Gareth, what does your role at Paradise Computing involve?
As a Project Manager, on a day-to-day basis, I help our customers to streamline their processes and ultimately make their lives easier. The other side of my job is making sure we’re compliant and meeting our ISO2701 certification standards.
What’s your favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of my job is getting to know our customers. Doing project work allows me to get to know our customers, what they do, how they operate and what their processes are. The more we understand our customers the better we can help them by finding and building solutions that work the best for them.
Could you tell us a bit about your background before joining Paradise?
I originally worked as a software support desk worker before beginning work as an IT consultant for a number of years. I later moved on to doing project work which I continued doing at Paradise. I’ve been doing project work for 7 years now and I find it really rewarding.
I also used to run my own IT services business targeted at the residents of my local community in Aylesbury. I wanted to help people in my local area with their domestic IT, as the only place people had to go was Currys, and I didn't like how they treated their customers. Running this business was an exciting challenge, but it took a lot of time to set up and market, for instance, I made all my own leaflets and designed my own website which was a first for me. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit and destroyed it all - but I learnt so much from the experience!
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome during your time at Paradise?
The biggest challenge is probably related to meeting our ISO2701 certification standards, we have been doing the standard change from 2013 to the new one which is 2023. It involved a massive overhaul of everything that we’ve currently got - we’re streamlining everything and it’s a mammoth task! By a country mile, it has been a big, big challenge but it’s been rewarding as it’s going to make life a lot easier in the long run!
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
Well, I like cars, especially my VW Golf which is the longest I've ever owned a car - at 18 months! Since I’ve learnt to drive, I’ve probably had about 23 cars, I’ve never written any of them off, just got bored of them! I've done some work to my VW, the odd thing here and there to add my touch to it. I’ve taken it to shows and events like the yearly ‘Run the Ring’ charity drive, which is where we do a loop of the M25 to raise money for charity, last year we raised money for Dogs for Autism.
I also like playing video games (when I actually get the time!) and going on walks to train for the 100k Ultra Challenge that I'm doing later this year with a few others from Paradise. It's going to be a mammoth hike, but it'll be a fantastic experience, especially amongst all the beautiful scenery on the coast.
