No time to stand still in fast world of information technology

Tim Hodkinson's role as a technologist with Liberty Information Technology in Belfast enables him to stay involved with the technical aspects of the IT industry while at the same time having more influence and authority within the company

The post: Technologist, Liberty Information Technology (Liberty IT), Belfast
The postholder: Tim Hodkinson

As part of a four-strong technology team, Tim Hodkinson is at the forefront of researching, assessing and designing new technology options for Belfast-based Liberty Information Technology's US parent company Liberty Mutual Group, a global multi-line group of insurance companies. Nigel Tilson reports

What does Liberty IT do?

Liberty Information Technology is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group and provides software application development and maintenance services to Liberty Mutual's four strategic business units: personal, commercial, agency and international markets.

What does your job entail?

I create application architectures, designing software systems, technical leadership and providing guidance for Liberty IT in software engineering best practice. I work as part of a four-person team called the Technology Office.

How did you get into this line of work?

It was by accident really. I wasn't the sort of kid who was always into computers, in fact the closest I came to one was the Glaxian arcade machine in Lisburn swimming pool.

When I was older my parents bought me an Atari games console, but it wasn't programmable, and programming is the thing that really interests me.

When I left school I was originally studying Medieval English Literature at Queen's when I took an optional course in word processing and something clicked in my mind when I realised you could make the word processing program do more than it was designed to by writing macros and add-on functions.

This was something that really fascinated me and it initiated a swift, rather gruelling but ultimately enjoyable change of path into computer science.

Outline your career to date.

After university I worked for a small research and development company in Lisburn. I have to say that it was a bit of a baptism of fire - very tough, technically challenging work that required learning a lot very quickly.

It was worth it, though, as it gave me a good grounding in low level technologies and also taught me the importance of having good user interfaces.

After that I moved on to a software engineer post with an outsourcing company. This work involved a lot of travel and working on-site with customers all over the British Isles.

This gave me fantastic experience and it taught me a lot of the non-technical skills that are required in the job I do today.

After a couple of years working there I moved to Abbey - at the time the UK's fourth largest bank - where I worked on its client-server systems, then moved into internet banking and web development.

During my seven years at Abbey I progressed through the various software engineering grades to finally end up in Java consultancy.

I have been at Liberty IT for two years now, moving from senior software engineer to technologist. This post is the same level as a project manager, but involves technical rather than project-based skills.

Tell us about your qualifications/training.

I have an MSc in computer science, a couple of postgraduate software engineering qualifications and have completed numerous technical training courses as well as consultancy skills training.

The job requires continuous learning, though. The world of technology moves very fast and it's amazing how quickly your skills and knowledge can become obsolete, so keeping myself up to date is imperative. Also reading Dilbert every day is pretty much compulsory in this job.

Did you always want to work in your chosen sector?

No, but unfortunately there are limited opportunities in this part of the world for astronauts. Also my interest in paleontology faded when I realised that you tend not to find anything more exciting than belamites here and Iron Maiden already had two guitarists, so it was the IT industry for me.

I was a late starter in the IT industry, but I think this has given me a broader world view. I have been very lucky to find my way into an industry that is so interesting and offers so much opportunity for travel and learning.

What qualities are required for your position - personal and professional?

Arrogance, overt disdain for anyone who doesn't know as much as you do about computers, a beard and a preference for wearing socks with sandals.

Only joking. Pretty much the opposite of all that.

Contrary to what some people may think, this is not the job for the guru programmer or technology prima donna.

First and foremost you do need to know what you are talking about technically, but you also need to be approachable and have the communication and relationship-building skills to get your message across, otherwise you are not adding any value to the company.

Above all you need to have a passion for technology and the sort of mind that needs to pull things apart to see how they really work.

What do you do day-to- day?

The job is incredibly varied. One day you could be designing the architecture for a new system, the next you could be researching and assessing new technologies, giving presentations to internal colleagues and customers in the US or just writing some code.

Detail any recent projects that are reflective of your job and your industry.

I tend to be working on several projects at once, but the main one I'm on right now involved undertaking proof of concept work to investigate the capabilities of some of the newer rich internet technologies like Adobe Flex, the Google Web Toolkit and Ajax as an alternative to the traditional page-based web application.

This is pretty reflective of where the industry is today. We moved from client-server to web-based systems and sacrificed functionality and user experience for cost savings.

Now with advances in technology, we are migrating back towards rich functionality on our system clients, but with services still delivered over the web.

What makes working in your industry interesting and challenging?

The main challenge is keeping up to date with changes in technology in such a fast moving industry.

That's also what makes it so interesting. You are always learning new skills.

IT is also now very much a global industry, so you have to be prepared to travel.

What career progression opportunities are available?

Within Liberty IT there is a pretty clear progression path from associate software engineer right up to principal software engineer.

In a lot of companies that is the extent of how far you can go without moving into management.

For a lot of people in IT that's not always an attractive option as the reason they got into the job was because of an interest in technology.

The great thing about Liberty IT is that it has the alternative track to project manager or technologist that allows you to stay involved with the technical aspects of the job but have more influence and authority.

What kind of personality do you need to operate within your chosen industry?

You need a strong sense of curiosity and keen analytical skills, also the ability to learn new things quickly and sound technical knowledge. However you also need skills common to any industry: you need to be a problem-solver and have good communication skills.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Up until the birth of my daughters I used to play the guitar and I was writing a gothic horror novel set in Victorian Belfast.

Now I have two girls under two, so you can imagine that pretty much accounts for my spare time. But it's all good fun.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I can read the Old Norse language.

Who has inspired you most in your life?

My mum and dad had a lot of influence on me. Also my wife Trudy constantly inspires me with her endless enthusiasm and general love of life.

I will have to mention Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) too and, last but definitely not least, James Alan Hetfield (Metallica).