Meet James.

James works as a Systems Administrator here at August. From putting the pedal to the metal on our internet connection to backend support and troubleshooting, he’s our ‘all-seeing eye’ for improvements to internal operating systems.

A true tinkerer and problem solver by nature, James’ main focus at August is to improve customer site reliability, as well as operate and implement systems to make the other Augies more efficient. When he’s not improving the way we work, James coordinates with the build team to get sites out to production and then ensures they’re operating at the highest level.

James’ role takes on many different forms from one day to the next: from general IT support to coding. Basically, we ask him to make stuff better, and he does.

In previous roles, James has implemented Digital Asset Management solutions for large mining companies like Woodside and MMG, developed supporting tech infrastructure for an international campaign shoot with Tempur, and various media pipeline tools while working for a film studio alongside clients like Nike, McDonald’s, Mercedes Benz, and Coles.

We had a chat to see what makes James tick.

***

If you won the lottery would you still work? What would you do?

If I won the lottery, I’d pay off any debt my family had and take my girlfriend on a whirlwind adventure around the world.

I’d then probably stick the rest of it in the bank and live off the interest! I’d still work. I’d contribute to some open source projects I follow, perhaps as an anonymous investor.

Most of all I wouldn’t tell anyone I’d won.

If you could meet one person (past or present), who would it be and what’s the one question you would ask him or her?

Elon Musk. I feel like he’s forcing ‘The Future’ to arrive sooner than it would otherwise.

It’s also interesting how all his enterprises seem to converge and complement each other.

I’d ask him about the probability of an adult in their late 20s being alive to experience another ‘moon landing’ moment.

What’s one website you can’t go a day without checking?

Hacker News. It’s like Reddit, except if all the article commentary was provided from PhD graduates, or super smart google employees, or otherwise authorities in their fields.

If you met an alien what would you say to him/her/them?

Ideally, ‘we come in peace’, because it means we have mastered the technology to travel faster than light, and explore the universe!

Also because the alternative question—‘do you come in peace?’—is actually pretty terrifying…

What would you name the autobiography of your life?

‘Totally improbable but very legit stories of success and longevity.’

By The Right Honourable Sir James Douglas Otter (PhD, OAM, MD, MBA, QC, King in the North, Protector of the realm)

(1^st edition published in 2099).

What is one skill in the world of digital you hope to improve this year?

Any insights around metrics/analytics and alerting to better support our infrastructure and operations.