Although socially awkward at times this young man is arguably the brains behind our projects, bringing designs and projects to life through code.
Where his ability to talk to the opposite sex is often questioned his development skills are far from doubted, renowned for coding at a tremendously fast pace.
Let’s get to know Alex a little more intimately.
What is coding?
Coding is what makes it possible for mobo to create websites, apps and computer software. Basically, coding tells the computer what to do, how to display things and is responsible for user experience.
What does a typical day consist of at mobo?
Well, I come into work, turn on my Mac and request black coffee from anybody that will listen to me. After I have had my fix I then meet with my designers and content staff, reviewing what sites we are working on and where we are in regards to strategy. Then I get my code on!
How did you get into coding?
My roots in coding started at a young age, always interested by technology and gadgets. My first real memories were that of the “Real Robots” magazine subscription at roughly the age of 10, whereby I would receive a piece of a robot each week, eventually building it all up into a fully working and programmed robot. Ever since then I’ve loved how simple lines of text can power automated processes and create brand new ways of thinking and processing data.
My first website I created as hobby project at the age of 13 for myself and family members, on my Tiny PC which had a whopping 128MB of RAM! Then throughout school I would create websites to enhance certain projects and make data more accessible. The majority of my spare time was sadly spent in the IT rooms, and one particular memory is when myself and some friends snuck into the I.T rooms to try and hack the servers whilst the rest of the school were out enjoying the sunshine for the schools sports day.
What advice would you give to aspiring coders?
Don’t be worried – I’ve often seen people have similar symptoms of writers block, too scared to write that first line as the perceived complexity and confusion about how things further down the line will work. The truth is until you start working on larger projects you will mostly just be winging your way through it. That’s the beauty of code whilst you’re learning and working on projects for yourself, you can always just go back and chop and change. But most importantly, just play, some of the best and craziest ideas/outcomes show themselves when you really have no idea what will happen – if you always know exactly how something will work and what will happen, then you’re just writing instructions. The simplicity of writing some random code that generates random colours or text etc is always amusing to see how a computer can “think” for itself.
What is the most peculiar project you have ever worked on?
The oddest projects tend to be my own ones, for example, lately I made an Arduino based little robot that simply closes itself when a human flicks a switch – http://instagram.com/p/xWycKqgcGK/?modal=true
What is your pet hate?
Inefficiency and lack of self-determination to discover things. I hate these items for 2 reasons, firstly, I myself tend to over-optimise my life, lists, routines and general optimisation of any life process I can, which sometimes can get over the top, and although I hate lack of self-determination, I sometimes cannot let things slip knowledge wise, if there is ever a word or piece of information I don’t know I just have to Google it and can’t settle until I have done. On the flip side though, I hate to see people wasting their life with inefficient processes and choices, and also the lack of self-determination.
Personally I never attended University formally, however my determination to learn everything I can from the web/books/people and luckily in this kind of field (knowledge based) sometimes those kind of gambles pay off.
This kind of learning has led me to become very eager to seek out how to overcome obstacles, if there is ever a process, piece of software, or task I cannot do I research it until I know how, when I see others simply give up with “I don’t know how”.. I can’t help but think, you should be saying “I Don’t know how… yet!”. The internet has limitless information for pretty much any subject, use it!
If you were not a coder, what would you be?
Anything else to do with computers or gadgets, however that’s probably not a great answer.. outside of the IT/tech world it’d probably have to be something to do with high quality or crafted items, I’m always intrigued by the artisan quality and processes of professions such as the Japanese blacksmiths.
Some quotes from Alex
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” – Steve Jobs
‘You can fail at what you don’t want, so you may as well fail at your dream’
‘Some people dream of great accomplishments while others stay awake and do them’
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