Thanks for taking part - so, how long have you been at PKR?
I joined in February 08, so just over a year and a half.
What's your job title?
A long one ... Senior technical operations engineer!
OK then, but what do you really do all day?
I look after the technical operations team, including Janlin, who had a profile done a few weeks ago that somehow managed to take the site down!
As a team our main responsibility is a sort of bridge between QA and Development. By that I mean we build and deploy new versions of PKR that Development give to us and we make sure our test platforms work so that QA can test them. We are also the bridge between Customer Services and the Dev/QA team. We sort of sit in the middle of everything!
The team also looks after the site out of hours and it’s my job to make sure that we always have people available and it runs smoothly.
So in answer to the original question! I spend my days trying to make things work, fixing things and telling other people to make things work and fix things. QUICKLY!!
What do you like most about your job?
There are LOTS of things I like about working for PKR. There is an ability to pursue your own solutions to problems as well as a wealth of technical talent to help you when you get stuck.
I'm a bit of a geek in general and a Linux geek in particular, so I love getting my hands dirty in all sorts of problems and then telling people that Linux does it better :)
So do you play much poker yourself and how good are you?
Yes I do play and used to play on PKR before I joined the company. I don't have as much time as I used to for doing things like playing games or poker but I try to enter all the internal PKR tournaments.
I usually get a regulation 2nd or 3rd place which is quite annoying! I think that I’m a middle of the road player who can hold his own with most people, but doesn’t understand the devil in the detail of the game.
Who is the toughest player you have come up against? Both staff and PKR player?
Well I am completely banned from playing on PKR and I have not managed to get down to our live events yet, so I can't say who is any good on our site. I did commentate on PKR TV for a couple of episodes though and Chivalrousgent seems a decent chap!
I have promised myself to get down to the next PKR Live, so we shall see!
As for staff....hmmm. PKR_Jake or PKR_Danski or PKR_Jabba, not because I think they are that great or loads better than me you understand! Just because they give it all the talk, in Danski and Jabba’s cases and PKR_Jake plays like he has just downed 16 red bulls.
All three really put me off my game, but PKR_Jake is the biggest reason why I only ever seem to come second or third. Even if he is not involved he affects my mentality.
Tell us away from PKR Towers how you like to unwind?
Apart from the obvious like watching films, I play 5-a-side footie twice a week. On Tuesday I play with friends near where I live and on Thursdays I play with Team PKR at an undisclosed central London location.
Tell us something not a lot of people know about you...
Ssshhh I was quite a good computer gamer in my day. I played for some of the best UK Quakeworld and Quake3 teams. I once went to the world championships (the CPL) for Counter-Strike with my team =D2C= and played the then best team in the world called "Ninja's in Pyjama's" - they were Swedish and utterly amazing at the game. I gave up not long after.
I now console myself with beating up the rest of the office at COD4 at lunchtimes, but don't tell anyone ...Ssshh
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
The ability to travel through time and space. I Loved Blade Runner as a kid and one quote always made me wonder. At the end Roy Batty says to Deckard:
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die."
I would like to see all of those magnificent things in space like supernova’s, magnetars, the end of time – you know the usual.