure, and culture.
Thanks again to Neil for hosting us in New York and for providing a great conversation, we loved it!
Aleksa Vukotic is the CTO @ thestartupfactory.tech and former CTO @ BankiFi
Aleksa is also the founder of Pragmatic CTO, a guide for founders and investors to find the right CTO for their tech company. Advice for aspiring CTOs by one of their own. Definitely worth checking out!
During this podcast, Ben and Co-host Georgia sat down with Aleksa to discuss his philosophy around strategy in the startup world, who to hire and when, and his involvement within the tech community in Manchester.
Simon is the Founder & Director of Gravitywell
During this episode, Simon talks to Ben about his experience of Gravitywell becoming B Corp Certified, the unique culture they foster at Gravitywell, and some of the amazing projects they are working on.
Sacha is Head of Engineering at Growth Kitchen
An IT professional with 14 years’ experience in several sectors building highly-available, scalable, customer-facing, complex distributed web applications.
Growth Kitchen helps forward-thinking restaurants prioritise their delivery network in the best locations to change the way the world eats.
During this episode, Ben and Sacha discuss his interesting technology career and path to success, advice for people looking to progress their careers, and the current state of the employment market in this space.
Irina is CTO & Founder at Cordless
Cordless combines the best parts of voice and text communication to create a delightful customer support experience.
Irina was previously at Monzo Bank when they started with just 80 colleagues and left when they have over 1000.
Throughout this journey at Monzo, Irina gathered a wealth of knowledge about leadership, scaling a tech business, and how to hire at scale whilst still maintaining great company culture, as well as balancing user needs with company priorities.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Irina to talk about the key learnings that have impacted her career, how to embed company culture throughout the hiring process, and future plans for Cordless.
Denise E. White is the Founder and CEO of SPATIALx and BLANK XR; solving problems and creating value in XR. We’re on a mission to embolden and reinvent physical and virtual experiences through Mixed Reality with a portfolio of brands in entertainment, communication and commerce.
During this episode Ben, Jacob and Denise sit down to discuss the definition of The Metaverse, what Extended Reality is, the definition of the overarching term XR which encapsulates: VR - Virtual Reality, AR - Augmented Reality, MR - Mixed Reality and IRL - In-Real Life / Replicated Spaces; As well as the future of this space.
Kaoru is Strategy Lead at MBition GmbH
In 2017, Mercedes-Benz founded MBition GmbH, the subsidiary working on developing software for all Mercedes-Benz cars.
MBition is a fitting name for the young company. To achieve the goal of shaping the future of mobility, one thing above all is essential: Ambition.
MBition makes a decisive contribution to this future:
Software being developed for their vehicles is achieved through close cooperation with their colleagues in Sindelfingen and in Mercedes-Benz's worldwide development network. The MBition team currently consists of around 400 software developers and continues to grow exponentially.
Kaoru talks to Ben about the future of Autonomous Vehicles, how Kaoru and his team at MBition are staying ahead of the curve with cutting-edge technology that will affect how we live our lives, and what the autonomous car of the future will look like.
Thiago Ghisi is Director Of Engineering at Nubank | Ex-Apple & Ex-ThoughtWorks.
He has over fifteen years of experience in the Software Industry, working for Large Corporations and Startups in Brazil and the US, as Software Engineer, QA, Project Manager, SRE, Agile Consultant, and lately as Engineering Manager and Director.
During this roundtable, Ben Malloy, Frank DeLeo & Gabrielle Harrison sit down with Thiago to discuss how to progress in the tech industry.
We wanted to say a huge thank you to Thiago for hosting this podcast recording in his office in NYC and coming on our podcast for a second time!
Richard is VP Engineering @ Proximie
Proximie saves lives by sharing the world’s best clinical practice. Proximie is a technology platform that uses a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence and augmented reality to allow clinicians to virtually ‘scrub in’ and collaborate with each other from anywhere in the world.
In this episode, Ben sits down with Richard to discuss how to set yourself up for a strong career in tech, and once in the industry, how to progress.
Links to books mentioned in the recording:
Cracking the Coding Interview: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cracking-Coding-Interview-6th-Programming/dp/0984782850
Elements of Programming Interviews in Python: The Insiders' Guide:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Programming-Interviews-Python-Insiders/dp/1537713949/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Kris is President @ Demosphere, leading a very talented team on a mission to provide authentic, industry-leading technology solutions for organized sports, accommodating the needs of all levels of organizations, and all levels of users, with an ethical approach in how to impact the greater community.
Demosphere has catered to the management needs of sports organizations for over 30 years, from scheduling and registration to communication and websites. Demosphere’s mission is to provide authentic industry-leading technology solutions for organized sports, accommodating the needs of all levels of organizations and all levels of users, with an ethical approach to how it impacts the greater community.
During this episode, Ben chats with Kris about the current landscape of hiring and recruitment in technology, how Kris finds and retains top tech talent.
Kai is Managing Director at Planisware.
Tech leader with over 20 years’ experience working in start-ups, mid-sized and enterprise organisations delivering award-winning solutions to customers in multiple sectors. MBA qualified with international experience - including managing programme delivery operations delivering to the US and Japan.
Kai’s passion is people, more precisely, seeing people be the best version of themselves whilst working collaboratively inter and intra organisations to deliver on joint objectives based on a cohesive set of goals.
Currently leading the start-up and growth of the UK office for Planisware, a global leader in Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management software, in MediaCityUK as Managing Director with oversight across all aspects of the business in the UK.
Planisware is a global provider of software solutions for project portfolio management. Planisware solutions are specifically designed to support product development, engineering and IT business processes.
Ben sits down with Kai to chat about digital transformation, data, the trajectory of Planisware and why Planisware have chosen Media City in Salford as their Manchester base.
Ahmad is Engineering Manager @ Indeed Flex (formerly Syft)
Indeed Flex is a market-leading flexible staffing platform. They unite job seekers and employers in the hospitality, industrial, retail, care, and facilities management sectors, to smooth the recruitment process of part-time and temporary employees. They currently support more than 6,000 employers and 50,000 jobseekers.
In this episode, Ben and Ahmad chat about Mental and the cultural differences between corporate and start-ups.
Tolerance and adaptation in a start-up environment and how this is very important when scaling upwards aggressively and successfully.
Technology: 'Log the world', how being data-driven is essential in terms of company strategy, but not to forget that being data-driven is not there to replace the human element and input.
Drew is CEO @ Upp Technologies
Upp is the only Connected Retail Performance platform in the market that automates your Google Shopping and Performance Max management through a data-led approach powered by cutting-edge AI and Machine Learning technology. Our customers include brands and retailers such as Charles Tyrwhitt, Nordgreen, Poundshop.com, Equus, Bombinate, Ridgemont and Nkuku.
In this episode, Ben and Drew chat about how Upp Technologies uses a data-led approach with market-leading AI and Machine Learning technology to truly disrupt the space, and the most important things to consider as an E-Commerce brand in the market today.
Chris is Head of Development @ River Island.
With over 60 years of fashion retailing experience, River Island is one of the most well-known and loved brands on the High Street.
Chris is an influential leader that seeks to address root causes while focusing on strategic vision and the needs of the business to enable development of effective plans and operations that deliver organisational goals while empowering and motivating teams to achieve their full potential.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Chris to discuss what he has learned through past experiences and life and how that's applied in his life today.
Fabian is CTO at 7Mind GmbH.
With more than 2,3 million mindful users across all of Europe, 7Mind is Europe's most popular mindfulness app. The 7Mind App is based on the idea to help easily integrate the practice of meditation and mindfulness into daily life.
Ben sits down with Fabian to discuss Agile coaching, the challenges of scaling a business, and what a CTO position looks like.
Ella is Product Manager at Solana Labs.
Solana Labs is a technology company working to help advance the Solana ecosystem. The Solana blockchain is a new architecture for a high-performance blockchain. Up to 710,000 transactions per second on a 1-gigabit network without data partitioning.
Solana is the fastest blockchain in the world and the fastest growing ecosystem in crypto, with thousands of projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and more.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Ella to discuss what Solana Labs does differently to other businesses in this space, crypto, and the incredible Hacker Houses that Solana hosts.
Articles and further reading from things mentioned on the recording:
Solana whitepaper: https://solana.com/solana-whitepaper.pdf
Proof of History: https://medium.com/solana-labs/proof-of-history-a-clock-for-blockchain-cf47a61a9274 and https://medium.com/solana-labs/proof-of-history-explained-by-a-water-clock-e682183417b8#:~:text=A%20Proof%20of%20History%20(PoH,thousands%20of%20transactions%20per%20second
Energy report: https://solana.com/news/solana-energy-usage-report-november-2021
Solana Pay: https://solana.com/news/solana-pay-transaction-requests-bring-on-chain-interactivity-to-the-off-chain-world
Hacker houses: https://solana.com/events
Ecosystem jobs: https://jobs.solana.com/jobs
Bitcoin whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Buildspace: https://buildspace.so/learn-solana
Cookbook: https://solanacookbook.com/#contributing
Ella's Twitter: https://twitter.com/kuzekuze3
Tom is Ceo at Geckoboard
Geckoboard's software makes it quick and easy to build live TV dashboards, which focus teams on the metrics that matter to a business.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Tom to hear about his interesting career path to CEO, his motivations and influences as a leader, and how this affects the culture in the business.
Marcio is Chief Architect @ Nuri
During this episode, Ben sits down with Marcio to discuss how companies can pragmatically manage their technical debt and non-functional requirements in general and achieve sustainability.
Nuri is a financial services business, and is the app to manage, save and invest your money. An easy gateway to the world of investing: Get started with cryptocurrencies or investments in the stock market – directly from a German bank account.
Here's the relevant links to topics mentioned in the chat:
1) How to perform architecture control of a TypeScript codebase: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/javascripttypescript-code-does-have-mess-marcio-marchini/ . This is what they are using at Nuri - Structure10.com for TypeScript.
2) Erich Gamma’s interview where he talks about the need for proper layering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLPtXeCC82k
3) How they did proper architecture control for other languages, with a maturity model program, also controlling at the “micro” level: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/polyglot-architecture-control-its-gotchas-marcio-marchini/
4) n8n for low code integration of parts: https://n8n.io
5) Mobile Platform Teams: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/mobile-platform-teams/
6) MiniApps - a way to modularize React Native Mobile Apps: https://native.electrode.io/introduction/what-is-ern/what-is-a-miniapp
Jesse is Senior Manager of Front-End Engineering @ Ignite (formerly Tendermint).
Ignite is the most comprehensive innovation platform for blockchain developers. Making developing, growing, and launching blockchain projects faster than ever before.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Jesse to discuss Blockchain in general, the Internet of Blockchains, risks associated with Blockchain and its future.
Maurin is Director of Engineering @ Alteryx
The Alteryx Analytics Automation Platform delivers end-to-end automation of analytics, machine learning, and data science processes that accelerate digital transformation.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Maurin to discuss the future of data transformation/BI, how to enable more business users (data citizens) to have access to the data. They also spoke about ELT architecture.
Adarsh is Artificial Intelligence Lead at Credera UK
Credera is a consulting firm focused on strategy, transformation, data, cloud, and engineering.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Adarsh to discuss how he has navigated his career to become AI Lead @ Credera, what his role entails day to day, and the emergence of AI/Machine learning and it's exciting potential.
Brian Powell is Chief Operations Officer @ TalentNow.
Brian has built himself a spectacular reputation on building up tech teams in various industries and is now leading 20 different companies within a massive portfolio for Vora.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Brian to talk about team building in terms of scaling, and his agile process – a proven 8-week breakdown of solutions and prototyping.
Steven is Engineering Manager at HelloFresh, leading a cross-functional team combining software engineering and big data expertise. They are building a world-class platform for A/B testing and fostering a culture of experimentation in the company.
HelloFresh is on a mission to change the way people eat, forever. With more than 15,000 high-performing and ambitious employees across the globe from New York to Berlin, London to Sydney and Tokyo to Milan.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Steven to discuss modern hybrid working and how to strategise your time effectively, as well as post-pandemic leadership.
Svilen Gospodinov is Engineering Team Leader @ Remote | Author | Forbes 30 under 30
Paulo Pereira is VP of Engineering @ Remote & Author
Remote opens the vast potential of the world for every person, business, and country, building a world where every person and business truly belongs.
With 53 locations around the world, Ben sits down with Svilen and Paulo to discuss their remote working culture, how this is set up and the success they have seen as a result of this.
Richard is Engineering Director at BYTE/DEPT®
BYTE/DEPT® is a marketing technology agency based in London, New York and Berlin on a mission to combine technology and creativity to solve brands’ problems. They bring together data, technology, content, and paid media to drive revenue for brands.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Richard to discuss the development of technology within the marketing and advertising sector, natural language processing – Machine Learning, and generative atmospheric music.
Thanks again Richard for the fascinating chat!
Daniel is Senior Director of Business Technology at Hudl. He is a team builder and decisive, technical leader with a strong track record of success--especially on large and complex problems.
He has been noted throughout his career for his ability to dissect complex problems into achievable goals.
He is a servant leader who has mentored others and built successful high-powered teams by creating a culture of trust, focusing on collaboration, and continually pursuing quality.
Hudl is changing the future of sports technology. We create software to help coaches win, athletes look like pros, and recruiters find more talent. Our software provides more than 4.3 million coaches, athletes, trainers and analysts across 30+ sports the insight they need to win at every level of competition.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Daniel to discuss the cutting edge tech involved at Hudl and how this is changing the industry, Daniel's servant leadership style, and the working culture they foster at Hudl.
Jeff Watkins is Chief Product & Technology Officer at xDesign
Jeff is a Technology Leader, tech blogger, public speaker and Technical Architect with over 20 years' experience within the IT industry.
xDesign specializes in bespoke mobile and web app design and development, offering complete custom digital and mobile app solutions.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Jeff to discuss Jeff's career in the industry, leadership, xDesign's strategy for success and the culture of the business.
Mehmet Ceyran is CTO @ Classic Trader
With more than 7m page views and more than 14,000 listings, Classic Trader (www.classic-trader.com) is continental Europe´s largest marketplace for classic automobiles and motorcycles. Offering the best service for sellers, buyers and enthusiasts of classic vehicles, Classic Trader enriches its service portfolio with services around vehicle appraisal, transportation, payment services and warranty products. Classic Trader currently represents a trading volume of more than 1 Billion Euros on site and offers its services in 9 country versions.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Mehmet to discuss his journey to CTO, new technologies and frameworks, and the ever-changing software engineering world.
Ben sits down with Michael Smith and Rob Bowely, Technology Directors at Moneysupermarket Group.
Moneysupermarket Group is a British tech company operating a marketplace approach to match consumers with providers as efficiently as possible. Through their brands MoneySavingExpert, MoneySupermarket and Quidco their mission is to help households save money. They enable consumers to save money by offering free tools that enables consumers to compare and switch on a wide range of products, including energy car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, mortgages, credit cards and loans. More recently are able to offer users cashback on nearly 5000 brands through the leading cashback site Quidco.
During this episode, we hear how Michael and Rob foster a culture of high performance and autonomy within teams to continually develop the business and everyone inside it.
This podcast was recorded at Moneysupermarket's offices in Manchester, so we'd like to thank Michael and Rob for hosting this episode and making it possible.
Ben sat down with James Wade, Head of Engineering at Street Group.
James loves technology and has spent the best part of two decades immersed in Internet technologies.
Street Group is the new name for Agent Software, the team behind Spectre & Hello Again, and their brand new product Street.co.uk. Their mission is to elevate how agents and their clients manage the process of moving home.
Street Group have three products, with one goal: To provide a seamless customer experience at every stage of their journey, enabling estate agents to achieve more by doing less using their automatic, personalised and highly targeted software.
Spectre Sales is the UK’s No.1 instruction generation tool and has generated over £12 billion of property instructions since its inception in 2015. Spectre helps agents increase market share whilst saving time via automation.
Spectre Lettings is the market leading solution for agent’s wishing to grow their lettings portfolio. Identify and automate communication with landlords when they are most likely to be considering a change of agent, such as before upcoming tenancy renewals.
Street.co.uk, blending world-class technology with the expertise of your local agent. Coming Soon.
During this episode, Ben and James discuss James's career journey – Learning to scale up from a developer to Head of Engineering and the different ways of working as a developer.
Will Lowe has over 20 years of experience in consulting organisations on customer centricity, value creation from data, data science, data regulations and marketing technology.
His career began in marketing with Nestle and Diageo before joining dunnhumby where he spent 10 years helping global retailers and brands become more customer-centric and monetise their customer data. He was also the Managing Director of Callcredit’s (now TransUnion) Marketing Division, a credit bureau which is one of the UK’s largest consumer data and digital marketing businesses.
Will is now the Chief Data Officer for ENGINE, leading a team of experts to help businesses transform around digital and data using our experience in data, analytics, technology, personalised communications and organisation and cultural change.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Will to discuss the biggest challenges in the world of data right now and predictions for the future of data.
Katie Roberts is Head of Engineering at NearForm
Katie has fifteen years experience of in software development, working in a variety of sectors (media, education, games, advertising) on a variety of platforms including web, interactive TV, mobile phones, touch screen installations.
NearForm offers a new kind of partnership combining the development of both products and skills to accelerate digital delivery. We provide our clients with not only game-changing digital products but also the processes and skills needed to maintain the efficiencies brought on by digitalization.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Katie to talk about scaling engineering management across NearForm as an organisation, NearForm’s remote-first working policy across Europe and USA, and creating and implementing a set of values for the culture of engineering teams working remotely.
Kim Lawrie is head of Emerging Technology at ENGINE UK | ND
Engine is a future company. A full-stack consultancy, technology, insight, data, brand and experience design, advertising and communications company, with the power of diversity and imagination to take on the future.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Lawrie to find out about the Metaverse, what it is, and what we can expect from the not-so-distant future.
Ulf Kirsten is VP of Engineering at Delivery Hero
Leading cross-functional development teams to deliver high-performing and scaling solutions to help to grow the business.
Using the latest cutting edge-technologies like containers via Kubernetes with cloud providers such as GCP or AWS with various programming languages. As well as maintaining old legacy systems in order to keep existing stacks running & performing.
Delivery Hero is the world’s leading local delivery platform, operating its service in over 40 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa.
During this Podcast, Ben sits down with Ulf to discuss the unique challenges Delivery Hero are facing within the ‘quick commerce’ space whilst operating on a global scale, as well as the complexities they must maintain and what they are doing on the technology side to overcome these.
Polly Moore is Principal Consultant at PA Consulting | Founder @ THIS WOMcAN | Data Science Nanodegree Instructor @ Code First Girls
Polly has an incredibly interesting background, joining the Royal Air Force in 2015 for 5 years, before continuing her career as a Data Engineer.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Polly to discuss her experiences as a Female in the tech industry, what we can do to encourage more Females to pursue a career in tech, and why Women may be put off working in this space. As well as Polly's work with Code First Girls and the motive behind her new project, THIS WOMcAN.
Callum Linington is Principal Engineer at ClearBank®
ClearBank® is the UK’s first new clearing bank in more than 250 years. It delivers a new level of open competition and transparency to the UK financial services marketplace.
During this podcast Ben sits down with Callum to speak about the joys of programming and the correlation between engineering, the arts and music, they also discussed the vast amount of career opportunities available in the tech industry.
Daniel Smart is Engineering Manager - Test at Booking.com and co-founder at Techs and The City and CTO of Manchester Tech Festival
Booking.com are pioneers, on a mission to shape the future of travel through cutting edge technology, to make it easier for everyone to enjoy amazing experiences wherever they go.
They’re determined to make the world of travel more sustainable, more accessible, and more inclusive, to create a positive impact on a global scale.
During this podcast, Ben sits down with Daniel to discuss Manchester Meetups, what it's like to organise meetups & how he got into it, Software Testing, Daniel's background & what the future holds.
Celia Pronto is Managing Director of Love Home Swap.
Love Home Swap is an award-winning, global home swapping platform that connects like-minded home-lovers with incredible properties.
Celia Pronto is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the company, owning the P&L and global performance delivery of the Love Home Swap brand.
Diversity in tech is essential for businesses that want to stay relevant to their customers, and competitive in the talent market. During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Celia to chat about diversity in technology, and what we can do to promote a more diverse and inclusive industry.
Steve Pimblett is Chief Data Officer at The Very Group, and is in the DataIQ 2022 top ten!!
Their purpose at Very is to “Make good things easily accessible to more people”. They do this by delivering leading brands and products to our customers; providing flexible payment plans and financial services; and enabling high levels of personalisation and ease of use.
Their data (“DNA”) mission underpinning this allows us to “delight customers and empower colleagues with trusted data products and services”.
It was an absolute honour to speak with Steve on the podcast, as one of the most influential people in data we opened up a great conversation around how The Very Group uses data to better serve their customers by extracting the true value of the data to forensically understand the customers' needs and demands.
We also spoke about the scale of the data landscape and its mission, how surfacing new channel data to marketing teams can drive value, and how demand forecasting helps improve customer experience and maximise revenue.
David Brear is the CEO of 11:FS and since his dream of being a sportsperson was crushed (along with the ligaments in his knee!) and he had to take a different path in life, he has worked in pretty much every angle of the financial services industry never losing that competitive desire to drive forwards and win.
Having pitched, established and run billion-pound transformations for some of the biggest FS companies on the planet the realisation that "Digital Financials Services Is Only 1% Finished" has spurred his desire to establish an organisation that can actually support the industry through its greatest challenge.
11:FS is a challenger to the incumbent consultancies. They create innovative strategies and build out new propositions and ventures in the UK, US, Europe and Asia for some of the biggest brands on the planet. Alongside this 11:FS build in-house products from competitor benchmarking tools like 11:FS Pulse, to core banking and modern architecture systems like 11:FS Foundry.
In 4 years 11:FS went from zero brand and zero revenues to a multimillion a month business with one of the hottest brands in fintech all with zero external investment in the group.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with David to discuss the sporting and CEO mindset, and how David has created 10 banks across the world in 6 years as the industry is getting to grips with Digital Banking.
Carlos Rosão is Director of Software Engineering at NewStore, Inc.
Carlos is passionate about growing companies, teams, people, and software and he has a demonstrated history of success in different countries, industries and contexts. He's a firm believer and practitioner of a continuous improvement mindset and of an iterative approach towards building customer-centric products.
NewStore provides Omnichannel-as-a-Service for retail brands worldwide that want to accelerate their digital transformation. Built for speed and flexibility, NewStore allows brands to easily deliver amazing shopping experiences that store associates and consumers love. Its mobile-first, modular cloud platform includes POS, order management, clienteling, inventory, and native consumer apps.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Carlos to discuss how to build autonomous high-performing teams, and how mindset and the DevOps movement links with the idea of accountability to be high-performing.
Claudio Paolicelli is Senior Engineering Manager at Depop
Claudio is a qualified and experienced developer with 7 years of commercial experience in Backend and Mobile Arena. During this period, he has developed and lead several web applications with Java and Spring Frameworks and mobile apps in Java/Kotlin.
Depop is the community-powered fashion marketplace to buy and sell unique fashion, with over 30 million registered users in more than 150 countries.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Claudio to discuss his new and exciting project within the education & tech space, they also spoke about the importance of interoperability and the exchange of information.
Nigel Finley is Software Engineering Manager at Committee for Children
Nigel is a passionate and driven software developer currently working in React, Javascript, Node, and cloud-based architecture creating beautiful, accessible, and functional web applications. As a natural leader, Nigel rallies teams behind a common goal through his strong communication skills and charisma to deliver exceptional service and products.
Founded in 1978, Committee for Children is a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through social-emotional learning and development. CFC is the world’s largest provider of research-based educational programs that promote social-emotional skills and prevent bullying and sexual abuse. Committee for Children has been working for over three decades to help create a world in which the whole child is not only nurtured, but celebrated.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Nigel to talk about Nigel's journey into tech and skills that helped him get to where he is now and what he has found helpful in developing his leadership style. As well as the challenges with motivating teams and imposter syndrome as a non-traditional techie.
Ben speaks to Erwin about how the engineering teams are set up within the organisation, how Erwin leads teams of teams and the importance of having a transparent career progression framework in technology and how employees want more from a role these days.
Erwin is an engineering leader and entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in software development leadership and technology operations. A thoughtful and decisive leader who is willing and able to make hard decisions. He has plenty of experience in building highly efficient technology staffs that can grow in any organization.
Asif Ali is Head of Software Development at PrettyLittleThing.com
Asif has over 12 years of extensive commercial experience working with web development technologies especially focusing on e-commerce projects. He is currently managing 12 Agile Software Development teams (45+ developers in 3 countries of various skills and expertise in Javascript, PHP, and AWS).
PrettyLittleThing is a UK-based fashion retailer, owned by Boohoo Group and operates in the UK, Ireland, Australia, US, France, Middle East and North Africa. The brand's main headquarters are in Manchester, where we recorded this podcast episode.
During this episode, Ben sits down with Asif at PrettyLittleThing HQ to discuss Asif's career to get to Head of Software Development, some of the key learnings Asif has found throughout his career, and his leadership philosophies when managing many teams in a fast-paced industry.
Martin Parton is CTO at Kin + Carta Europe
Kin + Carta [ https://investors.kinandcarta.com/overview/default.aspx ] is a technology, data and experience consultancy that believes in using business as a force for good. They are at the forefront of a new class of digitally-native firms built to deliver Digital Transformation 2.0, and they choose to do so as a socially responsible business that champions inclusion, diversity, equality and sustainability.
Martin is an experienced CTO, technical leader & consultant based in the North West and works globally with clients in all territories.
During this podcast episode, as Martin is a keen pianist, Ben sits down to discuss the relationship between music and engineering. They also discussed how Kin + Carta collaborates with clients to get the best outcome from a project.
Brian Robinson is Managing Director Dept UK, Dept Agency.
Brian is leading an award winning team across our multiple offices in the UK. Helping clients to meet their goals across Digital Marketing, Commerce and Design and Technology. Their teams bring together the best of Data, Creativity and Technology to create experiences that people want and that businesses need.
Dept are an international digital agency with over 1,500 experienced thinkers & makers in 13 countries across Europe and the Americas. One agency uniting creativity, technology, and data. Helping their clients reinvent & accelerate their digital reality by creating experiences that people want and businesses need.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Brian at Dept's Manchester offices to discuss how Dept is helping companies that aren't digitally mature, how to move into digital sustainably, and the ongoing work that Dept continues to provide once the project is released.
Sam Mason is Head of Web Development at Alphageek
Sam is an MSc International Business Graduate with a background and BSc in Computing.
Alphageek is an end-to-end digital agency, specialising in bespoke solutions which are individually tailored to client specifications. They are based in the East Midlands and work on projects locally, nationally and globally.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Sam to discuss the growth of the business and the culture fostered by the team.
Yasar Ahmad is Global VP Talent at HelloFresh, Inclusion and Diversity Leader & RL100 Member.
Yasar is currently the Global Vice President of Talent at HelloFresh. Previously, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Zalando focussed on Technology Hiring and prior to that the Director and Head of Strategic Hiring at Wipro and Wipro Digital. An accomplished people leader with experience in various HR roles, with a passion for Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Inclusion and Diversity and learning and development and employers branding. A member of the RL100 and committed speaker on industrial challenges and creating human-shaped experiences.
Owen Choi is Team Lead Talent Acquisition - Tech at HelloFresh, Product Management, Design, Analytics focus.
Owen has been working in the IT industry for 5+ years with a focus on helping talented individuals connect with companies. He took the opportunity to join HelloFresh to expand his understanding of the industry and progress his career with a forward thinking, diverse company. Connecting people and helping a company grow and improve has always been a passion of Owen's.
HelloFresh is on a mission to change the way people eat, forever. From their 2011 founding in Europe’s vibrant tech hub Berlin, they’re evolving from the world’s leading meal kit company to the world's leading food solutions group. HelloFresh delivered 227 million meals and reached 6.94 million active customers around the world in Q3 2021. With more than 15,000 high-performing and ambitious employees across the globe from New York to Berlin, London to Sydney and Tokyo to Milan enjoy a number of benefits including flexible working arrangements, discounts on our boxes, health and well-being and learning and development programs.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Yasar and Owen to discuss their new Talent Acquisition function - TA 4.0, and what this means for the business.
Mike Christensen is Tech Lead at Blokur
Blokur connects the dots between rights holders, creators and music users. The easiest way to pay and get paid for music.
Blokur simplifies this process by matching music catalogues to the underlying publishing information quickly (2.4m matches analysed in 24 hours!) and accurately, reporting back on exactly which licences are required in order to use the music you want.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mike to discuss the ins and outs of Blokur, the culture fostered by Mike and his team, the common pitfalls to be aware of when hiring and onboarding remotely, and some of the cutting edge technologies Blokur are working with.
Marija Ziterbart is Chief Technology Officer at The Lowdown and Managing Director at Tilde Loop.
Marija is a technical superwoman who builds ideas into beautiful software that helps thousands of women with their contraception every day. Before joining The Lowdown she set up software development agency Tilde Loop.
Marija is an experienced software engineer with a proven record of designing and implementing complex software systems. Team player who works directly with business managers to translate requirements into design and ultimately develop and deploy cutting-edge solutions.
The Lowdown is a contraception review, advice and prescriptions platform that's making women’s health less of a minefield.
Tilde Loop is a London-based software development company comprised of experienced engineers, specialising in the JavaScript ecosystem and modern application development. They help organisations accelerate their software development. They're doing it by joining your team and contributing through the whole software development lifecycle, from requirements definition to successful delivery. Their software engineers are combining their knowledge with your ideas to create seamless digital experiences.
During this podcast episode, Ben Sits down with Marija to discuss diversity and inclusion in tech - with just 1% of CTO's in tech being Female, Marija's experiences being female in a male-dominated industry, as well as where The Lowdown and Tilde Loop fit into the world of technology.
Alex Arnal Vivas is Head of Development / Technical Architect at more2.
more2 are the leading insight and analysis business for retail, ecommerce, and travel. They are data-led, insight-driven, and rich in experience. They are the growth partner to over 100 brands, combining strategic thinking with operational excellence powered by the world’s leading technology to help you make the most of your customer data.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Alex to discuss agile and DevOps challenges in data engineering projects, the agile transformation process, testing and CI/CD in data engineering and analytical projects, as well as Alex's career reflection & the culture at more2.
Tome Pejoski is a Software Engineering Team Lead who loves bringing to life modern and powerful web applications.
Always striving to keep up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies, software development and leadership best practices. Constantly looking forward to upgrading skills and expertise on a higher level.
Currently making mobility fun and sustainable by working as a Tech Lead at FINN.
FINN's mission is to make mobility fun and sustainable: They help everyone who loves driving their own car but refuses the struggle, commitment and intransparent costs associated with car ownership. They achieve this by offering all-inclusive, immediately available, monthly car-subscriptions. While you drive FINN plant trees as every journey is CO2 compensated.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Tome to discuss the service that FINN provides, scaling from 0 to 8000+ subscriptions in just two years with help of automation as well as the Engineering team set-up.
Marlon Hope is Digital Product Manager at Tilney Smith and Williamson
Marlon offers high level strategic support, and project management for both public and private organisation. He is a mentor, DCF advisory board member and Community Lead @ Techs & the City.
Marlon Hope is an experienced Manager currently heading the team responsible for Digital Product at Tilney Smith and Williamson, which provides professional and financial services to private clients and their business interests.
Having led digital transformations in both public and private sectors, Marlon is passionate about the development of people and the role of mentorship and coaching in the furtherment of Manchester as the global digital hub of choice.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Marlon to discuss his career journey into product management, Marlon's views on management and mentoring, and the thriving tech culture in Manchester.
Matt Whetton is an engineer at heart, CTO at Oakbrook Finance, building a culture of creative problem solving, empowered engineering teams and continuous learning.
Oakbrook Finance offers personalised financial solutions to individual customers using cutting-edge technology and data and analytics for fairer lending.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Matt to discuss his journey from software architect to CTO, the way Matt thinks about people and technology and how this is implemented in the business, and how Matt integrates analytics, data and software.
Paul Davison, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Teleware
Paul has over 20 years’ experience in IT and product development.
His expertise in developing products and processes to help clients align their digital capabilities to business strategy, drives exponential growth for clients. Paul has worked across a number of sectors including oil and gas. With this, Paul brings experience of working in tightly controlled development environments, developing project control technology to create improvements at every stage of the production process.
TeleWare design software to help businesses communicate better with their customers and employees by routing communications more effectively. By recording and analysing these communications Teleware is able to discover how companies can better connect with customers to improve their experience, manage governance and grow revenues.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Paul to discuss culture and communication in technology, the future of the industry and how to best prepare for the approaching tech movements and developments.
Victoria Engelhardt is CEO and Co-Founder of Keleya
Victoria has worked in Tech startups in Berlin for a number of years and spent some time in management consulting at BCG, and wanted to spend time on something that really matters to herself and the world. Keleya was spawned when a close friend of Victoria's became pregnant, realizing for the first time how hard it was to find a midwife and the right support throughout the pregnancy journey.
Keleya enables women and their partners to have a safe and relaxed pregnancy, birth experience and motherhood by providing them with personalized, expert based information, workouts and nutrition plans and a matching midwife. Founded in 2017, Kelaya is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. This led Victoria to found Keleya – Your Pregnancy & Parenthood Companion.
Keleya is the best-in-class pregnancy app that provides support, workouts and medical advice, and is reimbursed by major German health insurances, such as SBK, BIG direkt gesund, DAK etc. They have been awarded “Editor’s choice” by Apple and have been downloaded >200K times.
As an addition to their eco-system, in cooperation with the German Midwife Association, they have launched a marketplace that connects parents with midwives on our platform ammely.de.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Victoria to discuss how the business was founded and why she chose to create a femtech company, building teams to create a successful product, the importance of diversity in the workplace and the exciting future of Keleya.
Mark Quinn is CTO and Co-Founder of Circl
Circl was developed in an effort to change the way bettors engage with sports and wagering: the game allows up to 10 users to play against each other to win a pool of money deposited beforehand by the group.
The gaming mechanism is based on a series of real-time events occurring during the match, which are given their own scoring system. Thus, the pot of money moves around the Circl as the event goes on, instead of being awarded solely based on the final outcome.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mark to chat about the Circl App, how the initial concept was formed and offers advice to anyone building an app and bringing it to market, as well as discussing some of the unforeseen challenges Mark and his team have overcome over the past 18 months.
Get your Circl in by downloading the app here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/circl-social-betting/id1551226545
Mark is on the lookout for engineers to join Circl, so if you're looking to join a cutting-edge, fully remote start-up, get in touch!
Saravanan Sathyanandha is CTO at Monolith AI
Saravanan is building an AI software platform to allow engineers to design products faster. Industries include aeronautical, automotive and more.
Monolith AI is an Imperial College London spin off that is building a new machine learning software that utilises the latest in machine learning to help engineers to significantly improve the product development process. Monolith enables companies to monetise their old simulation and test data by using it to anticipate the behaviour of new products. Companies can optimise their R&D process by reducing the numbers of simulations, tests and prototypes required to develop a new product delivering faster and better products.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Saravanan to chat about the pro's and con's of startup life, his career journey, his role and mentors and influences along the way.
Oliver Cox is CTO and Chief Architect at EBI.AI
An experienced and skilled technical leader with a proven track record in developing and implementing software solutions. Oliver has extensive experience of leading development teams in the delivery software projects and providing technical consultation on product development.
Oliver is a supporter of cloud technologies, advocating the benefits of software and platform as a service and providing guidance on implementation. Focused in recent years on cognitive computing , machine learning and natural language processing Oliver helps businesses to design and build intelligent solutions.
EBI.AI is a platform that makes AI and your job easier. You can buy and build your AI assistant with EBI.AI helping to steer it.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Oliver to discuss the realities of working for a startup that exists within a large corporation. As well as Olly's leadership style and the biggest learnings on his career journey.
Rich Cassidy is head of People and Delivery at Caution Your Blast Ltd
Rich's ultimate goal is for all everybody he works with, both within Caution You Blast and our client teams, to come to work feeling excited and supported to get stuck in, to be able to do an effective day's work, have a fun time while doing so, and work on things that make a positive difference to people's lives.
He has over ten years’ experience in design and tech consulting with a focus on public sector and non-profits. Having grown and supported teams in both the public and private sectors, he brings a deep understanding of how to create the conditions and culture that enables teams of designers, researchers, developers, and policymakers to work together and deliver incredible work and outcomes.
Caution Your Blast is a leading digital products and services practice, creating some of the UK's most innovative digital solutions, then using these skills and experience to provide expert consultancy to clients.
CYB is a team of only senior digital experts, each with specialist knowledge in specific areas of digital. Combined, this enables them to deliver some of the most exciting digital products and services, focussed on their main target of supporting social good in society.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Rich to discuss the impact a great culture can have on a business and how Rich and his team have nurtured their culture at Caution Your Blast to make a positive difference to people's lives, both inside and outside the business.
Mattia Campolese is Head of Software Engineering at Zopa.
He's an Engineering Lead and Mobile Apps Development Evangelist with 10+ years of experience. He has been focusing on developing end-to-end solutions for multiple types of organisations across several industries that include finance, banking, media, travel, transport and manufacturing. After leading the Mobile Engineering community in HSBC across several locations to analyse, plan, develop and release apps consumed by 15+ million active users, he is now overseeing the Front End Engineering Stack in Zopa, helping the business in its scale growth.
Zopa is a London-based digital bank fintech company, offering personal loans, car finance, credit cards, savings and peer-to-peer investments, all managed online.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mattia to chat about Mattia's methods to scale the business, and some of the key learnings throughout his career that have helped him develop and form his leadership style.
Alex Brims is CTO at Lickd, the first commercial music licencing platform.
Alex is a Development Team Leader, Coder, Software Architect, or System Admin. He has 15 years of wide ranging experience and a dedication to constantly improving his knowledge & skills.
He has scaled systems to handle hundredfold increases in load, successfully modernised legacy codebases, architected and built large software systems from scratch, and built and led several highly successful teams
His main interest is music and has always aimed for jobs in the music industry. Being involved in the use of technology to empower & provide services for musicians & songwriters is my key mission in his work.
Lickd is a new and innovative tech startup that aims to disrupt the music licensing industry for good by creating the world’s first pre-cleared, commercial music licensing solution for online video creators. Before now, licensing music was for professionals and traditional media only. Production companies making tv shows and adverts hire a music supervisor and give them the length of the production to source and clear the music.
Well, today, the whole world has a production company in their pocket and an incredibly generous commissioning editor in YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or perhaps, in the case of a brand or an agency, your very own website.
By working with major and independent labels and publishers alike, Lickd will provide a simple, mobile friendly, one-stop shop for you to search and license your favourite music directly into your video, wherever you want it to be broadcast online.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Alex to discuss the changing world of online streaming and how this affects the technology space, and how Lickd have developed the firs commercial music licencing platform.
DCX is a modern-day acceleration agency. They exist to offer brands a versatile partner to tackle complex business, marketing, and digital challenges. DCX is part of the Paragon group.
Paragon DCX has been around for over twenty years in different guises. They are the coming-together of globally-renowned creative, data, and customer communications powerhouses; digital experience specialists; marketing automation rock-stars; and mobile application, digital product and platform gurus.
They have delivered award-winning work, and transformed marketing and business for brands such as Comic Relief, Coventry Building Society, Pepper Financial Services, Greene King, Goldman Sachs, Great Western Railway, Aviva, Bupa, as well as many more.
As a digital native throughout his career, Keith has led digital infrastructure programmes across businesses in the public and private sectors. With the last 12 years spent building the highly successful agency ORM, Keith now leads our technology strategy, ensuring we are providing the most powerful platform solutions to our clients.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Keith to discuss his career journey in tech, the service ORM provides and how Keith has helped scaled up ORM from £500,000 turnover to £10million.
Christoph Neuhaus is the Founder at Wertfaktor, based in Hamburg.
Before this, Christoph was a senior associate at Corporate Finance partners CFP and Founders Investments. He bears a masters degree in business administration and a degree in media communications.
Wertfaktor was developed by Dr. Alexander Ey and Christoph in Hamburg - with the aim of helping real estate owners in their third phase of life to achieve more financial freedom. As an innovative financial service provider, it enables owners to convert part of their real estate assets into cash assets. They do not have to give up the further use of their residential property, retain full control over their property and even benefit from a future increase in value
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Christoph to discuss the story of how the business was founded, the challenges Christoph faces when hiring, and the future of Wertfaktor Immobilien.
Cameron Millard is Lead Software Developer at Shopblocks.
Shopblocks is a website platform enabling businesses of all sizes to create bespoke websites and online shops without the limitations of templates or the expense of developers. Shopblocks gives you the tools to manage and make changes to your website, without the need to code.
Cameron's passion for technology spawned from an early age to building websites at school, and becoming a developer straight out of university, and since then has developed his own leadership style, leading his team of engineers at Shopblocks.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Cameron to discuss recent developments in technology and if they're always the best option for engineers, they also spoke about the dunning-kruger effect in leadership, and how to continue to learn from new developers coming into the industry to help you as a leader and developer.
James Gosling is Engineering Manager at McLaren Applied.
James is an experienced Software & Analytics Engineering Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Agile Delivery, Requirements Analysis, Testing, Technical Project Leadership and Application Architecture. Strong software delivery professional with a Master of Engineering (MEng) focused in Computer Software Engineering from The University of Sheffield.
For over 30 years McLaren Applied have led the digital transformation of motorsport through electronics and data systems, and now also develop innovative technologies that drive positive, sustainable change in automotive, transport, and beyond.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with James to discuss leadership styles and how James has adapted to leading teams of teams. They also spoke about some of the challenges that McLaren Applied has faced when applying their Formula 1/Automotive technology to real-world situations.
Federico Cicchi is Head of Software Development at XYZ Reality and responsible for dedicated engineering teams, driving complex milestone deliveries and dynamic technical solutions for the world's first engineering grade AR device
Federico is a highly qualified Software Engineer with 22 years of software development experience, covering system architecture design, robotics, artificial intelligence, AAA games and augmented reality. He has become an expert in translating system requirements into concrete design and anticipating and resolving performance issues.
XYZ Reality is the UK start-up behind HoloSite and The Atom, the world’s first Engineering-Grade Augmented Reality company. On a mission to eliminate 2D in its entirety and bring an industry in decline back to life, XYZ Reality is enabling construction workers around the world to build from holograms and it’s making a huge dent on the 77% of megaprojects that overrun globally.
Construction workers can now view and position design models on site to 5mm accuracy and make real-time decisions in the field. The ground-breaking technology also significantly eliminates errors out of tolerance and reduces the time taken from set-out to build. Named the UK's 3rd hottest start-up and one of the Top 3 construction technology firms, XYZ Reality is focused on making the lives of all construction workers easier by democratising the skill-set, boosting productivity and closing a skills-gap.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Federico to discuss his career in technology, how Federico's approach to leadership and communication differs across different cultures. They also spoke about some of the ground-breaking technological advancements XYZ Reality is working on - bringing digitalization into the traditional construction industry and truly disrupting this space.
Doug McConchie is Head of Data and Analytics at HSO.
Doug is a highly experienced management consultant specialising in the transformation of data into business insights and value. He works within the IOT, Business Intelligence, Analytics and Performance Management community. He helps organisations better acquire, manage, measure, report & analyse their data, leveraging insights to improve their performance.
His cutting edge work with well known businesses and public sector institutions equips him with a wealth of experience. He has advised and worked with some of the world’s best known organisations including: BP, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Telecom, ExxonMobil, Gartner, Hitachi, Mars, Ministry of Defence, NHS, RBS, RSA, SAB Miller, Sony, and Shell, among many others.
His 20+ years consulting expertise is rooted in the practicalities of making solutions work at the operational level and developing new ways of harnessing data for commercial advantage. His engagements currently cover the development of improved Operating Models and building Analytics Centres of Excellence. He is also working on the development of IOT data strategies. Additionally, he is guiding a number of clients on their current Business Intelligence capabilities and impacts on business success.
His book: “Data Strategy - Selling the Value” was published in May 2021. You can purchase the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B095JS79P9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TJ0AZ8NWQ2VA6X7QRJE8
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Doug to discuss how to extract the true value of data, how the world of data has changed over time, how Doug keeps up with developments and what resources he relies on; and of course, Doug's new book!
David Simons is Software Engineering Manager at Kaluza.
Davis is leading two cross-functional teams (Data Warehousing; Public Interfaces) - 14 engineers total - that together form the public interface for Kaluza, a real-time energy platform supporting energy retailers in multiple regions. These teams are responsible for building centralised GraphQL, EventBridge and BigQuery APIs over decentralised Kafka microservices using a Data Mesh architecture, as well as surrounding tooling and documentation.
Kaluza is an ecosystem of intelligent platforms powering the future of energy. From revolutionising billing to smart electric vehicle charging, Kaluza’s technology is empowering some of the biggest energy suppliers to better serve millions of customers. Its real-time cloud platforms transform supplier operations, reducing cost to serve and boosting customer engagement. Powered by Kaluza, suppliers can invest in innovating for tomorrow’s customers and drive decarbonisation with smart, low carbon technologies that not only reduce energy bills, but lay the foundations for a more flexible energy system.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with David to discuss the importance of data architectural patterns, Conway's Law, and David's leadership style.
Andreas Balser is the Chief Technology Officer of Dopavision.
He is passionate to merge his experience from product management, software and technology management as well as strategy consulting to make our vision become reality. His healthcare industry experience allows him to ensure Dopavision’s product and processes adhere to the highest regulatory standards. He has previously worked with Meierhofer AG and McKinsey&Company, among others.
Dopavision is pioneering the development of digital therapeutics in ophthalmology. They are developing a game-changing therapeutic for childhood myopia which can be easily administered by using a smartphone app. Their goal is to provide a clinically validated therapeutic to help in the fight against the global myopia crisis.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Andreas to discover the incredible new game-changing technology Dopavision are applying to help fight the Myopia crisis in children.
Alex Norman is Head of Front End at Upside Technology, and an experienced lead front-end engineer who builds products and teams from scratch.
Upside is an investment app that will develop, harness and maximise the skills you need to become an expert investor. Investing is complex but it doesn’t need to be difficult and their app and connected products provide you with all the tools you need to make investment decisions with confidence.
Through bespoke insights, scientific analysis, and a smart framework used by professional portfolio managers, Upside help you gain the skills and confidence you need to invest in an educated, sustainable and risk-aware way.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Alex to discuss the technologies that have helped Alex and his team build the app in 3 months, general patterns of building front-end features, and Alex's leadership style and advice.
Andrea Dante Bozzola is Engineering Manager at Yelp.
Yelp connects people with great local businesses. Their users have contributed approximately 155 million cumulative reviews of almost every type of local business, from restaurants, boutiques and salons to dentists, mechanics, plumbers and more. These reviews are written by people using Yelp to share their everyday local business experiences, giving voice to consumers and bringing “word of mouth” online.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Andrea to discuss the age-old question of the difference between leadership and management, what motivates someone to become a leader or manager, and what is good leadership at its core.
Sarah Müller is Chief Commercial Officer at zolar, and formerly Managing Director of Kununu.
Their mission is to build a solar plant on every roof in the world. Zolar enables homeowners to produce their own green electricity and at the same time make an active contribution to climate protection.
Sarah is responsible for the development and expansion of the sales organization of the fast-growing start-ups with a focus on strong scaling of Marketing and Sales.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Sarah to discuss Sarah's career history, employer branding and why it's so important for businesses to get right; as well as practical advice on how to measure employer branding, and what we can expect to see in the future for Zolar.
Pete Dignan is Head of PistonHeads Engineering and Consumer Engagement at CarGurus.
CarGurus uses data and technology to make buying cars simple, giving people the tools they need to confidently find, buy, finance, or sell a car. They’re the most-visited car-shopping site in the US, and they're expanding globally.
Pete is a great communicator and has spoken at multiple conferences including Google's Adopt or Die, MongoDB Meetup, ElasticSearch breakfast seminar, and Figaro Digital Conference.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Pete to discuss measuring business success across different departments and how Pete connects business value to an engineering change.
Sam Curtis is CEO of Big Sofa Technologies, and has worked across a variety of disciplines, and with a wide variety of clients but have always retained a strong global focus to the work he has done.
Big Sofa Technologies uses video to transform human behaviors and patterns into actionable data to identify business-changing design, communication and innovation opportunities for their clients.
Their pioneering platform transforms video into an accessible, interactive, and sustainable data source, to help clients explore how people live, shop, and consume.
Alongside their team of behavioral experts, this Visual Insights System helps their clients understand and analyze real human behaviors and patterns in the spaces and places they occur, delivering new-to-the-world analytics and insights.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Sam to discuss how BST have built groundbreaking machine learning which recognises human behavior, as well as Intelligence Augmentation – which enables machines and humans to work together to make humans lives easier.
Lawrence Lilley is CTO @ MUTUAL VISION
Lawrence is an information technology professional experienced in executing IT delivery for organisational success. An established record of clear strategic leadership and collaboration to develop, innovate and simplify organisational processes to deliver measurable benefit.
MUTUAL VISION is a tech business uniquely owned by their customer community of UK building societies and banks and wholly focused on meeting their needs in an ethical way.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Lawrence to discuss Lawrence's leadership style, the difference between a Manager and a Leader, and the importance of diversity in your workforce.
Shane Armstrong started his career in the Military, then moved to work for the Police force, and now is Software Engineering Manager at a world leading Bank.
Learning about leadership from a young age defined Shane's future; during this podcast episode, we hear stories from Shane's past in the Military and the Police force and how these learnings have shaped his leadership style as Software Engineering manager at one of the world-leading banks.
Jason Vogel is Head of Engineering at BrandAlley.co.uk
Founded in 2008, BrandAlley.co.uk has established itself as the UK’s number one private sales site, offering up to 80% off luxury and premium brands.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Jason to discuss Jason's career in tech, emigrating from South Africa to the UK, the different cultures in technology, and how Jason and his team at BrandAlley.co.uk prepare for periods of increased popularity and demand, such as Black Friday.
Joe Pettersson is a technology leader with a focus on building inclusive, productive and fun engineering and product teams. Joe has worked in a lot of different domains, but has a particular passion for developer tools and B2B SaaS businesses. He is also an active angel and seed investor in the European technology eco-system.
Banked is a fintech startup that powers real-time payments for consumers, businesses and banks. Their dream is to ensure everyone gets paid in the fastest, cheapest, most efficient way possible, so they’re driving an irreversible shift in global payments.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Joe to discuss how to successfully scale happy, diverse and motivated engineering teams. They also discussed Joe's book 'Scaling Engineering', (set to be released on July 2022) which consists of interviews with over 400 engineering leaders.
"Scaling engineering teams is difficult. It's complex, time-consuming and at times it can feel unintuitive. A few can turn to their networks as they go on the journey, and that can feel like a super power. The knowledge and experience needed can feel inaccessible to those that don't have their own networks. Scaling Engineering is being written to help solve that problem."
Saima Mahmood is Software Development Manager at Oracle.
After joining Oracle as a Scrum Master, Saima was promoted to Software Development Manager following her success in leading and organising the team she was working with and delivering everything that was planned across two releases, through detailed planning and communication.
Oracle is a cloud technology company that provides organizations around the world with computing infrastructure and software to help them innovate, unlock efficiencies and become more effective. Oracle also created the world’s first – and only – autonomous database to help organize and secure their customers’ data.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Saima to discuss driving diversity in the tech space, Inspiring the next generation, promoting recruitment to attract all types of people, and some of the reasons why people may avoid a career in technology.
Max Ostermeier is CEO of Implandata
Implandata is going to transform the management of glaucoma patients.
80 million patients are at risk of permanent loss of eyesight because of glaucoma. Management of glaucoma patients is primarily eye center based. Disease status and progression is unknown in between office visits, resulting in irreversible vision loss at a significant number of patients.
Implandata’s breakthrough EYEMATE system introduces remote management and care of glaucoma. Crucial disease parameters are collected at the patient, AI analyzed and provided real-time to the ophthalmologist, enabling personalized therapy guidance.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Max to discuss how Implandata began, how the cutting edge tech works, how to successfully get a product out to market from scratch and the future of tech and data-driven healthcare.
Melissa Snover is CEO and Founder at Nourish3d and Script3d.
Melissa is an award-winning entrepreneur and visionary in the world of food technology. Having started her first company at the age of 23, she has been bringing innovative products to the consumer market ever since. She is a passionate supporter of women in business, as well as being a dedicated mentor; encouraging young people of all backgrounds to begin studying in STEM fields.
Nourish3d is the world's first truly personalised nutrition product. Using patented 3D printing technology and a vegan encapsulation formula to create totally bespoke and delicious vitamin stacks.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Melissa to discuss how the business began, the inspiration behind starting the business and how Melissa has used 3D printing to create a solution to combat the limited constraints of mass production in confectionery. As well as Melissa's experience appearing on the BBC Series Dragons Den.
Mario Behrendt is Head of Engineering at Tails.com.
