It’s time to introduce you to a Developer, meet Dawn.
Tell us about yourself
I enjoy riding my mountain bike around the many beautiful trails in south-west Scotland, and although ‘in-between’ campervans at the moment, often take off to go wild-camping and get back to nature. A big passion in my life is music, particularly live gigs and festivals, where I can normally be found dancing like no-ones watching. Please, please let there be no-one watching! Although born in Newcastle, I moved to Scotland when I was very young, and have enjoyed living here ever since. I am an unashamed nerd and always have been, beginning my programming career on a ZX Spectrum at the tender age of 10, approximately a million years ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
I have come out as transgender since I’ve been working at SuperControl. The support from my work colleagues and management team on both a personal and professional level during one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced in my life has given me the strength and confidence to continually face the world.
How long have you worked at SuperControl?
I have been with SuperControl for just over three years now, and have watched our team grow and develop significantly to meet the ever changing needs of our clients during that time, particularly on the technical side of the business. It’s important that our clients can keep up with self-catering industry trends.
Tell us a bit about your current role:
I am a web developer, so I spend a lot of time looking at screens and mumbling to myself whilst trying to convince my colleagues I’m not from the planet Zargon. A lot of my time is spent analysing requirements, and transforming the resultant business needs into a language computers understand. Not quite at the level of Ones and Zeros, but getting there! Some projects are small enough to do myself, but group projects are more the norm, which is always a great opportunity to learn or pass on knowledge. I also take a hand in fixing any issues that come up with the current ‘live’ system.
What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy taking complex problems, and breaking them down into solutions that are intuitive and simple. No two days are ever the same. Every day produces fresh challenges, and I love the fact the even though I’ve been programming for 30+ years, I still want to know more. Yes. Total. Nerd.
What’s been your favourite moment during your time at SuperControl so far?
One of our team nights out in Dalbeattie! Can I say that? Top night! If it must be work-related it would be working on the SuperControl API, and beginning the transformation of the product to the next level, which will ultimately give our clients more power and control over how their information is accessed and changed.
What’s your favourite type of holiday? What do you look for in a holiday rental?
My favourite holidays are typically long sun-drenched tropical beaches, lots of peace and quiet with nothing to do apart from read book number 5, with no computers in sight. I also love to go away on city breaks, see the sights and fill my time with new experiences. I look for good reviews and feedback from previous guests and good local information and knowledge from the owners, as well as the personal touch. Staying at a cottage in Clitheroe recently, the owner had left a beautiful welcome note. More importantly however – they left chocolate. Sold!
