Triad’s David Preston explains why he loves being a developer and how he has turned a stammer into a superpower.
How would you describe your role?
As a developer, I deliver systems to help users do their job more effectively. At their best, computer systems can take some of the drudgery out of many tasks and enable people to focus on the more enjoyable and productive aspects of their work.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
Writing the code and even the unit tests can be the most satisfying part of my job. When I have a clear idea of what I want to build and see the pieces coming together, it feels really good. I visualise the code on the screen as a physical machine and see the cogs turning as the process runs – hopefully, with the correct result coming out at the end!
I also enjoy finding out about the different worlds in which our clients work. I have been fortunate to work on various projects at Triad in the public, private and charitable sectors. There is some amazing work going on in areas I had no idea existed – for example, the Electoral Commission, who help to ensure that our politics is run in a fair and transparent way; Dalcour Maclaren, who enables the infrastructure on which we depend; and Peabody, providing affordable homes for thousands of people across London.
Triad’s goal is to transform through technology. Since working for Triad, how have you helped make people’s lives better through technology?
I always hope that the systems I help to create and maintain will make people’s lives easier in some way – perhaps by doing the number-crunching to provide the figures needed for analysis or by automating a task that used to take up a lot of time and effort. Typically, the systems I work on have only a few users – tens, maybe hundreds, occasionally thousands – however, by supporting the work of people in our client organisations, I can play my part in achieving some worthwhile outcomes. For example, working with the ECO3 team at Ofgem, we delivered a system to help process grants to make homes more energy efficient. Ultimately, the work supported by our systems will get us a little closer to our national sustainability and climate change goals.
What’s your superpower?
Fortunately, I have not been involved with any comic-book style industrial accidents, so I have no superpowers worthy of a blockbuster movie! Instead, there might be a case for my stammer being a “superpower” – it was very annoying and somewhat embarrassing at first; however, over time, I got used to it and realised that other people were not phased by it. Knowing that I stammer makes me concentrate harder on the message I want to get across and the words that I will use. When it does happen, I find it can also help put people at ease in a formal setting.
Marketing spin aside, what do you think makes Triad different from other IT Consultancies?
I have spent all my 24 years in the industry at Triad, so I only really have my sandwich year at university to compare against. I think Triad’s greatest strength is being a small company where it is possible to know many, if not most, people in your specialism. So often, the important part of answering any question is to know who to ask, and this has been possible at Triad because of the open and friendly nature of the people we employ. Triad have supported me from a new graduate to more senior developer roles, and I have always felt secure that there is someone to turn to if I need help or advice.
If you have a question for David Preston or the Triad team, please get in touch.