Mario grew the software engineering team from 8 to 50 engineers across multiple countries, introduced a QA function and ensured delivery performance across all teams at Tails.com. He managed to scale internationally from 1 to 9 countries, while moving the Python-based monolith to a micro-service architecture.
Tails.com is a dog food subscription company that creates tailored food for each and every dog they serve. They start by asking people a few simple questions about the owners' dog. Then Tails.com use that information to create their dog’s unique recipe – so their dog gets exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. Having created an entirely new category in pet food, they’re now scaling fast in the UK and Europe – backed by Purina, one of the worlds largest pet food companies.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mario to discuss his career history to Head of Engineering, growing up in a small town in rural Germany and working with the tech available to him from a very young age. As well as how to approach hiring at scale whilst also hiring for diversity and without bias.
Ewan Leith leads RealityMine’s software engineering, operations and test teams, to deliver high quality software and services for its clients. He especially enjoys working with cutting-edge technology and great people — two things Ewan believes that RealityMine has plenty of!
RealityMine enables the world’s leading market research organisations to monitor real consumers across multiple devices and on all major operating systems. This permission-based data collection provides unique insights into the behaviour of consumers and is integrated by agencies into syndicated products, audience measurement currencies and custom research globally.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Ewan to discuss how to create an environment that spawns innovation, and how to build and support that culture from the ground up. And as times have been more challenging during the pandemic - how to maintain this culture as teams are physically separated.
Tom Dunlop is Chief Executive Officer & Founder @ Summize.
As an accomplished commercial and technology lawyer, Tom's experience with reviewing contracts was the catalyst that led to Summize. Prior to this, he worked as a Global Legal Director for several fast-growth technology companies. As a practicing lawyer himself, Tom saw the need to reduce cost and speed up the implementation time of products to change the way legal teams work, spawning the birth of Summize, which started with a simple question - how could contracts be made quicker and easier for legal teams?
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Tom to discuss Tom's career history and background as a professional GB athlete, his thoughts on the increase of tech adoption in the legal space, why the legal industry has previously been slow on the uptake with new technology.
Emily Zhang is the Head of Product at Oyster. She is excited to be part of this mission-driven company at this early stage to help launch, scale and succeed.
Prior to joining Oyster, Emily built products at Carta and eBay. She began her career as a management consultant at Bain & Company. Emily grew up in Sydney and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Oyster is the platform that makes it easy for companies to hire, manage, pay, and look after their global team members. Their mission is to create a more equal world by making it possible for companies everywhere to hire people anywhere.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Emily to discuss Emily's career to date, remotely building and onboarding teams at scale, and the culture of Silicon Valley.
Lisa Li is Technical Lead at AND Digital. Lisa is a proficient developer with many years of experience in analysis, design and develop web and mobile-based applications. She has worked with design agents, e-commences, small businesses, large corporate and government projects. Lisa's roles have ranged from designing product wireframe, developing web and mobile applications to deploy applications to live environments.
AND Digital accelerates the development of world-class digital capabilities, and power the product development of ambitious companies - from British Airways and Conde Nast, to The Telegraph, Gousto and more.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Lisa to discuss Lisa's career in technology with advice on how to grow from Junior to Senior in your role in tech. As well as why the tech industry still has a gender imbalance, and what it was like for Lisa at the beginning of her career entering into a male-dominated industry.
Dan McNeil is Director of Engineering at ComplyAdvantage.
ComplyAdvantage, founded in 2014, provides anti-money laundering technology. The company uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organisations manage risk obligations and counteract financial crime.
Dan McNeil is Director of Engineering and has a particular interest in people management, promoting diversity within teams and the importance of mental health awareness in the workplace.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Dan to discuss hiring at scale and how to remain inclusive during the hiring and onboarding process when hiring quickly as well as some of the pitfalls to be aware of, and some of the benefits a business can expect when hiring without bias.
Richard Somerfield is Chief Technology Officer at Summize.
Summize enables legal teams to review their contracts quickly and efficiently. It is an intuitive and interactive software that summarises contractual points instantly and allows the management of key terms.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Richard to discuss his career history and background in development, his decision to move from Silicon Valley to join a start-up in the UK, some of the key learnings Richard has taken from Silicon Valley and his thoughts on the future of the increase of tech adoption in the legal space.
Check out our new Venturi's Voice Podcast YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QPc0YqhTZE7wcL1srro6g
Check out the video podcast on our new YouTube Channel here: https://youtu.be/qd40xCjH2X0
Ben Towers is the Co-Founder of Tahora, and is one of ‘the most influential entrepreneurs on the planet’ whilst still only being 23 years old. Ben started in business aged 11 and has since successfully exited his marketing agency, invested in disruptive start-ups and inspired millions. Ben is now on a mission to change the health outcomes of his generation.
Tahora is the culture and wellbeing platform creating inclusive hybrid workplaces with better connected and happier employees.
During this podcast Ben sits down with Ben to discuss the most common issues that keep arising in terms of mental wellbeing in the workplace and how the Tahora platform can help, how and why Ben decided to create Tahora, and how businesses can introduce a mental wellbeing program for their workforce.
Michael Wolman is Director of Analytics and Data at Win Technologies, a proud member of the Betway Group.
Michael started his career with BP on their commercial graduate scheme, with a short stint on a L'Oréal marketing internship. He then had a bit of a career speed bump with Virgin Media, and finally landed at Win Technologies (part of the Betway Group) as their Director of Analytics and Data.
Betway Group, owned by Super Group, is a leading global provider of first-class entertainment across sports betting and casino. Since 2006, they have remained at the forefront of the online gaming industry, utilising the very latest technologies to provide innovative and interactive gaming experiences in a fair, safe, secure and responsible environment.
During this podcast episode, Michael sits down with Ben to discuss his career journey to date and how Michael got started in his career, how he has developed his own leadership style, and some of the challenges motivating and engaging teams, particularly through times of unforeseen change like Covid.
This podcast is available on all streaming platforms, and why not check out our new YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QPc0YqhTZE7wcL1srro6g
Louis Chery-Roberts is Head of Quality Assurance at Win Technologies, a proud member of the Betway Group.
Louis's role involves working in an Agile environment whilst perform testing procedures on the Web /Mobile Application Software to ensure all errors are identified and corrected before release to stakeholders.
Betway Group, owned by Super Group, is a leading global provider of first-class entertainment across sports betting and casino. Since 2006, they have remained at the forefront of the online gaming industry, utilising the very latest technologies to provide innovative and interactive gaming experiences in a fair, safe, secure and responsible environment.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Louis to discuss how Louis has navigated his career to get to Head of QA, how changes in technology have impacted Quality Assurance, and what we can expect for the future of Quality Assurance. They also discuss Louis's thoughts on leadership, and some of the challenges Louis faced when moving from a non-technical to a very technical Quality Assurance team.
This podcast is available on all streaming platforms, and why not check out our new YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QPc0YqhTZE7wcL1srro6g
Michael Gillett is currently Head of Development at Win Technologies, a proud member of the Betway Group.
Michael studied Computer Science, specialising in User Interfaces and Web Site development, achieving an MSc with Distinction. Previous to that he studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering, specialising in Digital Systems and Computer Engineering, achieving a First-Class BEng with Honours.
Betway Group, owned by Super Group, is a leading global provider of first-class entertainment across sports betting and casino. Since 2006, they have remained at the forefront of the online gaming industry, utilising the very latest technologies to provide innovative and interactive gaming experiences in a fair, safe, secure and responsible environment.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Michael to discuss how to identify and work with new technologies, what makes a great leader in the technology space and how Michael has developed his own leadership style.
Sally Goble is a highly motivated and self starting senior leader with over 10 years of industry experience and a track record of building and managing mixed discipline, distributed, teams of software engineers, SREs and QAs. Experience of both scale up and established tech teams.
Sally has an extensive career in tech, previously working at The Guardian Newspaper as Head of Quality - responsible for quality across all of the Guardian's digital products. Then moving to Deliveroo as Senior Engineering Manager, and now joins Attest as Engineering Manager.
Attest is a consumer research platform that provides confidence for every decision, with the right insight, at the right time.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Sally to discuss how to create seamless communication at scale, some of the pitfalls to be aware of and the benefits a business can expect when streamlining their communication strategy.
Watch the Video Podcast on our YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QPc0YqhTZE7wcL1srro6g
Matthew Sinclair is the Vice President of Engineering for BCG Digital Ventures (DV). BCG Digital Ventures is Boston Consulting Group’s corporate investment and incubation firm. Matthew joined BCG DV in January 2016. He oversees technology and engineering across all ventures at DV London, and as the current speaker for DV's Engineering Executive Committee, he takes an active role in coordinating the engineering cohort across DV's centers around the world. Since joining BCG, Matthew has been involved in a wide variety of ventures, taking CTO, director, advisory, and other senior leadership roles across a broad range of industries, including industrial goods, finance and insurance tech, mobility, resources, e-commerce, and private equity. He has been involved in the ideation, incubation, and launch of more than 30 internal or publicly launched client ventures.
Matthew serves as a non-Fellow Board Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub and acts as a mentor for the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub Alumni Program.
Prior to joining DV, Matthew delivered complex systems to telecommunications, financial services, and payments companies. Working with startups, product teams, and consulting organizations from Australia, Asia, and Europe, Matthew has helped build network analyzers, flight simulators, high-performance mission-critical EFT payment transaction switches, online and mobile banking and shared mobility platforms, and more. He was involved in a number of startups in Australia, including Distra (payments), TouchPass (security), Tillless (payments), and SaveMail (document storage). He also was a consultant to banks and financial institutions at Carpadium Consulting.
Matthew holds numerous patents related to mobile wireless and other technologies.
BCG Digital Ventures is the corporate innovation and digital business-building arm of Boston Consulting Group. Our mission is to invent, build, and scale industry-disrupting businesses with the world’s most influential companies.
Check out the Video Podcast Here: https://youtu.be/Ugk8vD8auPw
Mark Pybus is Data Practice Director at Contino.
Mark works across enterprise organisations to deliver transformation through the creation and application of data systems at scale. Widely experienced in data and analytics, Mark delivers key engineering and organisational capabilities to ensure that the best data strategy delivers the best results.
Contino is a leading transformation consultancy that helps large, heavily-regulated enterprises to become fast, agile and competitive.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Mark to discuss the evolution of a data professional, where we are now with data, and what we can expect from the future of data; looking at and drawing parallels between the history of software engineering and data. They also discussed data Mesh, defining it, and how to design and approach it.
Yoaquim Cintrón is Engineering Management & DevSecOps at Attune.
Attune is an admitted small commercial market built to get business off your desk and on the books hassle free.
Yoaquim has been labelled by co-workers at Attune as 'The Culture Guardian' for his work and efforts supporting a collaborative and 'people over everything' culture within the business.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Yoaquim to discuss the most important aspects and qualities of a leader, how Yoaquim has led his team through times of unforeseen change, and the considerations and pitfalls to be aware of when building an engineering team from scratch.
It was an honour to have Yoaquim on the show to share his insights and knowledge with the tech community.
Dan Fiehn is Group Chief Operating Officer at Markerstudy Insurance, a leader and strategist with over 30 years’ experience.
Dan Fiehn joined Markerstudy, the UK’s fifth largest motor insurance provider, in 2011 to head up the Group IT and Product Management divisions and led the rebrand of the division to ‘M-Powered’, building a culture of innovation, developing a scalable infrastructure to fast track mergers and acquisitions and underpinning rapid growth.
Responsible for the IT digital strategy and IT and business cross functional teams, Dan created an award-winning team achieving recognition at the CIO Top 100, Gartner Eye on Innovation and Celent Model Insurer Awards.
Dan is at the forefront of innovation which is transforming insurance, having successfully overseen the delivery of the market leading insurer-hosted rating hub and the acquisition of Co-op Insurance.
I was fortunate enough to sit down with Dan to discuss his prolific career history, what people can do to better their chances of success in the industry and what makes a great leader.
Neil Kimmett is a Senior Engineering Manager at ClassPass. Previously, Neil has worked on apps at companies like Harry's, Boiler Room, Marks & Spencers, alongside other startups in London, San Francisco, and New York.
ClassPass Inc. is an American company which provides access to different fitness classes such as yoga, strength training, barre, martial arts, pilates, boxing, and indoor cycling classes, as well as use of health clubs via its flat-rate monthly subscription billing service.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Neil to discuss what lessons he has learned during the pandemic and how he has built the systems at ClassPass to allow the business to adapt so quickly and smoothly during this time. We also hear about what we can expect in the future for ClassPass and how Neil has successfully managed and motivated his team during such challenging times.
Anthony Mayer is Vice President of Engineering at Getsafe.
Anthony had previously worked for many start-ups in Silicon Valley, then decided to make the move to rural Germany to help with Getsafe's mission to revolutionize the insurance industry.
Since launching in 2018 in Germany, Getsafe has expanded to the UK and is now looking into further European markets. The company is headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, with a satellite office in London, and employs more than 120 people. It is one of Europe’s best-funded insurtechs, serving over 150,000 customers.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Anthony to discuss what it's actually like living and working in Silicon Valley, and what the catalyst was to move away from that life. We also discussed how Getsafe simplifies the insurance industry using cutting-edge technology, and how Anthony stays productive during long periods of focus.
Check out the Venturi's Voice Podcast on all streaming platforms, with over 500 interviews with leaders in technology, check out the archive here: https://venturi-group.com/podcast/
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Thanks, Ben
Chris Allan is MHFA Instructor, Occupational Health Advisor and Co Host at Mind Games Podcast https://linktr.ee/AskMindGames.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Chris to discuss what businesses can do to support mental health in their workforce, some of the key things organisations can embed into their wellbeing strategy to support employees, some of the most common issues that Chris encounters when advising businesses, and some of the things people can do in general to look after their own mental health.
Write into Mind Games Podcast with your questions for Chris here: askmindgamesuk@gmail.com.
Alex Harman is President of TOCA Social. TOCA Social is the world's first interactive football and dining experience, combining immersive gaming and world class food and drink - bridging the physical and digital worlds together in a way never seen before.
During the Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Alex to discuss what spawned the idea of TOCA Social, what life was like in the early start up stage of the business, the challenges launching a business during a pandemic, and the importance of good UX in the hospitality and leisure industry.
Check out the video podcast here: https://youtu.be/P6cFITpfQgE
Anika Sierk is Lead Data Scientist at Unmind with a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience/Psychology. Unmind is a London-based startup that empowers organisations and employees to measurably improve their mental wellbeing.
Their data science team draws actionable insights and valuable information through the application of data mining techniques, predictive models and other related methods to better understand their users' behaviour, and to drive change and improvements across the platform.
Anika's background lies in research and holds extensive experience in data analysis and statistical inference through conducting research projects in London (UCL), Berlin (Charité), Cologne (Max Planck), and New York (CUNY).
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Anika to discuss Anika's career in data, what it was like moving into a team lead role after just 18 months, imposter syndrome and how to overcome it, and the resources Anika relies on to stay ahead of the curve in the data space.
Javaad Abdul-Rasool is VP of Talent at Habito, a start-up advisor and mentor.
Habito was founded in 2016 with the aim to give people the tools, knowledge and expert support they need to help them buy and finance their homes.
Javaad is currently working in the leadership team at Habito to provide the vision, drive and direction of Habito's talent agenda.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Javaad to discuss how we can keep flying the flag of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, and why it should be important to all of us. As well as how to build on what we already have, and the things we can do to be successful in the DE&I space.
Ken Hunter is an accomplished technology leader with a credible history of success building and transforming state-of-the-art technology systems from conception to completion. Ability to align technology strategy with business needs, vision, and standards. Adept at spearheading top-notch organizations, involving migration to balanced cloud infrastructures, legacy systems modernization, and mobile application strategies execution. He's a transformational technology leader with the ability to build and lead high performing teams across multiple business lines and geographies. Refined communicator; expert in cultivating and strengthening professional relationships with teams, clientele, partners, stakeholders, and management.
In Ken's role as Vice President of Technology at The Michales Companies, he directs development of modern eCommerce marketplace, finished goods third-party retail platform; act as cornerstone for organizational growth. He also acts as Interim Technology Officer to monitor and manage Merchandising and Supply Chain Systems for over $5B company.
During this podcast episode, Ben sat down with Ken to discuss the future of eCommerce and traditional brick and mortar stores, and how we can leverage technology to save traditional retail.
Fast-forwarding the Future of Healthcare @ Livi | George Jones by Venturi Group: CTO, Data, Development, Cyber Security, Business Intelligence, Infrastructure, Cloud
Rachel Murphy is the CEO at Difrent, a professional services partner to ‘tech for good’ organisations delivering business efficiencies by challenging the status quo for tech-enabled business transformation and Difrent has recently been recognised as overall winner of the Leading Healthcare Awards 2021.
Rachel also led the transformation programme of all patient facing, self-care and prevention activities within the Paperless 2020 Programme in the NHS, a £270m digital transformation of all patient-facing services across the NHS.
Rachel has an exceptional record defining and executing strategy at top level to deliver change, improve performance and ensure first-class digital/technology services and solutions for blue-chip organisations across multiple sectors.
During the podcast episode, Ben sat down with Rachel to discuss the motivation to start Difrent, her journey within the NHS to then building and selling Difrent. They also touched upon a new business Rachel is advising which is bringing cutting-edge technology in the fight against COVID 19.
Rhian Atkins is an experienced Data Analytics Business Consultant and has experience in identifying, scoping, and leading large-scale multi-million pound projects that create value by using data more effectively. Rhian has led large teams working across many clients in several sectors including FMCG, gaming, the NHS and the Ministry of Defence. Rhian is also the Co-founder of Women in all things Data, and is currently Client Director in Data & AI at Avanade.
Women in all things Data is a catalyst for positive change, since their beginnings in 2019, they have been driven by the same ideas initially founded their Women Empowerment Non-Profit Organization upon: support, empowerment, and progress.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Rhian to discuss Rhian's Career in Data, how Women in all things Data was founded, what we can expect for the future of their platform and this space and how you can get involved.
Karen Jean-Francois is Analytics Manager at Cardlytics, Women in Data Podcast Host and Producer, Twenty in Data and Technology Awardee 2020.
Whilst studying to be a Maths teacher in 2010, Karen fell in love with Data Science and opted for a career change, switching to an MSc in Applied Statistics studying at Université Paris Sud 11. Eight years later she started working for Cardlytics as a Senior Analyst / Manager. Now, as a woman working in data, Karen has experienced the lack of female role models in the industry and keenly supports Women in Data for the quest to change this.
Cardlytics is an advertising platform in banks' digital channels. They partner with financial institutions to run their banking rewards programs that promote customer loyalty and deepen banking relationships. They have a secure view into where and when consumers are spending their money. They use these insights to help marketers identify, reach, and influence likely buyers at scale, as well as measure the true sales impact of marketing campaigns.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Karen to discuss her interesting route into the world of Data, struggling with imposter syndrome with some advice for how to overcome it, the issues surrounding the Data Science job title, and we hear about what's coming up in Women in Data.
Derek Lee Bronston is Senior Director of Mobile Engineering at Freshly.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Derek to discuss the culture within Freshly, the benefits of choosing a quality over quantity approach in code, and Derek's process-driven development and how this fits into the organisation. Derek moved from an engineering role into a leadership role, and spend a lot of time dealing with systems and processes around how we work as humans, we hear how Derek has tailored his approach when leading large teams to leverage their capabilities.
Freshly is a direct-to-consumer subscription meal company, and is one of the most popular of the prepared meal subscription services.
Angad Salaria is Senior Director of Engineering at QOMPLX - an AI/ML data analytics and risk platform to help clients solve challenges in cybersecurity, insurance & finance. QOMPLX makes it faster and easier for organizations to integrate disparate data sources both inside and outside the enterprise into a unified analytics infrastructure to make better decisions at scale. This broader analytics infrastructure is provided through QOMPLX OS, an enterprise operating system that powers QOMPLX’s decision platforms in cybersecurity, insurance, and quantitative finance. Headquartered in Reston, VA, QOMPLX also has offices in New York and London.
Angad started his career in a multinational technology consulting firm with 120k employees at the time, realising that making moves in this scale of business was difficult, he joined a start-up to become closer to the decision making, therefore enabling to implement ideas at speed. The philosophy that Angad has followed throughout his career is to be a self-starter and always look to solve problems.
Ben sat down with Angad to discuss his career in tech, and to find out how he has navigated that to become a leader in this field. They also discussed some of the most important aspects to consider when becoming a leader and how to empower your team to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Chris Sewell started his career at Just Eat, and after working in Australia for a few months went down the path of being self-employed back in the UK before joining Build Circle, where Chris is now Head of Engineering,
Build Circle is a software engineering consultancy with experience across both e-commerce and financial technology, specialising in high-volume scaled systems.
During this Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Chris to hear how he has navigated his career, with advice for fellow engineers in the industry. They also discussed Data Residency, how Fintech is transforming international payments and what we're likely to see in the future of this space.
Conor Jensen is an experienced Data Science executive with over 15 years working in the analytics space.
He is VP of Data Science for the Americas at Dataiku, helping customers with their biggest and most ambitious AI and Data Science projects. Previously he worked in Customer Success after taking his lumps building out data science teams and platforms at multiple large enterprises. In prior lives, Conor was a Weather Forecaster in the Air Force, a Starbucks Store Manager, an Emergency Management Technician in the Air National Guard, and taught archery and rock climbing. He also earned a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from UIC.
Dataiku is an artificial intelligence and machine learning company which was founded in 2013. In December 2019, Dataiku announced that CapitalG - the late-stage growth venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc. - joined Dataiku as an investor and that it had achieved unicorn status, valued at $1.4 billion.
During the podcast episode, Ben sat down with Conor to discuss building and maintaining data science platforms, especially as MLOps becomes more mature. How Conor structures and builds a data science team, especially at scale, and some of the pitfalls to be aware of when doing so.
Ben Ziomek is CTO at Actuate. Actuate works to mitigate the costs of gun violence. They build firearm detection systems using computer vision software and artificial intelligence, turning any security camera into a smart camera. Their aim is to accelerate security response time and improve safety outcomes during active shooter situations, protect organizations from COVID-19, and help manage buildings more effectively.
Ben is a Forbes 30 Under 30 recognized entrepreneur focused on AI product development and the commercialization of technology globally. With experience across product management, AI/machine learning, sales and marketing tech, M&A, and commercial partnerships. He has led teams of FTEs and contractors distributed across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, and now is CTO at Actuate.
During the podcast, Ben sat down with Ben to discuss hiring in the security industry, selling the business to candidates, empowering engineers, and we discuss why there may be so few AI product companies in the market.
Eric Dreshfield is currently Partner Marketing Manager at ActiveCampaign, his primary responsibility is to drive awareness of ActiveCampaign in the Salesforce ecosystem through various methods including co-marketing with Salesforce, creation of customer success stories, thought-leadership blogging, webinars, etc. He is also responsible for maintaining the company’s listing on the Salesforce AppExchange and representing ActiveCampaign at Salesforce and Salesforce community events.
Eric was first awarded the title of Salesforce Community MVP in Spring, 2013 and has been honored with the title every year through 2019. In 2020 he was named to the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame!
ActiveCampaign is a cloud software platform for small-to-mid-sized businesses and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The company offers software for customer experience automation, which combines email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and CRM categories.
During this podcast episode, Ben sits down with Eric to discuss how Eric has navigated his career and how having built a personal brand has aided this process, we hear advice for others who are looking to make themselves more marketable, with tips and avenues to make this a less daunting process.
Ben and Eric also touch upon the different ways we can raise awareness for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Whilst you're here, check out Eric and Deepa Patel's Podcast: Untold Stories - No Longer Untold, a podcast highlighting the challenges and successes of many diverse individuals so that others will have hope for the future and so their stories will no longer be untold.
Dr. Judith Beyrle is Head of Analytics at Cheil Germany GmbH with a background in media research and sociology.
Cheil is one of the world’s leading marketing solutions companies. Established in 1973 with headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Cheil's thousands of global employees create ideas that move brands, products and people from its 44 offices and 7 affiliates in 37 countries. Cheil delivers innovative communications strategies that drive business results through full-service advertising capabilities and beyond, with specialties in shopper marketing, experiential retail design, PR, sports marketing, and special events. Cheil's creativity is world-renowned, as the network is highly awarded by international festivals including Cannes Lions, CLIO, Spikes Asia, Dubai Lynx, AdFest and Effie Awards.
Dr. Judith has led a very interesting career in data, having always had a deep interest in analytics, she has followed her ambitions to navigate her career successfully to become the Head of Analytics at Cheil GmbH.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Dr. Judith to discuss her career in data, the often overlooked hard and soft skills required to have a successful career in data, and how to look at data objectively without unconscious bias.
Joeseph Allen is a Manchester-based Data Scientist and Front-end Developer. Joe currently works as a Research Associate at the UK Data Service, the UK's largest collection of social and economic data. The UK Data Service is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to meet the data needs of researchers, students and teachers from all sectors, including academia, central and local government, charities and foundations, independent research centres, think tanks, and business consultants and the commercial sector. The UK Data Service collection includes major UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys, longitudinal studies, UK census data, international aggregate, business data, and qualitative data.
In his spare time, Joe organises PyDataMCR, teaches mathematics amongst many other sidelines. He also writes blog posts about agile working, recruitment and more.
During the podcast episode, Ben sits down with Joe to discuss how Joe has navigated his career, the pitfalls of job searching in the data science industry and how to stand out from the crowd when applying to roles.
Michael Hamrah has more than fifteen years of software engineering expertise across a variety of languages and platforms. Experienced leader helping individuals, teams, and companies grow, delivering sustainable value through impactful technology.
Michael is hands-on with AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, databases/streaming platforms, and CI/CD/PD pipelines. Extensive product delivery with rich web and mobile experiences. Focus on security and operational efficiency. Strong preference for statically-typed languages and automation. At Bluecore, Michael and his team oversee Bluecore's Platform and Infrastructure (PI) teams. They maintain multiple Kubernetes clusters, Datastore, BigQuery, PubSub, network and several other systems running on GCP managed with Terraform, and support 100's of millions of events per day and hundreds/terabytes of data with an event-driven, microservice-based architecture.
Bluecore is a marketing technology company that’s reimagining the way retailers communicate with shoppers. Working with the world’s fastest-growing retail brands, Bluecore intelligently connects casual shoppers to the products that transform them into lifetime customers.
During the Podcast episode, Ben sits down with Michael to discuss how people in tech tend to view their careers and what you can do differently to maximize the chance of success. And what managers can do to help their team on their career journey.
Ben Simonds is Head of Analytics at Contino, with responsibility for internal analytics and reporting as well as consulting with clients on BI, Analytics, and Cloud FinOps engagements. Contino is a leading transformation consultancy that helps large, heavily-regulated enterprises to become fast, agile and competitive.
Ben has an incredibly interesting career path, starting out his journey by setting up his own successful 3D animation studio (Gecko Animation) and then moving into the world of Analytics.
During the podcast episode, Ben discusses the correlation between data analytics and 3D animation, as well as the often overlooked hard and soft skills required to be successful in data.
Jennifer Agnes is Managing Director at Cynozure, a people-led data and analytics strategy consultancy, that creates data-guided organisations.
Jennifer is a strategically focused and execution-biased senior executive with extensive global experience in increasing business value through comprehensive data, analytics, and team transformation strategies. Known for designing and delivering business solutions with a pragmatic, hands-on approach to meet strategic goals of the customer and company, provide value to shareholders, and ensure employee success.
During the podcast episode, Ben sat down with Jennifer to discuss all things Data; What is 'good' Data? Is Data more important than code? and how to look into Data objectively, and how to extract the true value of Data to maximize its potential for your business.
Thanks again to Jennifer for taking the time to come on the show and providing such a brilliant conversation.
Ian Venner is CTO and Co-Founder of Hurricane Modular Commerce.
Ian is a highly analytical, technically savvy C-level exec and consultant with extensive experience in delivering best-in-class, cutting-edge solutions to clients from diverse industries. He is passionate about technology, about defining, implementing and managing solutions that offer immediate value and also support business growth, both organic and planned. What drives and inspires Ian is designing bespoke solution architecture that meets exact requirements within operational and financial constraints.
Through Ian's career, he has worked with industry leaders from media, financial services and the telecoms sectors, providing high-quality solutions such as application architecture, mobile technology and more traditional system solutions that have spearheaded the implementation of technologies. He has worked on projects such as the launch of Samsung’s Media Hub platform in the US, the first system to globally utilise the Ultraviolet/DECE model.
With strong commercial acumen and entrepreneurial vision, Ian is a confident operational and business lead, making a positive contribution to the development of wider corporate strategies that realise revenue, reputation and sustainable success in the field.
Hurricane Commerce is the data partner for postal operators, online retailers, eCommerce platforms and carriers. Nothing moves without the right data and increasing global regulation is providing huge challenges to those involved in cross-border eCommerce trade.
During the podcast episode, Ben sat down with Ian to discuss left-field thinking, unconstrained design, and letting innovation drive technology.
Vincent Gratrick is responsible for the strategic and operational use of Digital and Technology at one of the most well-known and loved UK charities.
Vincent is a highly driven, accomplished and articulate Senior Leader, with an in-depth understanding of the strategic and operational requirements of a Digital and technology function. Experience in running global projects, high availability systems and teams to deliver a service orientated function. Proven ability to translate business requirements into practical, imaginative and highly effective IT solutions with experience in managing senior internal/external stakeholder relationships. Renowned as a forward-thinking strategist and creative problem solver with a consistent history of organisational success and the support to accelerate a variety of business objectives. Continually exhibit a pragmatic and entrepreneurial leadership style to improve poor performing and misaligned teams and revitalized and realigned them to become business partners improving employee engagement and investment in IT as a digital transformation agent.
David Lewanda is Director of Mobile Engineering at Major League Baseball, an experienced technology leader working hard to develop world-class solutions. David has worked productively in a variety of different industries, from the Department of Defense to television broadcast and consumer electronics, while also thriving in many different environments from early-stage startups to large multinational corporations. His number one goal has always been to deliver high-quality products while staying on schedule and within budget.
During the Podcast, Ben and David discuss David's interesting route into technology, as well as the challenges that David has faced when hiring mobile engineers to work on streaming platforms. With the benefit of hiring distributed teams, managers can access a pool of applicants that is far greater than if hiring locally. We speak about how David has successfully led these distributed teams and how working life has been affected by the pandemic.
James Cross is a Big Data Engineer and certified AWS Solutions Architect with a passion for data-driven applications. He has spent the last decade helping his clients to design and implement huge scale streaming Big Data platforms, Cloud-based analytics stacks, and serverless architectures.
James started his professional career in Investment Banking, working with well-established technologies such as Java and SQL Server, before moving into the Big Data space. Since then he has worked with a huge range of Big Data tools including most of the Hadoop eco-system, Spark and many No-SQL technologies such as Cassandra, MongoDB, Redis and DynamoDB.
More recently his focus has been on Cloud technologies and how they can be applied to data analytics, culminating in his work at Scout Solutions as CTO, and more recently with companies including Mckinsey, HSBC and Shell.
Colibri Ltd. is a technology consultancy company founded in 2013 by James Cross. The company works to help its clients navigate the rapidly changing and complex world of emerging technologies, with deep expertise in areas such as Big Data, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing. Over the past few years, they have worked with some of the world's largest and most prestigious companies, including a tier 1 investment bank, a leading management consultancy group, and one of the world's most popular soft drinks companies, helping each of them to better make sense of their data and process it in more intelligent ways.
During this podcast episode, Ben and James discuss what DataOps exactly is, and why we need it - how to implement a DataOps strategy into your business and some of the pitfalls to be aware of when doing so, and the benefits DataOps can bring to your business.
Ben sat down with Lakuan Smith, who is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager at Justworks. Lakuan's motivation for taking this career path stems from personal discriminatory experiences in his life, job hunting and work environments, finding the need to change this - Lakuan delved into DE&I and realised that he could make a real difference within this role.
Justworks is the fastest-growing HR technology company in the US. They provide small- and medium-sized businesses access to big-company benefits, automated payroll, HR tools, and compliance support — all in one place. They do this by combining the power of a Professional Employer Organization with expert 24/7 support and a simple and friendly online platform. Their customers work across all 50 U.S. states in a variety of industries.
Stories from professional leading women in tech discussing the benefits of diversity in the industry as well as Covid's impact on the topic.
As we continuously challenge gender inequality at Venturi, we were joined by prominent industry leaders for International Women’s Day to share how they have built remarkable careers; their respective journeys to now and emphasise the importance of championing an industry with more equal opportunities.
Listen back to our live round-table with four professional women in leadership roles within the tech industry, as they share their experiences, knowledge and offer advice in order to prioritize D&I. Collectively, they have created their careers from varying backgrounds in the industry and unanimously have one common goal: to keep discussing and pushing for diversity, to bring the gap together and engage other professionals in the industry, making this a comfortable, common topic in the workplace.
Introducing your roundtable guests:
Anna Chalon– Sr. Director of Talent and DE&I @ Frame.IO - After relocating from France, Anna fell in love with Recruitment and has forged a career as a passionate DE&I Advocate giving back to the community whilst scaling a growing series C startup
Daljeet Kukreja– Director of Engineering @ Walmart Global Tech – Former IBM leader after relocating to the US from India, Daljeet built her career with two prolific technology companies and is growing a team throughout a pandemic
Neetu Rajpal – VP of Engineering @ Oscar Health - Former CTO at Conductor, Neetu is now leading one of New York’s leading fastest growing healthcare startups with a huge engineering team
With Host: Ciara McCarry - Head of Back End Technology @ Venturi Ltd - Ciara is a leading advocate for D&I and will be hosting the roundtable
Akshay Sheth is Vice President, Director of Engineering at FactSet. Akshay has incubated FactSet's API program in 2017 which shaped the company's product, technology and go-to-market strategy for public APIs. He has built an engineering and product team within Analytics and Trading group to deliver first set of public APIs leading to a revenue increase of $3M+. The program has now expanded to other parts of the company and has positioned FactSet as an open and flexible technology provider to the investment community.
During this podcast episode, we covered new technologies and how to decipher what new technology and tools are right for your business to get the best end solution. We also discussed Akshay's journey into technology, and advice for people looking to take a similar career path- making the most of opportunities that are handed to you, and when presented with a challenge - how to react and take it head-on to further your career.
Culture Shift helps businesses and universities to assist their staff, students and teachers to report workplace harassment on their anonymous reporting tool. Culture Shift is the epitome of tech for good, making real, positive changes to people's lives, by building products that empower organisations to tackle harassment and bullying.
The software is designed to empower those who are reluctant to report wrongdoing, by removing barriers to reporting, and ensuring they have a secure and confidential platform in which to do so. The software also allows victims or witnesses of harassment to access support for what they’ve experienced as well as giving organisations oversight of any worrying trends, helping them to tackle them.
As well as providing a confidential platform for reporting bullying and harassment, the software allows businesses to analyze data to identify trends that mean they can take appropriate action. They can monitor any worrying behaviour and intervene early with communications or specific training. This helps businesses to better support their employees, which in turn reduces the cost of workplace bullying-based absenteeism, staff turnover and whistleblowing related costs.
In the first half of the podcast, I sat down with Gemma McCall, CEO of Culture Shift to discuss the story behind the business and their mission to tackle harassment and bullying. In the second half of the podcast, I caught up with Chris Northwood, Head of Development, and Co-Founder and CTO Carl Sadd to talk about the technical side of the business, and their plans to scale Culture Shift in the months and years to come.
Sean McSharry is Head of UX at DXC Technology.
Sean has a strong background in user experience, technology, business and leadership, working across many sectors, roles and countries. He has studied and worked consciously to glean the best approaches and methodologies from the best people from role to role, industry to industry, studying hard to be a better UX architect, technologist and leader at every step, leading to many successful senior roles.
Sean is also a published author for Apress on programming-based books and a public speaker on UX, and has run and presented at a number of user groups.
During this podcast episode, we spoke about Neurodiversity in technology and UX, and the advantages of the alignment of UX and Autism, as well as Sean's experience in the industry after being diagnosed with Autism part way through his career.
Whilst you're here, check out Sean's UX Sanctuary meetup group here: https://www.meetup.com/UX-Sanctuary/ andThe UX Sanctuary website here: https://uxsanctuary.wixsite.com/home.
The UX Sanctuary was set up to be a global UX group for UX professionals, those who want to be UX professionals, project leaders, project teams and business leaders who want to understand and leverage UX.
Andrew's career journey started after graduating from a Computer Science degree, moving straight into a junior software development role with an IT Consultancy. Throughout his career, Andrew has been lucky enough to work as firstly a software developer, but then later as an Enterprise Technical Architect on many leading edge projects for "blue chip" organisations.
Andrew's experience in IT ranges across primarily banking, finance, insurance and telecommunications industries, while also incorporating projects with a number of disruptive SMEs.
More recently he has acted as CTO and Managing Director for FinTech disruptive start-ups and have provided CTO consultancy services to a select number of financial institutions.
Andrew is one of three founding members of RTGS Limited, owner and operator of the RTGS.global cross-border liquidity network. As CTO, his role is to design and build out the RTGS.global platform, network and its capabilities. This includes their unique and patent pending liquidity lock and block capabilities.
Previous to this he was Head of CBX at ClearBank, focussing on delivering innovation for ClearBanks Banking-as-a-Service proposition.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about his new venture RTGS.global, some of the tech challenges when building ClearBank, including gaining the trust of the customers, especially when deciding to build the business in the cloud back in 2015.
Lorin Gresser is CEO of Dem Dx, an award-winning AI healthcare company based in London. The company’s CE certified clinical diagnostic platform, developed in consultation with over 200 medical experts, enables frontline practitioners to diagnose, identify necessary tests and present recommendations for further care before the patient sees a doctor.
As a mature medical student, Lorin struggled to link the theoretical teaching from her textbooks and lectures to the actual patients she saw in clinic or on the wards. Their founding principle remains to better connect healthcare workers to the high-quality medical information that they require.
The Dem Dx platform is 22% more accurate than Harvard-trained junior doctors, delivers 85% accuracy at first diagnosis, and reduces time to diagnose by 40%.
During this podcast episode, we spoke about some of the amazing and innovative advancements of AI and healthcare, with Dem Dx positioning itself ahead of the curve. We also spoke about Lorin's leap into technology after her career in healthcare.
I sat down with Maximilian Nierhoff, Head of Business Intelligence at Fashionette AG and Ann-Christin Werner, Business Intelligence Analyst at Fashionette AG, to find out the development of the business, how they have recently made the whole company data-driven, some of the benefits of this and how they have created an assistance framework for self-service analytics.
Fashionette AG operates an online retail store. The Company offers fashion accessories such as designer bags, shoes, and accessories, as well as sunglasses, watches, and jewelry. It's now the leading online store for designer handbags in Germany, since its foundation in 2008.
Showtimes
0:55 - What Fashionette is, and how they fit into the world of technology.
2:05 - An introduction to Maximilian and Ann-Christin.
8:22 - The utilization of data to grow a business and some of the methods to implement this.
10:14 - What self-service analytics means at Fashionette, and why they have considered self-service analytics to be one of the most important building blocks to becoming a data-driven company.
12:55 - Defining data sets and their content, and then providing these data sets.
14:00 - How they have built meaningful and widely useable data sets.
19:40 - The insight into the assistance framework at Fashionette.
22:00 - The feedback of the real-use of the framework within the business.
Matt Craggs is Head of Operations at Floom.
Floom is a curated online floristry website that offers quality and beautiful bouquets from a curated selection of independent florists, delivered same-day.
Their hand-selected independent florists create unique floral arrangements that they have designed and uploaded to the Floom website themselves. Floom makes those products accessible by providing an alternative to traditional retail and offering their partner an eCommerce channel. Customers type in a delivery postcode, and select a bespoke bouquet to send in a matter of clicks.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about the inner workings of the business, the fluctuating popularity around the seasonal time of the year, and how Matt and his team prepare for the dramatic increase in demand.
We also spoke about burnout, mental health exhaustion, and the pressure to meet certain demands in some industries that Matt has previously experienced in other roles. Touching upon how is best to avoid burnout and advice for anyone who has reached the point of burnout.
Harmeet Dhingra is VP of Product Engineering at Cylera, and the creator of Help Me Vote App.
Cylera is to protect healthcare organisations and their patients from those who wish to do them harm. Enabled by breakthrough technology, they take a patient-centric approach to defend and optimize all of the devices that healthcare providers rely on to provide care including medical devices, operational technology, and enterprise IoT.
Help Me Vote App spawned from Harmeet's personal difficulties making informed decisions at the ballot box. Help Me Vote is an automated voting assistant to keep you updated and informed about elections.
During the podcast, we spoke about the most important and often overlooked aspects of becoming a successful Engineer, based on Harmeet's personal success in the industry.
Showtimes 0:45 - Harmeet's career history in Engineering.
2:00 - The background and idea behind Harmeet's Help Me Vote App.
7:32 - Changing the perceptions of the relationship between healthcare and technology.
11:22 - Keeping up with developments to create security and prevent destruction.
13:13 - What Harmeet looks for when hiring and taking on new team members.
17:50 - How Harmeet has developed his personal management and leadership style.
25:50 - The less common linear path of education in technology.
31:00 - The future of Cylera.
33:20 - Words of advice to employers and job seekers based on Harmeet's success in the industry.
Nina Monckton is Head of Data Strategy, Advancing Analytics & Data Science at AXA Health.
Managing the Data and Analytics overarching strategy for AXA PPP healthcare and its customers by responding to opportunities using creativity, innovation, leadership and communication expertise to bring new strategies to life. A recognised thought leader in the delivery of successful big data analytics. Creates, leads, motivates and manages large technical teams.
Nina was winner of the 2019 Women in IT Awards Transformation Leader for the delivery of a cloud EDW and online analytics platform for 2,000 external B2B users. Selected for Digital Leaders 100 in 2018 and an Oracle advanced data analytics and cloud analytics reference site. Responsible for creating a data lab that has identified £1.1 billion of potential savings and is helping to support better care for NHS patients.
Arthur Frankel is the founder of Solution Street and has over 25 years of professional experience solving tough business problems.
His career has spanned the many changes in technology from large mainframe systems to PCs to client/server to web applications. Over the years he has worked with some of the largest and complex enterprise-wide systems for financial and telecommunications companies. Arthur was a Senior Principal for American Management Systems, Inc, and a Director of Software Engineering for FolioFn before starting Solution Street in 2002.
Solution Street is a software engineering firm based in Herndon VA, that builds custom, web, mobile, and cloud systems and software for other businesses spanning a wide variety of different industries.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about what it's like to build a company from the ground, and turning a passion into a long-lasting successful business.
Showtimes
0:50 - The service Solution Street provides.
2:00 - How Arthur keeps up with the speed of developments in the tech industry.
3:28 - The importance of finding the right people to join your business.
6:57 - The digital transformation projects Solution Street has set in place.
8:53 - The supportive, family-like culture at Solution Street.
10:36 - Maintaining a company culture whilst working remotely.
12:00 - What the company was like in the early stages of the business and learning how to run a company.
15:57 - The pitfalls to be aware of when starting a new business from the ground.
19:32 - The key things to look for in an I.T. vendor.
23:05 - Specifying your skillset in the tech industry.
27:13 - The greatest technical advancement of the past decade.
Ben sat down with Thomson Staff & Heather Staff, the Co-Founders of Street Group, to discuss leading through innovation and the development of their new industry-dominating technology.
Street Group is the new name for Agent Software, the team behind Spectre & Hello Again, and their brand new product Street.co.uk. Their mission is to elevate how agents and their clients manage the process of moving home.
Street Group have three products, with one goal: To provide a seamless customer experience at every stage of their journey, enabling estate agents to achieve more by doing less using their automatic, personalised and highly targeted software.
Spectre Sales is the UK’s No.1 instruction generation tool and has generated over £12 billion of property instructions since its inception in 2015. Spectre helps agents increase market share whilst saving time via automation.
Spectre Lettings is the market leading solution for agent’s wishing to grow their lettings portfolio. Identify and automate communication with landlords when they are most likely to be considering a change of agent, such as before upcoming tenancy renewals.
Street.co.uk, blending world-class technology with the expertise of your local agent. Coming Soon.
During the Podcast episode, they discussed the benefits of growing up in the industry, the thought process behind their innovative products, the importance of finding and hiring the best talent to join your business, and how to keep these individuals happy and motivated once you’ve successfully found them.
Showtimes
0:33 – Thomson & Heather’s deep understanding of the industry.
1:44 – Heather & Thomson’s route into the industry.
2:32 – How Spectre is changing the landscape of Estate Agency.
5:19 – A background of Street.co.uk.
8:30 – The technological revolution of Estate Agency.
13:01 – How the first version of Spectre was born.
16:28 – The importance of finding the right people to join the business.
20:52 – Keeping a collaborative culture in the business.
23:03 – The interview process, and how this is imperative to hiring decisions.
27:44 – How Street Group has continued to thrive in such a difficult time during a pandemic.
Chris has over 14 years’ experience within the Banking and Financial Services sector, working in key roles at Berenberg Bank and Fitch Ratings. As Head of Digital Transformation at Berenberg, Chris operates across the full product lifecycle, establishing agile and continuous improvement environments and leads onshore and offshore development teams to achieve on-time delivery of projects.
Established in 1590, Berenberg is one of the oldest banks in the world, with its Head Office in Hamburg, Germany, and with a strong presence in the financial centres of London, Frankfurt and New York, it is one of Europe’s leading privately-owned banks. 1,600 employees carry the Bank’s long tradition of success into the future. Through its business divisions of Investmentbank and Corporate Banking, Wealth and Asset Management, Berenberg is able to offer a broad range of services into corporations, investment institutions and private individuals.
Berenberg has a strong reputation based on first-class performance, and although the company has a long history it remains entrepreneurial in its approach. A combination of the meritocratic culture and flat hierarchy enables talent to flourish and progress at Berenberg.
Showtimes
0:30 - An insight into Berenberg and Chris' role.
3:02 - The sheer quantity of data involved, and providing that data to clients.
3:30 - Chris's 15 years in the industry and progression throughout his career.
6:41 - The graduate intake at Berenberg and why it's such a great place to start your career.
9:50 - How Chris has developed his managerial style.
15:50 - The expectations of new employees in the banking industry.
21:00 - The biggest most recent technological changes in the banking industry.
24:40 - Focussing on the problem, not on the tech.
27:00 - Chris' advice and take home comments for people coming into the industry.
Seán Óg is Chief Technology Officer - Digital Savings at Investec, an experienced technology leader who understands what it takes to build high performing teams. He has cultivated a career largely based in the financial services industry, and began his career as a software engineer and has also built a successful start-up within a corporate environment.
Investec is an international banking and wealth management group providing a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific. They bring an out of the ordinary approach to creating and managing wealth. Founded in South Africa as a small finance company, today they offer clients our services as a global bank and asset management group.
During this Podcast episode, Seán Óg gives us insight into his career journey in technology, the mammoth challenge Investec has taken on in the last 12 months in going cloud-native, and how the organisation has responded to the challenges of 2020.
Showtimes
0:55 - What is Investec and Sean's career journey into tech.
2:40 - How to accelerate your career with a 'work anywhere' mentality.
3:20 - The decision to move cloud-native at Investec.
9:33 - The risk to not make big changes and moving with the times.
10:10 - Some of the pitfalls when moving to cloud-native.
14:00 - New technologies used at Investec.
20:04 - Technical debt and onboarding.
24:50 - Sean's go-to resources and strategy when taking on new challenges.
29:13 - Breaking into the tech industry.
30:57 - Advice for people starting out in a tech career.
31:40 - Imposter syndrome.
Rakhee Gupta is Technical Recruiting Manager at SeatGeek, overseeing all technical recruiting across Engineering and Product in NYC and Israel.
SeatGeek is a mobile-focused ticket platform that enables users to buy and sell tickets for live sports, concerts and theatre events. SeatGeek allows both mobile app and desktop users to browse events, view interactive color-coded seatmaps, complete purchases, and receive electronic or print tickets.
Rakhee’s team has aggressive hiring goals across the company, especially in research and development. The company also has a plan to continue its focus on diversity and inclusion in its hiring efforts.
During the podcast, we spoke about remotely recruiting and onboarding and what that process looks like to provide the best candidate experience. As well as hiring for diversity, some of the best ways to do this and the benefits of attracting diverse talent into your business.
Thiago Ghisi is an Engineering Director based in New York City.
He has 15+ years of experience in Software Development, passing in corporations and startups in Brazil and the US, working as a Software Engineer, QA, Product Manager, Consultant across a wide variety of domains and technologies, and more recently as Engineering Manager in the Mobile Space.
In 2007, he stumbled upon Extreme Programming and since then has focused on learning, applying, and sharing processes and practices of Agile & Lean. Thiago is fascinated by creating environments where cross-functional teams can innovate and consistently deliver valuable, high-quality software reliably using solid engineering practices.
Ultimate Career Vision: Finding Practical, Cutting-Edge Applications for Abstract Innovative Ideas through Data Analysis and Collaboration with Diverse Open-Minded Teams. A mix of creativity & innovation & incremental improvement with efficiency & productivity.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about how Thiago has navigated his career in tech, what it looks like to have a strong career in tech, how to level up in your career and continue to progress in the industry. As well as pitfalls to look out for and advice from Thiago.
Hasani Jess is the UK Chief Technology Officer at Simply Business, responsible for the InsureTechs technology vision. His wide ranging expertise and forward-thinking approach enables him to devise and execute ambitious long-term technology strategies.
A recognized technology thought-leader, Hasani has operated in multiple domains spanning two decades including telecoms, government, finance, healthcare and retail. In 2019 he was recognized as one of the top business leaders in technology and was named in the CIO 100 list, an annual recognition of the UK’s technology leadership community.
Hasani received his Bachelors of Eng in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from Aston University in Birmingham, UK.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about Hasani's impressive and vast tech career journey. Carving a career in tech now - during a time of recent growth and adjustments within the industry, is different from ever before, we hear Hasani's thoughts and advice on this. We also spoke about how to build a high-performing, successful team, and some of the most important aspects to take into consideration.
Alexandru Toea is Lead Front End Developer at Yobota.
Yobota's core banking platform allows established, and challenger financial institutions to launch innovative products in a fast and reliable way. Their mission is about creating the future standard of financial technology. The Yobota Platform allows established and challenger financial institutions to create innovative, user-centric financial products, and run them from origination and through the life of the account. Yobota's platform is proven on multi-million pound portfolios and runs some of the most innovative products in the UK market.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about how Alexandru and his team at Yobota are using modern technologies to speed up and improve workflows in more "traditional" industries such as banking, and the importance of constantly be improving your software with the end-user in mind, along with advice for people who are on a similar mission.
Martin Reible is Interim Lead - Data & Insights Team at Oetker Digital. Helping to enable and shape data product development for Oetker Group companies, Oetker Digital & its ventures. Martin is currently leading Oetker Digital's Data and Analytics & Optimization teams. Aspiring to create & foster a team environment that is characterized by autonomy, trust & true ownership.
Valon Buxhovi is Business Intelligence Manager at Oetker Digital GmbH, driving business towards efficiency, sustainability and growth. Valon is constantly looking forward to progress business intelligence, providing insights that guide the business ahead of the curve.
Oetker Digital combines the Oetker Group's traditions with new digital concepts, innovations and business models. To name but a few, they support established brands such as Dr. Oetker, Henkell, Coppenrath & Wiese and Radeberger, as well as Oetker Collection hotels. Together they develop ideas for consumers of the Oetker Group's products in everyday life.
Oetker digital are currently hiring (Senior) Digital Analysts, Tracking & Implementation Specialists (GTM, GA, Google Cloud Platform stack etc.) & a Senior Data Engineer.
Miguel Alvarez is Global CTO at AnalogFolk.
AnalogFolk is a global digital creative agency, independently owned since 2008. Their mission is to use digital technology to make the analog world better – creating more intuitive customer journeys, enabling more customer-led uses of data, integrating seamless tech and building breakthrough campaigns. Winner of Campaign’s Global Digital Innovation Agency of the Year 2019.
As CTO, Miguel is responsible for leading the AnalogFolk Global technology capability and overseeing the specialist teams across technical services. These include Research and Development, BAU and Technical Solution Delivery, Brand Innovation and Brand Acceleration. Leading the technology output and direction for the agency and its clients.
As an Ambassador for Essential Costa Rica, Miguel promotes progression of the field of technology and builds bridges with other countries and brands. Recognised as one of the most successful graduates from Central America by Estrategia&Negocious magazine (the region’s leading business and strategy publication), Miguel has shaped and inspired emerging market startups in Costa Rica.
From both a business and innovation point of view, he is a very influential leader and continually goes out of his way to educate and inspire those around him, aiding a bright future for the digital industry.
During the podcast, we spoke about the cultural difference of technology in different continents, and how to adapt to these different environments to ensure success and further your career in the tech industry. We also spoke about industry concerns and how to overcome them, as well as Miguel's secret tips to stay productive for long periods of time.
