I get to meet lots of different people, find out how they operate, and I get to travel all over the world. I get a great deal of satisfaction from designing a process that solves a problem – at one point my job title was ‘solution architect’, and that’s very much how I see my role – finding solutions for IT issues, and meeting business needs.

I’ve been working as a direct employee of Kingspan since 2006, and for five years before that as an external consultant. One of the best bits is the decent people I get to work with – not only do they have enormous ability; I also really enjoy spending time with them. It’s a real bonus when you’re travelling and away from home to enjoy the company of the people you’re with so much. We all have the same goals in mind – finding the best solutions for the business.

I’ve always been proud to be involved in the company, it’s just a very decent organisation. A lot of businesses green wash, but Kingspan genuinely strives to consider the environment, and has been doing this for as long as I’ve worked with the company – long before people became aware of the importance of sustainability. It’s a fundamental part of what we do, not just something that is rolled out for the purposes of PR. It is the thing that gives us direction and keeps us grounded.

Kingspan always tries to do the right thing.

Well, I started out as a developer, but soon realised that I like to work with people. So IT skills and qualifications are important for getting the right information to the right people, but actually it’s the soft skills that are really helpful in this role. You need to be able to listen and understand what people need, then translate it into action. You need to be able to help people through what can be a difficult period in their working lives – changing systems that they may have been working with for years can be challenging for some people, so we need to be empathetic and work with them to help them understand the benefits. For example, when we’re bringing newly acquired parts of the business on board, people are going to be feeling apprehensive. We come in as the interloper, but by the time we have gone through the process with them they will see that we are allies, trying to make their jobs better and easier.

Technical skills can be taught, people skills are learned through experience. Everything that you learn along the way can be brought to the next job.

There have been various things along the way, but the thing that I live by is actually something that my dad used to say a lot to me when I was growing up, which was that you can’t build a reputation on the things you are going to do, and you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Be truthful and straight with people, because every day you write your own reference.

From a technical perspective I’d also add, read the error message! Too many people see an error pop up and swipe it away instead of checking what the problem is – it can only lead to bigger problems further down the line.

There is just one other ‘dad-ism’ I’d like to share, which is that ‘the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but it’s just as hard to mow’…

It’s a really bright future. We are well placed in a world that is starting to realise the impact of climate change.

Water availability is going to become the next big thing that people wake up to. We’ve already seen the response to the energy crisis, but people don’t yet understand that water is also going to become a problem. We have some really clever people working on the best solutions to manage and store water effectively, and we need to get these in place before it becomes too late.

I would not have worked with Kingspan for so long if I did not believe in what they are doing. It’s just a great place to work.