Interesting career call outs..

I decided that as work experience can look fairly bland on paper, I’d choose and share 5 interesting things I’ve done in my career. I came up with the following:

The most interesting:

In 1994 I joined Cascade Systems Ltd. and managed the marketing and launch of their revolutionary Relational Database Management System, MediaSphere 1.0, which was the first full multimedia archive to use a natural language search engine - before Google, Yahoo et al launched. It comprised a text search engine, a database and Adobe Acrobat 2.0 to convert postscript files in PDF format.

The most bizarre - Adult websites. Whilst working for a cable company I was asked to research porn channels and propose adult packages for subscribers.

The most challenging (and most fun) - Fresh out of University I was asked to source, assess and propose and introduce some diverse product lines for Superdrug which included leisure wear and DIY. I travelled the length and breadth of the UK, alone, navigating highways, byways and hotels, over the course of a few months visiting some very out of the way stores where I met some fantastic people who helped merchandise the new lines.

The most valuable - In 1994 on my first day in my second job I was handed a brand new MacBook and told that in addition to everything else in this new exciting world that I had 3 months to learn how to use it and all the loaded software. I had never seen one - these were the days of faxes; mobile phones were carried in big bags and only the MD’s secretary in my previous company had a word processor (out of bounds for ordinary mortals). I sat on the carpet at home every night with a glass of wine and persisted until something clicked! Never looked back…

The most rewarding - I was asked to help a couple of extraordinary British foster fathers transition their foster son with Aspberger’s, who they had rescued from an extremely difficult life in the British Care system, into the French education and care systems.