For our next Staff Spotlight we question one of our graduates, George Richardson. From wanting to be an opera singer to experimenting with Jewish baking, George tells us all!
1. 10 years ago, what did you think you would be doing now?
Ten years ago, I was applying to drama schools and performing in singing competitions - I hoped to be an opera singer! I ended up leaving this behind as I begun to follow my other interests in creative writing and film, which is what I studied at University. This led me wanting to become a screenwriter, although it was ultimately my interest in computers and software that led me to Salesforce.
2. What quote do you live your life by?
'Don't let yesterday take up too much of today'. This is a really simple way to express how we shouldn't allow anxiety about our mistakes to hold us back now.
3. What's the one thing you couldn't live without?
Probably food, and not in a sarcastic way! I love food - cooking, baking and learning new recipies. I love to try new things with my food. Recently I've been experimenting a lot with Jewish baking - bagels, challah bread and babka. Yum!
4. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Usually I like to spend my spare time playing video games or looking after the dog that my girlfriend and I have together. I also spend more time than I should designing plans for computers that I would like to build -- PC Part Picker is a dangerous place!
5. What are you listening to/reading/watching at the moment?
I've started reading a lot of Terry Pratchet lately. My girlfriend suggested I start reading him as he was always one of her childhood favourites and I have really got into the way that he writes. I like his ability to make the mundane more interesting and his characterisation is always spot on. I've just finished reading 'The Colour of Magic' which was excellent.
I've also recently finished marathoning 'The Office' (always a classic!) and also 'Battlestar Galactica' (not the original). Battlestar is a fantastic sci-fi and I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch as it's one of my favourite television series of all time.
6. What's your previous work experience?
After I left school, I completed initial officer training at Dartmouth with the Royal Navy. I decided that it wasn't for me, so I left and worked a few odd jobs before I left for University. While I was there, I had a fantastic job working for Birdseye in the 'Largest Pea Processing Factory in the World' as a bay driver, where it was my job to carry pallets with a metric ton of frozen peas from one end of the production line and into the cold store. I worked twelve hour shifts, it was gruelling but rewarding.
My first job out of University was as a salesperson for an email service provider, where I sold their platform to marketing managers. I worked with Salesforce as it was our CRM platform and I liked to use its reporting functionality to help myself generate my own workload.
7. What's your favourite thing about life at Stimulus?
The friendly atmosphere - everyone's always willing to lend a hand or share their experiences if you ever have a question. It would also be wrong not to mention the fabled office dog Dante!
8. What are you excited about during the next year at Stimulus?
I'm looking forward to learning more and developing my Salesforce knowledge - be that through instruction or consultancy work, things are looking bright and I'm excited to see where Stimulus takes me.