Showtimes
0:55 - An insight into AnalogFolk and Miguel's role as Global CTO.
5:10 - Building trust in your team and organisation.
7:15 - Miguel's mentor, and thoughts on mentorship to progress your career.
16:40 - The culture shock when moving from Costa Rica to London, and the catalyst for this decision to move to London.
25:00 - Advice for people who are looking to try different cultures and move around the world working in technology.
35:28 - How Miguel stays productive for long periods of time.
41:00 - Becoming the smartest version of yourself.
Robert Hook is Managing Partner of Leap Beyond Analytics, and is a software engineer with over 30 years of experience in a broad range of industries, and with a very broad skill set. His passion is creating robust, high-performance software, with a desire to create the right solution first time, every time. He is particularly excited by and interested in the problems involved in extracting knowledge from large volumes of data, and in building complex, high availability, high-performance server-side software.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about all things Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. As well as the future of the industry, the problems that occur when depending on Machine Learning to make human decisions, and the common misconception with BI and Data Science.
Showtimes:
1:00 - A history of Leap Beyond Analytics and Robert's role there.
5:55 - The common misconception with BI and Data Science.
11:50 - The definition of data-centric architecture and development and what that means.
18:20 - The data quality and governance aspect of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
23:30 - The options available when your data isn't clean and useable.
25:30 - Data is as important as code, treat data as an identifiable asset.
31:00 - The catalyst for the use of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
37:00 - Problems that occur when depending on ML to make human decisions.
40:45 - Where we can see the future of AI and ML in 5 to 10 years' time.
47:56 - Where Robert finds inspiration to keep on top of the data movements.
Sam Williams is Serverless AWS Solution Architect and Consultant | Developer Training at CompleteCoding.io.
Complete Coding has years of experience taking projects from idea, through design and build, to deployment. They utilise Serverless and AWS to remove the barriers and deliver results faster.
Sam previously worked at Mission Labs as Lead Software Engineer before making the move to Complete Coding, which has grown from a log of Sam's journey into software development, to a thriving YouTube channel, online course platform and Serverless AWS Consultancy. Complete Coding creates content to help developers make that step up to full stack developer.
During the podcast, we spoke about everything software and careers. We talked about how Sam became a self-taught software developer from Aerospace engineering and what that change looked like. After that, we talked about how who is already in a software developer role can progress their career by planning and optimising the content that they're learning.
Sam's journey and progression in the industry is awe-inspiring, if you're looking to take the next step in your software career, If you want to learn about AWS and cloud computing, want to learn how to build powerful features and become a better developer - check out the Complete Coding YouTube channel for regular tutorials and insightful content from Sam himself!
Showtimes
0:55 - An insight into Mission Labs, and where they fit into the world of tech.
7:19 - Sam's Self-taught and alternative route into the software and computer science industry.
9:14 - The resources Sam used to learn about the industry and progress.
10:00 - CompleteCoding.io and how Sam is creating useful content to give back to the community.
14:28 - What Sam looks for when hiring and taking on new staff.
19:12 - The cheapest investment Sam has made in his career that's resulted in the highest return of investment.
29:02 - The correlation between rock climbing and coding.
Is Leadership Learned or Innate?
We sat down with Amit Patel, who is an Experienced Technology Leader with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Currently working as Director of Technology Design and Engineering at The British Heart Foundation.
During the podcast, we spoke about Amit's career history up to this point, how Amit has developed his own leadership style, best leadership practices, pitfalls to be aware of, and advice for anyone who's taking on the new challenge of becoming a leader.
Showtimes: 0:55 - An insight into The British Heart Foundation and Amit's role there.
4:06 - Amit's route into Technology and career history and journey to becoming Director of Technology Design and Engineering.
16:00 - Is an aspect of good management knowing when to step back?
21:00 - Being authentic as a manager and leader.
22:57 - The importance of having fun with your team as a leader.
23:55 - How to keep a team motivated and supporting your workforce during the pandemic.
28:20 - What's the most important aspect of good leadership?
29:00 - The difference between leadership and management.
34:29 - What Amit's go-to resources to learn about leadership are.
36:30 - The best advice Amit has learned on his career journey.
Founded by entrepreneur Lydia Jones in 2018, Housemates is both a marketplace and SaaS solution which allows students around the world book accommodation fast, secure and 100% online.
Housemates enable global PBSA operators to convert students into bookings across all acquisition channels without the associated cost. Lydia's team has helped revolutionise multiple sectors for challenger brands such as Starling Bank and VibePay, along with those who have worked for established companies and governing bodies such as DEPT, Spareroom, the International Department of Trade and overseas student requirement specialists.
Founded in December 2018, Housemates has already been listed at No. 14 in The Top 20 Startups to Work for in 2021 in Manchester. Housemates is a truly inspiring business, and we can't wait to follow its journey in the tech industry.
During the podcast, we spoke about how Lydia has scaled the business so quickly to where it is today, how Lydia creates job fulfillment whilst challenging and supporting her team as well as how to personally stay productive and never lose sight of the end goal.
Showtimes
0:45 - The amazing achievement and rapid scale of Housemates.
2:30 - Lydia's history and involvement in the tech industry.
5:40 - The forward-thinking frictionless scale at Housemates.
8:29 - Challenging and supporting employees to create job fulfillment.
13:56 - What Lydia's go-to resources are to continue to learn about the industry and management.
19:05 - The importance of maintaining a transparent relationship with shareholders.
23:08 - Where and how to find the perfect investors for your business.
27:10 - Lydia's concerns about the industry.
33:30 - How to deal with the growing pressure as the business scales.
37:30 - The biggest challenge Lydia has found on her journey.
Chris Grice is an Engineering Manager within the Order and Fulfil team at Sainsbury's Tech.
Previous to Sainsbury's, Chris has worked in 3rd sector organisations, web agencies, radio, and now retail.
During the podcast episode, we spoke about the logistics involved with planning an infrastructure with so many moving parts, the technology involved with staying ahead of the curve in one of the largest chain of supermarkets in the UK. As the business is ever-scaling, how does the tech team at Sainsbury's keep up with developments and changes in the technology world, to ensure the business is always progressing to meet consumer needs and demands, which is especially challenging during remote working and a pandemic.
Chris also volunteers at a local Code Club, and has worked with local schools and LEAs to help bridge the digital skills gap in Greater Manchester, and also runs a local Meetup group around GraphQL in Manchester, with speakers from organisations such as the BBC, Hasura, and Moonpig.
Showtimes
0:55 - Chris's role as an Engineering Manager at Sainsbury's
1:34 - How the logistics of the business has changed in recent years to keep up with consumer demands
2:40 - Chris's personal career history and journey into retail
5:27 - The dramatic acceleration of scale during the pandemic
6:24 - Remote working and the experimentation when implementing it into the business
9:30 - How tech and digital works in a 150-year-old organisation
10:40 - Experimenting with new tech to stay ahead of the curve
15:03 - Chris's involvement with digital education
17:41 - Raising awareness of what a career in tech actually is
19:43 - Future-proofing the tech industry
22:14 - Advice for people looking to get into the tech industry
Currently, Jared Sheehan leads a dynamic Mobile Software Engineering organization for the Capital One Credit Card Line of Business. He is accountable for the delivery of 20+ teams supporting the Capital One flagship mobile applications (iOS / Android / Cloud).
Additionally, Jared is an organizer / founder of 6 DC area meetups, multiple conferences (DevFestDC and Android Summit) and an extensive history of supporting the startup ecosystem through membership to several advisory boards.
Joni Pepin is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and spent 22 years in a variety of combat arms and combat service support positions before transitioning to the commercial tech space. He served as a communications officer specializing in designing and operating large-scale tactical networks before joining the U.S. Naval Academy as a military professor in the Dept of Computer Science.
Joni now leads teams of mobile engineers in the development of Capital One's flagship apps used by over 22 million people. Joni is also an avid member of the developer community and organizes the DC Android, DC Flutter and DC Kotlin Meetups.
During the podcast, we spoke about building and maintaining a startup community, the increasing importance of this, and creating a supportive ecosystem.
Jared and Joni run many tech meetups, be sure to check out devcommunity.org to get involved and see what's coming up!
Kevin Jolly is Head of Data and Advanced Analytics at Wunderflats, a Data-driven strategist, leader & author based in Berlin, Germany.
As a member of senior leadership, Kevin leads the data & advanced analytics practice & design data-driven / Machine Learning solutions for Germany's leading marketplace platform for furnished homes.
"The world creates data at an exponential rate. I harness, shape & derive value from this data through a structured process that combines design thinking & foundational people management skills to enable strategic decision making that drives transformational change." Kevin Jolly
During the Podcast we spoke about Machine Learning in Wunderflats as a scale-up from BI, and the strategy involved in this process.
Showtimes
1:00 - Where Wunderflats fits into the world of tech.
3:55 - How Wunderflats has scaled up from Business Intelligence using Machine Learning.
7:14 - Where Kevin finds resources for inspiration with Machine Learning.
10:50 - What people overestimate about ML.
15:45 - How Kevin Looks into data objectively.
17:11 - How Kevin stays productive for long periods of time.
24:00 - The plans Wunderflats has to scale the business over the coming years.
26:30 - Final words of advice from Kevin.
Sam Moore is Principal Engineer at Betterment.
Betterment is a smart money manager offering everyday cash management, savings plans, and goals.
Sam and his team at Betterment have recently decided to migrate from their existing native code to Flutter. As Betterment has taken the shift to 'mobile-first' Sam gives some amazing insight on how this has worked at scale, and how they have strategized the integration. This is a big decision for any business, so we hear what made Sam decide to make the change to Flutter, its benefits, and some of the pitfalls to be aware of along the way. We also discuss how to enthuse your fellow engineers about the migration to Flutter.
Flutter is a UI toolkit created by Google for building beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
Showtimes
0:45 - Insight into Betterment and the service they provide.
3:00 - What the role of Principal Engineer entails.
5:18 - The migration to Flutter at Betterment and its benefits.
9:50 - The challenges involved in making the switch to Flutter.
12:05 - The thought process before making the switch.
17:14 - Bringing in and working along side David DeRemer's team from Very Good Ventures.
17:52 - The Mobile engineer's apprehensive response to migrating to flutter.
25:53 - The phenomenal statistics surrounding Flutter.
32:00 - Investing in a native feature manager and an embedded Flutter feature manager.
36:50 - Establishing the process that works for you, your team, and objectives.
Dan Leonardis is Software Engineering Manager at American Express.
Dan is a proven leader across Android and iOS platforms, has worked on android applications since 2009 and iOS since 2013. He has worked in all roles that are required to build successful applications, including building distributed systems, whether it's user experience, design, architecture, development or web services. Currently, Dan leads a team of engineers in developing new products, both personally and professionally.
Being an effective leader is an essential part of running a successful business. Finding an effective leadership style that works best for you and your team may bring your business one step closer to success. However, there are many ways to be a great leader, you can choose and develop a leadership style that works for you, your team and your business goals. Leadership styles can vary hugely, so it's imperative that you understand your approach to maintain levels of productivity and fulfillment from your team.
In the podcast, we discuss the difference between being a leader and being a manager, and some of the most important aspects of being a great leader.
Adeel Ejaz is Head of Technology at PrettyLittleThing.
Adeel is a hands-on technology leader, with over 14 years of experience with product and technical leadership. He has held high-impact senior development and technical leadership roles, empowering global organizations across B2B, healthcare, and retail industries to achieve rapid growth through strategic business planning, process improvements, and technical management.
In recent times, consumerism has changed dramatically, from physical brick-and-mortar to online shopping. This shift has put a huge demand and strain on eCommerce and fast-fashion platforms, and they're being pushed to their limits. In the podcast episode, we discuss how Adeel and his team have prepared for such a dramatic scale in business and popularity.
Showtimes
0:50 - The service PrettyLittleThing Provides.
2:00 - Adeel's role as Head of Technology and what that entails.
2:20 - Building and Innovating for the future.
4:45 - Adeel's career and how he has worked his way to Head of Technology.
8:20 - Mapping out the future to work with the scale of the business.
9:20 - How PrettyLittleThing and the huge tech team has adapted to the pandemic.
12:20 - Remote working at scale.
15:45 - How marketing drives the business and the relationship with marketing and tech.
20:20 - The challenge of constantly re-inventing and looking to the horizon.
28:40 - Still remaining hands-on with technology as Head of Tech.
29:30 - Advice for people looking to get into the tech industry.
Nico Cortés is Talent Acquisition Specialist at Railsbank.
Railsbank is a banking and compliance platform. It is a B2B company that connects a network of banks, financial institutions and compliance providers to companies that want to integrate global banking into their app or business. They have set out to make it super simple to access financial services by giving "access to global banking with 5 lines of code".
Nico gives us some amazing advice for fellow Recruiters and an insight into the reason why Railsbank is so successful and why creating robust and dedicated teams is so powerful in any business. Making teamwork one of Railsbank's core company values, and a clear emphasis on self-managing teams that are empowered by great leaders to make their own decisions to achieve their personal and company goals.
Showtimes
0:45 - What Railsbank provides as a Fintec service.
1:50 - Access to global banking with 5 lines of code!
2:30 - Nico's role and career history in Recruitment.
4:12 - How the business has grown, despite Covid.
5:30 - What the reason is for the success of Railsbank.
7.46 - Creating strong teams and strategies to ensure success is imperative.
8:35 - The culture at Railsbank.
10:44 - Reading body language during an interview over video conferencing.
14:44 - Transparency in recruitment
15:30 - The undervalued and overlooked skills in the industry.
20:00 - Recruiters' time is precious.
21:30 - Advice for people starting out in recruitment.
24:00 - Where Nico looks to for inspiration and other resources he relies on.
28:00 - Learning the hard way, is the best way - taking positives from negative situations.
29:45 - The future of Railsbank.
Shahzaib Muneeb is Head of Development at Genflow, and Zamen Akbar is Head of People at Genflow.
Genflow partners with influencers to help them build their own business and sell products to their audience. They work closely with clients to determine what products will sell the best for them according to their audience and analytics. They are a team of business managers who manage everything from product design, manufacturing, shipping, fulfilment, marketing, ads and the overall launch and strategy of the business.
They have helped clients sell thousands of products worldwide, achieve millions (£) in sales, and ultimately build a long-lasting profitable business.
Showtimes
0:45 - What Genflow does as a business and the specific service they provide to influencers.
1:25 - The history behind the concept.
3:00 - The development of the business and the different verticals that have been introduced over time.
5:20 - Preparing for the shifts in technology and in business.
7:40 - Where do you find new hires, and how do you ensure they're right for the business?
10:00 - How the recruitment process has changed during the pandemic.
15:22 - The unique culture at Genflow.
16:15 - The undervalued and overlooked skills in the industry.
18:40 - What do Genflow look for when recruiting.
23:45 - Advice for people looking to get into the industry.
26:35 - The future of Genflow and other avenues of the business.
Amy Boyd is an advisor to start-ups and the Engineering Manager at Formidable: a tech consultancy business that helps your team work smarter, by optimising your design and engineering practices and defining your software needs.
Amy is a self-taught coder who has worked in the start-up industry for many years and helped a wide range of team sizes and sectors, meaning she is adaptable and her knowledge is particularly expansive. She has recently taken a break from start-ups to join Formidable full time.
On the podcast, we speak about Amy's career, what she's learned along the way and some of the pitfalls to be aware of when navigating through your own career journey in tech. Being a self-taught coder and working across many disciplines of the industry, Amy has a breadth of knowledge in relation to managing a team, avoiding burnout, and how to approach members of your team who may be experiencing burnout. We also spoke about the pros and cons of the tech start-up world and some of the warning signs to look out for when joining a new start-up business.
Showtimes
0:40 - Insight into the service Formidable provides.
1:21 - What has changed since we had Chris Bolin (also from Formidable) on the podcast.
2:20 - Amy's role as Engineering Manager at Formidable and what it entails.
3:40 - Amy's Career history, being a self-taught coder and working in a wide variety of different technical environments.
5:50 - The pros and cons of the start-up world, and the difference between start-up and consulting.
9:20 - The warning signs when joining a new start-up - what to look out for.
10:30 - The tech industry and the realities of burnout.
11:50 - How to work with limited resources.
14:40 - The importance of tracking to see if features are a success.
19:36 - Hiring people who are young and moldable.
23:19 - The resources Amy relies on to stay ahead of the curve in tech.
26:30 - How Amy keeps the joy of software engineering and keeping a team motivated.
31:00 - How to approach burnout amongst members of your tech team.
36:00 - Advice for people looking to get into the industry.
Markus Windisch is CTO and Founder of Peerox GmbH.
Peerox GmbH develops assistance systems for machine operators and technicians that combine machine learning with human experience. Their mission is to use software solutions to make employee knowledge available company-wide at any time and according to the situation, and to achieve a new level of production efficiency through the exchange of information between colleagues and machines.
Markus and the team at Peerox have a modern approach to business and culture:
"We have to avoid big major mistakes but if we make no mistakes, we are too slow. This is how we develop our software and also how we communicate with our customers. Big customers are used to companies promising them everything is possible. We emphasize our strengths, but we are very open concerning our weaknesses and limits, this is a brave approach, but it has worked so far - we don't promise more than we can fulfill!"
Showtimes
0:45 - What is Peerox and what's the motivation behind the company?
2:15 - How developments and processes have changed over time.
2:55 - How Peerox has grown and scaled in such a short space of time & the business model behind it.
5:00 - The unique business and strong error culture at Peerox.
6:10 - The benefits of maintaining an open and transparent with clients and customers.
7:50 - Markus' route into the software development industry.
10:35 - What Markus loves about the industry and Markus' motivation to keep learning.
13:25 - Finding inspiration and the value from resources that are not directly related to software engineering.
16:00 - How Peerox is preparing for the unforeseen technological developments in the next 5 or 10 years.
17:20 - How a cheap mechanical pencil has influenced Markus' work at Peerox.
20:40 - What concerns Markus about the industry.
22:55 - The importance of building a network and gaining feedback.
The Future of Data-Driven Healthcare at Tempus, with Luke Shepard & Alissa Ampezzan.
Luke leads the Insights Engineering team and Alissa is Senior Director, Head of Product Design and Customer Experience.
Tempus is a technology company advancing precision medicine through the practical application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. With one of the world’s largest libraries of clinical and molecular data, and an operating system to make that data accessible and useful, Tempus enables physicians to make real-time, data-driven decisions to deliver personalized patient care and in parallel facilitates discovery, development and delivery of optimal therapeutics. The goal is for each patient to benefit from the treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with tools that learn as the company gathers more data.
Showtimes
0:50 - What exactly is Tempus and where it fits into the health-tech space
2:22 - Luke and Alissa's role at Tempus and career history
10:02 - Staying focused on the end goal & looking to the next phase of growth
10:45 - What's changed in the 5 years since Tempus began?
15:30 - The recent exponential technical changes in product development
21:00 - supporting doctors by better understanding patients
31:02 - The processes involved in Tempus HRD and Tempus TO
44:30 - Bringing on inspirational leaders into the business and bringing speed and agility to healthcare
49:15 - The move to personalised healthcare & individualised medicine
Clifton Jadoo manages technical and product recruitment at Foursquare.
After graduating from Brooklyn College summa cum laude with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Sociology and from NYU School of Engineering with a M.S. in Management with a double concentration in Project Management and Technology Management, Clifton found his way into recruitment and later refining his career into Tech Recruitment.
Foursquare is a technology platform that powers leading business solutions and consumer products through a deep understanding of location.
Clifton gives us some amazing inside knowledge about the industry along with actionable advice, and the main things to think about whether you're starting out as a recruiter, or looking to take the next step and level-up in your career.
Show Times
0:45 - Clifton's role at Foursquare
2:20 - What Foursquare is as a business as an intelligence leader
3:20 - Clifton's career history and falling into recruitment as a young graduate
6:00 - The vastly different areas of recruitment
8:30 - Taking the time to learn about the role you're recruiting for
11:13 - The desire to learn and actively looking for resources to understand the landscape
14:30 - Being a Chameleon when managing a team
17:46 - Being transparent with your team and communicate clearly
20:30 - How to motivate your team
25:50 - Being informed and well researched in your industry
33:40 - The biggest challenge Clifton has faced in the industry
37:06 - How to be successful in recruitment in 3 words
Andy Norton worked in software development at organisations both big and small, with a keen focus on people, delivery and pragmatic solutions based around agile, lean and DevOps practices.
After graduating from The University of Salford with a degree in Computer Science and computing, he has worked in the field as a Software Developer, Senior Developer, Software Architect, and now finds himself as a Software Development Manager at FOOTASYLUM, which is a streetwear fashion retailer with 65 stores across the UK and an online store.
Andy also mentors engineers, helping them to level up in their own career. He has spoken at various events and meet-ups across the U.K. on a wide range of technologies including Azure, Augmented Reality, DevOps and Serverless architecture. And is also a co-organiser of Lancashire Tech Talks meet-up.
We spoke about finding simple solutions to complex problems, “what problem are we trying to solve?” or “what’s the outcome we’re looking for?” in the often complex world of DevOps and Engineering.
Show Times
0:50 - The service FOOTASYLUM provides.
1:21 - Andy's 15 years in the industry and his role now at FOOTASYLUM.
2:26 - Optimising for flow across a process, removing waste from a process to provide effective delivery of an end goal.
4:40 - Think of development as a production line.
5:30 - Creating short feedback loops.
8:40 - Strong product management, how to get a team to deliver as a unit.
10:50 - The horror stories of Code Reviews.
15:30 - Online code schools and boot camps.
22:00 - How Andy has adapted to hiring remotely.
27:00 - Andy's approach to finding the right people.
33:21 - Taking a less hands-on approach to solving problems.
41:00 - The best new piece of tech in the last 10 years.
Chris Samiullah is Technical Lead at Babylon Health, an online course author, conference speaker and writer.
Chris has been writing code for 8 years, and for the past three years has focused on scaling machine learning applications. He has done this at fintech and health-tech companies in London, where he has worked on and grown production machine learning applications used by hundreds of thousands of people. And currently works on systems for predicting health risks for patients around the world at Babylon Health.
Babylon Health is a health service provider that provides remote consultations with doctors and health care professionals via text and video messaging through its mobile application.
In this podcast episode, Chris explains the importance of self-promotion and personal branding to get ahead in the tech industry. In today's modern age, a good CV isn't enough to rely on to make your next big career move. Chris explains the different ways you can contribute to the tech industry in your own time, and by doing so, improving your personal brand and increasing the likelihood of taking the next big step in your tech career.
"Think about your personal brand, it's something that you have to take on as your own project and really make sure that it's an area you give attention and time to."
Showtimes
0:41 - The service Babylon Health provides
1:52 - Chris Samiullah's role at Babylon Health and background in the tech industry
2:58 - The fierce competition in the software engineering space
4:01 - How to get to the top: The combination of personal-branding and self-promotion
7:50 - The tactics of personal branding, where to begin
10:20 - What does Chris do for personal branding?
12:05 - Getting through the paper-sift when applying for a new role
15:00 - Doing personal branding the right way
16:50 - How does Chris find the time to contribute to so many different projects?
18:34 - How to develop positive habits
20:45 - The resources Chris relies on to stay ahead in tech
21:48 - Is there anything that people underestimate in the industry?
Ashley Firth built and leads the Front-end department at Octopus Energy, crafting sites and internal tools, building new products and campaigns, and expanding into other countries. Their aim is to combat climate change, use technology to build a better standard of energy supplier, and make renewable energy more affordable for everyone. In May 2020, Octopus Energy became the 15th UK tech “unicorn” after achieving a valuation of over £1 billion.
Ashley has also written a book: 'Practical Web Inclusion & Accessibility', a new book, designed as a practical guide to access needs, which is a huge passion for Ashley.
Showtimes
0:30 - Ashley's unconventional route into Coding
3:40 - The finer details of coding and willingness to learn
5:00 - The skills Ashley and the team at Octopus look for when hiring
9:20 - Not losing sight of the brand's core values
11:28 - Where Octopus Energy fits into the world of energy & technology
16:30 - Preparing for such rapid and dramatic scale in success at Octopus
19:04 - The concept behind Ashley's book: 'Practical Web Inclusion & Accessibility'
26:20 - The tech involved in providing customers with a personal experience
32:10 - The developments since our previous podcast with Octopus Energy's CEO: Greg Jackson
35:00 - The future of Octopus Energy
Ashley has also written a book: 'Practical Web Inclusion & Accessibility', a new book, designed as a practical guide to access needs, which is a huge passion for Ashley.
Megan Sun has an impressive career history from a data strategy consultant at BCG, to a Data Science Consultant at IBM, before moving to Berlin last year to start a new role as Senior Program Manager at OLX Group.
The OLX marketplace is a platform for buying and selling services and goods such as electronics, fashion items, furniture, household goods, cars and bikes. In 2014, the platform reportedly had 11 billion page views, 200 million monthly active users, 25 million listings, and 8.5 million transactions per month.
OLX Group Berlin is an inspirational environment for top notch engineers, data scientists, designers and product managers looking to make a difference. It works to a horizontal structure, with 40+ nationalities collaborating on global projects, and using cutting edge tech stack to build the very best products.
We spoke about Megan’s experience working in various different cultures around the globe. After being elected as “40 under 40 Girls in Tech” we also spoke about how to get more women involved in the technology industry.
Podcast Showtimes
0:35 - Megan's role at OLX and the service OLX Group provides.
3:16 - Megan's career journey up to this point and how she navigated the technology & data landscape.
5:03 - How Megan has adapted to different cultures around the globe.
6:15 - The positive outcomes of remote working.
10:03 - The hiring process at OLX Group.
16:44 - The recruitment strategy at OLX Group and finding the right people for the role.
20:25 - How can we get more Women involved in Data Science and Technology?
23:22 - What inspired Megan to enter the Data Science industry.
25:30 - Making an impact with Data Science.
Natalia Baltazar is Head of Engineering at Lantum. Lantum is a health tech startup, working on solving the issues around scheduling and rotas within healthcare.
Natalia has a very unconventional journey into tech, beginning her working life as a teenager running her own fashion design business in Canada, before moving to the UK and managing a boutique clothing shop in Shoreditch. The transition into tech came from learning how to code on her own and helping to create a coding Bootcamp - founders and coders, a free code camp based in London.
We spoke about how to create an autonomous engineering culture, and why you'd want one. The difficulties of running a team remotely, managing communication, and remote collaboration.
Showtimes
0:55 - The background of Lantum
2:28 - Natalias unconventional pathway into tech
4:35 - The correlation between making software and making clothing
6:04 - The motivation behind starting Lantum
10:15 - Managing a team remotely
14:25 - The remote hiring strategy at Lantum
22:00 - Ensuring the team are mindful of a work / life balance during remote working
22:30 - Why an autonomous engineering culture is a good thing
28:40 - Screening for curiosity when taking on new hires
David DeRemer is Founder and President of Very Good Ventures, a Flutter development consultancy with offices in New York, Chicago, and teammates around the world.
Very Good Ventures is the World’s leading Flutter development team. They have been working with Flutter longer than anyone and on the biggest Flutter apps, including the first commercial app outside of Google in 2017 — the Hamilton app.
Flutter is a UI toolkit created by Google for building beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
In prior roles at Posse, Chobani, frog design, and Accenture, David has developed innovative products and solutions for companies such as: Chobani, The Rock Clock, Jet.com, Sixpoint Brewery, Shoptiques, Spring, Gatorade + Smart Design, Best Buy, Staples, GE, AT&T, Bloomberg, TouchTunes, Humana, Alcatel-Lucent, Bell Mobility, CNN.com, Crocs, Estée Lauder Companies, ETS, GE Healthcare, GE Money, IMAX, KLA Tencor, Nokia, Philip Morris, WalMart, Accenture, Sony, and many more.
David Ives is VP Engineering at Pollen, an international marketplace scale-up, changing the game in live music, youth culture and travel. Following several successful acquisitions in the travel space, they are already the market leader across North America, which has allowed them to tap into an increasingly larger share of a $12 billion market.
As a service that’s core is dependant on group activities and experiences, we hear how Pollen.co is managing to grow in an industry that's rapidly shrinking. The travel industry has been hit hard by COVID, but David and his team have managed to pivot quickly during lockdown to ensure the company develops, rather than diminishes.
Martin Rosinski is Founder & Chief of Tech at The World's Online Festival, with an impressive previous technical history having created Palringo, which was the first ever chat app to launch on the Apple App Store (2008), and then became the first mobile app to introduce chatbots – and the first to introduce sticker packs (2011). Building on its proven heritage of world-first innovation, and leveraging its state-of-the-art technology platform, Palringo has now introduced a breakthrough market offering – the World's Online Festival, which is an incredible user-created world filled with Group Chat, Live Audio Shows, Friendship and Entertainment. WOLF has over 35 million downloads and more than 350,000 user-created social groups.
Gary Knight is CEO of WOLF, building a user-created world filled with group chat, live audio shows, friendship and entertainment. The app delivers the festival experience to your pocket – users can interact with the people on stage, create their own audio shows and experience the magic of real-world festivals on their phone.
We spoke about the considerations when re-launching an app, and from a technical point of view, how to rebuild the foundations of an app.
Erik Christiansen is Head of AI and Data Science at Datadrivers GmbH, a consulting company for business intelligence, big data, data-driven infrastructures, data analytics and technology consulting.
We spoke about some of the pitfalls to be aware of when integrating a Data Science team into an organisation, and how to avoid these common issues. Keeping up with the ever-evolving technology and trends within Data Science and AI, and what some of these trends are, as well as what works and what doesn’t work when integrating data to scale.
Pete Casson is CTO of Collctiv, the group payments app, designed to take the hassle out of collecting money for a group purchase or booking.
With over 15 years of transforming technology within business, removing complications, and pioneering new products Pete is a sought-after expert and speaker. Having launched a World's First Multiplayer Augmented Reality app for Education and featured as 'App of the Day' on the App Store, Pete has built a reputation for tackling seemingly impossible tasks.
As a trusted expert in Technology he often speaks at events, such as Google Next '19, discussing how technology is shaping our lives, what to expect in the future and how businesses need to place technology first when developing strategies.
As CTO & Co-founder of Collctiv, Pete has developed a new simple and seamless way of allowing people to collect money from a group. In an industry that's typically slow to change Pete developed a solution from an idea to live in 8 weeks. Already Collctiv has managed hundreds of thousands of pounds and has the interest of large firms.
Modern Cloud Data Platforms: How using such platforms and innovations in the cloud can help you create insights faster with less risk and less cost.
We caught up with David Rice, CEO and Co-founder and Tom Bruce, Delivery Lead and Co-founder of Snap Analytics. Snap Analytics deliver solutions that simplify and accelerate data projects, focusing on ensuring that technology and data helps you to clearly achieve your strategic goals whatever they may be.
Never before has the power of data and analytics been greater, however there is also an ever-increasing amount of data being created. The key for businesses is being able to unlock the power of their data to gain a competitive advantage. We discussed common pitfalls to be aware of when implementing a new data strategy into your business, and with Gartner estimating that 60% of Big Data projects failing, what’s going wrong?
David Minarsch holds a PhD in Applied Game Theory from the University of Cambridge, is a researcher at Fetch.AI where he researches and prototypes consensus mechanisms and smart markets, combining game theory expertise with engineering and product experience in machine learning and blockchain. He has conducted cutting-edge research on the Economics of Networks, strategy of conflict and political competition and is a co-founder of Panopy.
Fetch.ai is building an open access, tokenized, decentralized machine learning network to enable smart infrastructure built around a decentralized digital economy.
Cindy Gordon is Chief People Officer at Policygenius, and Nadia Danford, who is Senior Director of People at www.policygenius.com
Policygenius is America's leading online insurance marketplace. Their mission is to help people get insurance right by making it easy for them to understand their options, compare quotes, and buy a policy, all in one place. Since 2014, they've placed $35 billion in coverage and helped over 100,000 families get the financial protection they need.
We hear about their unique "partnership" model of recruiting, and how the recruitment strategy has changed with the challenge of remote working and how Policygenius has quickly adapted to remotely hiring new people into the business.
Lisa Allen is Head of Data and Analytical Services at Ordnance Survey.
Ordnance Survey is Britain's mapping agency. We make the most up-to-date and accurate maps of the country. They're also a digital business, and use their content to help governments, companies and individuals to be more effective both here and around the world.
Lisa is a data leader and data expert and has gained experience across many data disciplines from data strategy, data governance, open data, data quality to data protection to name a few.
We hear how Ordnance Survey has developed from when it was founded in 1751, and how location-based data is more important in society than it ever has been before.
Anna Derinova-Hartmann is Charter Tech Domain Lead at FlixBus. Anna is an M.A. educated Programme Manager, Project Manager and Change Manager with a track record of achievement within International Relations and Global Politics.
We spoke about the importance of leveraging tech in society and the impact this can have. Anna shares advice on how it's best to attract talent as an aspiring entrepreneur, and advice for developers looking to put together a pitch to potential investors, along with some of the common pitfalls to be aware of.
Chris Bolin serves as the VP of Engineering for Formidable Denver and is an accomplished speaker and instructor. Prior to joining Formidable, Chris was the first engineer at Jumpshell, the lead data scientist at Autotegrity, and an engineer at National Instruments. Chris serves as technical lead on high-profile projects while also directing the Formidable Denver office. Chris holds a Master’s in Computational Engineering from MIT, and loves teaching, mentoring, and presenting. He has taught at MIT, University of Denver, Girl Develop It, and Startup Institute, tutored high school students in mathematics and environmental studies, and is the Founding Editor of The Disconnect. In addition, his projects have been featured in Vice, Lifehacker, the CBC, CJR, Le Monde, and The Next Web.
We discussed how to build a good engineering culture and how to keep the joy of software engineering.
Sanket Agarwal has an impressive career history working with Google in Silicon Valley followed by a stint at a start-up and now finds himself as an Engineering Manager at Postmates.
Founded in 2011, Postmates was one of the first to let customers in the U.S. order meal delivery using a mobile app. In the latest development, Uber has announced that it has acquired Postmates in a $2.65 billion, all-stock deal.
We spoke about what the company was like in its early stages and how the app has developed into what it is today. We also spoke about the cultural differences of Tech Giants and small, intense Tech startups, and how these differences can impact a person's mental health, and how burnout in the Tech industry is a very common reality.
We were joined by Dan Cryer and Amelia Carey from Gear4Music to hear how the UK's No. 1 online music store has transitioned to remote working and how they have overcome some of the unforeseen issues that have arisen whilst still taking on new employees.
Dan Cryer is a web development and technology specialist who helps manage the technical team at Gear4music.com as the Head of Technical Operations. He is a full stack developer with a focus on PHP, MySQL and related technologies, with primary interest in back-end development, server management, APIs and PHP optimisation.
Amelia Carey is Operations Manager at Gear4Music and the glue that holds the wider team together, responsible for people, operations and strategy.
During the difficult time of lockdown, we hear what strategies were put in place to ensure this was a smooth transition to remote working in a business of such a vast amount of employees.
Phaedra Marshall is Vice President of Technology at Critical Mass, a digital experience design agency with a particular focus on the customer. For more than two decades, Critical Mass has been designing meaningful customer experiences in the digital space that transform clients’ businesses through interactions that are convenient, useful, simple, and entertaining. Their expertise spans Strategy Consulting, Experience Design, Marketing Communications, Implementation, and Marketing Science, and has been recognized as a leader in digital experience design with agency rankings from Advertising Age, Warc 100 and Gartner, among others.
With over 17 years of experience in developing software, architecting solutions, and managing technical projects, Phaedra is a subject matter expert in speaking engagements, industry events, and thought leadership ideas and publications. We discussed how technology and creative people collaborate and how to lead them effectively.
Pete Reis-Campbell is the CEO and Founder of the award-winning Kaizen. He has worked with global brands including River Island, Symantec and 888.com on innovative content marketing campaigns. He built his first website at 11, pretends to not be totally addicted to video games, and is a regular speaker at digital marketing conferences including SMX, BrightonSEO and SASCon.
Kaizen's work for TotallyMoney.com won a 2016 Drum Content Award for the best financial content marketing campaign and Pete previously won a Travolution award for his SEO strategies for travel brands. Kaizen was also named one of the Top 50 UK Startups by Startups.co.uk in 2017.
1:00 - Where Kaizen fits into the growth marketing space
1:40 - Pete's career journey, building websites for fun at age 11
2:40- The transition from £0 investment to £1.5mil revenue at Kaizen
4:40 - Responding to problems when building a business
8:38 - The motivation for starting the business
10:06 - How Pete has created a successful working culture at Kaizen
13:02 - Pete's life in the early stages of the business as a solo agency owner
19:00 - How to let people go from a business respectfully
24:29 - Establishing trust with clients
26:30 - Cybercrime targeting the business, and how to avoid it
33:20 - The pressures of being a solo agency owner
36:30 - Valuable advice from Pete to grow your business
Andy sits down with Daljeet, Compass’ Director of Engineering. On the show, the pair discuss transitioning from a hands-on role to engineering management, diversity in India and more.
Daljeet has several years of experience providing Technical Architect Solutions for Business Applications (J2EE Applications) which includes designing, development, building Frameworks. With extensive experience leading Development teams across geographic locations and delivering high-quality code. Also representing Dev Teams while working with product owners, clients, stakeholders and vendors on regular basis.
Emily Dresner is Chief Technology Officer at Upside Business Travel. Emily has built and scaled a department initially of 5 engineers to a team of 60 across 11 teams including multiple product development teams, a machine learning/AI team, DevOps, data engineering, security, infrastructure and quality engineering.
Upside Business Travel is revolutionizing travel management for small to mid-sized companies. We hear about how Upside is in place to react and adapt to the current pandemic that has affected the logistics of the travel industry greatly.
Showtimes
0:50 - The service Upside Business Travel Provides
1:49 - Emily's role as Chief Technology Officer and career background
4:26 - How Upside is recovering and rebounding from the pandemic
5:38 - How the pandemic has created permanent change in the travel industry
7:00 - How Upside has adapted to 100% remote working and the tech used to make this a smooth transition
9:48 - Remotely recruiting and taking on new staff
10:55 - An overview of the products under Upside
12:51 - Supporting multiple products
13:59 - Where Emily finds inspiration when taking on new challenges
Brad Woodward is the Business Intelligence Manager at Superdry. As one of the biggest fashion brands on the planet, we spoke about the data that Brad and the team work with at Superdry and how to navigate around the sheer quantity of it.
We also spoke about how data is helping not only the eCommerce shop but also the brick & mortar experience too. These two areas of the business now cross-pollinate as they are now more able to collect important data from the physical store, and they get the most out of that information to create a seamless experience.
“Even going back as shortly as a few years ago, they were two separate entities. The way that things are going now it really important, It needs to be a seamless experience. Data has a really important part to play in that”
Showtimes
0:56 - What Superdry is, and Brad’s role within the business
2:25 - Do you treat a physical store and eCommerce as two totally separate entities?
4:00 - Gathering data from in-store purchases
5:10 - The types of data Brad manages at Superdry
7:00 - How the pandemic has affected what people purchase from Superdry
9:30 - Are all decisions at Superdry driven by data?
14:30 - Is there a skill to finding the best answer in data?
22:00 - The balancing act of being a manager
23:00 - How lockdown has affected the tech team at Superdry
27:30 - Wildcard question
Richard Hiscutt is Head of Product at edtech startup Lingumi, helping to bring the world’s best teaching experience to every child’s home.
Previously, Richard founded the digital agency Fantastic Thinking and sold it to The Engine Group in 2011, and was the one who made sure they created amazing looking experiences for clients such as Evian, The Times, Laya Healthcare and Rolls-Royce, as well as testing, researching and sharing insights and innovative thoughts and techniques to the rest of the company.
Richard's mission with Lingumi is to make learning English effective, affordable, and fun for the next 500 million children before they reach their first classroom. At an incredibly exciting time at Lingumi, we hear how the app is prepared to scale to deliver great learning outcomes to a mass of users.
Martin Permantier is an entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker. He has been accompanying companies in their strategic alignment and positioning for over 20 years. His experience as an entrepreneur and managing director of SHORT CUTS GmbH design + communication, which today has around 40 employees, is the basis for his pragmatic approach and implementation competence.
In his new book "Attitude Decides" Martin shows how we can shape the development of leadership and corporate culture in such a way that we will continue to operate successfully tomorrow. Based on the knowledge of modern developmental psychology, he has developed a vivid and practical model.
We discuss leadership it’s different forms, and how leadership has changed and developed over time. The future of business and leadership is changing, in recent times office culture and mindsets have collectively changed, and working remotely has become normality. But how has this affected the way we lead in business?
Philip Miller is a Senior Architect, Analyst and Engineer with over 20 years' experience in the Financial Services industry, focusing on creating elegant solutions to tough problems. Philip has specialised in high-performance computing, massively parallel computing, complex event processing and system integration. Recently at the leading edge of real-time regulatory compliance for Dodd-Frank and other real-time regulations. Philip has worked on some of the biggest, most complex challenges in modern banking, and is now the Co-Founder and Director of Solidatus.
Valentin Vincendon is the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Checkout.com
Valentin’s career and outlook on success are truly inspiring, we hear the principles, habits, and mental models that helped Valentin reach his goals in the past 15 years.
After following a career path around the globe, we discuss how to step outside your comfort zone and embrace different working cultures around the world, and the importance of being prepared to act on decisions quickly to further your career and not stagnate.
Ross Bray leads Alps Education's Software Development and Data teams and is responsible for the Product Roadmap. We discuss the challenges of showing young minds the value of technology in our everyday lives, to inspire them to take an interest in seeing tech as a viable career option.
We take a peek behind the velvet curtain of a studio creating some of the most groundbreaking Virtual Reality experiences on the planet. We hear the thought processes behind creating VR, and some of the pitfalls to be aware of. Paul and the team at Hidden Creative are way ahead of the curve, creating experiences that are useful and taking Virtual Reality to the next level.
Neil is the Head of Architecture at Covéa Insurance, Neil has worked in IT for 25 years, from early 90’s SGML first online internet solutions to Head of Architecture, with experience delivering applications with diverse technologies applying Enterprise and Solution Architecture, Consulting and system design experience. Neil started out as a technical author at a software house in Birmingham in the 90s and learned his trade as he went, with his latest move to Covéa Insurance.
Haroon Hussain is consulting with Ego.co.uk as head of development. Haroon explains the importance of combining technology with marketing to create exponential growth in eCommerce. In the fast fashion industry - good marketing and a strong product are key, but understanding the technology of eCommerce and using the aid of consultants is imperative for brand growth.
Davide talks about his passion for data and keeping up with the developments of the data landscape. We discuss how you can use data to drive the success of a business, and how taking advantage of technology to build a data team can help achieve a company's goal, and the realities of this process.
Jane is the CEO of Zeal - a creative and digital marketing agency based in Leeds. Jane fell into the agency landscape after speaking to a recruitment consultant. Setting the target of having her own creative marketing agency by the age of 30 - we discuss how setting personal goals can be life-changing, hiring the right people, and the importance of challenging yourself and your team.
Nathan is CTO @ Dental Sleep Solutions. In his impressive career Nathan has worked at Nasa. A driven and passionate individual, Nathan believes in never being the smartest person in the room. On the show Nathan shares his background and experiences, his tips on what to ask your hiring managers when you're considering your next move and the unique challenges that the US healthcare space brings.
Andy sits down with Zakaria, digital transformation leader and Director of Technology at Cox Automotive Inc. On the show Andy and Zakaria discuss turning data into insight and organisational maturity.
Amy is Senior Vice President Of Technology at BottleRocket, a Dallas based digital design and development studio. A passionate professional, Amy sat on the very knife-edge of the mobile experience evolution at both Motorola and Blackberry. Amy is a keen mentor and passionate about using tech for the betterment of all.
Andy sits down with Hugh Freestone, Head of Data Engineering at Adatis to discuss the ever changing role of data professionals, the value of data and the ROI in data.
Craig is the Head of Engineering at News UK
Craig hasn’t had the most conventional path into technology. He fell into development after university. He was originally a business analyst writing models in VBA. It turned out Craig actually really enjoyed coding so he moved on to VB then C#. Then he became a C# developer.
At this time the internet was becoming really interesting and especially the client-side was becoming a creative space. This shift saw Craig become a full Javascript developer. Once he learned Javascript he started learning all the languages he could until he ended up at News UK.
Greg is the General Manager at Brill.app
The foundation of Greg’s career in digital has been built around delivering results for Fortune 500 companies and enabling their digital transformations. His specialties include building and managing high-performing digital product teams, and the creation of high-value digital products.
John is the Chief Product Officer at ImproveWell
The ImproveWell platform uses a smartphone application that empowers staff to communicate their ideas for improving care directly to senior management. An intelligent data dashboard provides a proven and trusted way to review the feedback coming in from the frontline. From the ward to the board, everyone can make suggestions to improve their workplace.
Phil is the Head of Engineering at Interact
Phil is an experienced technical consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He’s skilled in enterprise software, learning management, software as a service (SaaS), software development, and start-ups. Phil is a strong information technology professional with a Bachelor of Science - BS focused in Computing from The Manchester Metropolitan University.
Bernardo is an Engineering Manager at Newstore
Bernardo has 15+ years experience in development. He started his career freelancing in Brazil. Whilst he was freelancing in he undertook a university course in business administration. Once he finished this course he could dedicate more time to work and took a job at Newstore in Germany. He started as a software developer then quickly became the engineering manager.
A leader and innovator in equal measure, C.K. started his career as a Blogger on AOL and Netscape before moving into product development roles. In his current role as Chief Technology Officer at Hypergiant Space Age Solutions, C.K. sits on the crest of the innovation wave.
On the show, Andy and C.K. discuss working in distributed teams, leadership and running sprints in World of Warcraft.
Ciaran is the COO & co-founder at Swoop
Ciaran is a business and economics graduate from Trinity College Dublin. He began his career at KPMG in Sydney as a Senior Market Analyst before moving to London where he worked as a management consultant with a range of clients including EY, Intersport, Vodafone, and Oakley. Ciaran found a passion for growing businesses and building communities around them which brought him to Hiive in September 2013.
At Hiive, he oversaw the development and successful launch of Hiive.co.uk, the professional network for creative people which now has over 150,000 registered members and 4,500 businesses on board including Google, BBC, Facebook, Framestore, Channel 4, Penguin and Sony.
In 2018, he co-founded Swoop, an online platform for SMEs looking to raise finance through debt, equity, and grants. Ciaran has overseen the development and launch of the platform which simplifies and speeds up access to loans, grants, equity funding and savings for businesses across the UK and Ireland.
Simon is a Data Science & Marketing Technology Partner at IRIS Worldwide
Simon believes that the role of Marketing is to understand the customer so well that the product or service sells itself. His expertise is in deep customer insight, whether it be customer and Big Data analytics or qual/quant research, and activating this data in the latest marketing technology to help businesses sell more and more often.
He has extensive experience doing this in both B2C and B2B but his passion is B2C and he is fortunate enough to have worked for some iconic brands: Sainsbury's, IKEA, Barclcaycard, KFC and News UK (The Sun) to mention just a few.
Marc is the CEO and Founder at Filtered.com
Marc’s career started 18 years ago when he began working at a strategy consultancy called Mars & Co. This role gave him a lot of business skills as well as helping him figure out what drives successful clients.
During his working life, his goal has always been to acquire skills to help him start his own company. This led him to start working at several startups before he set up Filtered technologies which has now reached its 10th birthday.
Robert's career in data is extensive and, in his currently role as Head of Data Engineering at Centrica, he's leading the charge on technical design of Data Analytics solutions, establishing technical standards across teams, work with product managers of each product area in the squad and deliver Data Analytics solutions that help business decisions.
Evy is a career HR Professional Evy was recently the VP of Resourcing & Product at DAZN Evy is responsible for hiring amazing Tech & Product people across DAZN's four development centres in London, Amsterdam, Leeds and Katowice. She headed up a team of 2 recruitment managers, 9 recruiters and 3 coordinators.
She has recently left the company to explore new career options.
Jan is the Director People & Culture at PlusDental
Before joining PlusDental Jan worked in several renowned companies and has volunteered with some of the most rewarding groups and individuals around the globe. Already working full time he finished his second master's degree (M.A. in General Management at the University Witten/Herdecke).
His educational foundation was an LL.B. program including HR and Psychology at the Brunswick European Law School and the University of Wisconsin.
George is the director at Cogito Group.
Growing up around his dad’s carbon fiber business George was lucky enough to be introduced to computers at an early age. He went into finance straight out of university and he worked in engineering roles for the best part of 3 years. He then spent the next 4 years building up a company from scratch which wasn’t his own. It was in this where he learned a lot of the skills he talks about on the show.
He really enjoyed the challenge of growing a company so decided to found his own and do it himself. From this decision, Cognito Group was born.
Aaron is the Co-founder of Accomodation.co.uk
After 6th form, Aaron had a great opportunity to work at a digital marketing agency. He was trained up and managing accounts at 18. This role impressed on him the importance of design.
After a while, in this role, Aaron decided to go to university. He did a year of creative advertising then moved into business and marketing. Whilst he was doing this he started building websites for local businesses. Aaron started working on marketing property and learned a lot of valuable lessons from estate agents.
From the profits he made doing this he was able to buy his own house and he himself became a landlord. This let him understand the troubles landlord face and with his co-founder, they set up accomodation.co.uk
Erin is a Tech Lead at Spotify.
With a degree in Art, Erin started her career as a graphic designer at NBC. She designed posters and marketing material for the company and its affiliates. Two of her colleagues taught Erin frontend development so she could further upskill herself. After NBC, Erin moved to Bitly and then Adobe for a couple of years.
At Spotify, Erin has picked up a lot backend skills and data skills. Erin also works in mentorship programs, she teaches at Girl Develop It.
Shilpa is the Alternative Delivery Model Lead & Women in Tech Program Lead at Deloitte
Shilpa has spent 22 years working in consulting after starting her career as a software engineer. She graduated from Manchester University's institute of technology. She could already see back then that technology was the way forward for her career and society.
She’s spent 15 years working with a variety of clients helping them undertake technology and data transformations. More recently she’s taken on the title of Alternative Delivery Model Lead. This role focuses on the growth and setup of new services for clients that could be offshore, nearshore, contractors & most recently crowd sourcing services.
Shilpa has also been the leader of the Women in Technology Network at Deloitte for the past 11 years, trying to create sustainable change for deloitte and their clients and society more broadly.
Anna is the Director of Recruitment and D&I at Frame.io
Frame.io's mission is to power the world's video creation. In order to do that, we believe we should build a team of creative, smart and diverse individuals. Learning from different backgrounds and perspectives will allow us to elevate each other and help us build a better product for our users. Learn more about our job openings below.
Krishan is CTO at Arkera
Graduating in 2013 with a degree in computing at Imperial Krishan started working at several big companies including working on Youtube for Google. He really enjoyed the agile way of working and decided to move to a startup where he could sink his teeth into a big problem and have an impact on a business. This led Krishan to Arkera.
Jill the CEO at Click Travel
When Jill joined Click Travel the company had 40 members of staff and had just turned over 30 million. They’re now 236 people strong and they’ve just turned over 240 million. This growth happened in the space of 6 years.
She’s an experienced Managing Director with a sustained record of delivering success in fast-growth businesses covering Operations, Sales, Marketing, HR, legal and Customer Service. Jill is an inspirational leader and outstanding team player who, through a participative approach, creates robust strategies to translate vision into action. She possesses strong analytical, leadership and decision-making skills with a passion for customer care and quality together with excellent communication skills.
Natalie is the Head of Systems & Data Analytics at Marsh JLT Specialty.
Natalie’s journey in insurance started 15 years ago working in exposure management. She worked for various Lloyd’s syndicates looking after their data. Following this, she started working for a Lloyds based syndicate where she further developed her data and analytical skills.
Her main focus there was looking at man-made risks, especially terrorism. After this, she moved into broking when she was offered a job at Marsh JLT Specialty where she now works. In this role she’s responsible for catastrophe modeling. She is now the Head of Data and Analytics team with a particular focus on credit.
Will is the CDO of Engine Group
Will’s career started in brand marketing over 20 years ago. He started his professional life at Nestle and then worked at Diageo for a few years. Will really enjoyed marketing but wanted to incorporate more data into his career so he could better determine the ROI of what he was doing.
8-years into his career he joined Dunnhumby where he spent the next decade helping Tesco, and other clients, get value from personalised, highly targeted offers. After this, he moved to CallCredit where he led up their performance marketing initiatives. Then a few years ago Will joined the Engine Group where he became the CDO.
Cliff is the CTO at Stash
Originally a physics major, Cliff did his degree in 1997. He has always dabbled in code and wrote programs at home when growing up. He learnt by programming his own choose your own adventure games.
After college Cliff started working for the department of defense and worked as a civilian scientist. During this time the use of computers in Cliff’s everyday life really started to ramp up. He found himself learning different coding languages after work and building websites for people.
