James Mckerral
James’s interest in computers began almost immediately in life. His 2 siblings had thoughtfully been born before him and had generously negotiated a ZX Spectrum with a whopping 48k of RAM just in time for his arrival. Yes, a 48k - the one with the rainbow trim and the rubber keys like a shower mat.
His trajectory into a career in software development was firmly set as soon as he realised he could drive his parents into a deep gloom with only a few lines of code, combined with the relentlessness and remorselessness of a machine that even a 4-year-old couldn’t match:
10 PRINT “Operation annoy parents is GO”
20 BEEP 1,0: BEEP 1,-5: BEEP 2,0
30 GOTO 20
40 PRINT “HA HA THIS WILL NEVER END”
50 REM TODO : embark on a career in ITJames joined NCR Edinburgh in June 2015 as a Technical Project Manager attracted not only by the perks of breakfast; frequent pizza; and bean-to-cup coffee (all gratis!), but also by the sharing culture; the clearly ridiculously clever co-workers; and the joy of finally finding somewhere that takes agile software development seriously.
Outside of work, James has a wide range of interests including “eating” and “sleeping” and one day hopes to perfect his revolutionary new technique of “sleep-eating”.
Our file photo of James was taken while camping at “T in the Park”, Scotland’s premiere outdoor music festival, in fairly typical Scottish weather conditions. Even though James is pictured here in the company of food (usually his happiest moments) and is notionally smiling, his hollow eyes tell a different story and he still confesses to wincing any time “the Scottish festival” gets mentioned in casual conversation
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