Team Spotlight Q&A
Our team come from a diverse set of backgrounds and everyone has their own unique story to tell. Here's a little more about Luke's journey!
Q: What were you doing before you joined the team?
Shiptheory was actually my first job - I came in as an apprentice straight from college. Shiptheory was my first interview and they offered me the job on the day. There was really no before Shiptheory for me, I've grown up with it!
Q: How has Shiptheory helped your growth personally and professionally?
It's hard to answer really, as I grew up with Shiptheory. I've been here coming up to 5 years now, so I haven't really noticed any change as this is all I've known. I went straight from school into this job and have grown up as an adult in this job. So I would say it's probably influenced me a lot in the sense that I don't know adult life without Shiptheory.
Q: What was your first role at ST and what do you do now?
My first role was first line support, but as it was early stages I really did a bit of everything. I did a bit of social media marketing, have done some development work, and have been Team Leader. Currently I'm in second line support, but I've also started to work on some development work again.
The success from that has led to more trust and responsibility, and I now have two days a week dedicated to tackling bugs, allowing other developers to focus on big projects for the future of Shiptheory. This means I have more of a defined role in the team, and hopefully sooner or later I'll be a permanent fixture.
What has been your proudest or favourite moment working for Shiptheory?
That's 5 years of my life! Obviously actually getting employed was nice - as an apprentice you're not guaranteed any security, they can just tell you they don't want you or replace you with another apprentice. It was nice to feel like I made it. I've moved up to higher roles in the support team, and also loved when I was first allowed to do dev work. It meant that they trusted me on a different level.
Overall, just seeing the company grow has been great. I've been here since we had two desks in a DeskLodge, and this meeting room we're chatting in now is more space than we had back then!
Q: Would you recommend working at Shiptheory?
Of course, in my role at least I feel like I'm given a lot of freedom. As long as you're getting your work done, you're trusted to work however you like. If you've got the drive to want to do something, you've got the opportunities to progress that, like me being able to take on development work.
Being able to train on the job and having been given the trust to move in a direction I want to has been great. There's a lot more diversity of opportunities here than at your average company.