Around 2006 Cliff re-enrolled in graduate studies and he got a Masters in Computer Science. He moved to Jersey to work at a startup which was his first real programming job. After this he moved to several different companies before heading to Stash, one of the fastest-growing investing and banking apps in the U.S.
Stuart is a serial startup entrepreneur, mentor at Launch22 and founder of The Cult London.
Stuart has always had an entrepreneurial streak. He always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. When he was 16 he received £300 in birthday money and over three years he invested it and grew it to £30,000. This was the capital for his first startup.
From here Stuart has built several startups and has also worked at large corporates like Deloitte and PwC. His experience in both large and small companies has proved invaluable in his mentoring work. He is currently a mentor at Launch22 and is the founder of entrepreneur community The Cult London.
Ian is the CEO at Digiterre.
Originally Ian had nothing to do with software. He did his degree in economics and econometrics. Despite the fact he didn’t like maths and didn’t want to do maths after his A-levels Ian went to university ended up on a statistics course when the business studies department was full. After this, he got a scholarship to a university in Canada where he found out he was going to do more applied maths.
After vowing never to do maths again he found himself doing 4 more years of it. This did set him up very well for his career though. He worked for Proctor & Gamble after university as a brand manager. He started working in the brand management department but eventually ended up running it. After this, he moved to Rich Tea and Digestive where he did the same role before founding Digiterre.
Brendon is the Head of Data at Shawbrook Bank
Brendon’s journey into data isn’t your typical one. He hasn’t risen through the ranks to his current position from a technical background. Brendon was originally an accountant. He worked for a while as an auditor. He learned a lot in that position but was happy when he was able to move on.
He spent a long time working at RBS and Credit Swiss undertaking large-scale financial transformation pieces. These experiences let Brendon see the insides of tier one banks very well.
After this, he moved into the consulting space and led some of the business intelligence offerings at a construction firm and after that built out the international analytics function for a movie company. This was probably Brendon’s first introduction to the data space. He’s now head of data at Shawbrook.
Jules is the CTO at Equals Group
With a keen interest in computers from an early age, Jules has been constantly coding since childhood. His undergraduate degree in Mathematics and his Ph.D. in Computer Science saw him secure a role as a research assistant and teacher at Queen Mary, University of London.
Once he was done with university Jules moved to FairFX and has been with the company for 13 years. In that time he’s seen two major acquisitions and a restructuring of the company into Equals Group. This transformation and its challenges are the subjects of this show.
Bryan is the Head of Technology at Forestreet
First and foremost Bryan is a data strategist. His background is in building data systems, he’s been doing that for around twenty years. Around ten years ago he transitioned to data strategy where he now supports business strategies with data strategies.
Bryan joined Forestreet a couple of years ago. Before Forestreet Bryan was building an AI and automation solution that tracked every IT company in the world. The idea behind that was: as a technology advisor Bryan could know exactly which companies he could recommend to solve a company’s business problem. He now does this for Forestreet.
Ross is the chief strategy officer at Somo Global
In the past 25 years, Ross has been a founding member of 6 digital media companies. Currently working at the digital product accelerator Somo he is specialised in C level business, financial and marketing strategy. He was also voted for three years as one of the Top 100 Digital Media Digerati and Top 50 Most Influential People in Mobile by the Drum.
Ryan is the Senior Director of Talent at Pendo.io
Ryan went to university at Brigham Young in Utah where he studied history whilst working as a systems administrator. His job at uni gave him experiences fixing computers and maintaining networks etc. After his bachelor's, he got a Masters in Business and he started working in HR where he worked at American Express.
American Express took Ryan to England and he worked in their Brighton HR office. He realised he wasn’t a big company person he wanted to work for smaller businesses. From there he moved careers and went to work at LinkedIn as their HR lead.
As LinkedIn got bigger he left HR and became a salesperson for a year. After this, he moved to a startup called Mobile Iron where he was the Head of Recruiting. It was in this role, he found that recruiting was his true passion. Ryan spent a few more years working as the Head of Recruiting at various Startups before landing at Pendo.io.
Renna is the Engineering Manager at iTech media
Renna is a developer, entrepreneur, cat lover, planner & dreamer. She has taken part in a number of hackathons a couple of years ago, and her teams mostly end up in awarded positions. She enjoys the energy, creativity, and ideas flowing around in such events.
Giles is the CEO & Co-founder of Ksubaka
Giles is a serial entrepreneur in mobile games, mobile advertising and global OTT platforms. He has over 20 years experience advising, leading, growing, acquiring and investing in companies from start-ups to multinationals.
Prior to his current role as CEO and Co-Founder of Ksubaka, he was the Founder and Head of Libon, a skunk-works operation within the Orange Group.
Here he built an award-winning mobile/OTT platform with over 4 million active users in 100 countries. Giles has also served as an advisor to BBC Mobile, CEO of mobile virtual network operator Echosphere and led the building (and sale to Microsoft) of France’s first mobile ad platform.
Giles founded Ksubaka with his brother Julian initially as a new way for brands to advertise to shoppers in stores at mass scale. But working with retailers, they came to understand the need to improve the in-store experience and so shifted their focus to help physical retailers revitalise by providing in-store digital interface products and services.
Curran is the Head of Marketing at Feast It
Curran is currently the Head of Marketing at Feast It. He and his team do lots of things to rapidly grow their customer base, build a memorable brand and improve their product so that clients love the experience they have.
Shweta is the CPO at Machinemax.
Product management has been at the core of Shweta’s career journey. She has two decades of experience working for companies like; Thomas Cook, Deloitte & Tesco.
She started her career in eCommerce creating products for the eCommerce sector. Then she moved into mobile and worked on apps as a product manager too.
Whilst working at Lego, Shweta started creating hardware products. She built a platform for them that let Lego showcase what they’ve currently been working on. It was here Shweta got really interested in IoT and how technology was making everything more connected. This interest led her to Machinemax.
Niall is the Head of Engineering at Butternut Box
Niall started working in Dublin 7 years ago at a company called Web Summit which is a technology conference. Since then he’s worked in New York for a while for a company called Plated which is similar to Hello Fresh. Niall joined Butternut Box two years ago.
Butternut Box is a dog food company but better. They believe in delivering health and happiness to dogs and humans all around the world. They achieve this mission by using really high-quality ingredients and using algorithms to ensure the portion control is correct. And then delivering the food to your door with a quick and efficient service.
Catherine is the Data & Analytics Practice Area Lead at Slalom Consulting.
With a background in theoretical particle physics, Catherine did a Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool before moving into the corporate world.
Catherine chose to go into physics because she enjoyed the subject and it was a subject that came very naturally to her. She also knew the degree would give her great career options in the longer term.
When she was doing her PhD she realised that working at such detail on one specific problem wasn't for her. Catherine found she preferred working in larger teams where they were tackling bigger more business orientated problems.
When she left university and had decided against a career in physics a company called Detica came forward and offered Catherine a job as a data consultant. It was here that her physics background clicked with a career in data
After working at Detica for a number of years she moved to PwC and now she’s at Slalom.
Head of Science and Development at Recordsure
Anthony has been at Recordsure for a month. His goal at the company is to expand its data science capabilities in the areas of AI, speech to text technology & language processing. His aim is to bring these technologies closer to Recordsure’s development functions.
Been at Recordsure for a month. Was brought onto the team to expand its science capabilities around AI, speech to text & language processing and bring these closer to their development functions.
Prior to this role, Anthony was the head of data science at TUI. Before working at TUI, Anthony worked in consulting at BAE systems. He’s been a post-doctoral research fellow and he’s worked at the Ministry of Defence as a data analyst.
Simon is the director of engineering at Advanced Analytics
As the Director of Engineering at Advancing Analytics, Simon’s passion is helping companies achieve their analytics goals using the best of data engineering know-how, coaching their data leadership and educating their teams around the latest and greatest Azure analytics technologies.
Simon is a big believer in the wider data community. He regularly presents on cloud analytics architectures and was the original founder of the Surrey Data Platform Group. He now organises the Microsoft Data London UG. Simon can generally be found at data conferences worldwide, sharing his experiences and learning from as many people as possible!
Diego is the Lead Data Scientist at FutureLearn
With a background in Astrophysics Diego has worked as a professional researcher in Astrophysics for more than 8 years. In that time he undertook post-doctoral research. He was also part of one of the largest collaboration of astrophysicists in the world which was called the dark energy survey.
After his academic career, he moved into a role in data science and found that the work was very similar. The principles and problems he faced in data science were similar to his science career. It was the setting that he found the most different.
He now works as a Lead Data Scientist at FutureLearn and he works on identifying and solving problems in a data-driven fashion.
Moritz is the Co-founder and Managing Director at DiscoEat
One of the three co-founders of DiscoEat, Moritz helped create the app that allows restaurants to fill empty spaces on their tables at quiet times.
Moritz has traveled extensively and has a degree in international management and finance. After university, he started his career in management consulting. After three and a half years he joined the startup world and he became the managing director of food panda then several other startups before founding DiscoEats.
Garuka is the CTO at Intellimorph
Before working at Intellimorph, Garuka worked at a big four consultancy. His role focused on property process automation and artificial intelligence where he led large projects on automation. Areas Garuka has worked in include: banking, pharmaceuticals, government & healthcare.
Charles is the Lead Senior Data Architect at RS Components
Charles has over 20 years of experience in IT, of which over 15 years specializing in database technologies. He has spent most of his career designing databases, SQL and report development, and managing database servers. Charles believes that data requires great attention to detail and an understanding of definitions.
Rob is the lead technologist and blockchain DLT at Digital Catapult
A Trained medical doctor, Robert worked in the NHS for 6-years. He really enjoyed the role but always had a desire to ‘invent stuff’. So he went back to university to study a degree that would allow him to do that.
Robert first took an interest in blockchain whilst doing his Ph.D and the bitcoin phenomenon exploded in 2012. He knew then Bitcoin was something he needed to be part of. In that time he also co-founded the research center for cryptocurrency research & engineering at Imperial College.
After this Rob moved out of the research world and into Digital Catapult so he could make a broader economic impact on society. Rob’s driving force is discussing and understanding where blockchain technology is heading and where can it be applied to make a real impact.
Greg is the founder and CEO at Octopus Energy
After a short sojourn in the video game industry when he finished his GCSE’s Greg returned to university to do a degree in Economics. He landed his first professional role in the marketing department at Proctor & Gamble.
When Greg started at P&G the concept of technology and marketing being closely entwined was very alien. But with the advent of the consumer-facing internet that all changed and the two disciplines began gelling together.
Greg seized on the developing digital marketing industry by creating a product we’d now identify as a cloud-based Saas CRM. He was one of the first individuals in the world to produce a type of technology like this. The product was reasonably successful and let Greg sold it for a tidy profit.
Selling this product gave Greg enough capital to build a big business in an area that really matters. Not long after he founded Octopus Energy. He started Octopus Energy because he is passionate about bringing fairer practices and better value to the people of Britain.
Juan is the VP of Engineering at Splice.
Moving to America in 2007 Juan initially worked as a chef after studying culinary arts. After the financial crisis of 2008, he found himself moving away from cheffing and started building websites for people. He initially learned his computer skills from building myspace pages for his friend's bands.
It wasn’t long until Juan moved into the startup scene in US. He moved from Florida to New York and began his role at Splice.
Stephen is the Director of Product at OLX Group
A lot of Stephen’s background is in product management. He started of his career as a software engineer and expected to do that for his entire career. But then, one Saturday, he was awoken by a support call where some big SMS system was down and he had to figure out how to fix it.
He realised he enjoyed life too much to keep sacrificing his Saturdays like that so he started exploring opportunities. He was looking for a role where he can still build things but not be on call all the time. This is how he discovered product management.
From this point on Stephen knew he’d found his calling. He spent time working with a very large eCommerce retailer in South Africa. From there he moved to a big global internet company where he worked in a role that involved project managing an agritech startup.
After this, he fell in love with online classifieds. And moved to OLX where he’s spent the past 6 years doing a variety of exotic things.
Julian is the CEO at Made By Many
An award-winning digital publisher, Julian has lead transformation and innovation within big brands including Sky News and ITV. He has 20 years of editorial experience, expertise in TV, video & digital media production, with a focus on the numbers to drive revenue and profit, and the leadership skills to develop high-performing teams.
He is currently helping Made By Many through the next chapter of their growth story.
Mattia is the head of machine learning & quantum algorithms at Cambridge Quantum Computing.
Mattia is an enthusiastic research lead in the areas of Machine Learning and Quantum Computing. In his classical computing activity, he applies deep learning to algorithmic trading and financial time-series forecasting. With my team, he has implemented many intra-day trading strategies in diverse financial markets.
During Mattia’s studies towards his PhD in computational Physics, he focussed on the first-principles of electronic transport simulations for energy harvesting, conversion, and conservation. During this journey, he gained significant experience in Python, Bash, fortran2003 and parallel computation. Mattia developed from scratch an HPC research software that runs on distributed memory clusters (MPI) and has been tested to scale on up to 1000s cores on UK national facility ARCHER.
Tom is the co-founder at Tickr
Tom began his career in 2011 in Barclay’s graduate scheme. He spent several years working in their investment division working in both the UK and Hong Kong.
In 2014 joined a US investment management firm called Wellington Management where he spent the next 5-years.
It was in this role that Tom started working in impact investment. This investing strategy involves investing in companies that are solving problems that are scaleable and the first to market.
Every year Tom and his team managed to beat the markets by investing in companies solving real-world problems. During this time Tom and his co-founder started to realise there was no way to invest their money, in the same way, they were doing at work. So in 2016 Tickr was born.
Althea is a senior data professional and Chief Data Officer.
A passionate advocate of the value of data, Althea has spent the past 20 years working as a data management professional. She is currently a contract CDO and her hands-on knowledge includes data strategy, information management, big data, data governance & data quality.
She is currently working in Amsterdam where she is leading and managing the global data governance services for an international alcohol brand. Her mandate is to optimize the current data management practice and enable reliable analytics & reporting practices within the business.
Nick is the Head of IT at Bossa Studios
Originally a graphic artist Nick specialised in art with a computer specialisation. At university, he studied 3D graphics and 3D art.
When Nick started working he found his industry was full of artists but not many people who were technically minded.
So Nick found himself slowly gravitating to the more technical side of his role. Nick started in tech support and began slowly specialising in networking and bounced back and forth between this and some web graphics work.
Eventually, Nick got offered a job at a very small ISB he became the systems administrator there and learned how to administer servers that he had a natural affinity for. Nick took several jobs as a system administrator all over the world before ending up in the UK where he’s working now.
Steve is the Technical Director at Mashbo
Steve caught the coding bug whilst doing his A-levels and he moved away from a career as a pilot to pursue programming. He did a Computer Science degree at the University of Liverpool and has worked and lived in the city he grew up in ever since.
In 2011 Steve and two colleagues founded Mashbo. They set up their own company so they could create a positive, forward-thinking company culture they’ve always wanted at work.
Mashbo was originally conceived as a piece of software that allowed you to donate to a chosen charity when you bought products online.
In order to fund this idea, they began developing websites for clients. This quickly became more profitable than their original idea and they moved in web design.
Paolo is the Software Development Manager at Volume.ai
A software developer with 10+ years of experience, Paolo started learning computer science in his native Italy. Paolo has a master's degree in computer vision and artificial intelligence.
Five years ago Paolo decided he wanted a new adventure and challenge and moved to the UK and he started working for Volume. When he started the company was mainly a digital agency. But when Paolo started it was already changing to a more AI-focused development company. Paolo was part of this transition.
They moved from a marketing agency to a software development company. Currently, they already have some products on the market and they mainly focus on machine learning and AI for conversational platforms.
Nimrod is the Business Intelligence Lead at Hermes Investment Management
Starting his BI career a decade ago, Nimrod began working in the space as a consultant. He quickly progressed to a lead consultant then team leader.
After a few years working in a consultancy, he moved to Hermes where he now works with their in-house BI team. With a BA in Philosophy and Mass Media, Nimrod pivoted into data and has been responsible for overseeing the making of greenfield data warehouses around ESG data.
Hayley is the Business Intelligence Manager at Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
Hayley’s path into business intelligence is an unconventional one. She originally studied theology in Las Vegas and initially wanted to be a pastor in the US.
Her first job out of university was in a bank. She worked in Finance for a while before getting recruited by a stockbroker and moved into investment management for a decade. During this time she first encountered big data began working closely with datasets and business intelligence.
3-years ago she decided she wanted a change and moved to London. She stayed in data and has worked in everything from fashion to Starbucks and she’s now at Virgin Atlantic.
Mhairi Davidson is the delivery Team Lead at CDL Software
After leaving universtiy Mhairi was unsure what she wanted to do. She knew she wanted to earn some money so decided to pursue a career in recruitment. After applying for a few positions she ended up working in the oil and gas market in Aberdeen.
After this, she worked in the public sector and then for a sports nutrition company. After a few years in Recruitment, Mhairi decided it wasn’t for her anymore and she decided to move into another industry and went to work with her dad in construction.
This industry proved not to be as fast-paced as Mhairi had hoped and Brexit affected the cost of materials so much so that Mhairi wanted something more exciting out of a career.
She then moved to a small tech company working in Manchester city center as a salesperson. During her time there she moved into a Head of People position. There was no internal recruitment department so she set that up for them.
After doing this the company had a vacant open on their development team for a project manager and she applied for it and Mhairi’s project management career took off from there.
Edson is the Head of Engineering at Lloyd’s Banking Group.
Arriving in the UK in 2004 Edson found employment within a fortnight working for a small building sub-contractor in the Bolton area. This role required him to develop their information management systems and upgrading their day to day operations.
After a few years, he moved to a company called Amptech which has now been acquired by Trimble. He spent 7 years at Trimble before moving to Findel Education as their Head of Web Development and was promoted to Head of Software Engineering.
He has recently moved to Lloyd’s Banking Group.
Mike is the Head of Data & Analytics at the Bodyshop.
Mike's interest in data started when he began studying economics at A levels. It was the first time he’d seen a subject that married maths with real-world problems and issues. It was his first taste of using data to make business recommendations. Mike carried on learning economics right through to a Master’s degree.
After a brief foray into investment banking, Mike went to work at a company called Game Theory. This company taught Mike the fundamentals of data analytics.
After a while at Game Theory Mike moved into the retail sector to work at Debenhams. He did this to get some more hands-on data experience. He then went to the Post Office and got some first-hand experience dealing with bureaucracy and red tape.
Then went to The Guardian news and media, then Aimia and now he works as the Head of Data & Analytics at The Bodyshop.
Purnima is the Operations & People Director at Sparta Global When Purnima started her career in technology there was no clear career path set out for her. With a degree and masters in economics, Purnima ended up in technology almost by accident.
Her IT career started when she joined a company called Sun Systems. Whilst at this company Purnima got a really good understanding and appreciation of technology. Although she isn’t technical herelf Purnima began to understand a lot of the jargon being used in the business.
She realised that if you want to work in an innovative sector you need to work in IT. It was a sector where you could be creative as well as innovative. After working at Sun Systems she spent 16 years working in an IT consultancy before moving to Sparta Global.
Jay is the CTO at Wunderman Thompson Mobile
Originally from the east coast, Jay moved to Denver to do more snowboarding. He worked various jobs building websites for companies during and after the dot com bubble burst.
When the App boom happened Jay moved into mobile development. He joined a company called Double Encore and they helped build mobile apps for social media platforms. As they were early starters in the app sector they became known for creating high-quality apps. Double Encore merged with another company called Excellent Creations to combine clients and stop competition for developers.
They were then acquired by Possible and became Possible Mobile. Since then Jay has been leading the engineering department for the past 10 years. They have recently rebranded and are now called Wunderman Thompson Mobile.
Nigel is the CTO at Intelligent Voice.
Before his career in tech, Nigel was an IT lawyer (before IT lawyers were a thing). He’s invested in several small software companies in his time and now specialises in voice recognition and related technologies.
Intelligent Voice provides market-leading surveillance and monitoring solutions for telephone calls, e-mail, IM, social media, and any text documents. We also have an incredibly fast speech to text engine, capable of processing speech to text at up to 400x real time using Nvidia GPU technology.
Simon is the Chief Data Officer at Rank Group.
Recently shortlisted for Data Leader of the year 2019, Simon has had a long and varied career in Data. In his current role at Rank, he is responsible for driving value and insights from data.
He’s previously worked at Regus plc where he, working with the operations team, increased profit margins by 64%. Simon has also spent time at Lloyd bank when he was responsible for driving a billion pounds of revenue per annum. In both of these roles, his successes were underpinned by the use of data.
When working for Tesco Simon helped fix the data after the company suffered the largest corporate loss in UK history. At Bupa, he fixed the regulating and reporting issues in the insurance part of the business.
Katy is the Managing Director at Socialchain
Katy’s spent her career in media and marketing. She was the head of New Media and Marketing at MediaCom north before moving to Socialchain.
In this podcast, Andy and Katy talk about the growth of Socialchain, the ups, and downs of agency work and the advantages of podcasting.
When she’s not working at Socialchain Katy is busy hosting her own podcast, ‘I shouldn’t say this but…’ (http://bit.ly/katy-podcast).
Malte is the VP of Product at Searchmetrics
Malte stumbled into SEO when he was about 15 years old. He’d built his own website and he was surprised to see website traffic from areas he didn’t expect. After investigating he realised his traffic was coming from his SEO efforts. This happy accident led Malte down the career path he’s on today.
When Malte went to university he studied Computer Science further augmenting his skills in SEO and web development. After university, he worked in a management consultancy after being a co-founder in an SEO agency he founded at university. He then moved to Searchmetrics where he’s been for the past 4 years.
Mita is a Senior Product Manager at Mindera
Starting her career in the construction industry Mita advanced from an entry-level software developer to a development manager. She also spent 18 months in India setting up an offshore team.
After a successful career in software, she decided to move into product management. Mita felt she has mastered all things she wanted to as a developer and working on a product from conception, research and through to execution was an exciting proposition for her.
Still working in the construction sector, Mita saw her company go through two acquisitions and ultimately get acquired by Oracle.
Mita moved companies to Mindera to explore different industries. She wanted to get exposure to lots of different domains and cultures. She has spent the past 6 months running Mindera’s gambling products.
Richard is the Head of Digital Retail at Answer Digital
Fast approaching his 10th year at Answer Digital, Richard is very passionate about all things agile. He’s an agile project manager and scrum master who has worked in a variety of industries and sectors. He has recently been working closely with the retail sector helping companies deliver agile change projects and programs and facilitating scalable initiatives.
Lucas is the CTO at Lyst
Lucas is an experienced Internet Tech and Product Head. He has a strong background in start-ups, acquisitions, and intrapreneurial leadership for large organizations. He is skilled in management, Software as a Service (SaaS), product development, big data, agile, and intellectual property.
Joshua is a Senior Technical Consultant at Computer ConQuest and a co-host of the Getting Apps Done podcast.
At 14 Josh could boast he owned the most powerful computer in town. He owned a Pentium 166 with 8mb of RAM. It was at this point he immediately fell in love with computer and programming. After a lot of trial and error, teaching himself to code, Josh built a career for himself as a software developer.
He’s now got so many coding languages under his belt he can’t fit them all on his CV. He’s now teaching others how to become software developers and building communities to support individuals at every point of their coding journey.
Dmitri is the Head of DevOps at LoveHoliday.
Dmitri is interested in exploring Google Cloud, Kubernetes, building scalable distributed systems and cloud-native tech. Before heading up DevOps at Loveholidays, Dmitri worked at IBM Watson Health and holds patents from his time there.
Check out Dmitri’s blog at deploy.live: https://deploy.live/
Alex is the CEO of Dovetail Lab
Alex is an experienced company director, entrepreneur and project manager. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dovetail Lab, a software company that has developed a blockchain platform to pioneer better information sharing in healthcare by giving patients control of their data.
A majority stake in Dovetail has recently been acquired by EMIS Group plc, an AIM-listed health technology company that currently provides clinical systems to approximately 60% of GPs in the UK.
Juha is the engineering lead at Transferwise.
Juha is a Computer Science graduate who has spent the past 20 years working in IT and the last 30 programming.
He spent the first decade of his career building a consultancy in Finland which in time brought him to the UK and Germany. In this period Juha learned most of his programming and project management skills.
Ever since then he’s been doing more management and CTO type roles in different companies. His varied career has seen him work in startups, become a member of a few corporate innovation units and now he’s an engineering lead at Transfer Wise which is a London based Fintech unicorn. But he’d call it a double unicorn because it's actually profitable.
At TransferWise Juha leads 6 teams that are focused around the companies business customers. Transferwise was traditionally a consumer-focused company but in the last few years, they’ve started focusing on what their business customers would need. Juha’s team is working on all the features necessary for business customers like cross border payments and cross-currency payments.
Ronald is the VP of Product at FACEIT.
Ronald always wanted to work in the video game industry but he started his career at Spotify. He began his professional life as a project manager but as he progressed his role morphed into the product manager he is now.
Ronald is currently VP of Product at FACEIT which is the leading competitive gaming platform. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated tournament management and matchmaking technology.
Robert is the Founder of Kindaba and the CEO at HeySummit
Ever since he was young Robert has enjoyed undertaking and building projects. He found creating new businesses and processes far more rewarding than working as a small cog in a large company.
His passion for projects began after university. He started a non-profit project where he and 4 friends worked and lived in a converted school bus. They drove around America and made short documentary films about people doing good things in the country.
He did this because he wanted a project that would throw him in the deep end of the working world and give him a whole bunch of skills that he could add to his CV. Such as large-scale logistics, planning, how to manage a team, and how to fundraise.
After this Robert came back to the UK and started building software programs for a university for a few years. Kindaba started from a personal pain point which was the difficulty of communicating and sharing images with less tech-savvy family members. He started Kindaba in 2017 to solve this problem.
Kindaba is a sharing platform for families. If Facebook isn’t private enough and Whatsapp is too noisy you can use Kindaba. There are no ads and no data selling. Its a privacy-conscious way of sharing baby photos etc.
Leon is the Founder and CPO/CSO at Elsewhen
When he began his career Leon saw Software Engineering as a side-project. He finished an arts degree and started creating generative art using computers. This sparked his interest in software, he rejected an arts master and pivoted into a career where he could solve real-world problems.
As a software engineer Leon wanted to bring together the disparate aspects of product development and business and let business owners gain more control of their product journey. So he started Elsewhen.
Find out more about Elsewhen here: http://bit.ly/elsepod1
Nitzan is a Senior Salesforce Systems Manager & Information Security Lead at The Challenge
Before working with Salesforce Nitzan worked as a software developer and project manager for various companies, including outdoor advertising, several software houses, and a stock market trading training company.
Most of her career has been based around the database application space and that made the transition to Salesforce the most logical step.
Nitzan started her Salesforce career volunteering for a charity. She was eager to work more closely with the platform and found a lot of support, knowledge, and careers advice in the Salesforce community. She’s also a mentor and came on the show to chat about her community work, volunteering and mentoring with Salesforce.
Chris is the VP of People & Culture at Zenjob
Living in Berlin since 2012, Chris has seen the cities tech startup scene change massively. He moved with this wife to Berlin to get out of his comfort zone and hasn’t looked back since. He started his career at Soundcloud and this was where he cut his teeth in recruitment and HR. From there Chris moved N26 as their Director of Employee Experience before finally moving to Zenjob where he’s now the VP of people & culture.
Hansel is the VP of Engineering at Touch Surgery
5 billion people don’t have access to safe surgery. Changing that statistic is Touch Surgery’s mission. Hansel is helping the company achieve this goal through his role as the VP of Engineering.
Hansel builds and trains teams of developers and provides them with everything they need to do their jobs. He leads an engineering team of 30+ people which is responsible for building scalable, automatically testable, and easily deployable platforms for surgical education and AI-driven analysis of surgical video.
Aris is the CEO & Co-Founder at Gutsy Ninja
For the last 10 years, Aris has been working as an agile delivery manager. He especially enjoys contracting roles within organisations that help drive software delivery, assist and improve Agile processes and techniques such as Scrum Master and Agile Coaching initiatives.
Having been convinced of the Agile mindset many years ago, Aris took the opportunity to investigate ways of bringing the customer's voice closer to the overall process. Gutsy Ninja is now helping companies understand their customers, increase conversion and find opportunities with our User Research consultancy.
Vlasios is the Chief Data Officer at Argus Media.
With a Ph.D. in informatics, Vlasios started his career working in academia. His Ph.D. led him to specialise in managing data sets over geographical space and time.
When he left university he worked on several consultancy projects and could boast that the UK government was a client. After this Vlasios spent some time setting up his own company where he successfully commercialised a lot of the research he did over his academic career.
From there he worked in the banking sector where he set up a commercial banks data science capabilities and now he’s at Argus Media as their first Chief Data Officer.
Jason is the development manager at Connells Group
Jason is a digital technology manager with over 10 years’ experience developing and delivering digital platforms. He’s delivered everything from simple PHP Facebook applications through to complex asset management systems on Umbraco.
During his career, in addition to development and project delivery, he has built and managed digital teams of up to 15 people and worked with onshore and offshore external production houses. He’s introduced creative technology into the agencies he has joined, developed and implemented technical processes, and introduced agile ways of working.
Christian is the CTO at DCMN
With 20+ as a software developer, Christian started coding when he was 16. Drawn to the allure of entrepreneur life he started his first company when he was 17. His company provided a hosting service to businesses. He found that this was a nice niche he could exploit at the time that paid for Christian’s studies.
When he finished studying physics he started a second company in Berlin where he created a video recruiting interview software. After this, he worked at SAP for a while before starting yet another company dealing in mobile advertising. He sold that two years ago to DCMN which is where he’s serving as the CTO right now.
Sophie is the Managing Director at Mercedes-Benz.io
Although Sophie isn’t a super technical individual (by her own admission) she has always worked in and managed IT teams. A self-professed Daimler child, she started her working life there as an intern then moved into a trainee position. From there, Sophie always found herself working in IT projects.
For Sophie, IT is always one part of a larger project. She is equally comfortable in defining big system landscapes and a projects overall architecture as she is at integrating people and thinking creatively about projects.
Charlie is the Senior Technical Recruiter and Ben is the Group CTO at GfK.
GfK harnesses big-data on consumers and brands to provide multi-national clients with actionable intelligence that helps inform their strategies and shapes markets.
GfK Tech is responsible for the entire life cycle of global market research applications. They develop applications for internal and external customers to enable big data. They apply modern technology and proven practices to solve problems around big data storage, big data processing, machine learning, and complex data visualisation. We build innovative greenfield cloud-native data analytics products.
Ben Ben is A passionate, customer and delivery focused global, digital technology leader with broad industry experience across media, financial services and retail as well as a top-tier consultancy foundation.
Charlie Charlie is responsible for managing hiring across GfK. He sources and places candidates in Architecture, Development, DevOps, Data Science, QA & UX/UI roles.
Marco is the VP of Engineering at Ambie
Ambie is a smarter way for businesses to manage their background music. By combining music experts with smart and simple tech, we help hundreds of businesses around the world increase efficiency while creating the perfect atmosphere, using music.
Ambie curates playlists for businesses. Their mission is to deliver the right music at the right time to create the mood the business owner expects or what the business owner needs.
Leanne is the IT Digital Services Director at Heathrow Airport
A highly accomplished and resilient IT Director, Leanne has global experience in leading the development and execution of IT Strategies to support business transformation. Her success is underpinned by her ability to weave together ideas and the right talent and get tangible deliverable done. Leanne is known completing transformation projects and she makes sure that everyone involved understands the purpose of the transformation and that they have fun when they’re doing it.
Mike is the development manager at Manheim Auctions.
Starting his development career working on with the little known coding language ‘Progress’, Mike moved from developer to lead developer to development manager. He is now responsible for 11 people who he manages in an agile fashion.
He is currently overseeing the rollout of a business-wide Azure deployment. This project is the culmination of 18 months of work and will be affecting all of Manheim Auctions sites.
Juan is the software engineer team lead at Balena.io
He focuses on building high-quality software and is passionate about open-source, maintainability, testing, software correctness, and static program analysis. He’s been with Balena for 4 years moving from a Software Engineer to a team lead and now he is the Engineering Lead.
Prior to Balena.io Juan worked as a Software Engineer for Rulemotion and PikaPay.
Drew is the Delivery Manager at Karhoo
A self-proclaimed ‘recovering project manager’ Drew’s career started in engineering. He was a backend engineer in the era of Java. Prior to KarHoo, Drew worked at a technology agency working with various clients in the UK in a project focused role delivering technology software.
Drew now manages the creation of award-winning digital products across web, mobile and tablet devices. He is experienced in managing teams of developers, analysts, UX, creative and testers delivering compelling digital products through full product life cycle development and evolution.
Nicholas is the CEO at CommerceBank
A cryptocurrencies entrepreneur & software engineer, Nicholas has been involved with bitcoin since 2012. Nicholas is a technologist first and foremost, he caught the bitcoin bug through writing software for banks.
Although he was working in banking Nicholas did question the ethics of the 2008 financial crisis and thought it was unfair that they got bailed out. He came to the conclusion the traditional banking sector wasn’t for him.
This realisation spurred his interest in Blockchain and he found the concept of bitcoin fascinating. This culminated in his role as the CEO at CommerceBank
Nicholas is regularly quoted in major cryptocurrency publications and he is an experienced advisor for government trade bodies on crypto.
Doug is the Head of Data at Metropolitan Thames Valley
Douglas Silverstone is the Head of Data, Analytics and Information Security at Metropolitan Thames Valley. Responsible for the data on 60,000 homes more than 100,000 tenants and countless repairs and components. Housing Data is becoming increasingly complex and interrelated. Be that legislative requirements, IoT, or simply providing a better service to our tenants, both the data we collect and the information we manage is increasing by the day.
Douglas has led the Data governance initiative at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing. Beyond this, he is a thought leader in the sector setting up a housing data forum and a strong advocate of the HACT data standards, which enable associations to work better together and deliver more for their tenants. His approach has led to a fundamental step-change in the way data is understood and used, and helps MTVH to be leaders in their field.
Matt is the lead full-stack game developer at Wibbu
Currently the lead full-stack game developer at Wibbu, Matt makes games for language learning. His goal is to create immersive experiences for players to learn languages. From the player perspective, this is done as a second point to the game. Wibbu wants its players to enjoy their game experience and then once they’ve finished they realise they’ve learned a language. The school version of Ruby Rei is sold and endorsed by Cambridge University Assessments and is accompanied by an extensive Teacher's Handbook developed by Cambridge University Press.
Before Wibbu Matt has worked in web development and for a games company called Everi, which specialised in slot machine games.
**At 9.13 Matt mentions mention that the school's version of Ruby Rei is scheduled to release in May. As schedules usually do, this has changed. The school's version is currently being sold in Turkey and is going to be launched in Mexico and Spain within the next year?
Bo Run is the Head of Data at the Alzheimer's Society.
After a year leading a data department at Greenpeace, Bo returned to Alzheimer’s Society and became their first Head of Data. This decision was influenced in part by the amazing work the Society does to combat dementia.
He was also drawn to the organisation as he relished the challenge of developing a data strategy in what is effectively a greenfield site. Alzheimer’s Society has yet to leverage the data it has access to up to Bo’s appointment so he was uniquely placed to roll out an effective and robust data strategy for the charity.
Dave is the CTO of ResearchBods and the wider STRAT7 Group
With over 16 years’ experience working within SME’s, Dave has a unique blend of Technical and Strategic Leadership skills backed up by strong Product Management, Platform Delivery, Operational IT/Support, and Quality Assurance skills. He prides himself on being commercially focused and has experience in all aspects of Application Lifecycle Management in both the larger and smaller SME fields. With a proven track record in digital transformations, Dave understands the mechanics that make a technology focussed organisation succeed and grow.
ResearchBods are a tech-enabled business, utilising propriety software to harness customer data and intelligence. As part of the STRAT7 group, they partner with agencies including Bonamy Finch and LiFE to provide an end-to-end data-driven strategy for brands and businesses. Dave takes responsibility for the creation and execution of the technology strategy, ranging from new product developments and ensuring the group has cutting edge IT functions in place. Dave works with end users, senior management, customers, and a growing team across the group.
Akshat is the CTO & Co-founder at Udelv.
Udelv is an autonomous delivery company co-founded by Akshat. Prior to Udelv, he worked for Apple and Tesla’s autonomous driving teams. Akshat worked on both the hardware, software, and engineering management. Before this, he had worked on several projects at General Motors and caterpillar. In these roles, he started off working on power systems, automated motor drives, and motor controls.
Brian Robinson is the managing director of digital teams at Dept Agency
With a mixture of delivery and commercial roles under his belt, Brian has the hands-on technical experience to deliver transformation project and work on business strategies for clients.
He is currently a managing director at Dept, a digital agency that employees 1200 individuals across 14 different offices. Until the start of 2018 he was the MD of the design and technology which was based in Manchester and focused on large-scale web and application development.
In 2019 Brian’s role has changed slightly when Dept created its new ‘digital teams’ business model. Dept’s Digital teams help companies that are going through that digital change period. Their mission spans from the very top of an organisation where they look at the digital strategy of a company through to creating a product that empowers a business to take over their own delivery.
Ammar is the Founder & CEO at Yobota.
Prior to founding Yobota, Ammar had a career consulting in the financial services sector. He spent 10 years advising companies like UBS Investment Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Post-2008, Ammar moved into consulting in the retail sector with a focus on revitalising the sector with new technologies, better customer experiences and better product choices. This new direction took Ammar on a gradual path to what he’s doing today.
Tor is the CTO at Adarga
A very experienced digital CTO/technologist, Tor specialises in managing large scale online presences using cutting edge tech. His IT experience stretches to the online and media industries. He has worked with both startups and large companies using a mix of traditional and agile approaches to solution solving. Tor has hands-on experience in building complete online technology teams and web services from greenfield, on an international stage with distributed teams.
Alastair is the CTO at BrightHR.
An enthusiastic and motivated professional, Alastair has spent twenty-seven years working in Information Technology. He has a very strong technical background with delivery focussed experiences across many business sectors. Alastair has many years of experience delivering large and complicated IT projects and programmes, with a reputation for guaranteed delivery to the highest quality.
Kiesling is responsible for all elements of the employee lifecycle. This includes developing an excellent recruitment experience for all applicants, delivering an engagement plan that is valuable company-wide, managing the professional and personal development of Ampersand's team, attending industry events to increase company exposure, leading the onboarding and induction process for all new employees and maintaining HR policies in line with employment legislation.
Alttaf is the Team Lead & Tech Lead for Yoti.
Watching Knight Rider and Terminator as a child sparked Alttaf’s interest in technology. He always has a desire to figure out how tech is working. This fascination led him into a career in computer science, completing a Bachelors degree in Artificial Intelligence in 2006.
He started his career in tech through a graduate training scheme at a company called Thales. He was building flight simulators using a mixture of C++ and AI.
In his next role, he moved into web where he was working on an HR platform with Untangel Limited. His interest in Javascript was a key factor in taking the role as Untangel was one of the first companies to use Javascript on the backend.
His next move was Yoti in 2016, after showing the CEO a potential demo of electronic signing he loved it so Altaff and a colleague went away and built the demo which is now in production.
Pat is the CTO at Abundance
Abundance is a leading direct investment platform giving people control over their money. People invest from £5 in energy projects that generate something good for the environment and society, as well as bank-beating returns.
With a choice of projects, investors know where their money is going and how it is working for them. They receive regular capital repayments and investment returns, along with updates on energy generation. At the same time, the world benefits from energy that is renewable and sustainable and communities enjoy a range of perks from reduced energy bills to community dividends.
Jump to 12.34 to hear what the 4 barriers to getting underrepresented people into tech are.
Debbie is the CEO at Tech Talent Charter.
Originally an English teacher Debbie was an early adopter of computers in the classroom. This quickly saw Debbie becoming in charge of the schools IT department. Working her way up the school career ladder she saw tech as a great enabler. For some of the children, she was teaching she saw how tech could become a way into careers they might not be able to consider otherwise.
As a head teacher, her school piloted and championed a new scheme called Computer Club for Girls. After a career as a teacher, Debbie joined E-skills UK. She was the Head of Education which meant she was working with policymakers like IBM & Microsoft trying to figure out how they could make a tech curriculum fit for purpose.
Having a hand in policy was very important for instigating change, but it wasn’t Debbie's first love. While she was at E Skills she came across a company called Apps for Good. Which teaches students digital skills via an app. Debbie took the company from two schools and 41 students to reaching around 75000 kids. Debbie saw again how this app caught the eyes of girls and she was drawn back into discussions about diversity in tech.
As time went on Debbie was heading to more and more diversity based events. Evidence was showing more diverse workforces were better for business. Whilst she was still at Apps for Good, Debbie was approached by Sinead Bunting with an offer of creating a group that’s focused on increasing diversity in tech. This was the beginning at the Tech Talent Charter.
Sebastian is the Co-founder and Director at Titus Learning
As the co-founder of Titus Learning Sebastian has always championed e-learning and alternate educational routes. After a brief stint at university, he found he worked best when engaging in ‘non-traditional’ educational avenues. This realisation saw him set up Titus Learning to bring the advantages of e-learning courses to as many people as possible.
Jump to 24.22 to listen to Seb's three lessons.
Key points covered in this show include: How e-learning is disrupting the ‘traditional’ education sectors
How can we create a tech curriculum that can adapt to the pace of change of technology
Rich is an EMEA Recruitment Specialist for Google Cloud.
Starting his career recruiting for marketing roles in an agency, Rich, quickly learned the benefits developing long term relationships can have on one's career. Building true and meaningful client and candidate relationships has always been at the core of Rich’s recruitment strategy.
In 2012 he started working for a recruitment company who then looked to expand their digital recruitment arm. Rich started recruiting digital marketing professionals for a variety of other businesses.
Over the next 6 years, his division grew across the UK. Rich started to manage several different teams and advise teams in other areas of the world on how to found their own digital business units. He was also added to the board of directors.
After a seven-year stint working agency side, Rich moved to an in-house role working for Google Cloud. This move was spurred by his desire to work in long term partnerships with clients.
Initially, he acted as the point of contact for all cloud marketing and communications across EMEA, before also getting involved in technical project management hiring, hiring for other business units like Waze and finally acting as a point of contact for DACH Sales.
John is an entrepreneur and founder of Pushfor.
John’s career started when he was 11 years old after a chance encounter with a computer magazine. His first computer was a ZX81 Sinclair and he had to type in his programs from computer magazines. Always a fan of taking things apart to find out how they worked John started deconstructing the programs he was typing into his computer and began learning from there.
This combined with a natural flair for working with people quickly saw John working in consultancy. John worked with Experian and in his spare time he wrote a security application to protect some software he’d been writing. John developed software protection technology that turned into a powerful security engine that was used for companies like Microsoft Games.
Jeremy is Head of Software Engineering at News UK
A self-taught coder at the age of 33 Jeremy pivoted into technology later in his career after working in a financial company, Barclays and running his own consultancy. His work in the city saw him running teams in London, NYC & Singapore, and this, combined with his love of working with people saw him take a management role in News UK.
As the Head of Software Engineering Jeremy is responsible for nurturing and developing software engineers across the business. His aim is to make News UK a target destination for the best software engineers in the UK with a focus on skills and career development.
Richard George is the Head of Engineering at RS Components
Richard is an energetic & focused professional with over 20 years of experience in Wireless, Mobile, Enterprise, Consumer and Cloud services. He is an acknowledged visionary and strategist in both product and process, with a past that demonstrates system thinking and the ability to drive strategies, adapt management styles and lead execution processes that convert opportunity to success. Richard has a hard-earned reputation for delivering high-quality products, on time, on budget.
Rosemary is Head of Technology at YOOX-NET-A-PORTER Group.
We spoke to Rosemary back in December. The podcast focuses on teaching code outside the traditional classroom setting. YOOX-NET-A-PORTER is leading the way in this regard. Rosemary talked us through this initiative and several others in her podcast. She tells us about the time the team used an onsite instructor to teach them scala via practical problem solving and Rosemary stresses the importance of hands-on learning for those getting to grips with coding. Andy also asks about team management and allocating product spend.
YOOX-NET-A-PORTER YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP is the world’s leading online luxury fashion retailer. The Group is a Global company with Anglo-Italian roots, the result of a game-changing merger, which in October 2015, brought together YOOX GROUP and THE NET -A-PORTER GROUP; the two companies had revolutionized the luxury fashion industry since their birth in 2000.
An accomplished visionary and resilient Senior Technical Manager Ed’s career spans over 10 years. He has been responsible for leading, mobilising and delivering cost-effective and scalable technology solutions for clients across a variety of sectors. As a lead polyglot Engineer he has a consistent track record in aligning business, strategy and technology needs, whilst being able to build and maintain trusted and collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, vendors, clients, and business leaders. He is solution focused with proven success in driving business innovation using Agile and Scrum principles.
John is the Senior Engineering Manager at Flixbus.
FlixBus is a young mobility provider offering a sustainable and comfortable travel through Europe and the United States under a vision of "Smart and Green Mobility for Everyone to Experience the World". Launched 2013 in Germany, FlixBus offers an expanding network of 300,000 daily connections to 2,000 destinations in 29 countries. With services like free WiFi, an innovative ticketing-system, flexible online booking, its own smartphone-app and CO2 compensation, the Flix Comfort is state-of-the-art on the market.
Erin has recently taken a role as the Vice President of People at SevenFifty after more than four years at Custora.
Erin is SHRM-CP certified, this education combined with her experience in several startups has enabled her to create employee friendly guidelines for the companies she has worked for.
Her role as a people-oriented professional has given her experience in: End-to-end recruiting strategy, the onboarding process, career development and performance management, team engagement and retention, policy, employee handbook creation & growth strategies.
Erin has prior experience in sales, marketing, and customer success implementation. She has always worked to strengthen the ties between these departments because she knows that cooperation between silos allows companies to thrive.
Futurice is a software engineering and innovation consultancy. They build new digital products, create services and harness a culture of innovation to produce outstanding software for clients.
Since 2000, they have helped clients in industries ranging from energy, retail and construction to media, finance and automotive develop their business practices, ways of working and culture to meet the challenges of digital disruption.
Céline is an experienced Executive Team Leader and Chief Communications Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the Financial Services/Banking and Tech industries. She’s a strong management professional skilled in Public/Investor Relations, Fundraising, Mentoring, HR and Talent, Planning/Events and Operations.
Vasileios is a technology-agnostic thinker, and a leader with experience in diverse technologies spanning from web, mobile & microservices, to cloud, serverless and bots
His team building and delivery experience range from innovative prototypes to tactical business solutions and all the way up to global, strategic programmes of work.
Katie is the CTO at Adstream.
Katie is the Winner of CTO of the Year at the Women in IT Awards. At Adstream she has migrated their legacy infrastructure to a fully automated, auto-scaling, DevOps managed cloud-hosted architecture model. She has also transformed their legacy linear development function into a modern agile software development practice with component focused teams.
Russell is the Director of Engineering at MOO.
Russell began his development experience in 1998 and has continually worked with large, established brands and high-volume websites over the following 16 years. Since transitioning to management at Burberry and continuing at eBay, we caught up with Russell as Director of Engineering at MOO to discuss his transition from individual contributor to management to Director.
Chris Roberts is the Founder and CEO of Nimble Approach.
Coming from an Agile Transformation background (Leadership, Coaching and Delivery), Chris went on to form Nimble after having the inspiring idea whilst leaning heavily on the best people in his network to set up the Home Office's first Digital Hub outside of London in 2016.
Simply put, Nimble are a community of elite specialists who use Agile to deliver user-focused technology products. In two short years, Chris has grown the business from just himself as a freelancer to 50 specialists, with a strong presence in the Sheffield/Leeds and Manchester areas.
Charles Charles is a solution architect (specialising in business and applications architecture) for banking platforms - both "innovation" platforms and core banking platforms - across various global Tier 1 universal banks. Special interest in event-driven, micro-service, polyglot, cloud-native REST architectures with modern analytics solutions.
Jibran Jibran is a management consultant with 10 years experience in the Capital Markets sector and passion for innovative & disruptive technologies. He’s currently heading up the UK R&D team and building out Blockchain, Data Analytics,Machine Learning and RPA practices at Capco.
Gideon is Founder & CEO of EdgePertol Ltd
When Gideon finished his chartered accountant from university he took a role at Trafigura, a global oil trading company. This sparked Gideon’s passion for oil and global trade. Working in this industry is where Gideon ‘really started learning’ and this led him to form Edge Petrol.
EdgePetrol EdgePetrol is a data-driven web app for petrol retailers. Its intelligent software solution allows petrol dealer owners to see their retail fuel margins and boost site performance on a real-time basis (giving complete transparency across their petrol retail portfolio) so they can make informed decisions on how to optimise their business operations to maximise returns.
Podcast Gideon caught up with Andy the other month to talk about overcoming the fear of starting your own business. They also spoke about growing a business at scale and who you should hire as your first employees.
Zoe is Managing Director at Softwire.
As the managing director of Softwire Zoe is responsible for leading a 150-person software development and consultancy house. She specialises in bespoke enterprise systems and subsystems across a wide range of industries. Zoe is an award-winning executive level technology professional. She has published three books to date: Galvanising the Geeks, Networking Know-How and An Actor's Life for Me (Urbane Publications) and is a sought-after keynote speaker.
Mark is the head of Engineering at Moonpig
Mark has over 17 years experience in Web development across a diverse range of industries including automotive, e-commerce and media/publishing. He has worked with companies to launch both new products into existing markets and also expanded brand reach into new markets.
Moty Jacob is Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Traiana.
As the head of security at Traiana Moty ensure 2 trillion USD is transferred securely between assets everyday. 15 years of cyber security experience allowed him to secure this role. He has worked in companies of various sizes including; startups, FORTUNE 500 firms and national governments. He has been responsible for driving high value IT security initiatives and delivering a broad range of solutions protecting customers and their critical infrastructure.
In this show Andy Davis talks to Eric Alford, the VP of engineering at StockTwists. Andy chats to Eric about his career and role as Vice President of Engineering.They also chat about retaining staff and why it’s hard in the current economic climate to keep hold of top talent. They also discuss New York city and why it’s attracting so many tech professionals.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ruhul Amin, Co-founder at Onfido. On the show they discuss Ruhul founding Onfido and some of the challenges he overcame in his startup journey. Andy also asks Ruhul about the changing face of internet security.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Jamie Graves, the CEO, and Founder at ZoneFox. On the show, Jamie chats to Andy about his entrepreneurial streak, his routes into technology and founding his security business.
Jamie Graves: Jamie is the founder of ZoneFox an award-winning Endpoint Monitoring & Threat Detection software that helps customers protect their business-critical assets, data and intellectual property from malicious and accidental insider threats. He also co-founded Inquisitive Systems an Edinburgh based company that aims to rapidly become a world leader in building information security software. Inquisitive Systems is a spin-out from Edinburgh Napier University. It started trading in September 2010 after being founded by Jamie and Prof Bill Buchanan in 2008.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Ritesh Manchanda, Engineering Manager, Frontend at Namely. On the show, they discuss the best way to begin learning to code. Andy asks Ritesh what skills he looks for in new candidates when he’s hiring. They also chat about making the move to management. Ritesh tells Andy what he’s excited about seeing in the near future.
Ritesh is a front end engineer with a strong sense of design, focused in front end web development. He understands both technical and non-technical aspects of building the web. Ritesh loves building useful web applications and responsive website along with backend integration while following latest client-side web standards and libraries.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Ritesh Manchanda, Engineering Manager, Frontend at Namely. On the show, they discuss the best way to begin learning to code. Andy asks Ritesh what skills he looks for in new candidates when he’s hiring. They also chat about making the move to management. Ritesh tells Andy what he’s excited about seeing in the near future.
Ritesh is a front end engineer with a strong sense of design, focused in front end web development. He understands both technical and non-technical aspects of building the web. Ritesh loves building useful web applications and responsive website along with backend integration while following latest client-side web standards and libraries.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Mohammed Khan, CTO of virtualisation and cloud EMEA at Netcracker. They discuss all things coding, explaining things in simple but not simplistic terms and Devops.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Gregg Jarrett, Head of UX at William Hill. They discuss tackling the misconceptions around User Experiences roles, collaborating with other departments and differentiating between User Interface and User Experience.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Sam Carew, the infrastructure manager at Efficio. On the show they discuss why Infrastructure hasn’t developed an online open source sharing culture. They also chat about finding mentors and inspiration throughout your careers. Andy asks Sam about his management style. Sam also shares his thought on the direction that infrastructure is heading.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Vladimir Vukicevic, Co-Founder and CEO at Meural. On the show they discuss how the Internet of Things is making art more accessible. Andy also asks Vlad about the lessons he’s picked up when starting his own businesses. Talk turns to some of the misconceptions around surrounding the IoT. Vlad tells Andy about the advantages of having a business based in New York.
