Meet the team: John Russell
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… John Russell, Professional Services Consultant
When did you join Cloudhouse?
October 2022
Tell us a little about your career up to this point:
I went straight into IT when I left Sixth Form at 18. I started in a company as an Apprentice where I was the least experienced member of the team but soon learnt the ropes. That company ended up going through a merger and I was the longest-tenured member of the original team after that. As I progressed, I was responsible for training and transferring all the knowledge of my role and department to an entirely new team of employees.
What do you do at Cloudhouse?
I work in the Alchemy team and am responsible for packaging and deployment. Essentially, we identify what the customer wants – usually moving old applications to newer ones, and help them in the migration. It may be that they are moving from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, so we determine what needs to be done and deliver a successful transition.
What’s the best thing about working at Cloudhouse?
At Cloudhouse it feels like you can speak to anybody in the company, no matter of seniority, and they will always give you the same level of respect. If I am stuck, I know I will never be judged and they will offer help.
What do you get the most satisfaction from in your role?
The fact that every bit of work I complete has a genuine impact on customers. They come to Cloudhouse because they have tried migrating their applications themselves, or through another company but haven’t been successful. So to be able to actually help real people and give results feels good. Even though I haven’t been at Cloudhouse very long, I’ve still been able to deliver to customers.
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…)
In my last company, I had to deploy a test package for pre-release. I had prepped it all and handed over the tester, then I noticed some calls coming in… I realised I had overwritten the original production package rather than the test version! As soon as I saw the calls I knew exactly what I had done.
What’s your view on AI? Friend or foe?
Foe. It’s scary what it can do, especially the voice AI.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A football player.
What would you choose as your last meal?
Blue cheese and bacon burger. It’s really salty and that’s what’s so good about it.
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?
Invisible
Cats or dogs?
Cats
