Meet the team: Connor Conway

We thought it would be interesting to run some blogs about the super people at Cloudhouse. We’re speaking to people across all our teams to find out a bit more about them, what their role is and what makes them tick. We also ask them for their thoughts on AI and all about their biggest IT fail! 

Meet… Connor Conway, Technical Lead for the Deployment & Compatibility (DC) Team

When did you join Cloudhouse?

Summer 2017

Tell us a little about your career up to this point:

I took a games programming course at University and during that time I ended up going on a year’s placement. At the time I remember not really wanting to go on a placement but my tutors encouraged me to and I’m glad I did. The placement I completed was in software engineering in Java, which at the time I wasn’t too interested in, but the experience changed my mind and that’s what started off my interest in software engineering over just games programming. 

After that started my career in a large company and got some great experience. Since joining Cloudhouse however, I have realised that I much prefer the atmosphere of a smaller company. I started Cloudhouse as a software engineer and I am now the Technical Lead for the DC Team. 

What do you do at Cloudhouse?

For the majority, I still do coding in my current role, but I also manage and guide a small team of developers. I am also in charge of making sure our objectives are aligned with the overall business objectives while coordinating with other Technical Leads in other departments across the company to communicate dependencies and address any cross-functional challenges.

What’s the best thing about working at Cloudhouse?

The people. They’re all great, even on my very first day they made me feel like I really fit in. Everyone is knowledgeable and approachable. The team is super collaborative and are always happy to help. I also feel like the management really cares. 

We’ve actually just got an office puzzle, so that’s exciting! 

What do you get the most satisfaction from in your role?

Probably the fact that I’m still learning every day. Due to the nature of our software, we come across unexpected things all the time and it’s really interesting to learn from. 

Most embarrassing IT moment (e.g. hitting reply all when you really shouldn’t have, deleting something VERY important, leaving your laptop on the train…) 

So, this is horrible… I was coming home [on the train] from work one day and I had put my bag in the overhead storage, as you do. Now, this bag had everything in it; my work laptop, my PlayStation Vita, all of it. Of course, I fell asleep and when it got to my stop I quickly woke up and jumped off… and left my bag behind. 

I called all of the helplines to try and find out where it was, I waited at stations for hours but it was never handed in. It was honestly one of the worst days I can remember. 

What’s your view on AI? Friend or foe?

It’s a bit of a grey area I think. I’d say I’m in between depending on how it is used. I think the danger comes when people don’t understand it. 

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Games programmer. I always wanted to do it which is why I took the course at University, I found the more I was making games though, the less I enjoyed playing them which is why I shifted to software engineering.

What would you choose as your last meal?

The most expensive Wagyu in the world, plus some really nice fries (assuming this is being paid for by someone else!) 

Is a Jaffa cake a biscuit or a cake?

Cake

If you had a choice between being able to fly or being invisible, which would you choose?

Oh, definitely flying. 

Cats or dogs?

Both