Vlad is the Co-Founder & CEO of Meural. Meural combines the best of art, technology, and design to create a new platform for visual expression. Meural makes art universally accessible by turning it into dynamic, diverse, and personal content. Our first product is a connected digital canvas. Vladimir is also the Co-Founder (& former CTO) of RocketHub, the world's crowdfunding machine. Acquired by EFactor Group Corp. in April, 2015.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Melanie Colton, Senior Director of Product & Engineering at Equinox. On the show, they discuss the difference between structure and bureaucracy in large businesses. Andy asks Melanie how she emphasises her company’s vision to her team. They also chat about the DevOps space. Melanie tells Andy about some of the exciting trends happening in her sector right now.
Melanie is a leader with a background in both Product and Technology, she leads organizations with a strategic technical product vision. Melanie is skilled in developing and delivering with revenue and the user in mind, but also has the long term maintenance and operationalizing that's required to run a successful business. Melanie also has experience in building and maintaining teams who are creative problem solvers that use data to make compelling decisions.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Nick King, the insights director for Autotrader.co.uk. On the show they discuss how Autotrader has changed from a print magazine to an online business. Andy asks Nick about how he maintains the relationships between his company and car dealers. They also chat about how implementing data is making Autotrader more efficient.
Nick is an expert in digital media & marketing. He possess the skills, knowledge and experience to analyse & interpret trends in consumer adoption of technology and develop strategies for customer acquisition & retention through digital channels.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Richard Jones, the Group Chief Information Security Officer at SecureLink Group. On the show they discuss why it’s important for you to constantly be learning as a tech professional. Andy asks Richard about his move into a leadership position and how he found his leadership style. Richard tells Andy his predictions for the security sector in the coming few years.
Richard is a highly motivated Information Security leader with a strong network security background. He has a proven track record for delivering security in a large organisation.
Jatinder is the head of global tech recruitment at Funding Circle UK. Jatinder has a real passion in making a real difference to my customers through hiring awesome people across high performing, niche markets. I have a ‘people over process’ mindset, my customers and team are at the heart of my work. I enjoy talking all things Technology, IoT and Cyber. Love attending and talking at meetups, running coding clubs and sponsoring major tech events in London.
Funding Circle Funding Circle is the world’s leading lending platform for small businesses. They match investors with money to lend with businesses looking to fund their next step.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Ula Mikus, head of talent and happiness at Tinybeans. On the show, they discuss the importance of happiness at work. Andy asks Ula about her management style. Talks also turn to the best practices of building a positive work culture.
Ula is talented in driving organisational change and management projects. She has always tried to have a different approach to problems solving, discovering efficient ways of doing things. Apart from being a consultant for BMW North America, Ula had held strategic roles in Human Resources working for Fortune 500 companies like ZARA US and FedEx.
Shariq is the Senior Program Delivery Manager at Gatwick Airport
He is helping advance digital and data initiatives with better predictability, more throughput, shorter lead times, lower cost and higher quality. Shariq was responsible for recovering a 2 year long failed AWS Cloud-based Data Analytics and Data Governance initiative at Gatwick airport.
Shariq is the Senior Program Delivery Manager at Gatwick Airport
He is helping advance digital and data initiatives with better predictability, more throughput, shorter lead times, lower cost and higher quality. Shariq was responsible for recovering a 2 year long failed AWS Cloud-based Data Analytics and Data Governance initiative at Gatwick airport.
Melanie is UX Design Lead at Google + Founder of LondonTechLadies.
Melanie is an award-winning multi-disciplinary design leader with over 12 years of experience in the design industry. She devotes her time to setting up processes and teams so that they can deliver products that solve real user problems
Ashraf is the deputy IT Director - Data Engineering & Delivery at HM Revenue & Customs
Ashraf is an entrepreneurial CIO/CTO, who can write code, put tech at the heart of the business, scale teams, reduce costs, and strike a commercial deal or two.
Kate is Director of Culture at Chess
Kate is passionate about supporting people to maximise their potential whatever their situation or experience. She sits on the IAMCP ( International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners) Board, the Women of the Channel advisory board and is also a member to be part of the steering groups for both Women in Technology North and Women in Technology UK.
James is a software developer at YLD.
James is a full stack, agile software developer with a passion for maintainable and efficient code, as well as accessible and responsive web experiences. In particular, he writes JavaScript and C# across Linux, OS X, and Windows.
He is also a keen writer and speaker; his tutorials, articles, and screencasts have been published by the likes of SitePoint, and I have spoken at a variety of events.
Cheryl is HR Director of Transformations at Atos.
Cheryl is a HR future thinker, with lots of energy, passion and opinions on HR and the future of work. She is experienced across the full spectrum of HR & across a variety of industries including IT, government, utilities and healthcare.
Cheryl is currently directing the transformation of HR including digitization, automation & offshoring activities to improve user experience & to enable the function to focus on more value add.
Richard is the CEO at Octopus Wealth.
Octopus Wealth is a wealth management company that helps its customers ask more of their lives. They help clients tackle some of the big, personal questions in life, by putting a plan in place that maps towards their answers.
Octopus Wealth believes that some questions are too big to tackle alone, and that financial advice can transform lives for the better. They also think that getting help should be a positive and uplifting experience: an aspiration, not an anxiety.
Tim is Vice President of Professional Services at Elsevier.
Tim is a technology and life science management professional, with more than 20 years leading products and teams in industry-leading data and analysis products and services, in the life science and adjacent chemical and material science fields.
David has just left Purple Bricks, after over 6 years, and is starting building something secret and awesome for 2019!
David is a senior hybrid IT professional with over 20 years’ experience of development technologies. He enjoys looking at and implementing IT strategies and architectures and has worked with small and medium-sized businesses, government departments, the EU and multinational corporations such as IBM, Tesco, BT, and AMEX.
Richard is CTO at MatsSoft
Throughout his career Richard has focused on web development and has over 16 years experience in this speciality. He thrives on working with new technologies, many self-taught, and has a proven ability to define strategy, manage significant programmes and lead teams. He currently heads up the development organisation for MATS where he is responsible for ensuring the solution maintains its recognised position as an industry-leading Low-code development platform.
Josh Cole is CEO & Founder of Voxis Engineering and Recombix.
With not one but two tech startups under his belt, it is safe to say that Josh epitomises the entrepreneurial spirit. His main driver in business is to build automated DevOps platforms that reduce development and staffing costs for companies by freeing developers from non-creative tasks.
Piers is CTO at MoneySuperMarket.com What does the acronym CDO mean? Whilst we now know it to stands for ‘Chief Data Officer’ that wasn’t always the case. Piers and Andy latch on to this change and use it as a springboard to talk about the creation of the CDO’s role in the C-suite.
Piers also tells Andy about his strategies for convincing board members of the power and usefulness of data. They also discuss how a CDO can transform a business into a data-driven organisation.
MoneySuperMarket.com MoneySuperMarket is an established member of the FTSE 250 index. Through our three leading and trusted brands, MoneySuperMarket, MoneySavingExpert, and TravelSupermarket, they are committed to providing customers with the services, tools and products they need to grow their money.
Paul is the CTO at Sopra Steria.
We’re all so busy nowadays that it can be really difficult to think about your job creatively and innovate new solutions for your business. No matter how many ‘creative sessions’ you book in with your team sometimes the best way to get into a creative mindset is in your own time.
Finding time for strategic, creative thinking is a key focus of this podcast. Paul and Andy talk about how automation could hold the key to relieving us from monotonous tasks. They also discuss the skills gap between ‘early career’ workers who are target driven and reactive and ‘mid-late career’ employees and how they need to be more thoughtful and proactive to move a business forward.
William is Head of Future Technology at Bank of England
William is responsible for looking at how new technologies are influencing the financial system and how they can be exploited to meet the Bank of England’s mission. This involves work on distributed ledger, artificial intelligence as well as conventional technologies with a particular focus on payment and settlement platforms.
The Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. Sometimes known as the “Old Lady” of Threadneedle Street, the Bank was founded in 1694 with a founding charter that stated its purpose was to “promote the public good and benefit of our people”.
Podcast In this episode, William talks to Andy about the positive effects Artificial Intelligence is having on the banking sector. Working with Fintech’s is another area of discussion on the show. William lays out how legacy banks are working with fintechs for the good of the public.
Nada is Information Security Manager at Six Degrees Group.
Nada is a highly organised Information Security Manager with over 10 years experience in the IT and telecommunications industry, delivering modern, cost-efficient customer focused processes whilst maintaining key stakeholder and customer requirements.
Tina is platform lead at AND Digital. In this episode, Tina and Andy talk everything diversity. Tina relays her experiences of being the pseudo-woman in her company and they discuss whether ‘diversity’ is going a bit OTT. Tina also talks about the perils of dating farmers and chats about her excitement when looking at quantum computing.
AND Digital AND Digital accelerates the development of world-class digital capabilities, and we power the product development of ambitious companies - from British Airways and Conde Nast, to The Telegraph, Gousto and more.
Jason is Co-Founder & CEO at Cynozure Jason has spent the last 15 years defining, shaping and executing strategy for information management, BI, enterprise performance management, big data and analytics solutions to support organisational transformation.
Jason also runs his own data podcast Hub & Spoken: https://cynozure.co.uk/hub-and-spoken-podcast/
Cynozure Cynozure’s mission is to help individuals and their organisations access, understand and leverage data by finding those nuggets of data that can truly improve your business in a way not previously possible.
Podcast On the show Andy asks Jason about his route into a career in data and they continue to talk about the breadth of disciplines within the data sector. They also discuss the importance of having a CDO in the C-suite and when and how you should hire a data professional (if you even need one).
Jillienne is VP of talent at PrecisionLender. Jill is a talent leader and certified coach with over 10 years of progressive experience across diverse industries. She is known for her solution-focused orientation and passion for cultivating strong organizational cultures built on coaching, feedback, accountability and encouraging others to leverage their natural strengths. Her background consists of establishing overarching talent strategies, driving positive employee experience and developing effective leaders and teams.
PrecisionLender PrecisionLender is modernizing commercial banking. Their sales and negotiation solutions empower bankers with actionable, in-the-moment insights and coaching, so they win better deals and build strong, more profitable relationships.
Podcast On this podcast Jillienne talks Andy through her role as the VP of talent at PrecisionLender. She also discusses adapting your culture and core values when scaling a company or making business decisions.
Craig is the Head of Engineering, for the Atlantic Region, at GFT Group. Automation, artificial intelligence & machine learning are all set to revolutionise the world. Whilst it’s easy to worry what effect this could have on society, Craig uses the podcast to highlight the massive amount of good AI does for humanity on a daily basis and how it will continue to revolutionise and enrich our lives.
Craig is responsible for the engineering capability of 230 people in the Atlantic region and more than 400 people globally. He manages individuals with advanced skills in automation and intelligence. He also develops products and solutions that are underpinned by big data and cloud development.
GFT Group GFT Group advises the world’s leading financial institutions and develops bespoke IT solutions. From banking applications and trading systems to the implementation and support of complete platforms, and the modernisation of core banking systems.
Torq is Director of Engineering at Hotels.com Torq is an experienced technology professional with a passion for data and new technologies. He particularly enjoys people management and inspiring others to achieve their goals.
Podcast On the show Torq tells Andy how a data team can convey its value to the C-Suite. They continue this discussion point and talks about how a business can determine the ROI from its data team. Torq also describes how he integrates data into a business and explains why it is important that business leaders and data leaders communicate regularly.
Rebecca is Co-Founder & CEO at VenueScanner.com. VenueScanner has grown rapidly in the past two years recently exceeding 19000 registered venues on the app. This journey hasn’t been easy and Rebecca came on the podcast to discuss bootstrapping this startup. Andy asks why Rebecca wanted to leave the security of a well-paid job to go it alone starting a business and how does she attract the best tech talent to her business.
VenueScanner.com VenueScanner.com is the UK's #1 venue discovery & booking platform, now live in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol. Their mission is to help you discover venues that you never knew existed - creative spaces, hidden restaurant and pub function rooms, iconic school halls, curated public gardens, historical museum spaces and more.
Tom is CEO at Cazana The motor industry needs independant, transparent data, that’s the opinion of Tom Wood. His company Cazana is providing that data to 3 million customers a month. Backed by VC money Cazana is now in a rapid growth phase.
Company growth, creating culture and data in the automobile sector are discussed on this podcast. Andy asks Tom about his ‘one day working interview’ hiring process and how strategic hiring, based around culture, can reduce churn. Tom also detail the role Cazana is playing in the car market and what it is doing to shake up an archaic sector.
Cazana Cazana provides vehicle data, valuations and audience for the future of mobility. Using big data and predictive analytics, Cazana analyses millions of automotive transactions daily to assess the value and risk associated with every vehicle on the road.
Cazana's systems are used by manufacturers, finance companies, dealerships and insurers globally.Companies use Cazana's data to provide vehicles to the modern automotive consumer who wants mobility, not ownership.
Matt is Customer Engineering Director, Google Cloud UK&IE. Throughout a varied career, Matt has had the privilege of working alongside some great innovators and inspiring leaders at major companies, such as Google, NHS, EADS, and the European Space Agency, through roles in the UK, Europe and the US.
Google Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Since its foundation in 1998, Google has grown by leaps and bounds. From offering search in a single language they now offer dozens of products and services—including various forms of advertising and web applications for all kinds of tasks—in scores of languages.
Podcast In this episode, Matt tells Andy about the culture at Google and dispels some of the myths around what makes a ‘good’ company culture. They also discuss finding talent and moving to a leadership role.
Klaas is CTO at Azoomee Klaas has years experience in delivering bespoke software projects for firms in various industries. During this time he has built up significant experience in coaching and supporting Agile development teams and building lean organisations across the globe. Klaas puts emphasis on open communication and building the right value at the right time. His main goal is to deliver value in a fact based, predictable approach.
Azoomee Azoomee is a fun learning platform for kids aged 5+. Available on any mobile device, a subscription to the award-winning Azoomee app gives families unlimited access to premium games, videos, and activities in one place.
Their mission is to make screen time meaningful for every child in the world. Azoomee is building the world's largest library of games, videos and educational activities based on 21st Century skills like online safety, the world around us, problem-solving, technology and creativity.
Podcast Security and GDPR take center stage in this podcast. Andy ask Klaas about the measures Azoomee have taken to protect customer data. A large part of the show is also dedicated to hiring and Klaas tells us what he looks for in potential employee’s. He also tells Andy about his onion model, which is his way of looking at the layers of a project and career progression.
Jess is Head of User Experience at Code Computerlove Jess is a User Experience Consultant; with over three years' experience working in user experience. During this time, she has worked with a range of high profile clients such as Asda, Swinton Insurance and AstraZeneca.
Code Computerlove Code Computerlove is a digital product agency. They create world-class experiences to help their clients stay ahead. They know that perfect isn’t an end point. It’s a moment in time – then it’s gone. That’s why they never stop looking for ways to make the brilliant things we create even better.
Podcast In this podcast Jess tackles the misconceptions that surround UX. She also explains UX’s role in a digital agency and explains why UX happens both online and offline. Andy also asks her about the tech scene in Manchester.
Alan is an Executive Partner and Service Line Leader for Advanced Analytics, Cognitive Solutions, Data Platforms, Internet of Things and Watson Healthcare, at IBM Global Business Services, UK & Ireland.
Alan spends his time helping clients and colleagues embed Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and IoT into business decisions and processes in order to unlock the potential to combine all data – internal, external, structured, unstructured, voice and visual. In doing so, the service line he leads delivers insights and solutions that transform how IBM's clients make decisions, re-engineer/automate business processes, and contemplate new revenue and business models.
IBM IBM is a leading cloud platform and cognitive solutions company. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, they are the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 380,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries.
Podcast Coaching, mentoring and sponsorships. What’s the difference? Alan and Andy pick apart these three forms of training on this podcast. Andy also asks Alan about graduate hiring and they discuss career development and when its the right time to move companies
Aaron is CTO at Songkick This episode focuses on career progression and creating a clear career structure for members of your company. Aaron has built and published a ‘growth framework’ for the staff at Songkick and he has shared it in a blog post so anyone serious about staff development can incorporate it into their business. Aaron chats about this on the show and Andy also ties this in with the sharing economy that has been adopted by many tech professionals.
Songkick Songkick is a live music startup. Since 2007, we’ve set about making it as easy, fun and fair as possible for you to see your favorite artists live. Right now, more than 15 million music fans across the globe use Songkick to track their favorite artists, discover awesome concerts and never ever miss out.
Steve is the CEO & Co-Founder at WIREWAX WIREWAX is the world's leading interactive video technology company. WIREWAX first developed it's award-winning interactive technology during the early days of YouTube and has grown exponentially since then.
This growth is the focus of the show and Steve takes Andy through the product development of Wirewax, detailing its founding and where it is today.
They also discuss the pros and cons of working for large corporates vs startups and how millennials view their career trajectories.
ABOUT WIREWAX WIREWAX is the multi-award-winning technology powering the world’s interactive video. They’re driven by the fundamental belief that video should be as connected and accessible as the rest of the information on the internet. Utilizing a powerful combination of computer vision and artificial intelligence, we help brands, creative agencies and broadcasters create highly engaging video experiences.
Peter is CTO at Moonpig and a non-exec chairman at Mother Group Ltd.
The podcast starts with Andy and Peter discussing the Northern Powerhouse. Peter tells Andy about the strategies he employs to determine the ROI of new technologies and Andy asks how he decides what new tech to invest in. They also chat about automation and how it is making our working day both more complex yet easy.
Moonpig Moonpig has been on the scene since 2000 and has made over 100 million Moonpig moments for our customers here in the UK and as far afield as the US and Australia.
They started with cards and have kept on adding new ways to make a Moonpig moment since then, whether through their ever-expanding gift range or becoming a top three UK online flower seller for all the big occasions.
They’ve been part of the Photobox Group since 2011. Along with the Photobox brand, and our sister companies Hofmann and PosterXXL, together they’re Europe’s leading retailer of personal and personalised products.
Matt is VP of Engineering at Finimize.com Overseeing the build of our personal finance platform designed to empower millennials to become their own financial advisers.
Finimize Finimize is on a mission to empower everyone to become their own financial advisor. They provide the information and tools you need to invest with confidence.
(All views expressed in this podcast are Brian’s and Brian’s alone. He does not reflect the views of Amazon)
Brian is Senior Program Manager - Inclusion & Diversity at Amazon. Brian is a human-obsessed working father who is passionate about improving the employee experience for everyone. He likes to drive value through curiosity, insight analysis, stakeholder collaboration and intolerance of prejudice. Brian loves learning and has a postgraduate qualification in Marketing, Philosophy and Computer Science, and studying for a second degree in Humanities.
Amazon Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. They are driven by the excitement of building technologies, inventing products, and providing services that change lives. Amazon embraces new ways of doing things, make decisions quickly, and are not afraid to fail. They have the scope and capabilities of a large company, and the spirit and heart of a small one.
Podcast Brian and Andy discuss diversity at length on the show. Andy asks about the difficulties of actioning a diversity initiative in a workplace. They also talk about the dangers of politicising diversity issues unnecessarily.
Fawzi is Studio Game Design Director at King Fawzi is a passionate Creative Director, Game designer, Leader, author, public speaker and retired e-sports player that has been in the gaming industry for over 15 years. His career has spanned The Middle East, New Zealand, Japan and Europe. As an author, he wrote the first ever text book about game design in Arabic. He’s a columnist at Pocket Gamer Arabia, and blogs frequently about game design and the business of making games.
King King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world, with people all around the world playing one or more of our games. We have developed more than 200 fun titles, and offer games that are enjoyed all around the world. King is an independent unit of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), which acquired King in February 2016.
Podcast A career in the video games industry is the big discussion point of this show. Fawzi talks Andy through his career in the sector and he offers some advice for those looking for a career in gaming. They also talk about how gamification, especially on mobile devices, is spreading to other markets. The gaming industry moves at a breakneck pace, and Fawzi lets Andy into some tricks he uses to stay one step ahead of the latest cutting-edge tech.
Sebastian is the founder & CEO at Mettrr. Sebastian studied IT before moving into financial markets. It wasn’t until his dad asked him to build him a website that the idea for Mettrr came to him. One of the first companies to gain financial backing from crowdsourcing Mettrr raised £100,000 in 11 days.
Mettrr Mettrr is a DIFM (Do It For Me) website design, build and management service purpose-built for small businesses across the world.
Podcast In this show Andy asks Sebastian about his vision for Mettrr. They also discuss the role of automation is playing in the tech sector and they chat about acquiring funding.
Sean is Talent Manager at Improbable Sean is currently on a mission to hire a new generation of leaders across all spaces and verticals at Improbable.
Improbable Improbable is dedicated to building powerful technology designed to help solve previously impossible problems and enable the creation of new realities. In gaming and entertainment, Improbable unlocks truly next-generation game play through virtual worlds of unprecedented scale, persistence and richness. In other industries, we hope to help answer critical questions through simulations that could lead to a better functioning world.
Podcast On the show Sean talks to Andy about filling the skills gap in technical disciplines. They also discuss how to maintain a strong company culture in the face of business growth and chat about hiring employees based on company values.
Steve is CEO of Black Swan Data. On the show Steve recites the story of how he came to found Black Swan Data. It involves the pub and a quick detour in to history. Andy also about Black Swan’s ‘Applied Predictions’ product and how they are helping revolutionise the data space.
Black Swan Data Black Swan Data creates better outcomes through technology and the power of prediction. Their products transform the way brands create value from data, finding insights and solutions that create an advantage for their business. They analyse consumer behaviour using public and private data, then build cutting edge technology based on predictive models to create better outcomes - they call this “Applied Prediction”.
Podcast On the show Steve tells Andy about the foundation of Black Swan Data. He talks us through the concept of ‘applied predictions’ and they discuss how a manager can determine the ROI of data.
Ian is head of research and development at Quantexa. A background in physics has equipped Ian with an analytical mind. One he has used extensively in his consulting career and beyond into his role with Quantexa. A savvy problem solver with a mind for numbers Ian has been instrumental in the growth of Quantexa.
Quantexa Quantexa empowers organisations to drive better decisions from their data. Using the latest advancements in big data and AI, Quantexa uncovers hidden customer connections and behaviours to solve major challenges in financial crime, customer insight and data analytics.
Podcast Ian chats to Andy about all aspects of people management. They discuss how to maintain a positive work culture when faced with a company's rapid growth. They also talk about getting the balance right between formality in the workplace and creating a comfortable environment for everyone.
Sean is Head of IT at CTIL. Sean is a highly motivated and commercially aware Information Technology Executive. He has a track record of delivering increased levels of productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. Sean has over 20 years’ experience of leading & mentoring teams spanning the full range of global IT operations, infrastructure, business systems and, service management.
CTIL Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (CTIL) was founded in 2012 as a joint venture between Vodafone and Telefónica to manage the network sites for both companies including the consolidation of sites to create a single grid.
Podcast On the show, Andy asks Sean about implementing artificial intelligence into a business. They also discuss running hackathons and constantly innovating as a company.
Chris Astall Twenty years of success in various technical roles has equipped Chris with a deep knowledge and passion for cutting edge tech. He is a gifted communicator who relishes the opportunity to convey the benefits of technology to stakeholders and business leaders alike. A strategic leader Chris has built, developed and motivated IT teams across a variety of companies ranging from large enterprise companies and innovative startups.
Photobox Photobox Group is Europe’s leading digital consumer service for personalised products and gifts. From photobooks and unique artwork to the very latest personalised apparel, gifts, and greeting cards. Photobox products enable customers across 15 countries to share memories, celebrate great moments and inject personal expression into their everyday lives.
Podcast Creating non-traditional career paths into technical roles is a key focus of the show. Chris discusses the pro’s and con’s of a technical degree when there are so many resources online. He also wades into the waterfall vs agile debate talking us through his own experiences with both methodologies and decides on a favourite.
Richard Eaton is founder and Managing Director of Appware. A stalwart of the software industry, Richard has over 25 years experience working as a developer. He produced and released his first piece of software when he was 14 years old and never looked back from there. Richard has the rare combination of both technical and commercial skills. He can design concepts and architect systems. Then successfully take these developments to market and monetise them.
Appware Appware develop cross-platform mobile apps for clients across all major mobile devices including: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry. They also provide backend development services to support these Apps as well as websites for marketing them so you only have to deal with one company for your entire App project.
Marta Jasinska is Chief Technology Officer at Moo. Marta is a leader in both technology and engineering. She specialises in mid to large scale web platform development for e-commerce, gaming, apps and more.
MOO MOO launched in 2006 and aims to disrupt the trillion dollar global print industry by combining the values of professional design with accessibility and reach of the web. With rapid annual growth, MOO has become one of the fastest growing print businesses in the world and has over 500 employees in 6 locations across the UK and US.
Podcast How to successfully scale a company is the key focus of this podcast. Andy asks Marta about the various factors both within a tech team and a business as a whole that can both drive growth and hamper it.
John is CTO at Financial Times John exemplifies the values of the FT. He values high-quality journalism which is becoming increasingly rare in this fake news era. John is a big advocate of diversity, inclusion, fairness and wants to belong to an empowered, data-driven, outcome-driven organisation. He loves working with technology to solve engineering challenges.
Financial Times The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT marks 130 years in 2018 with a record paying readership of more than 930,000. The FT is now a majority digital content business, with digital subscriptions up to 739,554, representing more than three-quarters of the total paying audience. Content revenues represent almost two-thirds of total revenues, double the share of five years ago.
Podcast On the show John talks to Andy about the recent LinkedIn article he’s written about diversity and inclusion. They go on to discuss how best to build a diverse workplace and what value that can bring to your business. Chat also turns to the role of automation in the 21st century and taking a cautious approach to innovation.
About the Financial Times The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. The FT marks 130 years in 2018 with a record paying readership of more than 940,000, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news and services for the global business community.
“Business advice can be really dangerous. If people are taking advice as gospel it’s dangerous because you can receive advice off a mentor that applied to them 20, 30 years ago. There business problems are different to yours and the pressures they were facing can be miles away from the ones you face today. What advice is, most of the time, is what’s worked for someone else. So with advice, take it in but don’t use it, don’t look at it as advice. It’s just knowledge and experience. Make sure you soak up as much experience as you can and apply it to your own problems.” Jamie commenting on the dangers of taking business advice at face value.
Jamie is founder and CEO of Jungle Creations There’s exciting times ahead for Jamie and Jungle Creations. He’s four years into his startup journey and currently going through his series A funding round. Jamie is a serial entrepreneur, starting his first business whilst at university in Manchester.
Jungle Creations Jungle Creations is a leading media company for the social age, solely focused on delivering high quality content to their audience of over 80 million followers generating up to 5.5 billion video views and 20 million unique users to their sites each month. With millions of followers at their fingertips, they create original content for some of the biggest brands in the world and share that content with their unique communities, which include the likes of VT, Twisted, Level Fitness, Four Nine and World Unknown.
Podcast He sat down with Andy to talk about growing your business, ensuring you get a healthy work-life balance and why you should always take advice with a pinch of salt.
Disrupting the property market - Ranj Abass & Chiara Buzzi by Venturi Group: CTO, Data, Development, Cyber Security, Business Intelligence, Infrastructure, Cloud
David is Director of engineering for eCommerce at Photobox.
David joined Photobox to help them restructure their approach to engineering and deliver a new eCommerce experience and platform. His overall aim is to return the company to significant growth. David currently runs 9 teams of over 70 people spread across London, Paris, and Lviv.
Photobox Photobox has grown to become the European market-leader in photo-based products serving millions of customers a year in over ten markets. Whether it's personalised canvases, calendars, mugs, jigsaws, phone covers, or our classic photo books, Photobox has a wide range of products perfect for every occasion.
Podcast On the show, David talks to Andy about the stresses and excitement of moving into a management position. They also discuss providing technical solutions to real-world problems and how to take a disciplined approach to work.
Sherin is Founder at AI Tech UK & a Microsoft Analytics and AI Solution Architect at IBM.
Sherin is an expert in helping businesses with Cloud adoption and AI-readiness by defining a Cloud Data Strategy, AI Strategy and ultimately architecting a fit-for-purpose Enterprise scale architecture. He builds solution that are scalable to meet the current BI and Analytics demand and also the future AI and Big Data requirements!
He has over 12 year’s experience working in technical and analytical roles within multinational companies. Sherin specialise in applying Business Intelligence and Azure E2E Cloud implementation experience in Data Warehousing and realising the BI Strategy.
AI Tech UK AI Tech UK is a collaborative platform for AI Innovation. It’s a forum for AI expression and innovation, welcoming decision makers to decision influencers along with the hustlers, enablers, thinkers and disruptors all under one roof talking about the new trend - Intelligence! AI-Tech is a platform to bring like-minded, passionate and AI-enthusiasts together.
Podcast On the show, Sherin talks Andy through everything AI. They discuss how best to combat the public's fears around AI and chat about how AI will create more jobs not less.
“Let's give the financial services market a bigger mission than money. I’m hoping to build something that people will care about and will love. Not because it has great user experience, even though it is, but because it genuinely cares about people becoming their best selves. We’re not in this business for the money but we’re in it to create a movement that helps people actualise their full potential” Josh on changing the world with fintech software
Josh is Co-founder & CTO at Yulife. An experienced executive and entrepreneur Josh creates value in a digital world. He helps big businesses adapt to leverage the power of web, mobile, and data. Josh is an Inspiring and enthusing team leader who wants to push the boundaries of what has been done before, creating award-winning digital and mobile strategies. He enjoys managing projects from inception to execution both within the UK and Internationally.
Yulife Yulife is the world’s first lifestyle insurance company. We bring together life insurance, wellbeing & rewards in one simple app using fintech software.
Podcast Josh sat down with Andy to talk about Yulife from inception to now. They also chat the innovative way Josh informed the design of his fintech software by consulting a dungeons & dragons game master.
Alvin is CTO at TheHouseShop.com He’s worked in technology for over a decade as a software engineer and a technical manager. Working across a wide range of industries including finance, publishing, property & mapping technologies Alvin is as comfortable writing code as he is managing teams.
TheHouseShop.com TheHouseShop.com is the UK's No.1 Property Marketplace where agents, landlords, homeowners, and developers all advertise properties for sale and to rent in the UK.
TheHouseShop.com provides a gateway for homeowners to access all the ways to sell a home: from For-Sale-By-Owner and online agents to high street agents and even property auctions.
Users have the opportunity to search the entire market in one place, with listings from private sellers, online agents, high street agents, property auctions and online estate agents. TheHouseShop's unique selection of properties will not be found on other major UK portals which cater exclusively to agents.
Podcast On the show Alvin tells Andy about the positive social impact TheHouseShop.com is having on the property market. They also discuss the pros and cons of contracting.
Robert is Chief Squads and Service Officer at AND Digital. Rob is a technology leader with mixed consulting & industry background focusing on true stakeholder engagement in delivering change and technology.
AND Digital AND Digital accelerates the development of world-class digital capabilities, and they power the product development of ambitious companies - from British Airways and Conde Nast, to The Telegraph, Gousto and more. They work with clients’ people to build impactful products AND high performing teams. AND Digital blends technical craft and product expertise with an award-winning approach to talent growth and development.
Podcast On the show, Robert and Andy talk about the increasing role AI and audio software is playing in our lives. They also chat about determining an ROI when using new technologies. Robert tells Andy about his role as a ‘Chief Squads and Service Officer’.
Felicity is HR Manager at Totally Money. Felicity is excited to be helping build a brilliant employee culture, recruiting and retaining amazing people and focusing in particular on staff well-being, L&D and employee engagement.
Totally Money TotallyMoney puts customers right at the centre of their credit data, helping them make smarter decisions to take control of their finances. Their free credit report and live credit score, along with their unique Borrowing Power and Match Factor technologies, give customers the information they need to find the right financial products, make better financial decisions and build stronger credit histories.
Podcast On the show, Felicity discusses the best practices for a HR manager using a few archaeology analogies. She also describes the novel way Totally Money displays its cultural values through classic albums.
Show Notes:
00.32 The role of the HR manager in building a positive company culture.
07.26 Diversity in the senior management team.
11.55 Managing egos in the office.
14.29 Basing your company’s cultural values around classic albums.
16.21 Autonomy in business.
20.11 Gaining fulfillment in work through autonomy.
21.55 Don’t glorify being busy.
24.30 Making your company the best place to work.
26.48 Professional qualifications for career progression.
“There’s a balance to strike, we don’t want to be at the expensive part of tech, the early adopters who are going to pay the price for nocking all the edges of new platforms before they’re really fit for purpose. But equally, once they do become fit for purpose we really need to make sure we don’t miss out on that.
I think tech at the moment and certainly digital tech you know web communications technology has really matured to the degree that things that were really expensive to do a year or two years ago are relatively cheap now.” Martin on implementing digital change in the charity sector
Martin is Chief Information Officer at World vision. An innovative and creative leader specialising in bringing charities into the digital age. Martin is always looking for big opportunities to use technology to do good. He ’s created the leading digital agency in the UK nonprofit sector, transformed the European arm of a US multinational and then created an award-winning and successful Fintech startup.
World Vision. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian, development and advocacy organisation devoted to improving the lives of children, families and their communities around the world. It has nearly 40,000 staff members working in nearly 100 countries that are united through their ethos, mission and shared desire for all individuals, especially children, to overcome poverty, inequality, and injustice.
Podcast. On the show, Martin explains the challenges when working with tech in the charity sector. He tells Andy about the 10 year tech lag and how charities are trying to close that gap to improve efficiency.
Kelly is HR director for MAG (Airport Group) Kelly is the HR Director for MAG-O (digital agency) and global corporate development including MAG USA.
MAG (Airport Group) MAG is the UK’s leading airport group and owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, together with a significant property business. MAG employs over 6,000 people and annually serves over 55 million passengers.
Podcast On the show, Kelly talks to Andy about the difficulty of quantifying culture. They also discuss staff retention in the 21st century and how best to instigate cultural change as a leader.
Show Notes:
00.36 The pressure on HR departments.
04.27 Is there a one size fits all approach to HR?
07.11 Retaining staff in the 21st century.
09.46 Reluctance to change.
11.35 People management is more important than ever.
15.46 Instigating change as a leader.
17.59 Quantifying culture.
21.56 Creating internal digital disruption.
25.28 Understanding what ‘good’ looks like.
27.09 Sharing your success.
32.54 What have you done? What are your achievements?
“If you starting a career in software late it would be a little daunting. I see it with junior developers at AnyVan. I’ve got some really talented people on my team and even if you’re a seasoned developer you’re working with a big system that’s been built over 9 years. There are people at AnyVan that really know what’s going on. So even though on paper you look like you’ve got a lot of experience it can be difficult when someone reviews your code and says ‘you’ve done this wrong and this wrong’.
Hopefully they don’t put it that way they put it in a nice way, we have to make an effort to be friendly and informative when correcting errors. We need to make sure people are given all the support they need”
Tim Ronayne is the CTO at AnyVan.com Tim has been with AnyVan since its inception. After building their website back in 2009 he has helped build out their team of engineers to constantly improve the site. By expanding the site to new areas Tim has seen their user base grow beyond 3 million. Since working for Apple’s support line in Australia back in the 80’s Tim moved from aeronautical engineering degree to a computer science one and learned computing by working for Apple. He moved to web development in the early 2000’s and freelanced until 2009.
AnyVan.com Launched in 2009, AnyVan.com now have over 2.9 million users, 60,000 transport companies, and partnerships with Gumtree, Zoopla, and Preloved. Their low prices and customer service quality have earned them over 20,000 Trustpilot reviews with a score of 9.5/10.
Podcast On the show Tim chats to Andy about the ‘data rockstars’ and whether the term is good for big data. They also talk about onboarding new staff and overcoming Australia based challenges.
“Banking is no longer boring, it’s all about cool payments” - Rich Wagner on future banking
Rich is CEO of Cashplus A dynamic CEO Rich is determined to use his 30 years’ experience in US and UK financial services to help people take control of their finances. He’s passionate about leveling the playing field and giving as many people as possible access to straightforward, fast and efficient alternatives to ‘traditional’ banking services. Rich was one of the UK’s first ever fintech entrepreneurs and disruptors. He continues to make an impact today and fights to support government promises to make the banking sector more competitive. Rich lobbies for non-banks to gain access to traditional payments infrastructure.
Cashplus Cashplus believes banking services shouldn’t get in the way of life - they should enrich it. So, although they’re not a bank, they’ve spent the past 12 years creating banking services that are fast, smart and simple. They hope these services will give High Street banks a run for their money. Cashplus’ overall mission is to ensure their business and personal customers aren’t slowed down but propelled forward by their technology.
Podcast Richard came on the show to speak to Andy about the future banking and how fintech startups are giving ‘traditional’ banks a run for their money.
Diane Mansfield is the Global Director of IM, BI and Data at ConvaTec
Diane is a business and strategy consultant with 20+ years experience in Business Intelligence and Data. She has experience in shaping, defining and leading large strategic change management programs and associated transformation activities. Diane has skills in influencing, communication, facilitation and cross functional negotiation.
ConvaTec ConvaTec holds a market leading positions in advanced wound care, ostomy care, continence and critical care and infusion devices. Their customers depend on their advanced technologies to help reduce potential complications of skin breakdown and infection, and they rely on ConvaTec’s products and services to help manage their conditions every day.
Podcast Diane sat down with Andy to discuss stakeholder management, instigating cultural change in a business and hiring young technologists.
“For remote working to be successful it does depend on your role. Our talent team and sales team often choose to work remotely. For programmers and software engineers there is a lot of value in being in the office. The best ideas come from random encounters with people or lunch break discussions. So if we’re all working from home it is really difficult to have them idea sessions.”
Alberto Giorgi is Director of Engineering at Tray.io Alberto is an experienced technical manager with an 11+ year career in software development. 7 of those years have been spent building and leading global high-performance software engineering teams. He has a keen entrepreneurial spirit and is a regular contributor to strategic ideas and solutions to organisation.
Tray.io Tray.io believe that any organisation can and should automate. With Tray.io, citizen automators throughout organisations can easily automate complex processes through a powerful, flexible platform, and can connect their entire cloud stack thanks to APIs.
Podcast Alberto sat down with Andy to chat about creating a positive company culture through remote working initiatives. They also discussed management styles and debated the best ways to stay engaged with your career.
Steve Thair is co-founded of DevOpsGuys.
Steve founded DevOps guys in 2013 after a 20+ year career in IT infrastructure and operations to help organisations simplify the management of their online applications by leveraging DevOps practices to improve the delivery, performance and time-to-market of the entire software development pipeline. He blogs extensively on DevOps at the DevOpsGuys Blog and has presented at numerous meetups, webinars and conference to evangelise the benefits of DevOps.
DevOps Group The DevOps Group delivers IT transformation at the speed of disruption, by building DevOps capabilities within its clients. Enabling businesses to continually meet the relentlessly increasing demands of delivering great digital customer experiences.
As a next-generation digital business with hands-on experience at enterprise scale, DevOps Group’s services enable clients to stay ahead of the tech curve, empower transformation leaders and unlock business agility.
Podcast Steve explains the hippo principle and how it can affect your business. Andy asks Steve where he gets his ideas from. They discuss building a DevOps community and how one can leverage the open source tech community.
“You mentioned focusing on the outcome. That’s something that’s really important when we talk about being busy. Being busy isn’t an outcome, its a problem. If we are focused on outcomes then you see things like meetings as toxic because they limit your potential output.
But simiraily just diving in to working on something and working really hard on it, also is something that isn’t the wisest approach. You need to step back and think about things. You can follow that through to your personal life as well. What do you actually want to achieve as a human being?” Ryan talking about the advantages of smart working
Ryan is CTO at Shift Commerce Ryan brings agility to mid-enterprise-scale retailers. He has over 15 years experience developing for the web, and an undying passion for web performance. His pragmatic and performance-led outlook means that—on the rare occasion that he does wear a shirt—his sleeves stay firmly rolled up: even as an exec, his favourite place is right there in the thick of things with his team.
Shift Commerce SHIFT is the first ecommerce platform to successfully combine the speed and affordability of SaaS with the flexibility of hosted solutions.
Podcast Ryan talks to Andy about the role automation is increasingly playing in everyone’s lives, why culture is important for business and why we should never glorify being busy but instead focus on smart working.
“The first type of question I often get asked is about marketing. People come to me and say ‘now that we’ve built this thing, how do we let people know it exists and how do we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the market?’.
The second type of question I often get asked as a mentor is ‘How do I grow my team? Who do I hire next? What type of person do I need given the problem I have today?’.” Peter describes the common questions he gets asked when mentoring in the workplace.
Peter Wang is CTO at The Mighty. Peter is helping build a global healthcare community to provide safe and supportive spaces for patients and caregivers to connect with one another. With a large proportion of the population suffering from chronic health conditions Peter’s goal is to make access to health services as easy as possible for this demographic.
The Mighty The Mighty is a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities. They have over 2 million registered users and are adding a new one every 20 seconds. Their stories and videos are viewed and shared more than 90 million times a month.
Podcast Peter sat down with Andy to talk about the growth of boot camps and how tech can be used to disrupt the education sector. They also discussed the role of the mentor in a modern company and the evolving role and style of leaders today.
“I refer to this concept as sympathy for software, if you don’t have some sympathy for what is hard and what is easy about software I think it’s difficult to authentically manage clever people who are doing that as their deep skill set”
Matthew Sinclair is VP of Engineering (London) at BCG Digital Ventures.
BCG Digital Ventures invents, builds and invests in startups. Matthew’s role within this incubation firm is to oversee the growth and launch of its technology startups. Years spent consulting organisations on their technology strategy and product development has made him a perfect fit for this role.
Matthew has worked for companies ranging from 50 staff members to 500. He’s able to pick out pain-points in a businesses technology strategy before they’ve even happened. And is skilled at communicating solutions to these flaw in terms all members of the business can understand.
Show Notes:
0.30 Building startups with money.
1.41 Getting inspired by a diverse working environment.
3.35 Past experiences shaping your current skills.
5.39 The different management styles in the UK and Australia.
7.40 Getting people on-board with your ideas.
9.21 Australian rules.
10.47 Transitioning from engineering to management.
14.37 Completing an MBA in business.
17.08 Celebrating failure.
22.15 Putting time and money into innovation.
25.08 Matthew’s blogging side-project.
30.09 Talking about the book ‘Flow’.
31.02 Being creative whatever medium you’re working in.
33.30 Directions to Matthew’s blog.
Barry is CIO at Domino’s pizza UK.
Barry has had a varied career working in finance, FMCG, manufacturing and, most recently, pizza. He spent 5 years as the chief information officer at Domino’s in Australia before moving companies only to return to the fold early last year. After 6 years at Parmalat Australia he is now the CIO of Domino’s UK.
Domino’s, along with many other companies, is reacting to the changes brought about by data. Utilising data to its full potential is what separates good and great companies. Barry is responsible for ensuring Domino’s is getting the most out of its technology and data.
Show Notes:
0.32 Finding talent that can help you achieve your business goals.
4.36 Ensuring compliance with GDPR.
7.16 Scoring some free pizza.
9.08 Domino’s the data company?
11.41 Using company culture as a vehicle to roll out change in a business.
13.48 When did companies become all about the data?
16.18 How has the CIO role changed over your career?
17.42 The software talent gap in the UK.
20.37 Why is there a software skills shortage in Britain?
22.41 Automation gives us the time to spend more time on business strategy?
25.08 Next-gen tech: The digital workspace.
28.34 Working in a ‘happening’ workspace.
29.47 Creating a collaborative work culture.
31.48 What keeps getting you out of bed every morning?
34.46 Finding a scene of purpose in your work.
36.10 Advice for those starting their data careers?
Scott is Director of product design at DAZN
Scott has worked for prestigious companies including: Amazon, the BBC and Sky. He builds and leads great design teams that deliver world-class user experiences to global audiences.
Working for such large corporations, Scott knows how difficulties it can be for teams to act autonomously. He also knows the best innovations and ideas come from teams that have been given the freedom to approach problems the way they want. He sat down with Andy to discuss how teams in large companies can be given the freedom to solve problems in their own ways.
Show Notes:
00.31 Leadership leads to a sense of responsibility.
02.04 The big impact one person can have on your team.
03.37 Creating a team of diverse members.
05.58 Applying previous lessons to creating a team.
09.34 Is it impossible to create autonomy in a big organisation?
12.03 Where do product managers come from?
16.31 Tech up north.
18.27 Let's use tech to de-nuclearise the UK tech scene.
22.19 We need to celebrate failure.
26.56 Approaching your first leadership role.
29.54 Connecting with peers externally.
Sophie Theen is Head of HR & Talent at 11FS.
11FS is about to undergo a period of growth. Sophie joined the company to oversee this expansion. A HR professional with a background in engineering she is uniquely placed to understand the pain points associated with rapidly growing a tech team. Sophie’s passion lies in helping companies understand the importance of People, Culture and Talent as a key in success at the same time championing in Diversity & Inclusion.
Show Notes:
00.30 The importance of HR and culture.
02.08 A good HR department is necessary to increase retention.
06.17 Has the tech startup culture changed how HR departments operate.
07.30 Cycling through staff to keep your culture fresh.
13.55 Working with churn.
16.13 Crunching the numbers in HR.
19.44 What makes a good HR professional?
24.19 Recruitment, HR and sales.
27.46 The role technology is playing in the HR process.
Dave is Head of Software Engineering at the LADbible Group.
Although he is now technically ‘off the tools’ Dave still loves to code. A passion he has instilled into everyone that works for him and one he has gained through his years of experience as a Head of Software. The high demand for ‘good’ software engineers is a key talking point of the show. Nurturing talent and creating a work environment that allows employees to get satisfaction from their roles is something Dave strives for.
Show Notes:
00.35 Seeking external feedback for your career.
01.41 Job hopping early in your career.
05.14 Retaining staff.
09.01 Transparency in management.
12.05 Moving into management.
19.54 Having a sense of pride in your team as a manager.
24.56 Manchester’s tech community.
30.03 Working lean and failing fast.
34.12 Making a creative space for you to try business innovations.
35.17 Approaching problems with a plan.
Alastair is Head of Product at Trint.
At one point Alastair was the lead UX and Head of Product at Trint. Juggling these roles in a small startup was a challenge but he excelled at it.Thankfully, this didn’t last long and Alastair was able to build out the product team to the size of four in a very short space of time. He sat down with Andy to talk through this growth on the podcast and talk about he ended up as a Head of Product.
Show Notes:
00.31 Working in Hackney and startups.
02.52 Alastair’s background and career progression.
05.12 How do you become a head of product.
08.33 What is Trint selling?
11.17 Building a business with constantly evolving tech.
14.57 Getting great feedback from your users.
18.25 Is it important to have a genuine interest in what you’re working on.
23.38 What keeps you motivated in your career.
27.29 Dealing with churn.
Paul is Head of Information Technology at Graham & Brown.
Paul knows the best way to keep a company innovating is by listening to and encouraging ideas from its most junior members. Paul came to this conclusion after an abysmal work experience placement in his teenage years. This has led him to build innovative and engaging work placements to foster future talent.
Show Notes:
00.33 Getting your work-life balance right.
03.00 Encouraging employee interests outside of work.
04.42 Creating a portfolio of work to augment your career.
08.19 How we treat employees: a generational divide.
11.39 Pauls career.
14.01 Alternate career paths for people who don’t like management.
16.57 Find someone who can ‘learn everything’.
21.53 Swapping jobs every few years.
24.54 Selling yourself on your achievements, not on your years worked at a company.
26.42 Tech moves so quick, how do you stay in demand?
32.19 Continually innovating.
34.00 How will tech evolve in the future.
Netta is Director & Head of Diversity & Inclusion at IAC Applications.
Her mission is to create inclusive, collaborative and forward-thinking workplaces by focusing on people, products, and programs. Netta’s number-one mission is to break barriers and bias through educating and empowering businesses. Her mission is to create inclusive, collaborative and forward-thinking workplaces by focusing on people, products, and programs.
Under Netta's leadership, Google said: “IAC Apps is a star example of a partner pushing towards gender equality as well as overall cultural equality”.
Netta is the most sought-after speaker for topics around diversity and inclusion with over 40 events under her belt 2018- year to date. She is a regular speaker and panelist at diversity and HR conferences and She has also participated as a thought leader alongside executives from Google and Foursquare in a Crowded Tech Jobs panel.
Show Notes:
00.35 Netta’s background and career progression.
07.04 Transitioning from a business owner to working in corporate America.
13.56 Diversity can increase the bottom line of your business.
20.51 Conscious bias training.
25.04 What keeps you motivated.
28.52 The uplift in roles around AI, data, inclusion & diversity.
30.07 Passionate about increasing diversity.
32.08 What advice would you give to others looking for a career in HR?
David is head of BI & Analytics at Elevate Credit International Limited.
David is a data leader with experience in Credit, Payments, Pricing, Revenue Management, e-commerce and retail. Commercially astute, with strong C-level and global stakeholder management. He has an ambition to improve business performance. Assisting local area planning to protect against unsuitable development with analytics.
Show Notes:
00.31 Embracing the role of the CDO.
02.47 Extracting the maximum amount of value from data.
07.11 Do we need to change our approach to data?
08.28 How have attitudes to data changed during your career?
10.05 Will we get to a point where there is a linear path to a career in data?
12.03 What characteristics make a good data scientist?
14.11 Commercial thinking is a skill set in itself.
15.26 David’s background and career progression.
17.08 Allocating yourself a mentor.
19.03 Oracle, SQL server and big data.
22.29 Should we be worried about the pace data is advancing?
24.12 Becoming an analyst.
Sam Peck is Product Design Lead for Blackboard Ally At Blackboard Inc.
“A lot of design is about communication and collaboration, If you can get people to just work together. Your already getting people to utilise a culture of design thinking”
Sam is a big advocate of collaborative problem solving, he believes it is fundamental to a great design team. Design based on data is another area where Sam excels. He sat down with Andy to discuss the direction of UX and the challenges faced by the industry.
Show Notes:
00.32 The board responsibilities a UX person has.
03.29 Aligning your technical skill set with commercial goals.
07.45 Are we using our designers to their full potential?
10.00 We like to ignore metrics.
13.41 Do designers have a chip on their shoulder?
15.25 Are we going to see the development of a senior designer role?
18.09 Will we see the design space becoming more formalised in the future.
20.26 How do you keep motivated in your career?
Azeem Azhar is an entrepreneur, investor and adviser with a two-decade career in technology. He runs the highly-cited newsletter, Exponential View, which covers the societal implications of technology and is a totemic source for the investors, entrepreneurs and policy-makers. Azeem is the Senior Advisor on AI to the CTIO of Accenture. Azeem also advises breakthrough entrepreneurial firms, including Kindred Capital, Onfido, Ocean Protocol, as well as the Harvard Business Review.
Show Notes:
00.30 Automation is making our lives busier.
01.23 The behaviour patterns needed to make automation a success.
03.49 Why human behaviour is so difficult to change.
7.24 Viewing technological change through the lens of a journalist.
15.21 Azeem’s motivators for moving into tech.
20.33 Will coding be a requirement for individuals in the near future?
26.17 Making coding accessible for everyone.
Peter is an award-winning analytics/ data executive who has held the top data job at either group or divisional levels since 2000.
Peter is a globally recognised expert in data management, analytics, big data, business intelligence, data warehousing and driving business value via technology. His background in maths has equipped with a rigorous, analytical approach to learning skills from the ground up. Peter knows that if you truly want to understand a new topic or tech you cannot skip the fundamentals, something that is all too easy today due to the number of tools at the disposal of a data team.
Using an orchestra as an analogy Peter acts as the conductor and lays out the roles and responsibilities of a Head of Data with Andy on the show.
Show Notes:
00.37 How do you choose what tool to use for your analytics?
03.04 Are we missing learning the fundamentals of the tech we operate?
08.26 What makes individuals valuable from a data perspective?
11.55 The introduction of the CDO role.
12.30 Great technical people don’t always make the best managers.
17.23 Managing internal change in a company.
20.42 What are you writing about at the moment?
24.09 Data cannot solve all our problems.
29.23 Executing on your data plan.
32.59 Finding great data talent.
Sramana is CEO and Founder of One Million by One Million.
One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first and only global virtual accelerator. Its goal is to help a million entrepreneurs globally reach a million dollars in annual revenue, build a trillion dollars in global GDP, and create 10 million jobs.
Sramana founded 1Mby1M in 2010 after a decade as a consultant at some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. A serial entrepreneur at heart, she has never worked for anyone other than herself. Helping others become their own boss is a motivator that fuels her work at 1Mby1M.
Sramana adopted inbound marketing tactics in 2005, back when many people were still figuring out what blogging was. And today, she still places quality content at the forefront of everything she does
She sat down with Andy to discuss Silicon Valley’s influence on the entrepreneur's journey, morning routines, avoiding burnout, and the joys of being your own boss.
