Booost Spotlight: Mark Hickson

Want to learn more about what makes the people at Booost Education tick? From perfect weekends to favourite trips, we’ve been chatting with everyone to give you the inside scoop on the people working behind the scenes.

Today, we’re speaking with Mark Hickson, and learning all about how they wound up as Senior Application Engineer here at Booost Education.

What drew you to Booost?

I had gotten to a stage in my career where I had the knowledge and experience to create anything within my field and had the security to take a step back and consider what was important to me. I realised that in my time developing software for all different kinds of customers, the ones I was most passionate about were the ones I truly felt were designed to help people who needed it. It wasn't solutions such as warehouse logistics software or a shopping system that I found particularly motivating. I realised I needed to be invested in the product and believed that in my own small way I was improving people's lives. Alongside this, my time working for both large and small companies, I knew that I had a lot to offer a company that was willing to listen to me, and I found that was only the case with smaller companies with flatter hierarchies. So the age of Booost and its mission statement really stood out to me as a place where I could thrive.

When did you know you wanted to work in your field?

Twelve years ago I was a humble security guard desperate to make a change, I knew I was always good with technology so I decided to do an Open University course in Computing & IT in my personal time. Many lunch breaks and post-12-hour shift study sessions were had. At one point during my second year, I had a simple 6-week module in programming. It was a very basic course using scratch programming, which is often used to introduce programming concepts to school children. At that moment, something clicked and I became obsessed with software development. I kept pushing myself more and more taking extra courses outside of my open uni certification to learn as much as I could. One thing lead to another and I went to Hull University to do a Computer Science degree. The rest is history.

Where are you located?

Yorkshire! Which is why I speak like John Snow. In my opinion, the best place on earth. Rolling hills, farms, down-to-earth people and a pint still costs less than £3, what more could you ask for! More specifically Beverley, about 40 minutes from York (which I call the London of the north).

What does your perfect weekend look like?

Getting up nice and early on a dry Saturday morning to take my project track car down to one of the local tracks for a track day session, lots of speed, trail braking and hitting the apex mixed with socialising with other drivers all trying to learn and improve our lap times. Sunday would start with me getting messy wrenching on the project car, hopefully improving it but more likely repairing it after the previous track day. Finish up by lunch so I'm ready to break out some beers in time to watch the F1 race, then it's lights out and away we go!