Alan

Can you describe in a few sentences what your job involves? 

I build functionality into our CMS sites. So I work with our front-end and content teams to integrate templates. I also often work with our cloud team on infrastructure setup or integrating with third-party services. 

What's been your most rewarding project? 

From a technical perspective, working with Seafish. We did a website redevelopment and automated content migration. More recently, we completed a new site build for the 2023 Cycling World Championships. This was pretty cool to work on. 

What challenges you most in your role? 

Probably the early phase of a project, because of the amount of information to process from different sources. Then trying to distill it down into a workable technical solution. This can also involve a bit of "how am I going to build that?". But I think over time I've realised that's okay and is a good opportunity to learn something new. 

What makes you excited to come to work? 

The challenge of solving interesting technical problems. Plus, the fact that most of our work is public facing so you can point to something and say "I helped to build that". 

What career path did you take to get here? 

I went to RGU in Aberdeen to study Business Information Systems and moved down to Edinburgh after graduating. I initially applied for the Storm graduate scheme and was unsuccessful. A while later, having built up some experience, I applied for a developer role here and was successful the second time around. 

How do you find the work-life balance at Storm? 

Storm recently facilitated my move to a compressed 9-day fortnight, which has been really beneficial.

What do you enjoy most about life at Storm? 

That I work with colleagues who are experts in their field. This means I don't need to know the answer to every question, I just need to know the right person and the question to ask! 

How have you grown at Storm? 

As I've developed and my skills have grown, I've worked on larger projects. With this, I've been given more responsibility for technical decisions. There's always help available if you need it though, so you're never left on your own.

Do you have any hidden talents or interesting hobbies?

I play hockey for Grange and trombone in Perthshire Brass.