Meet the Team: Rob White
Robert is one of the directors of Terracoding. He’s a pragmatic and sensible guy with a sense of humor that is easily found. He helped create the company at the same time as working towards his First Class Masters in Computer Science at University. Here are a few questions he answered so you too can get to know what goes on in this inspirational man’s mind.
What is your favourite film?
When you were young, what did you want to be?
I never had an idea what I wanted to be when I was young, even going to Uni I wasn’t sure if I was choosing the right course.
If you had any advice for 12 year old you, what would it be?
Get stuck in and learn hard work when you’re young, don’t cruise by and be your own hardest critic.
What inspired you to get into Software Development?
I used to play a lot of video games when I was younger, and my Dad was always quite techie (everything from building PCs to building websites); it seemed a natural progression.
Have you ever had a “hero” in your life, someone you look up to and aspire to be?
It’s strange to say - but I’d consider one of my friends from secondary school to be huge inspiration. He arrived in the country knowing just shy of no English, and within what felt like a matter of days (more likely weeks) he was semi-fluent and laughing along with the rest of us. It must have been an incredibly daunting experience, and one he handled with immense grace.
If you had a time machine, what year would you go to and why?
I don’t think I could pick just one year; I’d want to go forward 10, 20, 50, 100+ years into the future to see how everything changes and all the new things that are created.
If you could be part of any business/product, which would you pick?
Definitely either Google Glass or the Apple Watch; they’re both in the very early stages of what I think are going to become very exciting products. Imagine having real-time tracking of your health, fitness, and being alerted within moments of something being detected/diagnosed. We’re a long way off understanding the human body, and there’s no such thing as too much data!
What’s the most rewarding thing you’ve done so far?
I think it’s a tie between either learning Mandarin at University, or working on numerous projects for a good cause. Learning a language so completely different from anything else I’d known was a huge challenge, and to do well brought a great sense of accomplishment and pride.
Do you have any suggestions for someone wanting to get into software development?
Dive in and build something, it doesn’t even have to work great the first time. Get stuck in, release something and enjoy the thrill of your creation being out there for the world to see.
Fast forward, 50 years, how much do you think technology would have changed?
I think wearable technology/Internet of Things will have a big impact on our day to day activities, with the world becoming even more interconnected. Whether this is a good thing or not (e.g. potential privacy implications, nanny state etc) only time will tell.