Ray Hammond, our Lead Technical Analyst, has been with the company for over 8 years. In this time he has been able to enhance his skills and progress in his career with us. We had a chat with Ray to gain some more insight into his current tech role within the aviation industry.

 

What are your specific responsibilities as a Lead Technical Analyst in the aviation industry?

As Lead Technical Analyst I am responsible for ensuring the quality of software development is delivered to a high standard. This includes ensuring the architecture, code quality, documentation and testing approaches are top-notch.

 

Did you have any aviation experience prior to joining the company?

I worked for Bytron Aviation Data Systems for 10+ years; I took a couple of years break out of the industry before accepting a role at Keyzo the parent company of bytron. 

 

What is it like being a Lead Technical Analyst in the aviation industry?

It is helpful to have some Aviation domain knowledge in the role.  To ask the right questions when estimating a feature or designing an integration is very useful.  Being able to understand how your users will engage with the system you design it very helpful and has a direct correlation to how successful any given project is.

 

What is the most exciting project/ticket you’ve worked on?

I’d say working on a charting product – route plotter; taking data from sources such as the UK Met Office and producing a chart with accurate weather for 1000s of flights per day was a great project to work on.

 

Do you have a greater understanding of the aviation industry since joining the company?

Yes, as new features are added we get to learn about different requirements and processes in the Aviation work.  And, as with any domain, standard changes so keeping up to date with the industry is super helpful.

 

What is your preferred programming language and why?

I am going to say JavaScript.  Obviously not for its beauty or design; but because it’s a winner.  What started out as a quick language added to Netscape Navigator back in the day has become a serious contender for adoption whether you are a front end or back-end developer.

 

How did you get into your career?

I went through the alternative college and university path; opting to do the BTEC ND and HND route.

 

What advice would you give someone starting their journey as a developer?

Learn as much as possible and never stop learning.  If you want to be a software engineer, I’d recommend that you get involved with an open-source projects create yourself a git hub profile and start coding, get on coding wars and learn while having fun; and finally, get some online courses done; using sites such as Udemy.

 

If you'd like to progress your skills and advance your career in tech, just like Ray, then head to our careers page to find out what opportunities we have for you to join our team!