Show Notes:
00.32 Win the morning, win the day.
03.55 Building your brand with high quality, digital content.
05.28 Ahead of the curve: adopting inbound marketing tactics in 2005.
10.21 Where do you invest your money? An individual's vision or idea?
14.43 How Startup culture standardized funding acquisition.
16.24 Growing up in pre-liberalisation India and Sramana’s journey to CEO.
21.47 Avoiding burnout as a leader.
25.41 Engaging the creative part of your brain.
28.00 Why entrepreneurship is more than just funding acquisition.
29.35 The venture capital phenomenon.
31.26 Success doesn’t come in one shape.
32.38 The joys of being your own boss.
34.52 Sramana’s top tips on becoming your own boss.
Tiffany is CIO and director of technology at Cancer Research UK.
Before working in the nonprofit sector Tiffany held several positions at the BBC including the Head of Technology at BBC News. She also spent over 5 years as a member of the CIO advisory board at The Tech Partnership.
Tiffany has experience of strategy definition, technology roadmaps, business transformation, change management, outsourced IT services, programme delivery, fostering innovation, public-sector procurement processes, central IT platforms, IT migration, system upgrades, delivering added value through the adoption of new technologies.
Show Notes:
00.33 Is it important to have a rigid definition of what a CIO does?
04.17 Has there been an increased awareness of data in recent years.
06.58 Making sure your company has consistent messaging.
08.18 Tiffany’s background and career progression.
11.27 Technologies impact on the charitable sector.
15.16 Better research, better information, better decisions.
16.18 How do you structure your day?
19.20 How do you prioritise your tasks?
21.29 Working remotely vs office work.
25.15 Building out diverse teams.
Mark is a Consultant, Professional Speaker, Author, Podcaster, Improvement Geek, Coach, & Senior Advisor to KaiNexus.
His passion lies in applying Lean and Toyota Production System principles in hospitals to improve quality of care and patient safety, improve patient experience, help the development of medical professionals and employees, and build better workplaces and stronger organizations for the long term.
Mark has written several well-received books on lean healthcare including;
Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements
Both books received the Shingo award for research into operational excellence.
Mark also runs LeanBlog.org and is a regular speaker at healthcare conferences. He joins Andy to discuss the issues and lessons presented in his latest book ‘Measures of Success’.
Show Notes:
00.30 Talking podcasting.
02.32 Countering the demand for traffic with quality content.
05.04 Common mistakes when attempting to measure success.
08.03 Effective metrics for measuring a team’s success.
11.28 Mark’s background and career progression.
14.33 Lean and Eric Ries.
19.09 Failing fast.
22.53 Improving for the sake of improving.
27.32 Using automation to eliminate monotonous tasks.
31.38 Reasons to work in the Health Tech space.
Sam Stagg is VP of Engineering at Pusher.
Managing a growing team of developers can be like herding cats, not our words but the words of today’s guest Sam Stagg. A gifted communicator Sam is an expert at managing a large team of cross-disciplinary developers. Heading up the development team at Pusher Sam is responsible for building a multi-tenant distribution system.
Show Notes
00.56 Pusher’s developer outreach.
02.35 Scratching your coding itch.
03.56 Having a competitive edge in software development.
06.59 Software developers are the product.
08.40 Finding your management style.
12.27 Hiring the right people.
15.45 What have you learned from your experiences of the hiring process?
17.57 Sam’s background and career progression.
20.55 Making your interview process smooth and efficient.
22.55 Sam’s journey at Pusher.
27.44 Moving to management vs staying technical.
32.06 The role your product plays in keeping your team motivated.
36.07 Advice for young developers starting out in their careers.
Samir is a data strategy and analytics expert and currently founder and CEO at Datazuum.
Samir works with companies to help create and execute data strategies. His current clients include; high-end luxury, retail, aerospace & defense, government, postal, telecoms, banking, utilities, insurance, mutual Insurance, and media.
He advises board members, the C-suite and directors on how to get the most out of their datasets. Samir loves to use data to tell stories. Seeing clients extract value from data is a real motivator for him.
Show Notes:
00.35 Connecting with people using podcasts.
05.34 Hiring talent that is committed to growing professionally.
09.17 Taking a disciplined approach to work.
12.53 The benefits of podcasting.
19.13 Samir’s background and career progression.
26.17 Did you ever get frustrated with the corporate world?
31.02 Taking your business from idea stage to full time.
35.34 How the people around you can help you succeed.
Andrew is Director of Big Data & Analytics at Atos.
Andrew specialises in enabling businesses bring their data to life. He is Atos’ chief data storyteller. His roles is to write a company’s story with data. Combining the hard maths of a data scientist with the flair and insight of an analyst means Andrew can tackle any data challenge thrown at him.
Show Notes:
0.33 Dissecting the CDO role.
2.51 Catching up with data from a macro perspective.
7.08 Collaborating across departments with data.
11.37 Using education to integrate data into a business.
17.00 The typical questions asked of a data team.
20.50 Europe vs America.
22.43 Attributes required to become a head of data.
26.06 Always being willing to learn.
John Cline is Senior Engineering Manager at Blue Apron.
Is it important that managers retain their technical skills? How do you keep yourself grounded when the company you’re working for is expanding rapidly. Should we be providing alternate career paths for individuals who don’t want to go into management?
John Cline draws on his experiences in program management, event planning, software development, public speaking, strategic leadership, and team development to answers these questions.
Show Notes:
1.05 John’s background and career development.
3.05 Working for Ebay.
5.16 Transitioning into management.
8.35 Transfering your skills from a small to large company.
11.35 Joining a company during a period of growth.
13.23 Looking at technological change from a macro perspective.
16.40 Do managers still have to be technically savvy?
17.55 Technical and management skills.
20.50 Career paths for those who don’t want to get into management.
23.49 Do you still work on side projects?
25.17 Carving a career out of software development.
26.51 Technology as a viable career path now.
30.26 Under-represented groups in tech and tech education.
Mark Weiss is a senior software engineer at beeswax.
Mark has mastered a multitude of coding languages during his career. A software developer through and through his passion has always been solving problems with code. Mark is also a proponent of the tech sectors open source, sharing community. Host of his own podcast, Using Reflection, he has combined his technical expertise with communication skills to share what he knows with as many people as possible.
Mark knows that software engineers don’t exist in a vacuum and stresses the importance of inter-team communication on this podcast.
Show Notes:
0.33 The community culture that has developed around tech.
5.07 Developing a thirst for knowledge.
7.04 Recognising and improving personal flaws.
11.36 Factors that can you accelerate your career.
14.37 The difficult parts of leadership and management.
20.14 Working on your soft skills.
27.56 Beeswax position in the ad-tech space.
36.20 How ad-tech is shaping the internet.
Noelia Martinez is the Head of Data Science and Astrophysics at Unbound.com
Noelia’s has worked in both a corporate and educational environment. Her wide range of experiences has made her an expert at being able to apply data to any scenario. She is an advocate of using data to tackle global problems such as; pollution and climate change. Noelia knows that the only way to protect our planet is through the application and use of data.
Show Notes:
0.32 Noelia academic research.
4.01 Does the ‘data scientist’ role even exist?
4.53 Why did you move from academia to data science.
8.23 What was the biggest shock for you when you moved careers?
12.29 Will automation allow people to stop doing boring tasks.
15.38 Noelia’s opinions on earth day.
22.44 Global warming shouldn’t be a political issue.
24.06 Consumption factors around reusable factors.
26.17 What can we do with data to influence global decisions?
Aubrey is Head of DevOps at Arcadia Group
Aubrey counts DevOps amongst her biggest passions. Her past experiences have seen her working for the likes of likes of Pizza Hut and Travel Lodge. Aubrey enjoys reducing the friction between development and operations, especially the SRE model that emerged from Google.
Aubrey is a massive advocate of creating a company culture that is supportive and innovative. She hasn’t always led a team this way though. She used to evangelise ‘cutthroat’, target driven methods to get her team’s projects completed on time. In her own words:
‘for those who knew me by another name, I am immensely sorry for being a massive asshole’
Aubrey discusses why she changed her attitude for leadership on today’s show.
Show Notes:
0.29 Being a member of the software development club.
4.47 Collaborating with tech talent.
7.15 Celebrating failure.
9.28 Creating career paths for technical people.
13.46 Reducing bureaucracy and increasing innovation.
18.20 Dress down in the office.
25.46 The pressure to perform.
28.16 Staying ahead of innovations in the tech space.
32.01 Getting excited by Kubernetes.
Morgan Craft is CTO at Hickory.
Managing a mixed team of psychologists, data-scientists and machine learning experts sounds like a daunting prospect. Not for Morgan though, he has 14+ years of development experience under his belt and knowledge that ranges from psychology to coding. Morgan is also a firm believer in the necessity for continuous learning and enjoys mentoring his peers and helping others grow professionally.
We’re the students on today’s podcast as Morgan chat with Andy about disrupting the education sector, making sure you staff remember their training and starting startups.
Show Notes:
0.30 NYC, the startup hub.
4.20 Finding a location where you can hire the best talent.
5.30 Morgan’s career progression.
7.27 Working with YCombinator.
8.21 Getting involved in a startup.
10.20 Don’t give attention to unproven technology.
14.08 Working at Hickory.
18.13 Education is primed for disruption.
23.19 Educating peers about GDPR.
28.06 Discussing memory.
29.22 Hickory’s tech ops stack.
31.30 Mentoring your team.
35.18 How do you set your company meaningful goals.
Geoff Cunningham is Data Science Manager at Masternaut.
To say Geoff has had a varied career is an understatement. From testing materials in Kazakhstan to reading Aerospace engineering at Cambridge he has a strong background in analytics and statistics. He has ended up working in data science and view’s his varied career as a great asset to both himself and his company.
Show Notes:
0.29 Geoff’s varied background.
4.58 Taking a gap year and working throughout uni.
7.51 Data as a viable career path.
10.22 Money being the driving factor for new data professionals.
14.50 Changing careers.
17.31 The value of teaching yourself.
19.13 The cost of education influencing career decisions.
23.36 Weighing up the value of university.
26.12 Clearing up the misconceptions about data science.
28.54 What do you enjoy most about data science.
35.02 Getting to grips with the interview process.
Richard Jarvis Director of Big Data Solutions UK & Ireland at DXC Technology.
Richard has worked in IT & telecommunications for 15 years and is currently mentoring and directing a team of 25 people. He is leading teams spread over several continents using cutting edge technologies leveraging Hadoop, Spark, Angular, Electric Search and more. Richard enjoys sharing his technical knowledge and is a regular speaker at events.
Show Notes:
0.33 Pushing yourself to be creative in the top level of business.
3.52 A more customer-centric model is in demand in the 21st century.
4.58 Staying technical as a business leader.
5.49 Creating alternate career routes for those not wanting to go into management.
7.36 Finding the best leaders.
10.17 The ‘one company man’ is dead.
13.44 What makes people stay at a company for a long time.
18.21 The freedom to move around in your career is empowering.
21.49 Don’t lie on your CV, show a willingness to learn.
23.38 Having the ‘right attitude’ as a new hire.
28.10 Characteristics that make a great data professional.
31.24 Reading recommendations from Richard.
33.29 Do you need a genuine passion for what you’re doing to truly be innovative.
John Rouda is host of the Geek Leader Podcast, a TEDx speaker, and currently the IT Director at INSP LLC.
John is a self professed geek leader. He has spent his professional life inspiring, educating, and motivating leaders the world over. In recent years he’s shared his expertise on stage at TEDx events. For those unable to catch him in person he also hosts leadership podcast ‘ageekleader.com’.
John wouldn’t class himself as a natural born leader. Initially, he was more comfortable cutting code than leading a team. But through his own determination and drive he progressed through a journey, gradually learning the skills necessary to become a head of business. The journey started with his podcast and snowballed from there.
John believes the path he took is open to anyone, technical or not. All it takes is a first step.
Show Notes:
0.36 The most enjoyable aspects of making your own podcast.
3.22 Improving with incremental goals.
7.03 Teaching a concept to others as a way to strengthen your own knowledge.
11.40 Redesigning the way we work.
14.19 Building the 21st-century office around technology.
19.13 Having multiple skill sets on your résumé.
21.05 John’s route into technology.
24.39 Why technical people often struggle in leadership.
29.38 Picking up the reins of leadership.
30.48 Seeking out mentors to help on your leadership journey.
33.39 “Owning” your career.
Mairead O’Connor is Partner and Engagement Manager at Equal Experts.
Mairead is responsible for managing the relationships with Equal Experts largest clients. She works with high performing software development teams to quickly and effectively solve business problems.
Motivated by fairness and equality Mairead chooses to work with organisations which actively build diversity into their working culture. Her experiences reading computers science at Cambridge university placed these issues at the forefront of her mind. Since then she has worked tirelessly to increase diversity in the contractor market.
Show Notes:
0.31 Are we as busy as we think we are?
2.07 The difficulty of delegating responsibility as a leader.
5.01 Studying at Cambridge University.
7.42 Being aware of your own biases when recruiting technical talent.
9.00 Hiring people with multiple years of experience.
11.54 Creating equal opportunities in technology.
13.48 Driving new behaviors in the workplace.
15.45 What did you find most exciting about taking your first leadership role?
17.43 Approaches to changing culture.
21.10 Underrepresented groups working as contractors.
23.16 Busting the myths surrounding contractors.
25.44 Are technical people this generations rockstars?
32.11 Mairead reflecting on her time at university.
33.35 Has the advice you’ve given changed over your career?
37.08 Advice for young starters in tech.
Azat Mardan is Head of front-end development at Indeed.com and Co-Founder at Node University.
Azat knows coding has the power to change lives. That’s why he founded Node University. As an advocate of teaching coding skills, Azat is an expert in instructing through a variety of mediums. Teaching people online, in person, and via books has made him a skilled communicator. He infuses his infectious enthusiasm for programming into everything he teaches.
Azat Mardan has taught over 1,000 software engineers in-person and even more online through ebooks and video. He has published 14 books and dozens of online courses and has more than 15 years of experience in web, mobile and software development. Azat has a Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics and a Master of Science in Information Systems Technology degree.
Show Notes:
0.59 Azat’s work at Node university.
6.05 The diminishing return of education.
8.20 Corporations, education and hack reactor.
13.56 The institutionalised dream of a one company man.
14.33 creating transparency in business.
15.29 Using software to oust bureaucracy.
18.14 Educating people using video, text and in person.
22.12 Adapting attitudes and behaviors to learning.
25.05 The rise of remote working and its effect on legacy companies.
26.14 Growth hacking?
29.57 Writing and creating content.
32.44 Creating content as a way to keep on learning.
35.17 Staying ahead of your peers.
37.54 Seeking feedback for your work.
Omari is Chief Product Engineer at yoti.
A hacker at heart, Omari has been tinkering with computers and code since he was thirteen. He started his career as a web developer but as the years went on his passion migrated towards product engineering and strategy. Working on solutions that provide new ways for people to interact with the digital world is what makes Omari tick.
Omari has worked across the entire business spectrum; from technical product development to database management. He has a broad set of technical skills and the entrepreneurial acumen to apply them in a way that’s in line with a company’s wider business goals. He uses those skills on today’s podcast to discuss building software teams and how computer games and DJing kept him focused on his career.
Show Notes:
0.29 Professional career breaks.
4.29 Taking a disciplined approach to business.
5.54 Developing good habits for business when growing up.
7.41 Remaining focused throughout your career.
9.52 Traits of great software engineers.
11.18 Omari’s approach to team building.
13.41 The best team building environments.
15.38 Embracing and celebrating failure.
17.31 Are technical teams under more pressure now?
19.30 Becoming more commercially aware as a technical person.
21.45 Moving into management.
24.44 Staying hands-on in a management position.
26.12 Keeping up with evolving tech.
29.32 Detecting false opinions online.
Tej Singh is Talent Acquisition Manager at Wonderbly.
Tej’s approach to recruitment is built on a foundation of ‘marketing best practices’. He believes the old intrusive methods of recruiting are dead and encourages all recruiters to focus on building a trustworthy personal brand.
In a market that has been saturated for years, recruitment consultants need to be creative with their marketing to stand out and thrive.
On this podcast Tej and Andy chat about personal branding, inbound marketing, and having dogs in the office.
Show Notes:
0.31 The positives of starting a podcast.
4.02 What does good marketing look like in recruitment?
6.58 How to maintain curiosity throughout your career.
9.26 Changing your job and career frequently.
15.31 Moving from agency recruitment to internal recruitment.
20.51 The importance of understanding a company’s brand when recruiting for them.
24.54 How recruiters present themselves online.
29.02 Marketing and copywriting best practices for recruitment consultants.
Claudia is Co-Founder of Eat Safe App.
Eat Safe makes eating out straightforward for those with allergies and intolerances by finding restaurants that match dietary requirements. Using her extensive experience in software development, Claudia was responsible for bringing this idea to fruition. She has mastered a broad range of languages and was previously head of Android App development at Gumtree.
As a gifted communicator, Claudia knows the importance of soft-skills in tech. She believes communicating technical challenges to non-technical people has been a key ingredient in her success.
Show Notes:
0.31 Focusing on building products that solve ‘real world’ problems.
6.07 Combining commercial awareness with technical ability.
9.03 Understanding where you fit into your company’s vision.
10.17 Recognising where you have room for personal development. 14.36 Claudia’s tech inspirations.
18.18 The challenges in the early phases of a startup.
21.30 The steep learning curve in running your own business.
24.51 Bringing disparate personalities to your team.
27.47 The hype around personalisation.
Ezgi Ture is a former BI & Analytics Manager at ODEON Cinemas. Ezgi is a specialist in Banking, Business Analysis, Customer Insight, Segmentation and Data-driven Analytics.
Ezgi’s role bridged the perennial gap between IT and business. Keeping a foot in both worlds gives her a unique insight into the challenges faced by data leaders in large organisations. On the podcast she also offers some helpful advice for those looking to get ahead in the data sector.
Show Notes:
0.32 London vs Europe, whose more excited about data.
3.41 Moving to London to get the best data career.
5.54 Ezgi’s career progression in data.
7.58 Optimising your current tech.
16.15 Misconceptions about the uses and business outcomes of data.
24.11 Advice for those seeking a career in data.
Dat is the Head of Data Science at Idealo Internet.
Dat can build data teams as well as data systems. He believes creating a well-balanced team of individuals is crucial to the success of any data science project. Dat has a passion for finding candidates willing to learn with a ‘can do’ attitude. On today’s show, Dat shares his recipe for creating the perfect data team.
Show Notes:
0.30 The cultural difference between Germany and the UK.
3.32 Raising capital for your startup
5.25 Where did Dat’s interest in technology develop?
6.36 What skills suite a data science career?
8.47 Hiring data professionals
11.08 Tackling misconceptions around data science
12.11 Attracting the right talent to data science
15.24 Hiring a well-balanced data science team
16.45 Dealing with the frustrations around hiring
17.37 Core attributes that make a great data scientist
20.13 Collaborating with other teams as a data scientist
22.17 Moving into management
Michael Copeland is the Chief Technology Officer at Kout.
If you dread the thought of shopping, this podcast is for you. As the CTO of Kout, Michael’s goal is to gamify e-commerce by creating a platform that lets users win big discounts on millions of products. This revitalises shopping by introducing an element of chance and excitement.
Kout is still in its infancy. It found funding in 2015 from Collider.io, the UK’s #1 tech accelerator. In that short time, the platform now boasts Amazon, Nike, Unilever, & Samsung as its partners. Michael has been at the wheel during this period of evolution and growth. He is well versed in dealing with the challenges thrown out by a constantly changing eCommerce space. He came on the show to chat about innovation, VR, and the dread of clothes shopping.
Show Notes:
0.31 Thinking up startup ideas.
4.03 Understanding what users want.
5.46 What Kout does.
9.30 How Kout distributes its product.
12.54 Industry leaders in gamification.
15.08 Does e-commerce need innovation?
18.09 When will VR and drone delivery become the norm in eCommerce?
19.48 The dangers of online clothes shopping.
23.30 The VR gaming revolution.
25.35 Michaels career in technology.
30.06 Dispelling the idea of a linear path into a career in tech.
33.18 The growing contractor market.
36.13 Constantly learning in a technical role.
38.12 The Joe Rogan podcast.
Max founded Finimize.com in 2016 and quickly became one of Forbes ‘30 under 30’.
His goal is to help millennials see through financial jargon and empower them to participate in financial markets. A serial startup entrepreneur, Max knows exactly what’s needed to get ahead in the rapidly expanding fintech market.
Show Notes:
0.30 Background and career progression.
2.52 Getting involved in startups.
5.20 How to engage your key demographic online.
8.39 Investing heavily in data.
12.14 Best practices on building out a tech team.
14.42 Why you should encourage being vocal about failure.
15.49 What are your secrets of success?
Gary Reid is the Managing partner and founder at Tutch media.
Gary specialises in growing marketing agencies. He has spent his entire career working with companies building brands and marketing strategies. Having spent countless hours assessing the internal workings of marketing agencies, Gary is well placed to know what works and what doesn’t.
Show Notes:
0.29 Working with small agencies.
3.01 Motivating people to work for small agencies.
5.47 Does agency work pose a recruitment challenge?
7.49 Determining what ‘good’ looks like in today’s job market.
11.47 Looking to other agencies of inspiration.
14.50 IT specialist salaries.
19.39 Difficulties in allocating time for staff training.
20.51 How have your professional pain points changed over your career?
22.52 Do you see a future with less agencies?
“I see UX like a function of product design because it’s less about the look, feel and structure of a product and more about behaviours and getting into the psychology of the user”
Alex is the Head of UX/ UI and Product Consultant at WM Reply.
Alex believes UX is a function of product design and he has spent most of his professional life combining the two disciplines. With a background working for companies like; Satago, Comet & Millermedia7 he is an expert in bringing together UI, UX and Product Design. And in doing so, making something far greater than the sum of its parts.
An expert at bringing together teams, Alex can communicate a company’s goal to various departments in a way that drives greater cohesion. He has a sharp eye for web design which he uses to dissect the inner workings of Facebook’s business model on this show.
Show Notes:
0.32 Peer-driven behaviours.
6.06 De-centralising the internet.
12.56 Commoditising creatives.
19.01 The UX & UI talent pool.
23.14 Diversifying your skill set.
27.02 Staying with a company for too long.
31.08 The automation & AI movement.
34.38 Making sure your work challenges you.
Ryan Cone is VP of Data Operations at DotDash.
A natural leader, Ryan has spent more than 9 years leading a data engineering team at DotDash. His teams have been responsible for designing, developing, and enhancing the company's platform through strategic data acquisition and multi-layered data architecture.
Data is a continually expanding discipline. Growth in the sector has resulted in the creation of many new roles. Trying to keep track of them can get confusing.
Ryan cuts through the jargon and outlines in plain English exactly what data professionals are doing to benefit your company.
Show Notes:
0.29 Ryan’s career in data.
3.01 Taking soft skills seriously.
4.09 Is there a linear path into data?
5.05 Team diversity.
7.41 Adapting your skills to work in tech.
8.57 Adopting best practices in data management.
10.19 The difference between data operation and data engineering.
12.43 The creative side of data.
14.35 The monetary value of data.
16.17 Overseeing large-scale cloud migrations.
17.59 The direction of cloud migration and serverless ops.
19.50 Anticipating new technologies.
20.59 Getting company leadership on board with new tech.
22.11 The rate of change in technology.
23.00 Lessons learned from a career in data.
25.20 Teaching data skills to others.
26.46 What are your favorite data topics to discuss with others?
29.04 What aspect of working with tech do you enjoy the most?
Richard Benjamins is the data and artificial intelligence ambassador at Telefonica. Richard was named as one of the 100 most influential people in data-driven business (DataIQ 100). He is a frequent speaker at big data & analytics events and strategic advisor to BigML. He has held a number of big data management positions across Telefonica, working tirelessly to provide people with the ability to communicate using secure, state of the art technology.
Richard is a scholar as well as a leader. He has published more than 100 scientific papers on artificial intelligence, knowledge-based systems, and the semantic web. A gifted communicator, he makes complex concepts easy to digest. He uses these skills in this episode to dissect the difficult ongoing challenges in the data sector.
[invitations_for_slack]
Show Notes: 0.29 Background and career progression.
2.27 The evolution of data.
9.24 Are we ‘running before we can walk’ in regards to data?
12.54 Difficulties in determining the ROI of a data team.
18.09 The issue with data being stored in one place.
19.20 Do data professional feel obliged to handle data in the right way?
21.39 Will a Chief Data Officer become a mandatory company requirement?
24.33 Making the ‘right’ moves in your career.
26.59 If you were graduating now would data still be an enticing career for you?
28.48 What do people want to know from data professionals?
Christian Moroy is the Co-Founder & CTO at Edge Health.
Christian’s aim is to make hospitals more effective and efficient with Artificial Intelligence. Whether that’s by using algorithms to increase available bed spaces or by using AI to make sure theatres are being utilised to the full.
Christian splits his working day between coding and client meetings. Conveying the benefits of AI to non-technical people is a crucial part of what he does. He uses the same skills on today’s podcast as he explores exactly how AI is revolutionising the healthcare sector.
Show Notes:
0.35 Selling the practical applications of AI to clients.
4.39 What does ‘good’ look like in terms of AI?
5.40 Validating AI to clients.
8.11 Why drew you towards the healthcare sector?
9.54 Things you want to do vs. Things you have to do.
11.13 AI-driven practicality
14.01 Emerging opportunities in the health tech space.
16.00 How to deal with unexpected problems.
17.19 What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?
19.29 Predicting the future of AI.
22.25 Making complicated problems simpler.
24.11 Aligning your vision with your business goals.
25.27 How is society adapting to technological advancements.
28.14 Predicting AI’s impact at a global scale.
Greg Hawkins is the Chief Technology Officer at Starling Bank. Starling is a mobile-only current account that gives people full control over their money and data. Greg is bringing his customer’s finances into the present with an app that harnesses the full power of modern tech. Moving beyond the traditional confines of an app and cash card, Starling makes financial management effortless and empowering.
In essence, it’s a bank that doesn’t look much like a bank at all.
Greg joined Starling as the Head of Engineering before progressing to CTO. Working during a period of rapid expansion, Greg has relied heavily on agile methodologies. He combines his agile mindset with his proven track record of introducing change and improving development practices.
This has made him a one-stop shop for advice on managing teams in an agile way, Fintech app development and the disruption Blockchain is sowing in society.
Show Notes: 1.05 Learning to code.
2.45 Technology as a solution to real-life problems.
4.18 Making better business decisions.
5.42 Broad understanding vs niche understanding in tech.
8.01 The sharing economy in tech.
10.54 Choosing a career path as a technical person.
14.17 How external factors can change your perspective on work.
15.55 Getting your first management position.
18.50 Vision in business.
21.34 Why changing culture is difficult.
23.24 Current state of affairs at Starling Bank
25.42 The value in office location.
27.36 What banking will look like 5 years from now.
30.39 Why constant innovation is now a necessity.
Chris Osborn is the Chief Technical Officer at Voxy
Over 4 million people in 150 countries have expanded their horizons by learning English through Voxy. Launched in 2010 it was one of the most disruptive technology startups that year. Chris, Voxy’s CTO, has been instrumental in ensuring the company’s continued growth.
Chris is a serial startup entrepreneur and has been the in the first dozen employees of 3 successful startups. Building up business, acquiring assets, and selling companies are what makes Chris tick.
His experience in the startup world given him a unique perspective on managing startup acquisitions, keeping a handle on company growth, and dealing with disruption. His conversation with Andy centres around these topics. In addition, Chris shared his views on transparency and culture in management.
Show Notes:
1.05 Acquiring a startup and issues when a company changes hands.
4.35 People are your companies main commodity and building a culture and organizational structure.
6.52 Management approaches to business acquisition.
11.09 Constant communication and reassurance in business.
14.03 Transparency and clearly communicating intended business outcomes.
17.38 Can culture be quantified?
21.52 Justifying decision making to others.
23.35 Advice for technical people who want to stay relevant.
29.07 Tech as a highly-collaborative community.
31.25 What is the most important psychological factor underpinning your success?
Jamie Khoo is an associate director of marketing sciences at Mindshare.
If the Police get into trouble, they call the SWAT team. If the analytics or programmatic trading team hits a roadblock... they call Jamie Khoo; the bridge between media, tech, and general analytics.
Seven years at Mindshare have made Jamie an expert in using data to streamline processes in media & advertising. He is also responsible for training new staff on the world of media & media analytics tools. Jamie has a real knack for explaining the applications of analytics in advertising and is a big proponent of ‘data-driven’ thinking.
In the episode, Jamie shares his thoughts on the growing influence of automation as well as the importance of encouraging creativity when working with data.
Show Notes:
1.28 How did you get involved in data science?
3.52 Why do you think the data science space has become so confused? And how do you navigate the cross-functionality now demanded of tech professionals?
8.11 The difficulty of articulating the different roles in Data science.
9.05 Clarity of vision when looking at your business goals & having business acumen as a tech specialist.
12.21 Will everything be automated in the future?
15.18 Drawing inspiration and motivation from the unknown.
16.30 Moving into management.
19.06 Most effective business strategy methodologies.
22.00 Getting creative with data.
24.03 Data and workplace diversity.
25.48 Daily sources of motivation.
Emmanuelle Johaadien is the Director of commercialisation at Visa. She’s the woman who turns ideas into money.
With a focus on FinTech authentication, payments, and telecom - she has honed her skills working for companies such as the Department for Transport, British Telecom PLC and the Greater London Authority.
Emmanuelle’s taken managerial positions in a variety of industries. And she has a keen eye for a spotting the juicy job opportunities that others might miss. She’s also an expert in self correction; cutting your losses and moving on when a career change doesn’t go your way.
Underpinning all this is her forward thinking leadership style which places transparency & communication at the heart of her management mentality.
We discuss all this and more on the podcast and Emmanuelle lays out her strategy for removing the bias inherent in your own management style.
Show Notes
1.07 Emmanuelle’s career progression and professional interests.
2.17 Do you enjoy moving from project to project?
3.36 Ensuring you don’t become “stale” in your career.
7.29 Do you like a great sense of ownership when deciding on a job to take?
9.16 Transitioning to management.
12.03 Understanding how to get through to people in management.
13.35 Tackling personal bias in your managerial style.
15.30 Discussing the role of a COO.
18.03 How do you manage the multiple aspects of your role?
20.32 Transparency in business.
23.14 Who were your influences when starting your career?
24.42 Being given freedom to work the way you want.
26.54 Opportunities as an incentive to take jobs over salary.
29.13 Navigating through your career when you make an incorrect job decision.
30.13 What continues to motivate you in your career?
Harley Richardson is the design and development director at Discovery Education UK
Harley Richardson has spent the last decade at the cross section of education and technology. Working his way up the ranks at Discovery Education, he now provides high quality digital content to primary and secondary schools throughout the UK. His ten-year stint at Discovery has given Harley a unique insight into how technology has transformed education.
He is an expert in managing remote workers and navigating the (sometimes tricky) office politics that surround the implementation of new tech.
The episode centres around the ways companies engage with and consume content. Harley discusses how companies that see content as currency can survive in a ‘free content’ world.
Show Notes:
1.30 Advice for people starting a career in tech.
11.00 discussing various approaches to career development. 15.30 Approaches to hiring.
18.00 How are remote workers and flexible working changing the face of the industry.
26.00 What technologies have had the biggest impact on the way you work?
33.05 Discussing ways to disseminate information from the tech teams to other departments.
35.20 Discussing the challenges of working on content and working in the content space.
39.07 Discussing new ways in which people consume content and how a company can adapt to this.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Isaac Jospehson, the SVP of Data Platform at Viacom. On the show they discuss how to create consistency across your team. Andy asks Isaac how he deals with disruption. They also chat about balancing your soft skills and technical skills. Isaac tells Andy how he quantifies the ROI of a data team.
Isaac Josephson is an executive with two decades of digital media experience building products and businesses for best-in-class brands. Prior to Viacom, he was on the product leadership team at Audible - Amazon's audiobook division. There, he oversaw the company's primary web, mobile web, and mobile app experiences.
Show Notes:
1.07 Having a sense of purpose in business and a vision.
3.13 People care about outcomes and thinking about the bottomline.
5.03 Creating consistency across your team to ensure your aligned with your business's goals.
6.27 When you look back at your career do you chuckle at some of the behaviours you undertook at work?
7.50 How do you navigate disruption in your sector and look forward and plan for what’s coming next?
9.30 You naturally gravitate towards things that interest you.
10.39 Is it necessary to place yourself in tech hubs like London and New York to truly be successful in your career?
13.29 What are some of the key traits you think are essential to be successful in your career?
15.03 Are softer skills now essential in the hiring process?
16.06 You can teach the technical side of a role but you need to see your company from a macro perspective.
17.10 The product management mindset.
19.47 Managing people within data and everything really being a people problem.
21.15 What do try and continually learn and strive to be good at?
22.31 Has it been difficult for you to learn the hard skills around data?
23.41 Having the belief in yourself that you can figure stuff out.
25.00 Data leadership and the journey data is on.
28.44 Do you think that Data is fully understood outside of the data department?
31.51 Quantifying the value add of Data and do you feel confident you can directly quantify the ROI of a Data team.
‘I went to a local authority in the midlands to chat to them about making an investment in Data. I was put on the spot by the chief constable, he let me talk about the benefits of Data in a business sense. When I’d finished he asked isn’t there something far more profound here? In the sense that there’s a moral imperative to use Data to identify and help individuals in crisis’
Richard Walker is the associate director of public sector advisory at KPMG UK. Richard works with public sector clients to unlock the value in their data. He believes that the better use of data is critical to the future of public services.
As an associate director Richard has experiences leading teams in the public sector where every choice is underpinned by cost. This has given him a knack of making business savvy decisions and leading a team with limited resources.
He used his 30 minutes on the podcast to stress the importance of Data in the public sector and highlights how it has, in real terms, saved people's lives.
Show Notes:
1.41 When you started your career could you envisage the direction data was heading.
4.27 Has the public sector managed to keep up with the rate of innovation in the Data space.
8.15 Using Data to tackle real tangible human issues.
12.32 What are some of the common issues people tend to ask you about in relation to Data?
15.26 Are there any situations where you have to manage expectations around Data.
20.12 Answering the “why” for the application of Data.
23.20 What problems do you think we’ll be tackling in the future, specifically in the public sector.
27.13 The impact of Data in the public sector.
Johnnie Ball is currently the Chief Data Scientist at Fluidly. In a previous life though he was a busy trader working for one of London’s top brokerages. This diverse background has given Johnnie many unique skills that he has carried forward into his career in data science.
With such a varied CV Johnnie is an expert at navigating career change. He is also well versed in transferring his skills from one career to another. All the while using the knowledge he’s gained over the years to grow as an individual and lead a Data Science team.
He used his 30 minutes on the podcast to chart his career progression and highlight some of the lessons he learned when moving from job to job.
“It’s not like the Wolf of Wall Street, but it is a high pressure, highly competitive environment. But I did enjoy it” - Johnnie on the trading floor
Show Notes:
1.05 Johnnie’s experience on a trading desk.
2.38 The unique skills picked up trading.
3.03 Working a career that requires you to be competitive.
4.18 Having an awareness of the value you add to your business.
5.18 Johnnie’s Educational background.
6.30 The satisfaction in trying to solve hard problems.
8.25 How did you end up in Fluidly.
9.56 The incubator environment.
11.07 Comparing the culture of the trading floor and working in Fluidly.
13.04 How was your initial transition to data science?
14.52 What aspects of Data Science did you find the most difficult.
16.25 Defining Data Science.
18.40 Was there a vision of the kind of Data Science team you wanted to be?
20.48 What has your approach been to finding new talent?
22.54 Do you collaborate a lot with your peers?
24.25 Having a sense of purpose when going to networking events.
25.51 What are you the most excited about working on at the moment?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Isaac Jospehson, the SVP of Data Platform at Viacom. On the show they discuss how to create consistency across your team. Andy asks Isaac how he deals with disruption. They also chat about balancing your soft skills and technical skills. Isaac tells Andy how he quantifies the ROI of a data team.
Isaac Josephson is an executive with two decades of digital media experience building products and businesses for best-in-class brands. Prior to Viacom, he was on the product leadership team at Audible - Amazon's audiobook division. There, he oversaw the company's primary web, mobile web, and mobile app experiences.
Show Notes:
1.07 Having a sense of purpose in business and a vision.
3.13 People care about outcomes and thinking about the bottomline.
5.03 Creating consistency across your team to ensure your aligned with your business's goals.
6.27 When you look back at your career do you chuckle at some of the behaviours you undertook at work?
7.50 How do you navigate disruption in your sector and look forward and plan for what’s coming next?
9.30 You naturally gravitate towards things that interest you.
10.39 Is it necessary to place yourself in tech hubs like London and New York to truly be successful in your career?
13.29 What are some of the key traits you think are essential to be successful in your career?
15.03 Are softer skills now essential in the hiring process?
16.06 You can teach the technical side of a role but you need to see your company from a macro perspective.
17.10 The product management mindset.
19.47 Managing people within data and everything really being a people problem.
21.15 What do try and continually learn and strive to be good at?
22.31 Has it been difficult for you to learn the hard skills around data?
23.41 Having the belief in yourself that you can figure stuff out.
25.00 Data leadership and the journey data is on.
28.44 Do you think that Data is fully understood outside of the data department?
31.51 Quantifying the value add of Data and do you feel confident you can directly quantify the ROI of a Data team
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Bruce Pannaman, a Data Scientist at Busuu. On the show they discuss the links between Business Intelligence and Data Science. They also chat about the direction Data Science is heading and where it’s taking society.
Show Notes:
1.06 When do you need to start building a data science team.
3.41 Moving from business intelligence into Data Science.
6.02 Proving out your concept to make business sense.
7.59 Did you have to collaborate with a lot of other teams when building your data team.
9.30 Finding talent for the Data Science role.
12.22 Founding a Data Science community outside of work.
13.54 Bruce’s background and career progression.
15.11 The creative aspect of Data.
18.33 Looking to the future where do you see Data heading?
20.01 Silicon roundabout.
23.25 Discussing office culture and remote working.
24.15 How is Data going to evolve?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Carl Austin, the UK CTO at BJSS. On the show they discuss the new industrial revolution being brought about by Artificial Intelligence. They chat about how society can embrace this change and what it could mean for people whose jobs may be taken over by machines. Carl and Andy also speak about how technology is now been driven more by consumer demand.
Show Notes:
1.12 How close do you think you can to predicting the future 10 years ago?
3.40 Is the gap between the creation of a new technology and it being available to the public shrinking?
5.55 Technology is being more tailored for public demand and it’s being built with more of a purpose.
8.15 Carl’s background and career progression.
10.43 What aspects of technology do you find most compelling?
13.37 Cryptocurrency and bursting bubbles.
16.43 What are some of the common things people ask you?
19.29 Is there a slight panic around machine learning and AI.
21.46 The move to AI should be celebrated.
23.03 Entire job families being destroyed with the advent of new AI technologies.
27.34 Tying Data into AI.
29.15 How do you align your future thoughts with your companies goals?
In this episode Andy Davis talks Paul Pop, Senior Data Scientist and team lead at huddle. On the show they discuss creating a collaborative environment for your data team and talk about how a varied team can provide better insight for your business. They also chat about the best practices for onboarding Data professionals. Andy asks Paul how he determines the ROI of his Data teams and whether that’s actually possible.
Show Notes:
1.53 Is it a necessity to have an analytical and mathematical mind to be good at data?
4.04 The creative side of Data.
5.57 Is it more typical for Data Scientists to come from an engineering background.
7.48 Do you feel that from a business perspective you’re more pressured in a data role than a software role.
9.21 Is it a collaborative environment in your data science team. It there a lot of different perspectives and what’s it like working in an environment like that?
12.01 Do you think people would be surprised when they see how a Data Science team works.
15.02 The hiring process for onboarding Data professionals.
18.41 Paul’s background and career progression.
19.55 What do you hope to gain from Data from a macro perspective.
21.20 Is there still potential for innovation in the data space.
24.18 Articulating the precise business value of the Data teams output.
27.07 Why you shouldn’t expect a silver bullet from your Data Science team.
30.02 Justifying your ROI.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Graeme McDermott, Chief Data Officer at Addison Lee. On the show they discuss how the CDO fits into the C-suite. Andy asks Graeme how a Chief Data Officer can collaborate with a Chief Finance Officer. They also chat about how best to align Data with the goals of your business. Graeme tells Andy how he manages the different personalities in his Data team
Show Notes:
1.06 How do we determine whether a company needs a CDO.
4.34 Defining the role of a CDO more closely and the evolution of a CDO.
7.29 The goals of your business have a significant impact on the role of a CDO.
10.38 Is there a skill in being able to align the capabilities of data with the goals of your business.
12.31 There’s not enough time in the day be the both technical and a manager.
13.47 What were the team dynamics like when you were progressing through your career.
19.07 Having the ability to get things done.
20.05 Managing the different motivations of your team.
23.51 It’s important for people to work on things they’re passionate about.
25.25 How the CDO role aligns with the C-suite.
30.20 The CDO collaborating with the CFO.
33.09 From your experiences what advice would you give new people entering the CDO role.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Joel Burgess, the Founder & CEO at Nutrifix UK. On the show they discuss the advantages of working in a corporate environment. Joel tells Andy about founding Nutrifix UK and some of the challenges he encountered when starting his own venture. Andy asks Joel about the startup scene in London and how the city is fueling young entrepreneurs and creativity.
Show Notes:
1.06 The advantages of working in a corporate organisation.
3.33 The startup mentality boils down to a numbers driven approach.
5.50 Why we shouldn’t glorify being busy and transparency in business.
8.08 Are you protective about your company culture?
9.34 What skills have you started to acquire in your startup journey?
11.43 An exciting time to be building a startup in London.
12.43 What’s the next phase for Nutrifix?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Paul Laughlin, Founder and managing director at Laughlin Consultancy. On the show they discuss the creative side of data analytics. They also chat about the way companies are now creating alternative career ladders for people who don’t want to be in management. Andy asks Paul about his career progression and how he got into the data space. Finally the chat about the concept of deep and shallow learning.
Paul help companies make money from customer insight. He helps them maximise the value they can drive from using data, analysis & research to intelligently interact with customers. Paul also enables them to sustain their own value generation, through coaching customer insight leaders. Customer Insight has the potential to grow the bottom line, increase sales, improve retention and sustain better customer satisfaction or advocacy. He has led teams that have added over £10m to the bottom line of their companies each year by removing common barriers to realising that value.
Show Notes:
1.07 The human aspect of data and insights.
2.36 The creative element to Data.
3.41 What are the general misconceptions around Data and Insights.
6.30 The hype around the applications of Data.
10.00 The diversity of leadership and creating alternative career paths for those who don’t want to be leaders.
13.44 Paul’s background and career progression.
16.39 Do you feel you’ve always though in Data terms?
18.22 How did you navigate your way through your career?
21.25 How we value peoples experiences.
25.39 Honing in and focusing on one problem and mastering one skill.
28.26 Ask yourself are you always learning?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Rahul Rao, Director of engineering at yieldmo. On the show Rahul explains why many people have a negative opinion of AdTech and what he’s trying to do to change that. They also discuss how to keep up with the rate of change of technology. Andy asks Rahul about how he made the transition to management.
Show Notes:
1.10 The negative perceptions of AdTech.
2.56 Does the ethical objections to AdTech come from a tech culture standpoint?
6.07 Monetising platforms with adverts.
8.08 Improving the AdTech space, educating the end user and putting the control in their hands.
10.21 Building a great customer experience into AdTech.
12.45 Managing the rate of change in technology.
16.05 Being proactive in the technical world even if you’re in a management position.
16.57 Being able to figure things out and always be constantly learning.
21.53 Creating an environment where you can “Give people a go” and learn from their mistakes.
24.20 How your goals change when you step into management.
29.15 Being able to adapt to whichever coding language you need use.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Steve Coulson, the CFO at JustPark. On the show they discuss balancing culture and bureaucracy in business. Andy asks Steve how he quantifies the ROI of a positive company culture. They also chat about the fears startup founders get when their companies start growing rapidly.
Show Notes:
1.31 Steves Background in startups and SME’s.
6.09 The misconceptions around culture and bureaucracy in business.
8.12 Investing money back into your staff.
10.40 Quantifying culture.
12.14 Do you find people are more concerned with ROI than culture.
14.07 Having a high level vision so everything you do makes sense.
18.14 Do you ever worry about your startup getting too big?
21.34 Having the maturity to let go of some aspects of your role as you move up in your career.
23.19 Was it an easy decision for you to be based in London?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Lachlan Ratjens, Head of Data Science and Engineering at Collinson Group. On the show they discuss managing the expectations around data. Andy asks Lachlan if there is such thing as a typical data scientist. They also chat about the growing importance of the CDO in the C-suite. At the end of the podcast Lachlan details how he sees data evolving in the coming years.
Show Notes:
1.06 All the different backgrounds present in data science.
2.57 Creating more consistency in developing Data Science talent.
4.04 Lachlan’s background and career progression.
5.50 Problem solving with data.
7.20 Are we still in the data science hype.
9.16 Managing expectations around data.
11.58 The classic archetype of a Data Scientist doesn’t exist yet.
14.01 When you scope out a project what do you find exciting and what do you like working on?
15.47 The cultural shift that needs to take place to fully utalise data.
19.13 Should the responsibility for cultural fit be down to individuals or the organisation?
20.48 Is the role of a CDO sufficient to manage all aspects of the data process?
23.28 Is the evolution of data science going to continue?
24.51 What’s the most exciting part of data at the moment?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ryan Den Rooijen, Head of Data at Dyson. On the show they discuss the new wave of talent entering the data space. Andy asks Ryan about how he goes about instigating a cultural change in a company. They also discuss why it’s important for technical people to be able to articulate their work.
Ryan has spent years at the forefront of big data analytics. He is currently working with a team of 30+ talented data experts to develop the analytical capabilities of one of the world's most exciting companies. He frequently deliver keynotes on topics such as building data-driven organisations, managing change, and uncovering insights at scale. Conferences he has spoke at include the Data Insight Leaders Summit, the Chief Data Officer Summit, and Big Data LDN.
Show Notes:
1.10 The youthful energy that is prolific in the tech space and the importance of an individual's approach to their job.
7.14 Having humility and transparency in business.
10.01 How to instigate a cultural change in your company.
15.40 Determining the value add of a data team.
21.47 The necessity of technical people to be able to articulate their work.
23.43 Developing your teams talents.
27.13 How do you ensure people are the right fit for your company.
31.07 Being open about your weaknesses in a job interview.
33.02 What are you excited about in the data space at the moment.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andrew Speakmaster, the CTO and Founder of SiO4 Ltd. On the show they discuss the what effects GDPR will have on business. Andy asks Andrew about the state of the security market. They also chat about the direction and growth of SiO4.
Andrew is a 20 year multi organisation technical & business ICT Consultant, with business development, service delivery, project and departmental management, compliance, cyber security, ethical hacking, infrastructure solutions & architectural experience.
Show Notes
1.03 The continuing need for security.
2.08 Security professionals as a finite and sought after resource.
4.47 Fostering rapid growth by throwing yourself head first into your projects.
8.44 What are the typical questions people ask you as a security professional.
14.09 The effects of having your business compromised by hackers. 16.44 Why you need to have the right mentality when looking at your computer security.
18.07 Why you need examples to justify the spend on security.
19.12 Having the ICO on the show.
22.00 Getting validation through compliance.
24.57 Panic buying security packages and waiting for the first large GDPR fine.
26.43 How SiO4 is building momentum and growing.
34.25 Having someone who can come into a business and learn everything.
37.01 The excitement surrounding the security sector.
38.44 Not fulfilling your goals because of fear.
40.52 SiO4’s contact details.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Dominic Aslan, VP of IT operations at ShipServ. On the show Andy asks Dominic about his best practices for keeping a company secure. Dominic tells Andy all about bug bounties. They also discuss the growing influence that Data is having on business.
Dominic started on the telephone for CompuServe in 1997. He has worked his way through many different roles within IT departments ever since. He has had roles as user support, server support, technical engineer, team manager, architect, project manager and CIO. He is currently head of IT for a commodities broker and trader.
Show Notes:
1.06 Dominic’s career progression and professional background.
5.14 Companies offering alternative paths to management.
7.27 Promoting the wrong people and a management position basically being a new role.
9.53 Keeping up with the technical world as a hands off manager.
13.50 Soft skills are now as important as technical skills.
16.25 Shifting your company culture onto a security footing.
20.09 Getting your staff bought into a set of best practices to avoid a security breach.
22.23 Detering hackers with a bug bounty.
25.07 The other angles to keeping secure online.
26.33 What are the big projects you’ve been asked to look into?
29.16 Clarity on what we expect to see from Data teams.
32.04 A data team isn’t a silver bullet to solve all your businesses problems.
34.24 The versatility of a data team and in tech more generally.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Pete Williams, a Data evangelist and the founder of The Decision Playbook. On the show they discuss the hype around the CDO position. Andy asks Pete how he gets the most out of his data teams. They also chat about the diversity present in a data team.
Pete is an active member of the UK CDO community. He’s passionate and inspirational on an outcome focused data and analytics strategy to drive commercial performance. Over 20 years experience in premium UK retail have created deep experience in empowering decision makers with data driven solutions for faster, better decisions. He’s an innovative and strategic thinker, motivated to disrupt and ‘make a difference’.
Show Notes:
1.07 The hype around Data and the CDO role.
5.34 Is the CDO the last piece of the puzzle in regards to the hype around data?
10.57 Is there a potentially a hierarchical issue with the CDO role?
13.13 Effectively executing on a CDO role.
19.32 Needing a vision in order to hire a CDO but you wouldn’t know what you’re looking for without hiring a CDO in the first place.
22.04 Pete's experiences in the Data space.
29.11 The diversity present in a data team.
31.05 Data as the engine that drives collaboration.
32.18 What’s the potential of data?
37.05 The bigger discussion around organisational structures and data.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Dr Peter Appleby, Head of Data Science at AutoTrader UK. On the show they discuss some of the misconceptions surrounding roles in Data Science. Andy asks Peter about what he looks for in a potential employee. Peter explains to Andy how a company can best leverage a data team to achieve a good ROI.
Show Notes:
1.07 clarifying what data science actually is.
4.11 Is there a hype surrounding Data Science?
5.19 What questions should an organisation be asking candidates if its looking to build a data science team?
6.46 Misconceptions around the roles and titles of data professionals.
9.00 Defining the ROI of a project.
10.47 Pathways into data and Peters background.
13.05 Is the opportunity to interact with lots of different people a good selling point for a career in data?
14.10 What competencies do you emphasis for your team?
15.46 Data from a leadership perspective.
17.13 The direction Peter see’s the data space heading.
19.15 Being commercially aware as a data scientist.
20.23 The excitement of working in big data.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Fayeez Ahmed, the QA Team Lead at WeSwap.com. On the show they discuss routes into QA. Andy asks Fayeez about his transition into a leadership position. They also chat about the direction quality assurance is heading in.
Fayeez is a firm believer in automation, where necessary. He thoroughly enjoys creating pipeline tools to optimise workflows and is constantly improving his skills in a range of areas, such as Scripting, Lighting and Texturing. Fayeez also has a strong interest in web design and development.
Show Notes:
1.07 Quality Assurance is becoming an in demand skill. Do we have the supply?
3.09 How did you get into Quality Assurance?
4.41 How easy is it to drastically shift your career trajectory and do you think it’s possible to acquire a base set of skills that make this transition easier.
7.08 What skills are best suited for a career in Quality Assurance?
9.28 Transitioning into a leadership position.
11.07 If you were reliving your career would you have done anything different?
13.17 What are you expecting to see in the QA space this year?
14.51 Are more people investing in QA.
16.15 What makes a good QA team?
19.40 Getting a good mix of people and skills in your QA team.
22.20 Taking QA to the next level.
24.31 Recommending Slack communities.
25.44 How do you assess your career goals and do you tend towards big goals or smaller more frequent goals?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Jon Wright, Founder at Emmkit LLC. On the show they discuss Jon’s move to America and how he adapted to the cultural differences in his working life. They also chat about the education system in the US and how companies are still placing emphasis on traditional educational routes such as university. They go on to consider how online courses and self taught tech professionals are disrupting the traditional ivy league colleges. Andy also asks Jon about the qualities he looks for in new starters to his company and asks Jon about the methods he used to determine which candidates are the best fit for his business.
Show Notes:
1.10 Jons experiences moving over to America.
3.37 Why isn’t America approaching different ways of on-boarding staff.
8.53 Instigating a cultural shift in companies to change their on-boarding practices.
12.20 Apprenticeships and internships and the education sector being prime for disruption.
14.48 Educational curriculums always playing catch up with the rate of change of technology.
16.48 Jon’s hiring practices.
19.01 The various different approaches candidates take to prove they’re committed to a career.
21.14 Putting the responsibility of education onto employers.
22.06 Beyond a candidate's technical abilities what soft skills do you look for in a potential employee.
25.37 In the short time you have to interview a candidate how do you come to a decision whether to hire them or not?
28.55 How was the transition to management for you and how did you find it?
32.45 Tech professionals needing a broader set of skills in the 21st century.
37.22 The lack of stigma around “quitting” a job in the US.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to John Kelly, Director of Analytics at QxBranch. On the show they discuss the excitement around Quantum Computing. Andy asks about the skills a person's needs for a career in Data Analytics. They also chat about the projects John is working on.
