This week as part of our ‘meet the team’ series we caught up with Conor McCarthy, Senior Technical Consultant at Syndeo who joined the team at the start of the year. In the short interview below Conor talks about his background, what his typical working day involves, what he likes most about his role and what he enjoys doing when not working. He also offers some great advice for people starting out in their tech careers.
1. Tell us a bit about your background and how you got into this role.
Well, I come from the Mayfield end of the north side of Cork city where I was born and bred. My father was a telco engineer, beginning his life with AnPost (as it was called then), which is where I got the telco buzz from. However, I didn’t start out in telco, I was interested in travelling, seeing the world and wanted a job that enabled me to do this. With that in mind, I went into hotel and catering management, qualifying as Assistant Conference & Banqueting Manager in Fitzpatrick’s Silver Springs Hotel in Cork. After a stint there I decided to go to London, where I ended up getting together with Julian Metcalf of Pret a Manger and Clive Schlee, who brought Pizza Hut to Europe to develop a new concept restaurant which evolved into ‘itsu’.
When my time in London came to an end I decided to go back and study coding/web design and IT. I worked with Siemens, providing support for their new models of GSM phones, U.S. Robotics Home Networking, when routers were first introduced into the commercial market. From there I went to Genesys, working as the local support and development resource. When the Celtic Tiger left Ireland, I was forced to consider a role in the UK and took a job with Livenation/Ticketmaster, moving to a SIP solution which went live for the London Olympics.
Following this I moved to Australia to further develop my career and had the privilege of working with some of the best talent in APAC. This role saw me reaching back to Northern Ireland to the Syndeo team to run the first deployment of their IVR application in the southern hemisphere for a well-known Insurance Group in Melbourne for the Anz region. It also involved transforming the Australian Government Centerlink and Services to SIP, including their emergency response solution for their frequent natural and weather emergencies. I lived and worked in Australia for 5 years, met my soulmate, got married in the ‘back yard’ in the Dandenongs (an amazing forest mountain outside Melbourne). Then I decided to show my wife a little bit of Ireland, so we came back and I started working for Syndeo. Connemara is amazing!
2. What does a typical working day look like for you?
Meetings aside, I usually work on the development side of the house, however in the future I know that is changing. The good aspect of our work is that no two days are ever the same. We go into work eyes wide open, ready for any situation, not unlike firefighters, anything can happen. We’re currently working on a project to develop a conversational bot for a new bank and have just completed testing. Every day is different which keeps it interesting.
3. What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I live in the countryside, so anything outdoors – mountain-biking, walking/trekking. I also [try to] make electronic music. I have been working on music since I moved to the UK and I’m in the finishing stages of it all, so I hope you download it when it comes out 😊.
4. What do you like most about your current role and working at Syndeo?
The people! It’s as simple as that. When great minds bash heads amazing things happen and I see it in Syndeo every day.
5. What advice would you give to someone starting out in their tech career?
Go out there and get as much life experience as you can while keeping true to your career goals. It’s never easy going out into the big, bad world, but don’t worry, there will always be a company like Syndeo out there for you, who will be willing to take your experience, knowledge, methodologies into account and help you along your journey to success. It’s important to be honest with yourself and others and always be open to change. Finally, never be afraid to ask questions, stick your neck out and have the difficult conversations, it will build you.
We are always on the look out for talented people who want to be part of something very special. If you think that person may be you, send a copy of your CV to jobs@pcdstage14.co.za.www17.flk1.host-h.net
To review current vacancies visit Syndeo Careers.
