2020 has been a tumultuous year so far, and we are missing seeing our customers face to face, so we thought we’d introduce an interview series called ‘ Getting to Know You’ –  a little light snippet about some of the people behind MarXtar and until we can get to see you again hopefully a chance to get to know us a little bit better!

We are starting today with Mark McGinn MarXtar’s Managing Director, a seasoned professional with over 25 years’ experience of delivering IT systems and service management solutions, Mark is a guru in the IT world.

How do you keep your technology skills current? 

Keeping my technology skills current is not as easy as it used to be now that I wear other business hats within MarXtar. However, I do keep a close eye on what vendors are doing and read all of the reports that come in from the consulting teams so I’m up to date on what they are encountering during their engagements. The rest of the time it is building and maintaining demonstration systems and that helps to keep my technical skills sharp.

Who is your hero?

I don’t have a Hero per se. There are aspects of many people that I admire, such as honesty or courage, but no particular individual.

What motivates you to work hard?

Family has always been the main driver for me, pushing myself to provide for them, though I am also incredibly stubborn so when I put my mind to something, I need to achieve it.

What is your favourite thing about your career?

I love technology, if I wasn’t doing this job I’d still continue to continually play with technology, so the best thing is that I get to spend my days at work playing with technology and the business pays for my toys.

What did you want to be when you were small?

Bigger 😊

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be?

The big kid in me demands to fly fighter planes. Planes! But not just one thank you very much. The iconic Spitfire and Harrier Jump Jet are of particular interest.

What is your favourite game or sport to watch and play?

I have to say I’ve never really been a fan of watching sport, I would rather play it, though I’ve not played for many years, but I always enjoyed indoor quick cricket.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Bacon Sandwiches

What was the last book you read?

I read A LOT so this will be out of date by tomorrow! I will generally read between 3 to 6 books a week so best to just say they will normally be in the Sc-fi/Fantasy genre. Kindle Unlimited for the win!

What’s your favourite type of foreign food?

Does Danish Bacon count? If not, then probably Indian.

Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

I’m not sure there are any actors I dislike enough to ruin their careers in this way! Purely based on suitability for the role, Matthew Perry (in Chandler Bing mode) would fit pretty well.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?   

Before speaking, please engage brain. Also, don’t tumble dry.

What three items would you take with you on a deserted island?

Really struggling with this as I can’t help but want to take a luxury yacht, a skipper and supplies so I can get off it as quickly as possible. Please note that I only choose these because I’m making the assumption that the island is too small for me to take a plane, a pilot and a runway. I’m not a big fan of beach holidays in case you can’t tell.

What three words would your colleagues use to describe you?

That Bloke There

What is your favourite and least favourite technology products, and why?

It has to be the internet for both things. When I think back to how isolated we were when I started my career and how much things have changed because of it, I cannot really think of anything else that has done as much good. However, the internet also gives a disproportionately loud voice to some of the worst things in life, much of it social (allegedly) media. I still think the good outweighs the bad though.

How do you think further technology advances will impact your job?

As things move more to the cloud, we’ll see a much greater emphasis on better usage of systems rather than the traditional install & configure side of things. We are still at the phase where cloud is seen as a silver bullet vs. on-premise but the same reasons why on-premise solutions fail will still cause cloud systems to fail.