Welcome to the team Paul

We've welcomed a new team member to New Icon, and that means a new starter blog! 

This month we'd like to welcome Paul, who's joined as an AI & Software Developer. Here are Paul’s answers to the famous New Icon "new starter" questions...

 

What’s your working background, and how did you come to work for New Icon?

I have an agency background, working for a couple of agencies since leaving university over 15 years ago. I love the variance that agency life brings where you can be working on several different projects throughout the week. I was really impressed with New Icon’s core values and their forward thinking mindset with AI at the forefront. I think that businesses should be starting to think about AI and how they may adapt as a business in the future, and that’s where I want to shift my focus to.

 

Describe your job to a six-year-old

Imagine baking a cake, you follow a recipe, step by step, and at the end you’ve made a cake! My job is to write that recipe into something that a computer can understand called ‘code’. The code tells the computer how to make the website / app / game work.

 

What are you looking forward to working on the most?

I’m really looking forward to working on some AI projects. It’s relatively new to me and that excites me. I love learning new things and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I’m also looking forward to learning some of the technologies that New Icon are currently using and also looking to adopt.

 

What tech breakthroughs do you think we’ll be seeing in the next ten years? 

I’d love to see breakthroughs that support the conservation of our planet. We use so much energy in our daily lives, from using transport to charging our devices and also using AI, so anything that could reduce the amount of energy we consume would be awesome. As we innovate new technologies, we also create an increased dependency on the energy used to power them, so I think it's extremely important that we find ways to reduce this energy consumption and find alternative ways to power them. I read an article recently reporting that scientists are starting to create 'mini computers' using skin cells which could use a fraction of the energy of current methods so innovations like this are really nice to hear.

 

What do you like doing outside of work, any unusual hobbies?

I have children, so that normally involves visiting one of the many parks in and around Bristol and going on foraging walks in the Forest of Dean. I love music and learning to play instruments, and on the rare occasion that I get to visit a pub I can't resist a game of pool, snooker, darts or table tennis if they have one!

 

Favourite film/TV show?

Howl's Moving Castle / The Celebrity Traitors

 

What podcast would you recommend?

I’m not a massive podcast listener but the last one I listened to was pretty decent … Evil Genius with Russell Kane - It reveals the darker side of prolific people throughout history and more recently, animals! 

 

At New Icon we listen to a lot of music and make far too many playlists. What are your go-to songs and/or artists?

Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, Paramore, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Del Amitri, Counting Crows, The Civil Wars ... Crazy Frog has also made a comeback in our house recently! 😭

 

Share a meme that sums up your job…

 

Draw yourself