Paul - Hey Jack, how are you? First of all, thanks for sitting down with me. As you know all of this is very new to me coming in as a junior marketing executive so I appreciate the time and I’m looking forward to this.
Jack - No problem at all - my pleasure. It’s great to have you in the team!
Paul - Thank you very much, so just to get an idea or an introduction, what exactly is it you do for StackUp Digital, what is your job role and what that entails on a day-to-day basis?
Jack - Well, my current job role is ‘Front End Engineer’. It mainly involves building up User Interfaces (or UI) for clients but now encapsulates other responsibilities that aid in building up data-driven components. I’m currently specialising in Shopify and developing sites for our eCommerce clients and making sure they are working as effectively as possible.Some of my other day-to-day roles include getting the best out of apprentices and helping with anything that they may need and other general tasks involving WordPress and React, a JavaScript library that I had specialised in before allocating more time to eCommerce as part of the transition from Endeavour to StackUp.
Paul - That sounds great and looks like it keeps you busy, anything exciting in the works or past works that you would like to share, or anything you have particularly enjoyed working on?
Jack - Of course, there have been plenty of exciting opportunities and projects recently and in the past. A recent project that comes to mind is the Emma J Shipley site. This site was a great opportunity to show some creativity and push out some exciting stuff with the website. It was my first big project with Shopify so it helped develop my understanding of the technology.
Paul - That sounds fantastic, would you be able to share some information regarding Emma J Shipley and what it is all about?
Jack - Emma J Shipley is a unique and exciting brand. It is a brand focused primarily on luxury homewares with a focus on nature and wildlife designs. With this, we were able to use our skills to create a website that complements these inspirations and shows off something unique and eye-catching.
Paul - That sounds very exciting, I will definitely be checking it out. As I know, you are experienced and good at what you are doing, but where did this all start? What got you into this industry and sparked your interest as a front-end developer?
Jack - That is a great question, my interest in coding and software development briefly started during high school when I started learning the basics of HTML, CSS and Python. However, I put that on hold to study economics, business studies and maths at college. After sitting my exams I realised that I didn’t want to follow that career path anymore and remembered how much I enjoyed coding and ‘tinkering’ with code. I got in touch with my brother, Jamie - who was the director of Endeavour Digital before StackUp and he let me come on board for a week of work experience and the rest is history! I’ve never looked back on my decision to become an engineer, particularly through the apprenticeship route.
Paul - Great, it seems like you have known what you have wanted to do for a while which helps when pursuing a career path and being successful. We know a lot about your work and place within software development, but how about you as a person, what sort of things do you like to do when you aren’t working?
Jack - Something that has been a big part of my personal life for a long time now is music: I’m a self-taught guitarist and have been playing for 10 years up until now and more recently I’ve taken up piano. I enjoy challenging myself so I get a kick and sense of purpose by having another goal to work towards. I also like to go bouldering, which is essentially rock climbing but stripped back without the likes of a rope or harness - we don’t go as high as conventional rock climbing, however! Climbing’s element of problem-solving has come in handy with my job too. Something I have taken up more recently is running, this is something that helps me clear my mind and improve my mental health while also having a tremendous amount of physical health benefits. It’s helped a lot over the past months with being stuck inside working from home due to the national lockdowns. It made me realise how physically unfit I was and now it’s keeping me active and also clear-headed when I need to be. I encourage people to try running as the benefits are great.
Paul - That sounds great, I feel as though I have learned a lot about your role and what you get on with professionally, as well as you as a person. It has been great to sit down and get the details of what goes on with you and how things are going with your work for StackUp Digital. Thank you again for giving up some of your time for this.
Jack - Certainly! It’s been a pleasure sitting down and speaking and getting to share some of the exciting things I’ve been working on. Thanks for having me!
