Meet Simon Smith, Senior Software Architect, myairops.

You’ve been working here for a while now, what brought you to myairops?

I joined Airops Software 8 years ago when the company consisted of only a handful of people. First and foremost, I was enticed by the idea of working in private aviation. I was intrigued by how the industry operated and how software was being used to solve day to day problems. Being located at Farnborough Airport, at the heart of the action, I also liked the fact you could see the software being used in situ.

Can you explain what your role as a senior software architect looks like on a day-to-day basis?

Day to day my days can be very different covering all different areas of software engineering and beyond. I remain very hands-on so most of my days involve coding in some capacity, which can be part of an R&D task in the form of prototyping, implementing a new feature or bug fixing. My days will also include elements of design and documentation, troubleshooting, mentoring, and considering the technical roadmap – certainly never a dull day!

How did you become interested in software and technology?

I first became interested when I got a Commodore Amiga at the age of 10. Somehow, I ended up with a book on Amiga Basic which I played with and realized the power of being able to instruct a computer what to do. I went on to study Computing at A-level and then Computer Science at university which naturally led me to pursue a career in software development. Since then, I have developed software in various sectors including local government, smart card manufacturing, freight and customs and now private aviation.

What do you most enjoy about working at myairops?

Working at myairops provides constant technical challenges with an ever-changing set of requirements. It means that every day is a challenge, in a positive way, meaning that I am constantly pushing myself and always learning new things.

What’s the most unusual job you’ve had?

Whilst at university I did some temping work which lead to a varied set of short-term jobs, including being a bin man for a day, delivering a hot tub to Portsmouth docks and packing UPS batteries in a warehouse for a summer! On a more relevant note, to my career, I was also fortunate enough to be posted in Mexico for 5 weeks to assist the development team there. This was an unforgettable experience and allowed me to see the real Mexico, especially as I was there for the ‘day of the dead’ celebrations!

Below is a photo of Simon and his family.