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Getting IT wrong

I got my first computer when I was 10 and almost immediately broke it. It was an Amstrad that ran Windows 3.1 and a few games like Commander Keen and Pong. That is until I ran out of disk space for games and decided to just delete some folders that I didn’t think did anything so I could install some more. Lo and behold Windows stopped running and I found myself in the command line for the first time in my life. I had no internet access nor books about what this black screen with white writing stating simply ‘C:\>’ meant so I had to work it out for myself. And I did. I was soon happily running my games from DOS with no need for a fancy UI. I’d even started to write some batch scripts to get things done quicker.

Years later at secondary school, I was offered a work experience position at Ericsson where I’d be placed in the IT office. This was the first time I took a computer apart, replaced parts, and put it back together again. All I wanted to do from that point onwards was know more about how these amazing machines worked.

A little about ME

Fast forward to age 15 and I was getting ready for my GCSEs. 13 subjects, 13 expected A’s, lots of pressure. IT was the subject that I found most difficult at that time because I didn’t see the point in learning how to use a word processor or spreadsheet software. It bored me.

Anyway, that was all superseded when I was struck down with a virus that ultimately led to a diagnosis of Myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E), more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Over the next 3 years, I was first bed-bound, then house-bound, wheelchair-bound, and then eventually recovered at the age of 18.

M.E. is a horrible and debilitating illness without a cure or timescale. It runs its course for as long as it sees fit. It could be 6 months, 6 years, or 6 decades. I feel very lucky to have recovered at all, even if it did mean I missed many of my formative years at school, and had a severely disrupted education. It did however teach me a lot.

Baby steps

In the first 6 months whilst mostly bedbound I only had the energy to take about 50 steps before needing to rest for many hours to recover. Imagine where that might get you to and from in your home. I had to meticulously plan bathroom and kitchen visits to ensure I didn’t collapse en route. I could maybe sit up for an hour a day and use a laptop. Everything became about the efficient use of physical, and mental, energy whilst somehow maintaining my sanity. I had to batch tasks to ensure everything was done at the right time in the right order.

As I recovered the 50 steps became 100. The 6 hours of rest became 4. I moved on to a wheelchair. The 100 steps became 250. The 4 hours rest became 1. Things started to look up and after a couple more years of slowly improving health, I was ready to attempt to finish my education.

Note – For anyone suffering from M.E/C.F.S I’m always happy to talk and support. Get in touch on my LinkedIn or X (Twitter).

Back to school

During my illness, I managed to take 5 of the 13 GCSEs I’d been expected to sit from home. After literally writing my name and passing out from exhaustion in my Business Studies exam I wasn’t too hopeful for the rest. I did however manage to scrape a ‘C’ in IT which set me up for the next stage of my studies.

90% recovered from M.E. I began attending college and studied AS-level IT. It was unbelievably dull. Once again it was spreadsheet this, word processor that, Microsoft Access the other. Awful. My tutor could tell I was struggling and pointed me to a Higher National Diploma in Computing instead. It was ‘more hands-on’ and ‘far more technical’. Perfect.

I flew through this course with Merits and Distinctions along the way and made my way into the world of work…

Recess

…during a recession. I looked for months and nothing, especially for someone without a degree. I didn’t want to get even further behind. My friends were all about to finish university and I wanted to ‘keep up’. So I started my own local IT repair company called ‘Repair IT’. Yes, I like puns/play on words if you couldn’t already tell from the headings. This gave me a solid idea about what the level of IT skills was in the general public. Spoiler: It was not good. It also taught me how little respect engineers get during callouts. The number of people who tried to not pay me because it was ‘only a 5-minute job’ was staggering.

This went on for a few years before I briefly worked as a 1st-line support at a secondary school before moving to a healthcare software company to look after their office, laptops, and internal servers. In what at the time seemed like a crushing blow to my career I managed to make myself redundant in under 6 months. I automated every task they gave me. Software patching, timed server restarts, backups, laptop preparation, and much more. I thought I’d be promoted for my initiative, and instead, I was suddenly jobless again.

Tramsformation

To this day I still don’t know why James Ridsdale (dataJAR founder, now Jamf Director) hired me for Cancom (now Trams Ltd). The role was 2nd line macOS engineer for an IT helpdesk. I had perhaps 10 hours of macOS experience prior thanks to being the only engineer brave enough to approach these alien machines in the media lab at the secondary school. I like to think however it was the story I told about automating myself out of my former role that got me the job. I’m hoping to get James on a podcast sometime so maybe I’ll ask him then…!

I spent 6 years at Trams and learned more in the first 12 months than the rest of my career combined. My advice for any junior IT engineer is always to move to a professional services company so you can face every challenge you’re ever likely to face in IT condensed into a couple of years. During my time there I worked helpdesk, hardware engineering, WiFi surveyor, solutions architect, technical consultant, technical presales, software engineer, macOS expert, Jamf jumpstarter, and just about every other IT role you can imagine. I worked at major broadcasters, premier league football clubs, high-street stores, universities, as well as 2-person media companies, the occasional home visit, and everything in between.

This experience was priceless. It prepared me for each role I’ve had since. I knew there was no situation I hadn’t faced in IT. And once I knew that, I was ready to run a team.

The next episode

I feel incredibly lucky to have worked at Starling from a start-up to an established UK bank. From 80 people to over 2000 in under 4 years. All the while fighting our way through unprecedented times with the COVID pandemic. Getting featured in JAMF’s keynote of 2020 is one of my proudest work achievements, as well as the overall solution my team and I managed to deliver during that time. A senior Apple employee described the macOS solution we’d put in place as the ‘Best macOS employee experience in enterprise’. If you want to read more here is an interview I did around that time.

Armed with 4 years of IT management and fintech knowledge I moved to Railsbank to do it all over again, but this time with a tried and tested strategy! If you read my previous post I mentioned Workplace Technology Principals. They’re not something I’ve put to paper before (although I did mention them at MacAD.UK 2023). I managed to replicate the success at Starling with Railsr by focusing on the key resources available to any WPT or IT team: People, Money, Time, and Technology. Applying these resources with the correct balance is the key to success and something I’ll be writing about in future posts.

Conclusion

Developing from a 1st line support to WPT Director has taken me over 15 years. There have been highs and lows along the way. Learning to batch process my life throughout M.E. Learning the ‘alien’ Mac OS at the school. Making myself redundant at the healthcare company. Imposter syndrome at Cancom. Leaving Trams armed with knowledge. Navigating COVID successfully at Starling. Refining the process at Railsr. Everything in between.

I learned that breaking things and putting them back together is the best way to learn. That every experience, however negative, teaches valuable lessons you can use elsewhere in your life and career. That whilst luck plays its part, you have to work to put yourself in a position where you can be lucky. That we as WPT teams (and as humans!) have limited resources that we must make the most out of to be successful. That you can’t plan for everything but you can put yourself in as good a position as possible to deal with whatever gets thrown at you.

I’ll leave you with some advice that both my therapist and the previously mentioned James Ridsdale bizarrely gave me in the same week. ‘Control what you can control, influence what you can influence, and let everything else go’. This has been invaluable advice in both personal and professional settings. Fortunately, you have complete control over computers… most of the time anyway.

If you haven’t read my previous post, ‘Workplace what?‘, I would strongly suggest doing so before moving on to the next posts.

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