John is an experienced practitioner and leader in data analytics, with a passion for applying these skills to automate complex processes and discover new insights that can impact people's quality of life. He is currently directing the development of data analytics solutions at QxBranch and he was previously the Technical Lead for Corporate Data Analytics Initiatives at Lockheed Martin.
Show Notes:
1.08 Discussing the in’s and out’s of Data and how the sectors changed over the years.
3.38 Is it a challenge staying disciplined on the projects at hand?
5.47 From your perspective when you’re dealing with a new client/ customer do you have to educate them on the applications of Data?
9.41 Tackling the inherent bias people have when looking at Data sets.
13.32 What is the most compelling part of Data for you? Is it the processes you go through with Data or the outcomes?
17.44 What characteristics are necessary from a hiring perspective are important when finding employee’s for your team.
20.17 Do you find a lot of diverse backgrounds in the data sector.
23.23 When people discover what you do what are the most common questions people ask you?
25.50 Looking ahead how do you see Data and analytics progressing in the coming year?
30.17 Quantum computing.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Tom McLaughlin, Founder at ServerlessOps. On the show they discuss the difficulty of hiring for a DevOps role. Andy asks Tom about his career progression. They also chat about Tom founding ServerlessOps and some of the challenges he had to overcome.
Tom likes to ask what does Ops mean in a serverless world? He founded ServerlessOps to help you to design, build, and run reliable serverless systems.
Show Notes:
1.05 From a recruitment perspective how do you articulate what the DevOps role requires and how do you identify what you’re working towards?
3.49 How do you manage to bring on the appropriate people for your team?
5.08 Toms career progression and background.
9.26 Having a disciplined approach to staying on your career path.
11.42 The consumer dictates the pace that technology move at.
13.08 Tom’s current projects.
17.57 Do you think we still need to educate people about the serverless market.
21.07 Still learning about ServerlessOps.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Nav Dhutti, the Technical Lead / Data Scientist at Acrotrend. On the show they discuss how to excel in your career. Nav touches on the disruption caused by technology on the education sector. They also chat about how to find the employees with the best cultural fit for your company.Lastly Andy and Nav discuss what it takes to succeed in tech.
Show Notes:
1.06 Looking to the year ahead in technology.
4.55 From your perspective have you had to accommodate changes into your career due to changes in the tech industry.
12.17 The effectiveness of education to technology people and the continual learning needed to be successful in tech.
16.31 Determining what you should value in an employee.
23.08 How, in interview, do you determine who has a fundamental understanding of coding?
25.54 Do you have to sacrifice personally and socially to succeed in engineering.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to James Packer. James is a Cyber Security Consultant at a Big 4 professional services firm. He is also President of the London Chapter of (ISC)2 whose mission is to bring together a community of Information Security Professionals to share knowledge in order to drive innovation and inclusion within the wider community. On the show they discuss how the security sector has grown and changed over the past 20 years. Andy asks James what the industry can do to get more people interested in a career in security. James also details how different companies and groups view cyber threats.
Show Notes:
1.10 How did you reach the point in your career where you felt you wanted to write and blog about your sector.
7.10 The different ways people respond to security threats.
9.15 What efforts have you seen from a macro perspective of people trying to raise awareness of security issues.
12.10 Being conscious about your own cyber security.
15.52 Will we see a rise of people seeing security as a profession in the next generation.
20.06 The changing face of the security profession.
22.39 Applying DevOps to security making DevSecOps.
24.08 What can we do to get more people interested in the security sector?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Michael Michelis, the Co-founder at Intelistyle Ltd. On the show they discuss the links between Data Science and mathematics. Andy asks Michael about the effects Data is having on a companies structure and culture. They also discuss Data and its role in retail and the challenges of building your own startup.
Michael is a Data engineer and mathematician with extensive experience leveraging technology to solve Big Data problems. He is experienced in managing and growing communities, founded one of the largest online communities for mathematics in Greece. Michael was also the winner of the LSE Business Week pitch competition and finalist in a number of other pitching events. He has also launched a few indie apps in App Store and Google Play.
Show Notes:
0.59 The implementation of Data teams in a company.
3.06 What are the large challenges for you and your company?
4.49 Building a Data team with people from a variety of backgrounds.
6.33 Data’s far reaching effects on society.
8.17 The evolution of a CDO.
9.39 Being in Data for so long but still seeing it constantly evolve.
11.03 Data science and retail.
12.55 Michaels background.
14.01 Does mathematics and Data Engineering go hand in hand?
16.06 What have been the most challenging aspects of building your business?
18.31 Falling in love with your problems not solutions.
19.41 Aligning your roles at work with what you want to achieve in life.
21.32 What are your predictions for the 2018 Big Data trends.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Rafael Rocha, the Chief Transformation Architect at Edanlit Techlab & Consultancy. On the show they discuss the composition of an A.I team. Andy asks Rafael about how company culture intertwines with artificial intelligence. They also discuss the direction A.I is heading and they chat about how to get staff on side when trying to instigate an A.I cultural change.
Rafael has 30 years experience in leading transformation roles on projects up to £83M. He currently working at Edenlit Techlab and Consultancy working on Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Blockchain, with leading business professionals and technologists. He has extensive experience and specialisms in Customer Experience/CRM, BPR, Target Operating Models, Intranet, e-Commerce and ERP.
Show Notes:
1.09 How does an A.I team look?
4.46 A.I professionals fulfilling a hybrid role.
7.54 Instigating a cultural shift in a business when on-boarding a data/ A.I team.
12.11 The positives of having a company culture which embraces and enjoys change.
15.42 How do you get staff on-board with a cultural change in your business before you’ve proved the concept.
18.32 Where do you see A.I heading in the coming years?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Marcel Kornblum, head of creative technology at BBH London. They discuss the importance of taking a macro perspective in business, navigating company culture and working freelance and for agencies.
For the last 4 years Marcel has been the senior technical resource at two of London's most renowned creative agencies. He has freelanced as a hands on developer and twice been a startup founder. Prior to this he has helped grow a company from 4 to 50 employees and won over 40 advertising awards, working in London and New York as a tech lead. Marcel has worked client side, agency- and production- side, for dev shops and startups.
Show Notes:
1.08 What do you think are the biggest changes that have happened in the technology world since you started your career.
4.33 The mentality of thinking from a macro and business standpoint when working in tech.
6.39 Do you think that the outcomes and goals of tech departments haven’t changed.
7.38 Do the projects you’re working on have to be fun for you to be engaged by them?
10.04 Talking about company culture.
13.02 Factors that can affect innovation in the technology sphere.
14.47 Talking about scale.
16.11 Bringing people on board who can get on with the job.
17.51 Dealing with workplace ego’s.
18.42 Technology culture can’t be controlled or contained.
20.23 Trying products for free and free plans in technology.
22.31 Getting a lot more scope working with an agency and in freelance work.
26.53 What technologies are you most looking forward to seeing in the near future.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ian Mortimer, a lead DevOps Engineer at Slalom Consultancy . On the show Ian tells Andy about working in a Kubernetes environment. They also discuss DevOps as an approach to work. Andy also asks Ian about innovation and how he continually tries to innovate at work.
Ian is a lead DevOps Engineer with a focus on platform automation and high availability implementation. He is skilled in Go, Web Applications, AWS, Rancher, Kubernetes, and Agile Methodologies. Ian is a strong engineering professional with a Bachelor focused in Communications from Boston University.
Show Notes:
1.09 Working in a Kubernetes environment.
7.11 How do you decide what technologies to invest in?
11.14 DevOps as an approach and attitude to work.
13.30 How do you perceive innovation.
16.56 The simple things people overlook when trying to innovate.
21.06 Ian background and career progression.
23.54 How will DeOps evolve over the coming year?
27.17 The sharing economy brought about with the advent of technology.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ben Sanders, the COO at Pockit. He chats to Andy about his role and responsibilities as a COO, why it’s important, when on-boarding, to hire people who share your company’s vision and the new skills you need to learn as a manager. They also touch on the exciting advancements happening in the technology sphere and Ben's personal motivations for working in technology.
Ben is passionate about private-sector solutions for urban issues. He’s a senior executive at Pockit a fast-growing FinTech 50 tech startup aiming to become the world's most inclusive bank.
Show Notes: 1.29 How does your approach to workplaces change due to their size.
4.13 Managing a team is a whole new skill set.
7.05 What’s your take on the role of COO and is it true that it’s a very diverse role.
10.28 Was the excitement around the space you're company is working in a big motivator for you.
12.42 When you’re bringing new people onto your team is it important that they have a belief in your company's vision.
15.03 In startups it’s a necessity that new employees are on-board with the company’s culture.
18.47 How aware do you have to be from a technical perspective when looking at macro external factors that can affect your business.
20.59 Do you have a consistency approach to work or does your approach change form role to role.
24.33 What things are you excited to see in the coming years in the technology sphere and in your work life.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Charlotte Morris, the CMO for SkinNinja. SkinNinja a break through UK app, which identifies what's in our skincare products, from contact allergens to carcinogens. Using its proprietary technology to identify risks from over 800k products and using its tech to then provide healthier, safer alternatives.
On the show Charlotte explains how marketing is a revenue generator for business and how marketing professionals need to be multi-disciplined to truly succeed in their careers. They also discuss how Charlotte got into mentoring and why she feels compelled to help others who are starting their careers.
Show Notes:
1.12 Marketing and tech as revenue generators.
7.04 Having to be multi-disciplined in tech now.
13.45 Having to continually learn and adapt in tech and marketing.
16.42 What are you working on at the moment that you feel really passionate about.
19.41 Thinking through all your options when starting a career and finding a mentor.
22.47 Charlotte’s move back to London and working on her new startup.
26.39 The importance of external networking.
31.10 Going out into the tech community and asking for help.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Killian Faughnan, the CISO at Interoute. They discuss the makeup of a typical security team. Killian tells Andy about how he stays ahead of security threats. Andy asks Killian about his responsibilities and why he chose to do an MBA.
Killian is an information and cyber security professional with a background in technical security (engineering, architecture, pentesting), security governance (risk management, compliance), and business administration. Show Notes
1.08 Killian’s background in security and why are we paying so much attention to security now?
2.30 Did you always think you’d end up in the security sector?
3.58 Does the wealth of backgrounds present in the security sector make it an interesting place to work at the moment?
6.12 What does your typical security team look like?
7.58 What are your responsibilities?
10.38 Killians thought process behind doing an MBA.
12.12 How tech makes you constantly pursue learning.
14.31 What is it about the security consultancy market which is making the average contract length so short.
16.14 Are in house security staff the best option to keep your business safe?
18.03 How were your mentors and influences and what are you doing in your leadership position to reduce your turnover of staff?
21.56 Not just looking to your superiors for feedback and inspiration.
23.10 How do you stay ahead of the security threats.
25.12 External collaboration.
26.10 Being proactive in your role when looking at problems from a macro perspective.
27.39 What direction is the security sector heading in over the next few years?
In this Episode, Andy Davis talks to Jon Peterson, Development Manager at Argus Media. They chat about why team leaders need to reinforce to their staff the importance of building software that solves problems. They also touch on internal communication issues in business and how to best explain your technical goals to non-technical people.
Jon is an experienced technologist and leader, focussing on product development, development team building, and adjusting corporate culture to fit with new digital trends. His vast career experience covers UX, Knowledge discovery, workflow integration & access control and identity management.
Show Notes:
1.17 What were the first technologies you learned and how difficult is it to learn new technologies once you’ve learned the basics.
4.50 What strategies did you employ when trying to learn some new tech.
6.44 Confusing company culture and personal development.
10.26 Do you find other departments can influence culture and that can be counter productive for the tech teams.
12.19 Technical teams being expected to change their way of thinking to be aware of business cultures and outcomes.
14.24 Who is responsible for ensuring other departments have a good knowledge of what tech teams are doing.
15.48 Do you feel that now people who are working in tech are failing to understand some of the processes that are going on behind the scenes.
18.08 Ultimately building software that solves problems.
19.24 Internal communication issues within teams equating to software being made that isn’t getting released.
21.26 Making the transition into a management position.
23.59 The fulfilment you gain out of management.
26.45 Is there any technology coming in the near future that you think will impact your team or company in general.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Jonathan Leedham, B.I manager at Reed.co.uk. On today's podcast he chats to Andy about the differences and widening gap between Business Intelligence and Big Data and how this diverging fields are sculpting the skillsets required for entry level employees. They also discuss whether the business outcomes of a company are ever affected by technological advances and look at the pro’s and con’s of taking a purely data driven approach to your business problems.
Jonathon’s varied career has taken him from working with I.T outsourcing companies right through to public sector work with the NHS. Underpinning all his efforts has been the desire to fit the most appropriate technological solution to a business’s problems and, where necessary, throwing in the B.I Life ring to rescue employee’s drowning in Data.
Show Notes:
1.12 Differentiating B.I and Big Data.
3.32 How did you decide what was the best fit for you out of B.I and Big data.
4.33 Is A.I and automation affecting the skills people in your discipline need to learn to be successful in their career.
5.41 Have the rapid advancements in data produced a fundamental shift in the way data scientists and Business Intelligence operate.
7.47 Have you enjoyed the shift in data and B.I.
8.43 How technology has changed from a person needing a niche skill set to a broad range of agile and adaptable skills.
10.14 Do the required outcomes from a business perspective ever change?
11.53 Have you ever been surprised about some of the things you’ve uncovered working in data.
13.10 Outside of Reed.co.uk what is your background.
14.52 Data science becoming integral to the products you’re producing.
15.43 Taking a data driven approach to how we work.
17.05 How closely do we consider data, especially when factoring in the human element of business.
18.21 How do you communicate your data findings with high level people.
19.48 Although we’re looking at data we’re still reliant on the human element of how we’re going to approach data.
21.00 What are your thought on Google taking on the jobs market?
21.48 Moving forward what are your career goals?
23.46 What technology are you most interested to see come out in the next few years?
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Phil Wood, a people partner at Swoon Editions. They discuss personal development, internships and retraining staff. They also chat about the importance of having a social element to your business and the best practices for on-boarding.
Before working for Swoon Editions Phil worked for MVF, one of the fastest growing marketing technology companies in the UK. He has also spent time as the Head of Talent for Transport for London and a Resourcing and Organisational change manager for the Olympic delivery authority. He graduated from Essex university with a Bsc (Hons), in Sports and exercise science.
Show Notes:
1.06 What areas of HR do you feel can be disrupted and what areas are changing.
3.37 What were your experiences like when you were being trained for your career and how’s that different from the realities of your role.
5.50 Personal development, internships and being a responsible employer when coming to on-boarding.
9.00 The difficulty when retaining staff in the current market.
10.29 Encouraging big corporations to give back to communities by building fairer apprenticeships.
12.20 Looking at retention in technology and how has HR had to change their strategy to motivate people to stay in a company.
14.48 The way that people approach business and work and incorporating a social aspect to your work.
17.57 How do HR teams conduct themselves internally.
19.13 What are some characteristic that have served you well in a career in HR.
20.24 Were you influenced by people or did you pick up your skills through work alone.
23.33 Why you should always be seeking external feedback.
24.52 What technologies are you most excited about that are on the verge of coming into fruition.
26.20 Applying data to roles in HR.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Adam Fineman, Head of I.T Operations at Euro Office. They discuss finding candidates that are the right cultural fit for your company, differing methods to keep your team motivated and innovating and coaching and training your staff.
Show Notes:
1.06 How and when did you make the transition into managing people.
2.30 When did you become aware how important communication skills are in business.
3.16 Do you think introverted people are harder to manage?
4.19 For your teams do you have any strategies that keep them motivated and innovative.
5.32 What are the important thing for you in terms of the culture within your team.
6.52 Teamwork and why you need to get on with your peers.
7.38 Avoiding burying people’s personalities at work.
8.46 Ensuring a candidate’s personality is a fit for the company when onboarding.
9.49 Teaching technology skills and finding the right cultural fit for a candidate.
10.31 Technology as a candidate’s market and having higher retention in your company.
11.28 How did you first get involved in Tech?
13.13 What was the learning curve like for you when you were getting into tech?
14.14 How do you identify and tackle employee’s bad habits?
15.43 Coaching staff and having patience when teaching your staff.
16.25 What type of technologies are you working with?
17.23 Do you find technical people are more unwilling to move into management positions.
18.32 What are you most excited about at the moment in technology at the moment?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Adam Gill, the CRM at Totaljobs group and the founder of Sirius.Red. They discuss Adams blogging career and how blogs can help with one’s creative processes and problem solving. They also discuss transitioning into management and the importance of team dynamics.
Show Notes:
1.09 Had you always planned to write a blog?
2.32 Does writing a blog help with your creative process and solving problems?
4.21 Blogging as a tool for articulating difficult concepts.
5.51 Getting management ideas from your blog creation.
7.30 Do you take inspiration from your team when writing your blog?
8.49 What was your initial transition to management like?
13.58 What’s your current management situation now?
16.46 The importance of team dynamics when managing a business and a team.
19.18 Continual learning and the rapid pace of change in technology.
21.42 Have you always subscribed to an agile methodology?
23.53 Do you consider yourself a technologist and what technologies are you most excited about.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Cyrus Bulsara, Head of Data services at the Children’s Society. They discuss applying creativity to Data, making a move to a management position and how technology is changing the workplace.
Cyrus is a highly motivated and dynamic database and analysis manager. He has 9 years experience in delivering team leadership and data services, including; segmentation, analysis, imports, policies/procedures, gift processing, data cleaning and user support. He also has over 10 years fundraising experience in the not-for-profit sector. Cyrus’ fundraising skills and experience include; direct mail appeals, membership programmes, copy-writing, segmentation and analysis. He has been described as a 'calm, problem-solver' and have a proven track record of project management including target-beating direct marketing campaigns and implementation of new systems and technology.
Show Notes:
1.06 Is Data a creative artform.
1.57 Do you encourage your team to be creative when looking at Data.
3.13 How do go about building a constructive work environment?
4.30 How did your background and experiences shape you as a leader?
6.27 Speaking about the modern problem of retention of staff.
9.02 Are you motivated by outcomes?
10.30 How have technological advancements made the gathering of data more efficient?
12.22 Saving time and being more efficient by self-reporting.
13.36 Having an awareness of outcomes and have they changed due to technology.
15.38 How much creativity do you allow your team?
17.42 Have you found a lot of satisfaction from your management position?
19.29 How was your transition to management?
20.37 Did your journey up the career ladder feel like a natural process to you?
23.02 Being able to admit you can be wrong as a manager.
24.17 What is exciting you at the moment in the space you occupy?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Barry Green, the Chief Data Officer at the Bank of Ireland. He chats to Andy about how best to manage a data team. They also discuss how to instigate a cultural shift in your company to make it more data focused.
Barry Green is a Chief Data Officer with a consistent record of delivering business and change programmes. He has achieved this through strong financial, process, consulting and relationship management skills. He also possesses excellent programme management experience in a variety of operating environments. Barry is adept at networking and communicating across an organisation to effect change.
Show Notes:
1.06 The role and evolution of the CDO?
2.26 Managing the broad set of individuals who work in Data.
6.25 From your experiences do you find you have to manage the expectations that people have around data.
10.04 Using data as a means to instigate cultural change in a company.
14.07 Being persistent when trying to convert your staff to a data way of thinking.
15.43 Is there ever a concern on an individual level about what people are going to get out of a data driven company.
18.11 Do you rely on your external network when trying to solve your business problems.
19.55 The strength of the CDO network and using the community to instigate change in businesses.
22.25 When did you realise you were motivated by data?
24.29 Being at the forefront of the data revolution?
25.46 Do you think data team’s are helping promote diversity in the tech industry.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to John Louis Petitbon, Sr Director, Platform Engineering at Lifion by ADP. Johnlouis discusses the role of SRE’s with Andy. They chats about the similarities SRE’s share with the DevOps methodology. Andy also asks Johnlouis about his move into management and later leadership.
Johnlouis is a Senior technology professional specializing in TechOps, SRE and DevOps. He is experienced in building teams and managing rapid growth in small to medium enterprises.
Show Notes:
1.09 What are the responsibilities of SRE?
4.17 Is there a linear path into a SRE team?
14.22 Do you see SRE as a methodology similar to agile?
19.45 Johnlouis Background and career development.
23.13 Johnlouis’ first steps into management and then leadership.
28.48 The importance of continued learning.
31.23 Do you think SRE’s are going to evolve in the ways that they operate?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Rashi Khurana, the Director, Engineering for eCommerce Images and Contributor experience at Shutterstock. On the show they discuss how to get more women in tech. Andy also asks Rashi about her own career development and mentoring. They also chat about having the right approach to business and the best practices when leading a team.
Rashi is currently leading the technical teams for the eCommerce platform and the Contributor experience at Shutterstock, New York City. Previously, she has worked with Orbitz Worldwide where she use to own and manage the Landing Page framework and Infrastructure. The framework involved creation and launch of dynamic and flexible landing pages with customization and personalization built in it. This also involves the business facing tool that contributors can use to generate content and publish landing pages.
Show Notes:
1.10 Rashi’s career background and development.
3.13 Are the traditional methods of educating technologist obsolete?
5.03 Does there need to be a realignment in the way we onboard tech professionals.
9.14 How do we increase women’s confidence in tech.
10.22 Why does society gear engineering towards males?
11.47 Negating social anxiety and learning at your own pace.
14.46 Have you had any mentors in your career and have you found yourself a mentor in recent years.
17.12 Rashi’s mentoring and speaking work.
19.00 Having the right attitude and approach in business. 21.35 How do you earn your team's trust?
22.35 Leading by example and letting employees know it’s ok to fail.
26.46 Building a productive company culture.
29.08 Finding a company with the right cultural fit for you.
30.39 What motivates you?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Brian Lord OBE, the Managing Director, Cyber, at PGI Protection Group International. On the show Brian talks to Andy about how much cyber security has changed over the past 20 years. They also discuss how to educate businesses about the dangers of cyber crime. Andy asks Brian about how much progress we’ve made as a society in regards to our cyber security.
Brian served in the Royal Corps of Signals from 1984 to 1992 before joining the civil service. He then worked for GCHQ for 21 years before leaving as deputy director for intelligence and cyber operations. In 2013 he joined the PGI Protection Group International. He has been described by the telegraph as a leading thinker in the sector of cyber warfare.
Show Notes
1.10 How much different are the fundamentals of cybersecurity.
5.27 Have the principles of online safety changed?
9.03 Educating people about cyber security.
12.31 How much progress has society made when it comes to online security?
17.51 Are people acting slightly irrationally when concerning cyber security.
25.22 Why are people so intimidated about starting a career in cyber.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Usman Hamid, Head of infrastructure services at the BBC. On the show they discuss how companies can use innovative ways to retain staff. Andy asks Usman about how he got into a career in infrastructure. Usman also chats about his management style and recruitment process.
Usman is a highly experienced, ITIL certified, multilingual Senior IT Leader, with expertise in delivering effective business critical IT solutions across both the private and public sectors. He also has a proven track record of leading business improvements on a global basis. He has been working in the ICT industry for over 14 years, and has played an integral role in identifying solutions and driving forward change on both a national and international basis. This has resulted in improved business efficiency and significant cost savings.
Show Notes:
1.07 What’s the typical path into infrastructure and how did you get in to infrastructure?
4.18 Technology and music.
6.10 Discussing non traditional and unique routes into technology.
13.03 Employers incentivising candidate beyond salaries.
16.01 Driving cultural change in legacy companies.
20.03 How infrastructure is becoming like wifi.
22.48 We need to know how best to utilise technology as opposed to knowing how to use it.
27.40 Taking the step up to management and the recruitment process.
31.53 What direction do you see infrastructure heading in the coming years.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Josh Willcock, DevOps manager at the charity learning consortium. On the show they discuss the advantages of working with a startup mentality. Josh also chats about how his role helps him build good work practices. Andy asks him whether his work is inspiring others to take up DevOps as a career.
Josh is a DevOps manager for third sector and corporate organisations. He develops the infrastructure to support hundreds of members for the open-source Moodle LMS. He has been part of large scale projects inside of Moodle, outside of Moodle and the environment it resides upon.
Show Notes:
1.07 What Josh is working on.
4.06 Do you feel your process builds good habits.
5.06 Have other people been inspired by the work you are doing?
8.24 Working with a startup mentality and talking about scale.
11.57 Working in a startup environment gives you more skills when moving to a bigger company.
13.19 Josh’s background and career development.
18.10 Did your company's approach to business provide a good learning experience for you?
20.38 What are you career goals?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Jason Foo, the CEO at BBD Perfect Storm. On the show they discuss the role branding plays in marketing technology. Andy asks Jason about the best practices for fostering a positive work culture. They also chat about the lessons Jason has learned in his management position.
BBD Perfect Storm mission statement BBD Perfect Storm is a new kind of agency for the new age of marketing. We help organisations become the Go2Brand in their category. We do this by helping brands to deliver on their purpose. We help brands challenge and shape culture by creating useful and entertaining communications, things and experiences. We combine brand storytelling with the possibilities of technology and insights from data to help brands make sense of and navigate through the always on, always connected world of consumers.
Show Notes
1.12 The role of branding in technology.
3.49 The collaboration between marketing and technology.
5.28 How do you collaborate with your clients?
6.24 Jason’s background and skills.
8.30 Internal team dynamics and building culture.
10.32 Quantifying ROI in marketing?
12.28 Being people led in your management.
13.43 Innovation in the marketing space.
15.56 What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?
16.53 Lessons from management
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Simon Lascelles, he was recently made the Director of IT operations at LGSS. They discuss combining skills in sports and business, implementing changes in your business process and keeping an eye on office culture.
Simon is an enthusiastic, innovative and dynamic commercially minded International CIO with a proven track record of delivering business change and transformation across a range of SME, FORTUNE 500 and FTSE 250 organisations. He is comfortable owning technology life cycle from commercial assessment to strategy definition, and leadership of efficient operations.
Show notes:
1.10 Background and initial interests when starting your career.
3.46 Sheffield Hallam, rugby and enjoying university.
6.06 Sports skills, coaching and applying them to business.
7.40 Discussing the lack of training when moving into a leadership/ management position.
9.30 What was the harder for you to adapt to, the technical aspects of your role or the management aspects?
11.25 Are we keeping up with technology? Do we need to speed up the ways we adapt to change?
13.55 How do you go about making changes to your business processes to adapt to change?
15.45 As a CIO do you take it upon yourself to keep a close eye on your office culture?
18.05 Talking on the concept of servant leadership.
19.41 What are you looking at and getting excited about within technology at the moment.
23.00 Do you get engaged with Big Data?
24.00 What are your opinions on VR?
26.11 Changes in technology that are going to have a big impact on the world in the near future.
Wie und warum Firmen den Punkten Business Continuity Management, IT Service Continuity Management (ITIL) und Krisenmanagement Aufmerksamkeit schenken müssen und was das eigentlich ist, erfahrt Ihr von Matthias Rosenberg und der Controllit AG aus Hamburg.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Hilla Pedramparsi, interim head of data at Gamesys. Hilla is a senior IT professional with a strong development background. He possesses an outstanding record of formulating technical strategies to meet business objectives.
On the show he chats to Andy about the ever evolving role of a data professional and a person's tech career development . They also discuss how to extract the most value out of your data sets and why you need to instigate a cultural change in your company to place it on a data driven footing.
Show Notes:
1.06 Hilla’s background and career progression.
2.38 What is a bigger challenge, the size of a data set or the complexity of it.
4.11 Was it a big advantage for you learning how to decipher Data sets before technology got so advanced you didn’t need to anymore.
6.05 How difficult has it been for you to stay ahead and stay relevant in technology?
7.30 Do you find you have enough time to keep skilling up in your professional life.
8.07 Always being willing to learn.
10.08 Being a technical person with an understanding of the macroeconomics affecting the business you’re working for.
12.45 The role of a CDO and a data team.
16.57 Determining the value of data.
19.58 Implementing a data team into your business needs a cultural shift in your business.
23.34 Will the role of a high level data person ever stop evolving?
25.05 The excitement around data.
26.13 The variety of different backgrounds present in a data team and data as a creative discipline.
28.14 What do you hope to see in the coming years in your career and in data.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andrei Muraru, Big Data innovations manager at Belron International. On the show they discuss how Data has developed in recent years and why some sectors are still confused about it. They also chat about how you can convey your Data teams successes to others and how to determine the ROI of a Data project.
Andrei Muraru developed his career in IT Infrastructure working in both smaller and larger organizations. He has 8 years of experience in: Spearhead Systems and Orange and Emerson Process Management. In the past few years, his work has focused on his efforts on cloud, IoT and big data technologies while also keeping a comprehensive level of knowledge on traditional datacenter components. Andrei’s academic background is in engineering and he has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and automatic control and a master in management and engineering of business systems.
Show Notes
1.07 What is Big Data, why is it causing confusion and how do you approach Big Data.
3.19 What are we trying to get from your typical Data project?
5.59 Questioning and determining the ROI of Big Data projects.
10.15 How do you manage your own expectations when rolling out Data projects.
12.15 How do you engage and collaborate with your team that creates a creative environment.
15.45 Andrei’s background and career development.
20.33 Is it a challenge for you to keep up with the rate of change in technology?
22.32 What’s the most compelling developments happening at the moment in Big Data.
24.17 Where do you see your career heading in the next few years?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Rajat Dhawan, the CTO at Contiki Holidays. They discuss seeking out challenge in your professional life, how company decision making has been affected by data and finding the right technological solution to your business problems.
In his current role Rajat oversee e-commerce, web design, development, architecture, infrastructure, support, email, content and performance marketing. He’s supported by teams in London, Madrid and Delhi and by leading digital agencies. Rajats current focus is to enable growth of his companies B2C business through a series of programs across personalisation, analytics, email marketing, merchandising and create a new state of the art B2B platform for our trade partners.
Show Notes:
1.09 The advantage of having varied experiences on your CV.
3.55 Seeking out discomfort and uncertainty in your professional life.
5.07 What other traits have you had to develop to allow your level of success.
6.54 How much has the decision-making process been impacted by innovations in technology.
8.38 Have you got to a point where you can let data lead your decision-making processes.
10.08 Do we need to get data to a 10/10.
10.52 Going to a full data state.
12.20 People, technology and balancing the latest and greatest with your business outcomes.
15.00 Searching out collaborations as a CTO.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Derek Wise, the CTO at Grapeshot. On the show they discuss how, as a leader, you can build a constructive environment for your staff. Andy asks Derek about his military background and how it has helped his management career. Derek also explains to Andy why it’s important to let your staff know it’s ok to fail.
Derek is a technologist at heart with an added passion for people and process management. He enjoys combining the chaos of software development. Derek is a massive proponent of Agile methodologies coupled with solid project planning. He’s always on the lookout for new technologies and solutions to help bridge the gulf of uncertainty in software development, product development, and server operations.
Show Notes
1.07 Did you always aim to be a CTO.
2.15 The influence of the military in your management role.
5.19 Starting your plan at your end goal and working backwards so all your team are aiming for the same target.
7.16 Working for Omron.
11.42 Letting your team know it’s ok to fail as long as you're pushing yourself.
16.23 Building a comfortable environment for your staff.
20.22 Talking about the difference between managers and leaders.
25.22 Understanding what people need to be successful.
29.13 Moving away from technical work as a leader.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Liam Williamson, the Manager of IT systems at Lithium Technologies. Liam chats to Andy about the challenges and rewards of working in IT support. They discuss Liam’s transition into management. Talk also turn to how technology is constantly changing the working environment.
Liam has over 10 years experience in IT support within the commercial and private industries including 1 year of deputy team leadership, backed by a 2nd class computing degree. In all of Liam’s roles, he has built rapport with everyone he works with, from junior members of staff through middle management and traders, to CEO’s, MD’s, Partners and Equity Partners.
Show Notes:
1.10 Working on support desks.
3.29 Does working in support make you figure out more efficient ways of thinking.
4.57 Did your support mindset benefit you when you moved into management?
5.53 Figuring out how to be a manager.
9.14 Your approach and attitude to management.
11.31 Liam’s background and career development.
14.16 When you think about what you’re working on what technologies have impacted your space the most?
19.52 The technology space evolving and keeping up to date with the latest tech.
22.45 Technological evolution requires a cultural change.
24.04 What are your hopes and aspirations for your career?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Sean Morris, head of consultancy at New Signature UK. On the show Sean chats to Andy about the vast changes that have happened in the tech sphere in recent years. They also discuss why tech professionals needed a broader skill set now than they did a few decades ago. As well as this they touch on what skills are most in demand at the moment in the tech industry.
Sean has over eighteen years of experience in IT. He specialises in engaging business customers and helps deconstruct their complex business requirements to allow the design of simplistic IT solutions and services.
Show Notes:
1.03 How has the tech industry changed since you started your career.
6.11 The need for a centralised IT system.
11.01 As a consultancy do you feel the pressure when clients want immediate results.
15.14 Why tech professionals need a broad skill set and adopt a more agile way of working now.
19.11 What skills have you seen that are in demand at the moment and do these skills change?
24.19 Continually learning and skilling up in technology and what are you excited to see happen in the next year.
28.08 What is it that continually motivates and enthuses you about technology.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andy Brierley, the Vice President of IBM. On the show they discuss how IBM has developed from a hardware manufacturer to a services provider. They also discuss business transformation more generally. Talk also turns to Andy’s background and motivations.
Andy is the Vice President Of Technology Services at IBM. He has a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. He is skilled in Business Process, Enterprise Software, ITIL, IT Service Management, and IT Strategy.
Show Note
1.13 How do you stay relevant as a company and a business?
6.43 How closely do you have to work with the technical people inside IBM.
12.57 Outsourcing IT platforms.
14.37 How much project management is required in your role and how is your team comprised?
17.45 Andy’s background and career development.
24.44 How big a role does corporate culture play in keeping you motivated.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Deepak Rangayyan, Senior project manager of transformation at Kuoni Group. They discuss how best to manage your employee’s, how technology’s rapid growth is affecting the skills tech specialists need and they chat about team dynamics.
Show Notes:
1.10 Your thoughts and experiences as a project manager.
2.45 Is there a particular methodology you go through when you’re managing employees.
5.32 The fulfilling aspects of a role in management.
6.59 The projects that Deepak is currently working on and how the impact of technology on the workplace is affecting people’s skills.
12.51 Team dynamics and growth.
17.40 The continuing evolution of technical people.
24.02 What motivates you? Outcomes or technology?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Tom Whicher, a founder of DrDoctor. Tom tells Andy about how he started working in the health tech sector. They discuss why implementing a technological change in a business requires a cultural shift from your staff. Andy also asks Tom about the challenges he’s had to overcome when founding a business.
DrDoctor Mission statement Our mission is simple. Put patients first, and use technology to create transformational change in healthcare. We believe in gentle disruption - working with existing processes and teams to create change from the inside out. So the right patient is seen at the right place and the right time. Used by over 5 million patients, across 16 NHS Hospital sites, the DrDoctor platform revolutionises patient experience by improving communication and agency, while delivering multi-million pound efficiency and efficacy savings.
Show Notes
1.05 Getting started with your own startup.
2.30 Along your journey so far how many challenges have you had to overcome.
4.53 Embedding a cultural change within your company before introducing a new technology to your business.
7.21 Does it surprise you how long it takes larger companies to adopt new technologies?
9.13 Navigating technology and how to navigate the future?
11.25 Are there elements of external communication and collaboration when you are innovating?
12.56 Have you seen a rise in competition in the health tech space?
14.40 Is there a focused effort on financing the health tech sector?
16.45 Why it’s worth disrupting the health sector with tech.
18.41 Changing attitudes through disruption.
21.09 What’s you plan moving forward with your business?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to John Masse, the Director of Front End Development at Priceline.com. On the show they chat about the skills you need to learn for a career in the tech industry. They also discuss how to identify talents that's a cultural fit for your company. John also tells Andy about how he keeps ahead of the latest tech trends.
John believes in hard work and achieving goals as a team. He believes leadership is driven by being an example and getting your hands dirty. He has worked with developers in developing their craft and as an author of code. He also provides coaching to his team in their personal development. John has worked on projects that require a complete overhauls of existing corporate level applications. John has experience helping make large strategic decisions for my team and encourage those around me to continue to grow and challenge themselves.
Show Notes:
1.09 When did you first get involved in tech.
3.01 Turning your weakness into a strength.
4.09 The satisfaction you feel when achieving your goals.
5.39 What influences did you seek out when you were learning in your career?
8.07 What traits do you look for when seeking out new talent to add to your team.
11.00 How do you identify who has a cultural fit for a company when looking at hiring new talent.
13.57 Do you think your values and approaches to business have changed since starting your career.
18.32 How do you manage the rapid rate of change in technology?
26.41 What’s keeping you excited going forward in your career?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ilya Pesahovsky, the Director of Software Engineering, AdTech at dailymotion. On the show Ilya chats to Andy about making the move into a management position. They also chat about the traits you need to possess to be a successful manager and they discuss the advantages of giving your staff autonomy at work and how best to retain staff.
Iiya Pesahovsky is an experienced director of engineering with a demonstrated history of working in the AdTech and Cyber Security industries. He is a result oriented manager with leadership background. He specialises in building technology teams locally and internationally from the ground up. He’s a backend engineer and system architect at heart with over 10 years hands on experience.
Show Notes:
1.09 From a confidence standpoint how did you manage the move into management.
3.21 Did you surprise yourself when you were thrown into the team lead position.
5.00 Is it a good thing to being thrown into the deep end of management?
6.37 What traits do you need to be a successful manager?
9.43 Being transparent and clear about what you’re working towards.
14.50 Giving people a sense of autonomy as a manager.
17.37 Talking about staff retention.
21.44 What does success look like for you?
23.01 Does seeing the success of others motivate you?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Chad Pytel, the CEO & Co-Founder at Thought.bot. Chad tells Andy about founding Thought.bot. They also discuss the how technology is disrupting the education sector. Talks finally turns towards creating a niche of loyal customer.
Chad is the founder and CEO of @thoughtbot, a web and mobile design and development firm with studios located in Boston, NYC, SF, London, Austin, Raleigh, and Washington D.C. In addition to helping clients realize their dream ideas and improve successful products, thoughtbot are the creators of paperclip, shoulda, factory_girl and Airbrake among other projects. Chad is also the host of the Giant Robots Smashing into Other Giant Robots Podcast. He has co-authored Rails AntiPatterns (Addison Wesley), Pro Active Record: Databases with Ruby and Rails (APress), and has presented at various conferences around the world.
Show Notes
1.08 The sharing economy in the technical community.
4.38 Having a strong company vision is the key to success in business.
9.38 Why you need to have a genuine passion for what you’re working on.
11.46 The next generation viewing technology as a viable career path and an in-demand skill.
16.34 Technology as a force for disrupting education.
21.55 From a business perspective how valuable have your podcast been.
23.57 Proof on concept through content.
25.22 How to build a niche of loyal customers.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Oliver Christie, An artificial intelligence consultant, futurist and speaker. On the show Oliver chats to Andy about the use of artificial intelligence in the finance sector. Discussion turn to how A.I can be used to promote diversity in the hiring process. They also chat about the future direction of artificial intelligence.
Oliver looks at how AI can impact the key aspects of business such as; acquiring and retaining customers, customizing products and services, and achieving profitability. Oliver then work with companies to develop the right solution which, at times, can fundamentally reshape how the business operates. Olivers experiences includes working in the Financial, Media and Transportation sectors, and using technologies such as IBM Watson, Microsoft Azure, Google Tensorflow, H2O.ai and Intel.
Show Notes:
1.07 Oliver's Background and career development.
1.58 Big Data, A.I & high frequency trading.
3.34 What does automation mean for finance in general.
5.58 Technology as the career of choice for this generation and future generations.
7.18 The desire for more substance in your technology role and how this has lead to technologies open source sharing community.
9.14 A.I as a tool to increase diversity in business.
14.56 How can we use A.I to identify candidates that are a cultural fit for your company?
17.37 What other projects Oliver is working on at the moment.
20.19 Is it difficult to place a time scale on the projects you're working on?
21.41 What developments do you see happening in Big Data and A.I in the near future?
In this episode Andy Davis talks Robert Bluman, an editor and host of the podcast Software Engineering Radio and also a lead DevOps Engineer. On the show he chats to Andy about moving from a software engineering role to a DevOps engineer. He also discusses his role at Software Engineering Radio.
Robert Blumen is a DevOps engineer at Salesforce with more than 25 years’ experience in software development, programming, architecture, and media production. His interests include software architecture, scalability, high availability, persistence, big data, and devops. Robert is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley.
Show Notes:
1.09 The history of Software Engineering Radio.
2.27 The sharing community that has been built around the technical community.
5.25 The importance of having a strong team dynamic as well as a team with great technical skills.
7.11 What were the reasons behind you moving to a DevOps position.
8.21 DevOps as a cultural shift not a technical discipline.
9.24 Will DevOps evolve again?
10.58 Do you still work on projects around work?
12.02 Progressing into the managerial role?
12.37 Company’s creating paths for employees who don’t want to progress into management.
14.22 How have your responsibilities with software engineering radio changed since you started.
17.04 What’s the typical feedback you like to receive for software engineering radio.
19.23 Audience interaction with your podcast.
21.34 Generating revenue from podcasts.
23.14 Podcasts and there competitive marketplace.
24.55 Committing to producing content.
26.58 How long did it take Software engineering radio to grow?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Dan Maunder, a CTO at Picsolve international. On the show they discuss the position and responsibilities of a CTO. They also talk about navigating your first leadership position and the differences between management and leadership. Andy asks Dan about his motivations. Conversation also turns too people management and Dan’s role at Picsolve.
Dan is An accomplished Senior Technologist and Software Engineering Leader with extensive programme and platform transformation experience and outstanding skills in Product Development, Engineering and Quality Assurance. He possess over a decade of global experience in offshoring, outsourcing and blended cross-geographical software development models. His experiences have led him to value high ethical standards, collaboration, new ideas and dedication to “best practices” in all areas of expertise. He has an exemplary industry background that I feel allows me to operate in cross-functional positions utilising my comprehensive knowledge.
Show Notes:
1.06 The management responsibilities of a CTO.
3.20 Managing what is and isn’t worth your time from a leadership perspective.
6.17 Looking externally for advice and feedback when you’re in a leadership position.
8.12 Where to look if you need advice in a leadership position.
9.28 Do you still find the time to get involved in technical activities.
10.34 Are you motivated by the outcomes of your projects or by the technology you’re working with.
12.27 Placing people at the centre of your leadership strategy.
15.35 Dan’s role at Picsolve.
In this episode Andy Davis talks Richard Ashworth, the head of engineering at Goodlord. On the show they discuss the differences between working in a startup and corporate environment. They go on to chat about the role culture plays in a business and how to effectively communicate between teams.
Richard Ashworth is an experienced software engineer and technical lead. Passionate about functional programming, agile methods and domain-driven design. Richard writes regularly on his blog at richashworth.com
Show Notes
1.06 The necessity to be good at a broad range of technologies and skills in tech now.
1.56 How did your career progress in technology?
3.25 Picking up softer skills throughout your career.
5.23 Creating options for your staff to keep them engaged at work.
6.30 Why are people moving from finance to startups.
8.55 Having more autonomy in the startup market.
10.22 Culture shock when moving company.
11.54 How did you adapt to a new working environment?
12.51 Does the way you interact with team change when going from a big company to a startup.
14.37 Do you think there’s things a corporate organisation can learn from a startup.
16.13 How do you manage scale when you’re working in a startup?
18.29 Where do you acquire your business knowledge?
20.01 How do you approach on-boarding new staff?
22.41 The time constraints on management.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to David Burns, the chief technology officer at Yell. They discuss the advantages of having a Co-founder when starting a business venture, the trials and tribulations of beginning a startup and how to stay focused in the face of success.
Show Notes
1.24 David's background and career progression.
6.10 How did your start-up materialise?
7.25 The importance of external feedback.
9.11 Did you have a Co-founder for your venture?
13.40 How a Co-founder changes the dynamics of a business.
14.35 Have you always been motivated by Tech or has the outcomes of projects been a motivator for you?
16.45 How hands on are you now working on the data bases?
18.12 What are the focuses for you that you have to be most concious of at this point in your business.
19.24 Balancing gaining new business and keeping up to date with technology.
20.50 Was there ever a point you thought you'd found a company or was it something that just happened?
22.10 The need to be motivated by sucess and ouctomes when starting your own business.
25.16 How do you manage your excitement and enhusiasm when scoring sucesses with your business.
27.00 Company culture how do you create one? How does it evlove?
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Luke Wilson head of M.I at Mitie. On the show they discuss the newest trends emerging in the Data sector, the role of visualisation tools in Data and recruitment and skill issues in Data. Luke is an experienced insight leader, who has spent most of his career in analytics and data roles. He brings a wealth of expertise around how to use data to maximise business opportunities and profitability and is equally comfortable working directly with data or managing teams of analysts.
Show notes
1.07 Talking the latest trends in Data and differing backgrounds of professionals working in the sector.
3.29 How new analysts are capitalising on the new visualisation tools and applying them to data roles.
5.01 How diversity in the Data sector is helping to visualise data.
5.29 Discussing the potential shortfall in analytics resources by 2025.
6.29 Changing skill sets required in technical disciplines.
8.11 The importance of learning and development.
10.44 Discussion of skill sets and aptitude for learning required for new employees and fresh starters in Data.
12.51 Outcomes of visualisation in Data.
13.32 Demonstrating the value of data.
16.20 Demonstrating the value of data: Case study.
19.09 Using you figures to grow your data team.
20.13 Discussing the role of communication and soft skills in data.
22.26 Communication and Belbin’s colour personality chart.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Matt Ryer. He’s currently an author, programmer and gopher and currently the Principle Engineer at Veritone. On the show Matt chats to Andy about the GoLang programming language, why it’s different from other languages and what are its advantages. They also discuss gamifying the coding process and they also talk about open source online communities
Matt is a creative and agile hands-on leader who knows how to deliver world class products and services. He is the author of Go Programming Blueprints.
Show Notes:
1.01 What made you want to learn GoLang.
3.09 Was there a particular project you were working on that made you start using GoLang?
9.33 GoLang’s advantages.
12.05 Do you think there’s been a lot of thought put into GoLang by Google and what do you think their aim behind the language was?
14.50 Have you met any of the people who wrote GoLang?
17.39 Meeting and collaborating with people in online communities.
19.39 Gamification of the coding process.
22.30 Measuring performance for code writers.
25.09 Different ways to micromanage teams.
27.32 Talking about line of sight coding.
33.33 GoLang generating momentum in the tech market.
38.19 What direction do you see Golang heading in?
41.47 What keeps you motivated and what are you striving for?
45.34 Talking about open source online communities.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Fame Razak, the Chief Technology Officer at AnalogFolk. Fame is an experienced Chief Technology Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. On the show Fame discusses whether the tech industry needs to change its approach to hiring. They also discuss if school curriculums are up to standard to teach technology to the next generation of tech professionals. They also chat about ways we can tackle the lack of diversity in the tech industry.
Show Notes:
1.16 Our are hiring practices on point and are universities lagging behind the tech industry.
6.18 There’s more expected of technical people and aligning what you’re doing with the business outcomes of your company.
9.23 Talking out the outdated I.T qualifications taught in school.
12.08 The tech industry has moved so fast that publicly funded bodies can’t keep up.
15.02 How do we tackle the lack of diversity in the tech industry.
18.31 Corporate responsibility.
20.10 Guidance and giving people clarity on how to get where they want in life.
21.57 What approaches have you kept consistent throughout your career that has helped you succeed.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andrea Cavalieri, the CTO at Newsflare. In the show Andrea discusses combining his tech background with content creation and his role in the media. They also chat about his leadership style as a CTO and they look at some of the lessons Andrea learned when running his startup.
Andrea specialise in content creation, capturing viral content and news events that are either; too breaking, too remote or too local for traditional news networks to cover.
Show Notes:
1.22 Andrea’s background in technology and media.
2.21 Making and distributing content.
4.18 From a technical perspective what are the desirable skills you’d need to be productive in that industry.
6.41 How do you ensure you’re always using the most appropriate technology and how do you recruit for them.
9.19 Finding people who have a fundamental skillset that can be applied to broader technical challenges.
11.04 Has content creation always been something that’s interested you and how much is it a motivator for you in your professional life?
13.10 Striking a balance between disruption and working as a business.
14.31 Do you wish there was more substance to content now.
15.50 Battling fake news as a startup.
17.10 We need a validation system to monitor news.
17.53 As a CTO are you as hands on as you used to be?
19.04 Morale and culture an important part of being a CTO.
19.51 Is it important for you to be hands on with your tech.
21.28 Are you used to the startup dynamic.
22.24 Taking ownership of a lot more of your workload when working in a start up.
23.39 Watching your team structure evolve as your team grows.
24.48 Do you take a sense of pride from the projects you’ve achieved and do you think it’s important to being transparent to your team about your failings.
26.03 Transparency in business as a tool to drive your team’s innovations.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Adrian Barrett CEO and founder at Exonar. They discuss the challenging world of startup’s, the importance of technological innovation in moving tech industries forward. They also chat about the vital role of customer feedback. They also touch on choosing the right approaches in business and picking the best technologies.
Adrian is a specialist in creating and growing innovative businesses his previous roles have been the international VP of Lumeta and VP of eloyalty.
Show Notes
1.45 The challenges of Entrepreneurship and startups.
4.45 The importance of a team dynamic and work culture when forming a start-up team and business.
6.45 The recruiting strategy at Exonar.
8.15 Discussing Investment in new employee’s.
12.00 Talking about innovation and technology within tech industries.
15.00 Areas where we can see opportunities for innovation outside of technology.
17.10 The importance of customer feedback.
20.10 The issues around overthinking problems.
21.30 Picking the right technologies and approaches in business.
23.20 What thought process were undertaken when starting your business.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Gerrit Niemeijer, CTO at Visible World Inc, about the changing face of office life, approaches to managing a tech team and the importance of maintain focus in your enterprise.
Gerrit is a well-rounded technical executive who is specialised in innovative product development for the Media Industry. He has an in-depth understanding of Digital Video technology, Television Advertising technology, Cloud-based technology, and Big Data frameworks. He has built several development organisations and products from scratch. Deployed products with Cable Operators (MVPDs/MSOs), Broadcast television operators, Telco's, and Satellite Operators. Managed co-located teams as well as (internationally) distributed teams.
Show Notes:
1.09 With modern advances in technology why do we need physical hubs to work from?
2.46 Is the 9 to 5 environment outdated?
7.12 What are your approaches as a manager?
9.43 The importance of keeping your goals in focus in a team.
12.46 Managing technical people & the change in technology over time.
18.24 Can we get lost in new technologies.
20.46 What behaviours have you always maintained that has kept you steady throughout your career?
22.24 Discussion on servant leadership.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Nikunj Patel, an applications delivery manager. This podcast focuses on the changing role of technology over Nikunj’s career. It also tackles the effect A.I and machine learning could have on our lives and how to apply technology to your business goals. It also touches on Nikunj’s career and what motivates him to keep working in technology.
Nikunj is a software delivery manager with a passion for development, testing and quality assurance. He has 20 years’ experience delivering quality software through various techniques and methodologies. His professional aim has always been to produce high quality software efficiently with a high level of assurance, using various test techniques, making use of automation to its fullest.
Show Notes:
1.16 What technologies do we need to start looking ahead at and considering investing in?
4.45 Getting better at delivering for customer demands.
7.16 Usually the most technically advanced demographics in our society are the most oblivious to online safety and how technology works.
9.19 How are you dealing with fitting technology to your business goals.
11.01 How has your role in technology changed over your career.
13.16 Is there a lot more expected from technical people in the 21st century.
15.37 How much creativity is involved in your projects?
18.22 How do you think A.I and machine learning is going to affect our lives.
20.04 Are we over valuing data.
22.02 What gives you a feeling of satisfaction when working on projects.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Bridget Kromhout & Tim Gross. On the show they discuss DevOps and its links with your company's culture, the best practices for building a well rounded DevOps team and some of the misconceptions surrounding the DevOps title.
Bridget Kromhout is a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft. Her CS degree emphasis was in theory, but she now deals with the concrete (if 'cloud' can be considered tangible). After 15 years as an operations engineer, she traded being on call for being on a plane. A frequent speaker and program committee member for tech conferences, she leads the devopsdays organization globally and the devops community at home in Minneapolis. She podcasts with Arrested DevOps and blogs at bridgetkromhout.com.
Tim Gross: is a technologist, operations engineer and product developer. He is currently a principal DevOps engineer at Density. His previous career in high-assurance architecture has driven him to develop an operations mindset for robust and observable technology. He has a proven nose for hunting down and eliminating technical debt and process inefficiencies in organisations of all shapes and sizes.
