Welcome Harry to the team!

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

This month we'd like to welcome Harry Townsend, who's joined as a developer (but he's actually been working with us for a while, so he's new, just not new-new...). Here are Harry’s answers to the famous New Icon "new starter" questions...

 

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

My professional background is predominantly in SaaS (Software as a Service) products for the trade compliance space in the financial sector. This includes a number of roles, including software development, systems administration, quality assurance testing and processes, as well as heading the onboarding of a diverse range of clients with diverse requirements from technical and product perspectives. 

 

Describe your job to a six-year-old

My job is to understand the problems that a client is having, along with what their requirements and expectations are. From there, it is to work closely with our project managers and designers internally, as well as our clients externally, to build the software that will effectively solve those problems.

 

What are you looking forward to working on the most?

Everything! I’ve found that choosing a thing to be excited about is often like judging a book by its cover. Sometimes the best journeys are the ones that you let surprise you.

 

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

This question is rarely answered correctly. After all, we still don’t have the flying cars that people of the past thought would be ubiquitous by now but, at the same time, modern mobile phones have far exceeded what shows like Star Trek imagined for the future in both function and form. I think a lot of the biggest breakthroughs are likely to be in learning how, when, and where to employ AI correctly to effectively and ethically accelerate breakthroughs in other fields.

 

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

Aside from the boring and obviously answers of gaming and reading, I also occasionally like to choose a random skill to try and learn. Sometimes this is related to my existing skillset (such as electronics) and sometimes this is entirely different (like trying to cook something). I love things that give me a puzzle to solve.

 

Favourite film/TV show/podcast?

I can’t decide on a favourite but the answer likely lies in either The Lord of the Rings, Hot Fuzz, or V for Vendetta. Each represents a different type of movie experience that I love.

 

What book should everyone read?

Any of the Sherlock Holmes books. Most of the stories are quite short and digestible but are invariable filled with intriguing puzzles. They also expose you to ways of looking at problems and solving them that you don’t really see in everyday life. They’re eye-opening to just how much information we leave behind in the world with even the most mundane things.

 

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

I don’t generally listen to music and am not very knowledgeable but, if I had to choose, I’d probably go with Queen.

 

Share a meme that sums up your job…

 

Draw yourself

 

 

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