Show Notes;
1.18 DevOps as the prime example of technical people needing a broader skills set to succeed in the 21st century.
4.08 Have you seen any organisational struggles erupt due to technological advances.
7.23 DevOps and its links with company culture.
8.32 Is there an element of misconception about the role of DevOps.
10.32 Who pushes the cultural change in a business when adopting a DevOps approach?
13.39 DevOps links with open source sharing tech communities.
19.53 Proactively looking externally for information to stop yourself working within a bubble.
21.07 Building and managing a DevOps teams.
24.16 Tackling industry stereotypes.
26.32 The influx of new personalities in technology.
31.11 Talking about culture, DevOps and Arrested DevOps.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Adrian Wigley, I.T Service Manager at ShawBrook Bank, about Adrian’s route into the I.T profession. They also discuss pros and cons of a university education and the increased responsibility faced by technical people in the 21st century.
Show Notes:
1.10 Having multiple careers over the course of your life.
3.15 Did you feel pressured into obtaining a degree.
7.03 The push back when trying to enter the working world without a degree.
13.11 The imagined differences between candidates with differing levels of education.
16.13 Talking about the increased responsibilities of technical people in the 21st century.
19.39 Product managers and combining business skills and technical skills.
22.23 Adrian’s experience seeing the I.T profession from a technical and business viewpoint.
25.03 Where do you see your career heading in the future?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Martin Moran, Managing Director at InsideSales.com. They discuss how to keep your company’s vision in focus and ensuring there’s a creative curiosity throughout your team. They also touch on the ever changing technology landscape.
Show Notes:
1.07 How did you go about founding your first company and the revolution in cloud computing?
5.53 The rate of change in technology and business.
10.01 Ensuring your business has a competitive curiosity and positive culture.
12.35 Allowing employees to have a creative space to work on projects.
14.10 What is necessary to survive in the current job market “Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable”
15.24 The importance of a clear vision when running a business.
19.20 Articulating your vision in a way that people can understand and how to manage that when times are tough.
22.16 Four disciplines of execution.
23.11 What is it that keeps you motivated?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Raj Samani, a Fellow and Chief Data Scientist at McAfee. On the show they chat about how society values personal data and understanding the importance of personal security. They also discuss the importance of protecting ourselves online and how we are moving into a purely tech based future.
Raj is an active member of Infosec community. He assisted in the RSA Wireless Survey for London in 2006. He also participated on the consultation committee for RIPA Part III Holds Ba(Hons) and an MSc in Infosecurity.
Show notes:
1.22 What is it that has compelled you to get involved with the extra curricula activities around the tech industries.
3.26 Impacting change in the industry you operate in.
7.29 Education and online security.
10.43 Case study: Wannacry attack.
12.56 Understanding the reach of cyber and how it affects everyone.
15.02 Is education on cyber-security lacking.
16.06 Data as an asset and its value.
19.34 Is Data as valuable as we perceive it?
22.10 Balancing the excitement and flaws of working in Data.
23.30 The importance of protecting ourselves online and talking on the social network.
25.24 The wide-reaching effects of the technology industry is having on our day to day lives.
26.50 The risk and rewards of moving into a tech based world.
29.26 A green cross code for Cyber? Looking at online safety.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Deepak Rangayyan, Senior project manager of transformation at Kuoni Group. They discuss how best to manage your employee’s and how technology’s rapid growth is affecting the skills tech specialists need. They also chat about team dynamics.
Deepak is an experienced Project and Key Account Manager. His main role involves Managing a portfolio of medium to enterprise projects. His specialities include; Business Development, Project Evaluation, Market Intelligence, Diversification Strategy, Procurement and Operations Management and Project Management.
Show Notes:
1.10 Your thoughts and experiences as a project manager.
2.45 Is there a particular methodology you go through when you’re managing employees.
5.32 The fulfilling aspects of a role in management.
6.59 The projects that Deepak is currently working on and how the impact of technology on the workplace is affecting people’s skills.
12.51 Team dynamics and growth.
17.40 The continuing evolution of technical people.
24.02 What motivates you? Outcomes or technology?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Szymon Rozga, the Head of Emerging Technologies at BlueMetal NYC. Szymon chats to Andy about his current project working with chatbots they also look at building a forward-thinking engineering team based around a positive work culture. They also discuss the move to remote working in the 21st century and the pros and cons this can have on a business.
Szymon is a software engineer lead with years of experience with architecture and development of desktop, mobile and web applications. He is currently focused on building out technology delivery teams and growing delivery capacity and skill sets in Conversational UX chatbots and VR/MR technologies. He uses emerging technologies to create cutting edge experiences. Szymon is passionate about empowering engineering teams to constantly learn and push themselves and the technologies they are working with.
Show Notes:
1.16 Do we still need to be working 9 to 5 in 2017.
4.26 Working remotely comes down to achievements as opposed to time in the office.
7.39 Culture as a driving force for working practices.
9.45 Work must be tailored to your lifestyle not the other way around.
11.11 Building a successful and diverse engineering team.
15.27 It there more expected from technical people now and how has that made things more difficult from a recruitment standpoint.
18.54 What were the most surprising and challenging things you found going into a management role.
21.43 How long have you been working on your current project and what other emerging tech are you looking forward to.
27.41 Looking at emerging technologies and deciding whether they’re actually in demand.
31.47 Outside of your field what are you personally excited about seeing come to fruition in the near future.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ian West, Director of Digital Information at Project One. Ian talks Andy through his 15 steps any business should take to make their business GDPR defensible.
Ian West is a business leader with proven skills in transforming, developing and realising maximum revenue and profit potential of business propositions in the Private & Public sectors. He has expertise in the complete market and business development processes from strategic planning, target marketing and solution positioning, whilst being focused on successful execution, exemplary deployment and exceptional long term service.
Show Notes
2.32 How are we preparing for GDPR?
4.43 Why are people drawing parallels between GDPR and the year 2000.
7.17 Moving to Project One.
9.56 Understanding what your personal responsibilities are at a C-level when looking at GDPR.
11.19 Four key questions you need to answer to get to a defensible GDPR position.
19.26 If you don’t have a legitimate legal reason to be holding data, delete it.
20.57 How do you find a solution to your GDPR problems.
28.43 The six things that are the real thrust of a GDPR project.
38.13 Being in a GDPR defensible position and it’s difference to GDPR compliance.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Jeffrey Meyerson, host of Software Engineering Daily. On the show Jeff chats to Andy about the reasons behind starting Software Engineering Daily and the direction the show is heading. Jeff also shares some of his career advice for those starting a career in software engineering.
Jeffrey Meyerson: After working for Software Engineering Radio for a few years and working at Amazon Jeff decided to form Software Engineering Radio as a full time career. The scope of software engineering is growing. If you use WordPress, Ableton or PhotoShop, you are a software engineer. If you use Facebook, you are a software engineer–you are helping build software. On a twenty year time horizon, there is no “opting out” of knowing how software works. But this is OK because learning about software is possible (and fun) no matter
Show Notes:
1.07 How did you begin Software Engineering Daily.
2.14 How do you get the resources together to make a great show?
4.02 How did your career progress and how did you approach your career progression.
7.41 Using Software Engineering Daily to educate budding software engineers on the opportunities available to them.
11.18 Looking for a career that you actually enjoy.
13.00 What do the next few years look like for Software Engineering Daily.
16.45 What have some of the hurdles been when founding Software Daily.
19.37 What are some of the key lessons you feel you’ve learned on Software Engineering Daily.
22.56 Looking at podcast techniques using the Joe Rogan show as an examples.
24.39 Using podcasts to collaborate and connect with people and their links with the the open source tech community.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andrew Graham, the C.O.O at Blippar. They talk about dismantling communication barriers in large companies, the role of a C.O.O and managing your own career progression.
Andrew Graham is an experienced chief operations officer with a demonstrated history of working in the Financial Services, Technology, Digital marketing and advertising industry. Andrew is a Strong business development professional skilled in Corporate Finance, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Planning, and Venture Capital.
Show notes:
1.07 Cultural differences between the US, UK, other countries and the importance of effective communication.
4.39 When in your career did you get to the point where you had to liaise with various different departments and people.
7.26 Does it help to have an open dialogue before meetings to ensure both parties understand how each other is communicating.
9.09 Discussing the role of C.O.O.
12.17 The importance of having clarity of vision when working at a high level in a large company.
14.55 C.O.O’s and their role in start-ups.
16.20 Going to a position to add value to a company and learn at the same time.
18.44 Managing your career progression and talking moving companies.
21.28 Discussing people's approaches to working life when hiring staff.
23.58 Looking at the economic impact of having a broader set of industries contributing to GDP.
25.56 Was focusing on a product a motivator for you latter in your career after moving away from banking?
28.30 Would you encourage people early on in their careers to see out start-ups and small businesses?
32.09 When you look at the industry what technologies are exciting for you?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Gordon Davey, head of cloud architecture at Willis Towers Watson. They discuss tackling the common misconceptions around Cloud, innovation and how it’s driving the tech industry forward and how cloud technologies are increasing efficiency in business.
Gordon believes the term Cloud Computing is now over-used and still misunderstood but he enjoys helping organisations understand how to use it effectively. He tries to simplify and raise awareness of what cloud computing can do for enterprises, and help them adopt the right Cloud solutions for their business.
Show notes:
1.14 Common misconceptions about cloud computing.
3.32 Has cloud been around long enough that it has always been the focus of your career?
5.00 Who were the early adopters of cloud technologies?
6.02 The effectiveness and efficiency brought about by cloud.
8.30 Are you surprised by the amount of businesses that haven’t adopted cloud?
10.08 Cloud allowing you to collaborate with other technologies easily.
12.22 For you personally was technology always an interest to you and how did you become a Cloud architecture.
14.14 What innovations are coming in the near future for cloud?
16.06 Do you think the continued collaboration with other technologies is pushing innovation along.
17.27 Do you think innovation can be in some cases as a disruption?
19.28 What advice are you giving now to people who are wanting to start a career in cloud?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to David Morgantini, VP of engineering at TES Global. On the show today, he chats to Andy about the advantages remote working and of giving autonomy to your staff, trusting your staff to work flexibly and creating opportunities for your staff to excel.
David Morgantini is a technical team lead with a decade of industry experience in hands-on software delivery. As a software craftsman and leader, he focusses on the pragmatic delivery of working software by adapting agile methodologies to the skills and needs of the team.
Show Notes:
1.07 Looking for alternative paths for technical people who don’t want to go into management and going in to leadership from tech.
4.08 Do you think, from your experiences, people in tech are motivated by leadership roles.
8.32 Creating opportunities for people from a high-level position.
12.12 How KPI driven are you?
17.03 As a leader it’s important that the overall vision of a project or company should never change.
19.12 Impressing your company or teams vision initially to retain and gain talent.
22.33 Technology recruits being motivated by lots of different facets.
25.07 Trust in business and being flexible with your staff.
29.06 Building a work culture based on mutual accountability between colleges.
32.57 Is it difficult or necessary to correlate autonomy with ROI’s.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Andrew Tenzer, the head of group insight at Trinity Mirror. They discuss how best to make sense of data, the various compelling projects Andrew has worked on and the importance of company culture.
Show Notes:
1.06 Talking about the data and insights profession.
3.16 The challenge of structuring data to make any sense out of it.
5.03 Getting lost in data.
6.38 Background and career progression.
9.50 Building your career foundations then moving to a more compelling role.
11.13 What research were you carrying out at channel 4.
13.10 The sense of accomplishment that comes along with working a job you enjoy.
14.28 Transparency & Leadership.
16.36 Company Culture.
17.40 The importance of the recruitment process.
19.05 Team dynamics and great communication as a precursor to success in business.
22.36 What are your day to day responsibilities?
28.13 The creative freedom available to you when working in insights.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Vince Russell, lead developer at Hawes & Curtis. Their talk focuses on getting into a constructive workflow as a developer, transitioning between a technical and management position and the changing hiring practices of tech companies. They also discuss the individual merits of university degrees as opposed to self-taught skills.
Show Notes:
1.10 Is it impossible to get the product where it needs to be in development?
2.46 How much external consulting affects your work process when you’re working on a project?
4.28 Do you find being able to liaise between departments an important part of your leadership role?
6.09 How important is it for developers to get into a work flow?
11.20 Trying to reach a your personal “flow state” and how do you get into it?
13.21 Did you enjoy your transition into your management position?
14.31 Developing your management skill set.
16.03 Leadership in a creative environment.
18.51 Did you gravitate towards projects/ organisation you were personally interested by and do you feel that’s a strong factor in personal motivation?
20.12 Have you been more interested in the technology or outcomes?
21.43 The necessity of being outcome driven to be appealing to employers.
23.27 Self-starters, entrepreneurship and tech.
26.16 Why people need to learn how to code in the 21st century.
29.32 Organisations changing views on university educated candidates.
31.01 Considering up-skilling and what to learn next.
32.30 Finding the time to take on personal projects and staying motivated.
37.10 What are you most excited about in the tech world right now.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Mark Dodd, Head of Business at Consolidata and Co-Founder at Consolidata Labs. On the show Mark discusses the qualities that differentiate a good data professional from a great one. They also chat about why you need to be asking the right questions of your data sets to get the most value out of them and why business people are still hesitant to get involved in the technology aspects of their company’s.
Mark Dodd is a data professional with diverse experience in building data solutions to client problems, particularly in the data management and analytics space. He has worked in IT for over 30 years in a large number of industries. He has always found delivering data solutions to be the most interesting part of his job. Statistical process control, data visualisation and finding unexpected insights from data are also things that engage Mark .
Show Notes:
1.08 Differentiating a good data person and an outstanding one.
2.03 Having an understanding of the practical.
3.19 Jumping from industry to industry in a data career.
4.52 Do you think your business acumen flourished because of your love of data.
6.40 Are clients coming to you as a data professional to solve specific problems or do they want you to uncover things they don’t know.
8.19 From a client facing perspective, do the differing stages a company can be in, in regards to their data transformation, provide challenge and enjoyment for you.
9.52 Educating clients on data governance.
10.41 Understanding how to see an ROI in your data team.
13.50 The catch-22 surrounding data.
15.10 Data professionals expected to have a good technical understanding of what you’re doing as well as the business outcome they’re working towards.
17.54 Why business people don’t engage in technology. 19.15 Data visulisation.
20.34 Mark’s career progression.
22.00 When working on new challenges what were the things that spurred you on to succeed.
22.52 Working in data requires an element of creativity.
23.57 Are unexpected insights gleaned from data still a regular occurrence and are they exciting.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Massimo De Marco, V.P of Engineering and Product at Depop. They discuss the transition into management, exciting technology on the horizon and the need to have both technical and people skills.
Massimo De Marco has worked at several company’s including the IG Group, Jagex and Time Out. In his previous roles he’s been hired to define and structure all development processes, from business requirements to delivery, and help the company scale up. Massimo has always seen it as his mission to build a positive work culture and processes around his team. He feels this is the key to ensuring businesses are capable of scaling up to the next level.
Show Notes:
1.09 How did you first get involved in technology.
3.08 Skilling up, learning in tech & what do you learn?
4.56 What was the level of technology much different when you moved to the UK.
6.11 Getting involved in mobile.
7.42 Pursuing a career in mobile technology.
8.31 Talking about Massimo’s role and his transition into management.
10.36 The rewarding elements of running a team.
11.46 Technology employee’s as the product and the face of the industry.
14.34 Is it common that you employ people that aren’t always a perfect fit for the company?
15.39 Having good people skills, business skills and technology skills.
17.03 Which three things have you found the most challenging and which have you enjoyed the most.
17.36 What is it now within technology or your career that you’re striving for next.
19.00 Is it difficult to decide what new technologies to invest your time in.
20.17 Are you still as excited about what you’re doing now compared to when you started your career?
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Bhaskar Dasgupta, the MD and Chief Operating Officer at UK export finance. On the show they discuss the importance of keeping your eye on the external factors that can affect your business, not losing sight of the practical applications of technology when running a business and the importance of continual learning and strategy development.
Bhaskar Dasgupta: As the Chief Operating Officer of UK Export Finance, Bhaskar is responsible for the digital strategy, transaction management and operations for his department. Bhaskar’s mission is to ensure that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, he does this whilst ensuring no operating costs are paid by the taxpayer.
Show notes:
1.10 The difference between thinking internally and externally in business.
3.00 What practices do you carry out to ensure you have a good understanding of external forces that may affect your business.
5.30 The importance of constantly having an outward view when going into the corporate world.
9.00 Bhaskar’s background and career development.
11.00 The importance of keeping technology in a space where it is usable and relevant to a business.
13.50 B2B Sales strategies.
14.40 Interview and job hunting techniques.
16.25 Discussion on the ability of candidates to be able to deliver in a working environment.
19.00 Continual learning in the tech world.
22.20 Approaches to leadership.
24.40 Why you should constantly be reiterating your objectives and strategies.
26.20 What motivations keep you oriented.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ian Hayfield, DevOps manager at Ancoa. Ian is a DevOps evangelist and is a strong advocate of applying it’s methodology to business. His previous roles have seen him working for high profile names such as IBM. Ian’s previous roles have seen him diagnosis database issues and resolve them. He was also in charge of developing and deploying database RPMs, monitoring and host configuration.
On this show Ian talks to Andy about Automating DevOps, how best to manage a DevOps team and having a DevOps team with a broad range of skills. They also discuss Ian’s background and career development and his transition into management.
Show Notes:
1.10 The necessity for technologists to be multifaceted in their disciplines.
3.01 How do you decide what new skills you need to learn to keep developing?
5.18 How did the teamwork and learning dynamic work at IBM?
6.06 The advantages of “getting thrown in the deep end” as a learning process.
6.44 The skill of being aware of what is necessary right now in terms of your business needs.
7.45 Using Automation.
9.19 When we look at DevOps now is automation becoming a big part of it?
10.48 What was your background and how did you become a DevOps manager?
14.46 Internationally, do people look at DevOps from different perspectives.
15.59 When did you transition to a management position and what were your first experiences like in that position.
17.38 Management as a skill set unto itself.
21.43 What engages you more at work technology or the end goals of your project?
24.13 Technology as a product and the need to be business savvy.
25.45 What are you looking forward to seeing most technology-wise in the near future?
In this episode Andy Davis talk to Sina Jazayeri, Director of software engineering at inrhythm, founder of color code.Io and host of the drunk web podcast. Sina is a front end software designer and developer who focuses on performance, User Interface and User Experience. His podcast show is a series of conversations between web professionals while drinking more than necessary. Every episode features a different guest, a topic close to their heart and their favorite choice of drink.
In the show Sina shares his best time management tips to keep on top of your busy work schedule and why it’s important to build trust and honesty into your people management skills. They also discuss stepping out of your comfort zone professionally and personally and how this can help your management career.
Show Notes:
1.18 Managing your team, workload, external projects and podcasts.
4.14 How efficient you can be with your own time.
8.01 Trust and honesty in people management.
11.36 What activities are you engaging in now to keep learning and evolving as a manager.
18.00 Stepping out of your comfort zone and the difficulty of doing that because of modern technology.
22.59 The amount of variables involved in people management.
28.03 Just because we’re at work it doesn’t mean we can’t engage with them on a personal level.
32.31 Sina’s new project Color Code.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Leslie Coelho, who has recently become a technical architect at Netcel. Leslie is a reductionist at heart and enjoys turning complex problems into simple solutions. He also enjoys working with clients to deliver out standing products and achieve results.
Leslie has come on the show to chat to Andy about technology and its impact on business. They also discuss the reasons to use emails or a phone call, how to not over-complicate things and education the new generation.
Show Notes:
1.11 How did you first get into technology and what was it about computer specifically for you that got you really interested in them.
4.21 How did your career progress and where did your career start?
6.40 What big changes have you seen in technology since you started your career and what has stayed the same?
9.27 Have we become obsessed with speed in computing?
10.26 We expect so much more for our computers but we understand a lot less about how they actually work.
12.49 Is there a problem with the way tech professionals work now?
16.14 Different forms of communication in the office.
18.36 Thinking about what is the right tool for communication in the office.
19.23 Is A.I the most compelling space in tech at the moment and does it have the most chance of success out of all the other technological innovations at the moment.
24.15 The fear that A.I will automate us out of jobs.
26.21 The necessity for the education system to teach everyone some coding.
28.58 Is education going to be the next industry to be disrupted by technology?
30.36 Technology being present for innovation before the ability to mass distribute it.
32.52 What is it on a day to day basis that continually motivates you?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Eoin Woods, CTO at Endava. Eoin is a professionally qualified technical architect, with over twenty years of experience in the capital markets and technical software product domains. He has worked successfully across the delivery lifecycle from development engineer to manager and in architecture roles from application architect to lead architect to head of architecture.
On the show he chats to Andy about the importance of continued professional development as an engineer. They also touch on the AI disruption of white collar jobs, the step up to CTO and exciting new developments in the tech industry.
Show Notes:
3.10 Growing up with computers and technology.
5.35 Getting experience during university.
7.21 Code camp.
8.59 Incentivising companies to offer training. 12.34 Future disruption in white collar jobs.
14.07 The 2 things that attract Eoin to a company.
16.08 Find out where a job can take you.
18.28 The ability to keep learning as an engineer.
20.01 Getting distracted by the latest tech.
22.47 Taking the step up to CTO.
25.12 Exciting new technologies personally and for the industry. 26.27 Data automation.
28.42 AI impacts on the average working person.
31.31 Quickly re-skilling and learning new jobs.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Simon Halkyard, Talent acquisition partner at Shop Direct. Simon is currently responsible for the Analytics, Customer Management and Credit Risk Talent Acquisition functions at Shop Direct. Previously he was responsible for designing and implementing the Talent Acquisition recruitment strategy for Shop Direct's new London office, attracting, engaging and hiring world-class tech talent.
On the show Simon discusses making the transition from agency recruitment to internal recruitment. He also shares his strategies for retaining staff, developing a positive work culture and navigating on-boarding interviews.
Show Notes:
1.09 Making the transition from a recruitment agency to internal recruitment.
3.22 Building relationships with internal recruitment.
4.33 The pressure of working in internal recruitment.
5.12 Do you have to make a conscious effort to prove to the people you're hiring that you are interested in their sector.
6.15 Navigating technology and recruitment.
7.28 The difficulty of everyone having an opinion in recruitment.
8.02 How much are softer skills important now when hiring for technology roles.
9.56 Has working internally helped you develop better methods for on-boarding.
11.49 Examples of technology helping the decision-making process in business.
12.15 Not being naturally comfortable in the interviewing role.
13.08 Talking about retention when hiring internally.
13.58 What incentives are you using to boost retention.
15.14 Businesses offering incentives that are more important than money.
16.44 Changing work culture to enable more flexible working hours.
18.28 Talking about workplace culture.
19.40 Transparency, honesty and openness.
20.40 Encouraging employees to try new things and having a willingness to try and fail.
22.35 What in your professional life gives you the most sense of satisfaction.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Caroline Carruthers & Peter Jackson, the authors of the Chief Data Officer's playbook. The CDO’s playbook is a practical guide and a must read for data leaders building the foundation and value creation from data.
In the show they discuss the role of a CDO and dispel many common misconceptions surrounding the title. They also chat about the difficulty some businesses have when trying to discern the ROI of their data teams and they chat about the direction that Big Data is heading in. Conversation finishes with talk about Caroline and Peter's first book.
Show Notes:
1.54 The role of the CDO and tackling the common misconceptions around the role.
5.35 The pressure on the macro economy to invest in data.
8.06 Discussing why a disproportionate about of industry leaders are saying they’re not seeing an ROI in their data teams.
10.49 Navigating the lack of understanding some people have around the role of a data team.
12.36 Dissecting the head of monetization role.
14.30 Data transformation requiring a cultural.
16.13 Discussing the term “Data Driven”.
18.20 Relying on data 100% of the time to make business decisions.
20.21 How motivated were you to build professional relationships and buy into the sharing technology economy.
23.25 How did you both end up collaborating on a book.
25.43 Using Peter and Caroline's book as a way of formalsing an approach to Data.
28.13 When looking at the direction of Data where do you want it to move to in a business sense.
29.40 Who was the target audience of your book.
30.59 What’s been the most unexpected events to happen in the data space since you’ve started your careers.
32.09 The vast array of talent getting involved in data now.
In this episode Andy Davis Talks To Craig Ellis, the CTO at the go-ahead group. Craig has developed a varied skill set over a vast career working for institutions such as BT and Network rail. With a proven track record of developing technical and innovative departments globally delivering to challenging objectives. He’s also been at the forefront of next-generation networks from pre-sales to post-incident with extensive vendor and network assurance experience.
He’s chats to Andy about negating the disruption caused to a business by the rapidly developing technology sphere. They also discuss humanising the interview process and workplace, differing approaches to leadership and the necessity to be multi-skilled in today’s tech market.
Show Notes:
3:00 to 10:00 Kicking off a Career in Amsterdam.
10:00 to 18:00 Conversation and Technology Simplicity.
18:00 to 22:00 End-Users and Engaging Account Managers.
22:00 to 28:00 Real-Time Pressure: UEFA to Euston.
28:00 to 31:00 The Dutch Honesty, Management isn't for everyone.
31:00 to 34:00 Picking the Right Golf Club.
34:00 to 38:00 Digital Railway, Scalability and Disruptive, Bi-Modal Working.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Jeremy Keith, the Technical Lead and co-founder of the design agency Clearleft in Brighton. Jeremy has been writing on his personal site, adactio.com, for over fifteen years. He also written a number of books: DOM Scripting, Bulletproof Ajax, HTML5 For Web Designers, and most recently, Resilient Web Design which you can read for free online. He also created Huffduffer.com a site for creating your podcast of found sounds.
On the show they discuss throwing your ideas and projects out into online technology communities, using forums and tech sites to get feedback on your product and getting over the self-doubt you can have about your project. They also touch on Jeremy’s career as a writer and how writing books differs from creating podcasts and blogs.
Show Notes:
1.38 The open source nature of online technical communities.
7.44 Has the quality of open source software and information decreased due to the ability to share it so easily.
10.23 The positive effects of putting unfinished projects out to the tech community to get constructive feedback.
12.27 The pursuit of perfection never ends but we can switch our mindset to an agile way of thinking and constantly improve on our product.
13.26 You’ll always cause division when posting project on the internet but it’s a fantastic place to learn new skills.
18.27 How did you come about writing a book.
20.32 Comparing writing a book to blogs & podcasts.
22.06 How your motivations can help determine what medium will be most effective to share your views on.
23.22 What were your experiences when starting your own business.
28.38 Having the right approach to your business is essential to making your company succeed.
34.44 Staying on top of the tech marketplace and keeping an eye on what’s going on around you.
36.56 Technology advancing so quickly due to its sharing economy.
In this episode Andy James talks to James Rix, senior project manager at Romonet. James is Skilled at working across international locations and coordinating international teams to deliver high quality projects. He has an excellent technical understanding of building pathology, technical power and cooling infrastructure requirements in data centres, combined with a solution oriented approach to project management.
On the show he chats to Andy about the challenges and rewards of managing teams in different countries. They also discuss navigating different cultural conventions in business and how technology is changing workplace dynamics.
Show Notes:
1.06 Managing projects in various countries.
2.58 Addressing an individual in a meeting not the room.
4.14 Navigating different cultures.
5.45 Different approaches to doing business.
7.18 What are your company’s internal dynamics like.
8.19 How did your career take you to Asia?
10.30 Growing as a person and a leader in East Asia.
12.34 What are the current projects you’re working on?
13.52 What’s the structure of your employees?
14.44 How has technology changed the dynamics of your role?
17.59 Technically what type of people are you typically working with and have their roles changed due to the advancements in technology.
19.56 The data space as a compelling place to work.
22.07 What are you hoping the next few years bring for you and what does success look like for you?
24.22 Respect in the workplace and enjoying what you do.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Brian Hills, Head of data at the data lab innovation centre. Data Lab aims to bring together industry, the public sector, universities, colleges, schools and the public to learn about and promote data science. In this episode Andy Davis talks to Brian Hills, Head of data at the data lab innovation centre. Data Lab aims to bring together industry, the public sector, universities, colleges, schools and the public to learn about and promote data science. In his role at the Data Lab Brian leads the Data Science team and was the programme Chair for DataFest17, the first festival of data innovation held in Scotland. His career in data spans many high profile companies including Hewlett-Packard and Skyscanner.
On the show he discusses promoting data science, building a strong data science team and communicating data science successes to other parts of your business. He also chats to Andy about creating a brand for your data team and what attributes need to be present in a person to make them a good data scientist.
Show notes:
1.09 The Excitement around Data.
1.55 The applications and outcomes of data.
2.45 Getting people involved in Data Science and promoting data science.
4.03 What is it you're hoping to achieve through your promotion of Data science?
6.00 What aspect of data are you most involved in?
8.17 How much has the data scientist's skill set evolved over the past few years?
9.44 Communicating the successes of Data science.
12.32 Disciplined leadership when working in Data Science.
14.36 When you're looking to recruit new team members what attributes do you look for?
16.23 Creating a brand for your team.
18.35 How have you managed to maintain your skills throughout your career?
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Stuart McHugh, I.T manager at Bates Wells Braithwaite. In his role managing the IT Department he deliver strategy, deployment, training and operational support to his team. Outside of his full time technology based work Stu has been awarded vExpert status for 2012 -17.
On the show he discuss the advantages and strategies of external networking, differing approaches to communicating within a business and how best to get your department's voice heard in a large company. They also touch on management and leadership styles.
Show Notes
1.09 Progressing in I.T
2.45 Podcasts as a networking tool.
5.45 Discussing the uses of blogs and podcasts in a professional environment.
7.30 What particularly about VMware has motivated you.
9.33 What is the typical structure of an I.T team in a Law organisation.
11.55 Discussing the communication difficulties present when technical departments speak to non-technical ones.
14.56 How to Develop leadership styles.
15.15 Ways to get your voice heard in a company.
17.57 Strategies to gauge your success within different departments your company.
21.17 Management styles and keeping a team engaged.
23.22 The necessity of enjoying what you do to get the most from yourself and your staff and keeping a team motivated.
25.11 Discussing leadership styles and getting the most out of your team.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Fernando Honig, Principal AWS cloud & DevOps Evangelist at DeltaHost. Fernando is a highly experienced Infrastructure Solutions Leader, with over 15 years of extensive IT Architecture and Management experience in a variety of market sectors. He has an in depth understanding of Information Technology services and technology in conjunction with their related markets and strategies. He is an accomplished professional in designing, implementing and configuring a wide variety of hosting, web, application and systems solutions.
They discuss direction Cloud, AWS and similar technologies are heading. They also discuss the exciting developments currently happening in Cloud and infrastructure and the challenge of overcoming the fears associated with automation.
Show notes:
1.12 Discussing how to organise effective meetings.
1.46 How did you get into DevOps.
4.29 What motivates you.
6.38 When you look at the direction AWS, Cloud etc are heading what are some of the broader key changes that have happened in the space and how do you think they’re going to continue to evolve.
10.25 What application and uses of this technology do you feel are the most compelling and have the biggest impact on the world.
12.15 The ability to save being busy in our lives thanks to automation.
13.46 concerns around adapting new technologies.
15.28 When you get involved in hiring what do you look for in candidates.
17.10 Due to the rate of change in technology, is it more important to master the skills you currently possess or instead always be open to adapting to new trends and technologies.
18.31 Is the wealth of cloud providers and languages available now one of the big things that has changed in technology since you started.
19.34 When you think about the space you occupy what do you feel are the most compelling projects and technologies and what do you hope to achieve in the coming years.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Delf Tonder, lead backend developer at CrossLend. Delf is an advocate of agile and consistently applies this methodology to his current role. He also employed and agile mindset in his previous roles at Versatel Deutschland and MyHammer AG. In his previous roles he’s been responsible for migrating front- and backend from Laravel/MongoDB to Symfony2 & Elasticsearch, creating deployment & testing pipeline with Jenkins, phpunit, behat, codeception & ec2.
On the show he discusses the advantages of differing business methodologies, improving communication between departments, and security.
Show Notes:
1.08 How did you first get into development.
3.30 The importance of having a vision of what you’re trying to work towards.
5.50 Test driven metrics.
8.45 How long have you been working using an agile methodology.
10.01 Switching from waterfall to scrum.
13.04 How much impact do you get from higher levels on your way of working.
14.15 Always knowing what’s going on in your company, never having a bad surprise at work.
16.11 Is there ever frustration around not having the ability to be creative when working on projects.
18.32 What’s getting you excited in technology at the moment.
22.47 Talking about Bitcoin.
25.25 Talking about I.P.O’s.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Steve Perry, head of data at Kytosys Systems. Steve is a highly driven data professional with a track record of hitting challenges head on and providing enterprise solutions that consistently deliver against targets. He possesses an extensive field of experience and provides a dynamic approach to problem solving.
He talks to Andy about the growth of big data and how concerns around databases have changed over time. They also discuss viewing databases from a business and technical angle and how best to manage and lead a team of data scientists.
Show Notes:
1.11 Working on Data Bases and looking at them from a security perspective.
3.19 How have the concerns around data bases changed since you started your career.
5.11 What is it that’s forcing you into creating a separate database from a legacy one.
7.24 Are a lot of the solutions and tools we’re using now driven my consumer demand.
9.55 Viewing data from a business as well as a technical standpoint.
11.46 Looking for candidates with technical, business and people skills.
13.20 Acquiring leadership skills and leading teams.
14.10 Working in an agile way.
15.23 The sense of achievement you get from seeing others achieve.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Martin Campbell, Chief commercial and Strategy officer at hubbub. Martin has created the some of the leading digital agencies in the UK non-profit sector. He has also transformed the European arm of a US multinational and then switched sectors and created an award winning and successful Fin-Tech startup. He enjoys using digital technology to deliver products that solve important problems and build successful organisations.
Martin discusses many topics with Andy including how to improve your tech teams productivity, changing human behaviour in the face of new technology and optimising human productivity using technology. They chat about the dangers of having an over saturated tech environment.
Show Notes:
1.06 Talking about innovation in the technology sphere.
2.54 Talking about the human problems that arise when creating solutions with technology.
4.41 Martin’s background, his formative technology experience and consulting.
6.13 The sociological impact technology has on the workplace and simplifying technology.
9.14 Does the speed of technological innovation concern you in a security sense?
11.37 Talking about the shift away from the big integrated systems to single purpose platforms that talk to each other via A.P.I’s.
12.38 Keeping a product simple enough by presenting the user with a real piece of insight.
15.38 Talking about BlocChain as solutions to security problems.
18.31 Talking creating solutions to technology that is already wide spread but we don’t know how to use it yet?
21.53 The role of automation in optimising our work flow?
23.02 Discussing artificial intelligence and automated cars.
26.46 The collaboration between technology and people is something we must consider in the future and how does technology influence us?
28.30 Being clear around the costs of technology.
32.39 The challenges around networking and managing our networks.
33.44 Discussing switching of from technology & technology addiction.
38.19 Being able to say no to tech.
40.27 Seeing tech messages in a different way.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Brett Didonato, CTO and Co-founder at Quick frame. Brett enjoy designing and developing innovative technology products from the ground up. His areas of expertise stretch from product development, design, software engineering and hiring to project management, fund raising and everything else related to building a technology focused business.
On the show Brett discusses the life cycle of a product from ideas phase through to finished product and how to constantly review your processes, so your product is always improving. They also discuss different approaches to the creative process.
Show Notes
1.40 Traits present in an Entrepreneur.
3.20 The links between innovators and development.
5.05 Drawing comparisons between solving development problems and founding a company.
6.15 Leaving full time positions to start an entrepreneurial project.
7.35 What approaches did you take to keep things in perspective when starting your own company.
11.00 What steps did you take to refine your product and continually improve it.
12.03 Insights gained from hands on testing.
14.07 Talking about the post feedback phase and the implications of it.
16.02 What times in the life-cycle of a product do you come upon unexpected problems.
17.01 What part of a products life cycle is the most compelling.
20.22 Is your creative process a collaborative effort and where do you draw inspiration from.
22.18 What continues to motivate and drive you on a daily basis.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Oliver Davey, Head of Data & Operations at Maggie’s Centres. Oliver’s experiences have taken him all over the charitable sector having worked for institutions such as the The National Gallery and Courtauld Institute of Art. Underpinning all this has been a passion for data and applying well-constructed data sets to real business issues.
They talk about the role Data is playing in charitable organisation, the unique issues that arise when employing B.I to a charity and the importance of external networking.
Show Notes:
1.06 What content are you engaging with at the moment?
2.56 Are you an advocate of external networking?
4.44 How we get information and how can we trust it?
6.50 Involvement in charity organisations.
8.30 What comes first for you the project and the task at hand or the vision of the project and the end goal?
9.09 Data as a key asset in an organisation.
10.36 What are the general characteristic essential for being competent in a Data role.
13.59 What have your management styles and adjustments been over the years?
16.24 Do you sometimes miss the practical aspects of your role?
17.02 How do you communicate your ongoing vision to your team and what motivates you?
19.45 Motivating staff.
21.51 Is charity a difficult industry to apply new technologies to.
23.00 The discipline involved when working for a charity.
25.32 What are you excited about in the data space at the moment?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Alexis Pratsides, managing director at MintTwist. Alexis is always at the forefront of the latest trends in web design, development and digital marketing. A champion of the internet especially as a tool for business growth Alexis has aimed to instil these values in everything he does as MD of Mint Twist.
He chats to Andy about the challenges around creating a positive work culture and maintaining that approach in the face of quick growth. They also look at ways to approach creating ideas in business and why it is important to build and maintain relationships.
Show notes:
1.07 Understanding of a Managing Directors role.
2.30 Discussing the challenges around culture and people.
4.39 The importance of transparency in business.
5.49 The difficulty of maintaining your work relationships in the face quick growth.
6.41 Dispelling the illusion that work culture isn’t important in business.
7.25 Forming fruitful relationships with clients and employee’s helps to increase profits.
9.03 Balancing investing in new and exciting technologies with finding practical solutions that work for your business.
11.35 The difficulty finding people whose skills fit with your team both in technical terms and business needs.
14.58 The role of people skills in the tech industry.
15.40 How important is external feedback for you as an MD.
18.08 Do you find collaboration helps in your creative thought process.
19.26 Discussion on different methods teams can use to generate ideas to solve problems.
21.44 In a professional context what continues to motivate you?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Thiago Carvalho, Engineering Manager at Wayfair. An avid proponent of the PHP programming language Thiago has been developing software with it for 9 years. In his current role his main motivators are achieving his business objectives and creating a positive working environment where engineers can thrive.
He came on to the podcast to discuss keeping up in an ever changing coding world, making sense of the various coding languages and trying to decipher which languages to invest your time in. He also touches on leadership in development and balancing technical know-how with people skills.
Show Notes:
1.20 How do you keep up with the quickly changing tech languages and how do you choose what to invest your time in?
3.25 When and how did you get involved in technology?
4.27 Did you enjoy the technical aspects of the process of learning to code?
6.22 Was learning the people skills that accompany a management role a challenge?
7.37 What kind of leader are you and what type of leader do you aspire to be.
8.52 What direction do you think the development industry is heading in and do you feel confident you’ve acquired a sufficient level of skills?
10.40 What advice would you give advice to people trying to make a career in Development.
12.30 The demand for technical people to have an appreciation of commerce.
13.57 What characteristics do you feel keeps a person steady in the workplace.
15.06 What technologies are you excited about?
16.05 What excites you about specific coding languages?
18.06 How do coding languages become popular?
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Phil Bambridge, M.I.S.T Manager at Aldermore Bank. Phil having honed his skills in the military has extensive experience in management and training. He has been involved in managing contracts and established systems and protocols leading to increased performance and profit margins.
He recently came into the office to discuss why it is important to build a corporate culture in your tech team, giving your team the tools and freedom to complete their own tasks and instilling trust in your employees .
Show Notes:
1.06 Discussing Phil’s transition from military to civilian life.
5.00 Tackling some misconceptions about the forces and relating them to business practices.
6.36 Vision and why everyone needs to know their mission in a business.
8.18 Corporate Identity.
8.50 Distilling corporate identity down to trust.
11.58 If trust is missing in business critiques of each others can be perceived as personal attacks.
13.31 Undermining a blame culture.
15.25 No decision is worse than a bad decision.
19.00 Easing work pressure and team dynamics.
22.15 Trust in your company coming from C level members and working downwards.
24.46 Dealing with a rapidly growing company.
26.33 The influence tech companies are having on legacy companies.
28.17 The importance of pastoral care in management.
29.17 Knowing what to expect from your staff and knowing what your staff expect of you.
34.27 Ensuring your staff feel trusted.
36.43 Making your team subject matter experts.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Marc Rind, B.P of product development and chief data scientist at ADP analytics and big data. They discuss how companies are approaching big data and the various methods for viewing and analysing data sets. They also touch on the changing requirements of working in data and technology as a product.
Show Notes:
1.40 Discussing the reach of big data and what is it?
3.40 A.D.P’S company profile.
4.45 How disciplined does one have to be when approaching data in a big data context.
10.20 Using creative thought processes when looking at data.
12.50 Marc’s routes into data science.
15.00 what part of a job in data science does Marc enjoy the most.
18.00 How much has the typical data person changed and recruitment practices changed over the past 14 years?
21.20 Technology as a product, the necessity to have a commercial instinct in tech and how to find candidates with these two traits.
24.00 Business and its link with technology.
25.20 What advice would you pass back to your younger self or people starting in data science.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to David Lacey, Managing Director at David Lacey consulting. They discuss tackling the disparate approaches to security in the 21st century, David’s work building a four-dimensional metaphysical GRC database and educating businesses in network security.
Show Notes:
1.06 Should we be worried about our online security.
3.20 What is the biggest problem/ challenge in security?
5.16 Has the internet backfired in a security context?
7.06 Is there a lack of educating people about the dangers of cyber-attacks?
9.40 David’s talks about developing his new approach to security: A four dimensional metaphysical GRC database.
11.43 Is there an opportunity to collaborate what David is building with some of the other popularised methods?
13.38 Discussing the longevity of some now fashionable techniques and technology.
17.10 Security, philosophy and understanding information.
18.30 Does the lack of synchronisation in the model and databases of enterprises make it difficult to determine problems in a business’s systems?
21.01 Work with the original I.S.C 2700
23.51 Are we guilty of moving technology so fast that standards in technology have dropped and opened security risks?
28.38 Do the outcomes of your projects and the lack of security in modern enterprise motivate your work.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Johanna Hutchinson, the Head of Data at the Pensions Regulator. They discuss the necessity for companies to become more data driven, making decisions based on your findings and the difficulties of basing your analysis on people.
Show Notes:
1.07 Johanna’s post-doctoral research and progressing to the head of her sector.
2.46 Data as a means to solve problems and working on compelling projects.
4.26 Motivating companies to becoming more B.I driven.
5.19 Educating people.
6.53 Overcoming resilience.
8.02 What are some of the big lessons you’ve learned whilst moving towards a more data driven country.
10.16 The importance of diversity in your tech teams.
11.18 The creative elements to working in a tech team.
12.38 Should we ever ignore the evidence our findings produce?
14.41 How difficult is it to compartmentalise your findings?
16.21 Making high level decisions based on your findings.
18.23 Do you think it’s difficult to draw analysis based on people?
19.32 Are our forecasting predictions becoming more accurate due to technology?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Gabriel Cismondi, Head of DevOps and architectures at Fuse Universal. They discuss company culture and how best to employ it. They also touch on the advantages of having a diverse DevOps team and balancing people skills with technical know-how.
Show Notes:
1.06 Talking about cultural change.
3.51 Aligning your culture with your team.
6.04 The challenges associated with challenging people.
8.00 The enjoyment in researching things to invest your time in.
8.59 Gabriel’s career development and background.
11.30 Having both people skills and technology know how.
12.42 How did you get into DevOps?
15.12 The diversity present in DevOps teams.
16.58 DevOps as a compelling environment to work in.
18.15 How much difference have modern methodologies made on the way we work?
20.20 Concentrating and focusing on your outcomes.
22.07 What technologies are you most excited about seeing in the near future?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Steve Davis, Co-founder & C.T.O at Signafire. They discuss marrying the buzz around B.I. with the practical applications of data in the office. They also chat about the pitfalls of trying to use Big Data as a one stop shop to solve all a company’s problems.
Show Notes:
1.05 Talking about the success at Signafire & Start-ups.
1.42 How does your idea process work when thinking of a product for your start-up.
2.57Did you use a lot of lean and agile methodologies when you were starting out?
4.14 Struggling to understand business needs as opposed to technical problems.
6.04 Ensuring technology is helping your business needs.
7.34 When you look at onboarding do you find it difficult having people who think in the same way as you?
9.02 The importance of an external perspective when viewing your product.
10.34 Do you think that there’s an overreliance on data and analytic when making key business or hiring decisions?
12.09 Discussing the large investment in Big Data and C level employee’s still unsure on it R.O.I.
14.46 The unrealistic expectation that Big Data will solve all a company’s problems.
16.09 How much creativity is involved when discussing how Data can solve problems?
18.32 Would you call yourself a techie or have you always been more involved in the outcomes of the projects you’ve been working on?
20.53 What Steve looks for in a career?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ayotunde Obasanya, the head of global infrastructure at Funding Circle UK. They discuss the nuances of managing global IT infrastructure , funding circles success and the importance of developing a strong leadership style in business. They also touch personal motivation and dealing with professional challenges.
Show Notes:
1.06 When did you first become interested in technology.
4.29 The desire to learn how things work in infrastructure.
7.20 Managing what you need to invest your time into next.
11.24 How did you form your leadership styles.
15.51 The requirement for technical people to have a larger business sense in the 21st century.
18.50 Funding circle as the largest peer to peer lender market places outside of china.
21.10 Dealing with challenges when things go wrong.
22.03 Motivation & outcomes.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Tayo Olatunde, Business transformation and currently working on GDPR compliance. They discuss working on different sized tech projects, the workplaces continual struggle to keep up with technological innovation and they talk about the impact Big Data is having on our lives.
Show Notes:
1.06 The excitement around Big Data.
3.58 Were you an analytical thinker? Do you think you were always inclined to go into Data?
7.02 What are the differences between working for large scale projects and small businesses?
8.40 Do you ever think that big projects are bubble proof?
10.31 What attracts you to specific projects?
11.57 What do you think, aside from technology, do you think has changed the most in business since you began work?
14.15 Innovation in technology but not in the workplace? 15.55 Mobile working and working from home.
17.29 BT pioneering the idea of flexitime.
18.33 The advantages of working in an office space.
19.30 What aspect of Big Data do you think is going to have the biggest impact on our lives.
21.54 Talking about Augmented Reality.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Ron Feldman, VP of product management at GameChanger Media, Inc. They chat about the best strategies for managing technical people, the changes that have happened over the past decade in the tech world and what changes are coming on the horizon. They also touch on the different career routes for those who don't want to enter management and building a team of contractors.
Show Notes:
1.06 Was there always a plan for you getting started in your career?
2.21 What are your motivations.
3.33 Building your own team of contractors.
5.22 The differences in Silicon Valley now and in 2006.
6.20 What were your experiences when suddenly having to manage people.
8.15 Are you seeing more companies trying to devise an alternate path for technological people other than going into management.
9.55 How to tailor your management style to individual team members.
10.50 What are you expecting to see change in the technology sphere in the coming years.
13.22 The importance of external feedback.
14.20 Vision, goals & Contractors.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to David Biden, Delivery Director at Not Binary, about the challenges of applying digital transformation to your business. They also discuss fusing the business and digital strategies of a company and the role A.I and automation will have on business.
Show Notes:
1.06 How are things going in your new venture?
4.00 What are you taking on in terms of your company’s Digital transformation?
7.21 Digitally transforming traditional sectors and facing the digital challenge.
9.09 Start-up disrupters and existing company’s going digital.
11.11 What are the rationales behind legacy businesses coming to you to help them go digital?
13.34 Is it ever frustrating working with people who don’t have the same drive as yourself?
15.20 Do you find yourself outcome driven when working on projects or are you more enamoured by the technological aspect of a role.
16.55 No organisation should now have a business strategy and a digital strategy.
18.05 What is now expected of digital and technical people is now so much more.
19.41 Technology and its effects on the job market.
22.21 Looking towards A.I and automation.
25.04 What is it that you’re most compelled about in technology at the moment?
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Sabahe Mrizag, head of B.I at Clear Channel Outdoor Global. They discuss balancing technological know-how and people skills, workplace inspirations, living and working in the US.
Show Notes:
1.15 Which came first for you the people or the technology and which do you prefer?
5.00 Would you say it was more important to understand what you’re trying to achieve as opposed to having the technological know-how?
7.00 How Sabahe evolved into her current role.
8.20 What technologies did you have to learn?
9.50 Avoiding getting caught up in the technological side of your role.
12.34 What traits do you deem advantageous when looking at candidates for B.I. roles.
15.08 What was your inspiration for working into B.I.
17.05 What spurred your move to the US.
19.50 Moving to a job role where you are expected to impart advice to peers.
21.41 Where are your feelings with the large innovations coming out of Data.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Mathew Davies, human resources Director at Addison Lee about his responsibilities and KPI's in human resources. They also discuss championing your company, helping people find their creative side and advice to his younger self.
Show notes:
2.01 Mathews responsibilities and KPI's.
4.45 Changing people's lives.
6.31 Finding creativity in HR.
9.09 Do you need experience or training to work in HR?
13.22 Finding candidates that fit with the company culture.
18.08 Championing the organisation you work for.
19.59 Advice to a younger Mathew
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Bill Bauman, Evangelist and product strategist at Ops-view. The chat about the role of marketing and promotions in the technology sphere and how tech specialists are skilling up in both fields. They also touch on how innovation can be a tool to drive industry and business forward.
Show Notes:
1.06 Bills background.
5.43 Bills thoughts on the changing role of technical people.
10.30 The need to enjoy what you do and avoiding getting burnt out.
11.45 Discussing the role or marketing and promotions in technology.
13.30 Big company’s cross training technical employees in marketing.
15.10 How technology is changing roles not removing them.
16.53 Seeing change in technology as an evolution and not a negative.
- 35 Talking about DevOps.
21.35 Collective behaviours, instigating change and innovation.
23.33 Allowing innovation in your business.
26.15 Synonymising technology with innovation.
30.09 The importance of having a team with different perspectives.
31.50 How to improve your staff’s working experience.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Matt Robson, Executive Director at TSG consulting. They discuss Matt’s military background and how his training has helped his business acumen. They also discuss the importance of always challenging yourself and the advantages of working with various customers and clients.
Show Notes:
1.08 Matt’s background in the military.
3.33 The military as a formative experience in Matt’s life and dealing with pressure.
5.33 The need to be constantly moving forward in technology.
8.24 What are the biggest challenges you’re seeing and facing in business?
10.54 How do you manage to stay on top of technological developments?
13.47 The changing expectations of technical people.
15.17 The advantages of working with various customers and clients.
18.14 You can’t get to a leadership position without having a passion for what you’re working on.
19.30 How challenging was it for you to have a leadership role outside the military?
24.17 What keeps you motivated.
In this episode Andy Davis talks to Chris Michael, Interim head of technology at open banking. They discuss buiding a team of digital experts, "Pi" shaped people and GDPR
Show Notes:
1.09 Background and what ventures have you been compelled to take part in.
5.20 Becoming C.T.O of Karmarama Ad-agency.
7.20 Move to the ministry of Justice and then banking.
8.18 Building up a team of digital experts.
9.25 Knowing what good technology looks like.
10.48 Building a team of people with complementary skills.
12.03 Discussing "Pi" shaped people.
15.47 Overlooking the importance of people in a business.
16.30 Big companies looking to be like a start-up.
18.32 GDPR and Chris' current project.
22.45 Google photo's.
24.14 Talking about the impact of GDPR.
27.24 What keeps you motivated.
In this episode, Andy Davis talks to Joe Burridge, who recently became the senior recruiter at Electronic Arts. They discuss Joe’s time at Hudl, the importance of keeping company culture at the centre of the recruitment process and why you need to have a genuine passion for the sector you recruit in.
Show Notes:
1.13 Joe’s background and career development.
5.02 How do you manage the rapid scaling up of your business.
7.30 Changing from a start-up dynamic to a corporate structure.
10.09 company values.
12.03 Hiring staff based on your company’s culture.
15.06 How has recruiting changed since you started your career.
17.24 Why you need to understand the technology market as a recruiter.
19.56 The need to have a genuine passion for the industry you work in as a recruiter.
22.48 What type of people are motivated to work at huddle.
24.45 What advice would you give to people who are considering a role in recruitment.
Heute sprechen wir mit Wolfram Greiner, Geschäftsführer der Digital Ratio in Eschborn, über Business Intelligence in der Digitalen Transformation. Wie sich Deutschland im Bereich BI entwickelt, welche Chancen und Möglichkeiten bestehen und welche Fehler gemacht werden können, hört Ihr im Gespräch