The 10 sexiest jobs in IT

Steve Savage Read more October 7, 2009

1 Ian Chatworthy, 24, Race engineer for Honda BAR

2 Tom Loosemore, 35, Project director, Web 2.0, at the BBC

3 Steve Foreman, 50, Programme manager at the Met Office

4 Tom Barnes, 47, Technical director of Aardman

5 James Dick, 48, Executive director of Space Insight

6 Dorian Moore, 31, Freelance IT consultant to the stars

7 Richard Bron, 41, CEO of Blueprint Media

8 Dale Barnes, 43, Technical trials manager at NTL

9 Jeremy Silver, 46, Managing director of Sibelius

10 Mick Hocking, 36, Managing director of Evolution Studios

The IT industry has an image problem. Already saddled with a massive skills shortage, the situation is about to worsen, as fewer students sign up for computing-related degrees and greater numbers opt for more fashionable, “softer” subjects such as Drama and Psychology instead. Whether due to the perception that science degrees are too complex or boring, or the nerdy portrayal of technical staff in shows such as Channel 4’s The IT Crowd, teenagers are deserting computing courses in their droves.

That’s a crying shame, because if you scratch beneath the misconceptions, IT professionals enjoy some plum jobs, working in the most thrilling, fashionable and forward-thinking industries. Whether you’re into fashion, music, finance or the sciences, IT roles are central to each of those industries. We’ve handpicked ten leading IT jobs to give you a flavour of the diversity and dynamism this profession offers.

A common thread of job satisfaction that flows from our top ten is the sheer variety; many IT jobs are so far removed from routine data processing as to be unrecognisable. Some of our luminaries have made the grade through visionary thinking, others through dedication and a background in mathematics or physics, but the real success stories have a smattering of both. “The key skills race for the future are creative technologists, people who understand the potential of technology and how to offer new ways of approaching media or industry problems,” said BBC IT guru, Tom Loosemore. “If you can code as well, you’re gold dust.”

1 Ian Chatworthy, 24, Race engineer for Honda BAR

For anyone with even a vague interest in motor sport, Ian Chatworthy’s job is a dream. While the mechanics work on the cars at the 18 Grand Prix venues on the glamorous F1 circuit, Chatworthy sets up the network, servers and communications systems that keep a race team competitive.

That means ensuring mechanics have access to the latest telemetry data from the car during practice laps, so they can work on the suspension or balancing. “We push data from the pit lane to the garage and back to the factory – the network is critical,” he said. All the data from a practice lap is available for the engineers within seconds of the car stopping, although race rules ban offloading data during a Grand Prix. “But we can look at telemetry reading on load balancing, tyre wear and fuel consumption, and make an informed decision in consultation with the driver,” Chatworthy said.
A broad, accumulated skills set is vital, as he employs a selection of ADSL, ISDN, Wi-Fi and laser links to shift data. The communications remit extends from setting up the VoIP network with LAN compressors to helping out if someone has trouble with Outlook. Yet Chatworthy has picked up his skills without any formal computing education; before rubbing shoulders with Rubens Barrichello (“a really nice bloke”), he held a succession of IT support and networking roles, starting with a week’s contract with the NHS.

The global nature of the work – Melbourne is a two-week stint away from home – means hours are long and can put a strain on the technical equipment, as well as relationships. “It’s easier in European races, because I have a truck that goes to the race and it’s packed with a server room, air-conditioning and everything else I need. But long haul, we fly the gear out in airline boxes that open out into offices. In Malaysia, it can be 42C with 98% humidity. It can be difficult to keep the servers running, especially with all the dust and moisture in the air, as well as the vibrations from the cars and the carbon dust created by the mechanics.”

And, if he gets bored keeping a clear head amid ear-splitting engine preparations, he’s also part of the pitstop crew – the spare fuel-hose man – so, if there’s a blockage with the primary pipe during those frenetic seconds, the outcome of the race is in his hands too.

2 Tom Loosemore, 35, Project director, Web 2.0, at the BBC

The BBC’s websites are revered around the world, and Tom Loosemore has a box seat in everything the Beeb does online. Officially, his role involves reviewing and refreshing the corporation’s internet output, encompassing everything from web design and navigation to setting up on-demand television services.

Loosemore’s job grants him a healthy degree of freedom to come up with new ideas and get them off the ground. “The good thing about the BBC is that, provided you do your job, you’re left alone to collaborate with people from other departments,” he said. Recent projects have involved a seven-day “record everything” digital video recorder (DVR), working out how to store the 2.3TB of data involved, and writing APIs for the metadata so programmes can be searched for.

Another similar project, the iPlayer, offers viewers the chance to catch up on TV on the internet, by downloading programmes for up to a week after broadcast. “I’m asking people all the time: how do we find the differences between broadcast and participation? If you’re in television and aren’t thinking about how to make it available online and on-demand, you’re going to get left behind.

Landing a job at the BBC is never easy, and Loosemore’s engineering degree and background in technology helped open the door. But it was playing with a BBC Micro that initially sparked his interest in computing, and there’s still a boyish fascination in everything technological that gives him an edge. “You have to have a passion, it really shines through,” he said. And he wants to share his enthusiasm for Web 2.0. “We’re always trying to see what will work, like the Sex ID, a fun survey to see how male or female you brain is,” he said. “750,000 people took the 15-minute test, making it the largest survey of its kind ever. And creative content will put licence payers in greater control of their entertainment. These are exciting times.”
3 Steve Foreman, 50, Programme manager at the Met Office

You know you’ve arrived at the bleeding edge when your next hardware purchase will replace a £27 million supercomputer that simply can’t keep up with your number-crunching requirements. Steve Foreman is responsible for collecting, processing and outputting the data that helps the John Kettleys of the world decide whether you need to pack an umbrella or sunscreen.

Foreman deals in big numbers and, as data-collection points grow in quantity and density, the resulting processing requirement is hefty. “With the gigabytes of information coming in for processing every 24 hours, we deal in more data every day than the Ordnance Survey carries on the entire UK,” he claimed.

The really hard work is matching and modelling the readings from 10,000 land-based weather-monitoring stations and satellite footage to predict what the weather will do on a regional basis.

“Each measurement is processed alongside models involving complex laws of motion, radiation, how reflective certain clouds are – the list is endless,” said Foreman. Going local, though, is the best way to see the immediate results, which is why Foreman always wants more localised information. “We can tell Wimbledon when to put the covers on Centre Court with about 20 minutes’ notice, and we should, as we get more data, be able to predict the localised flooding that caused chaos in Boscastle.”

The current NEC system at the heart of the project is a 5-teraFLOP beast that gives Foreman a real-life output of about 2 teraFLOPs. The replacement, for which he’s still window-shopping with a purse bulging with “tens of millions”, will push the Met’s brainpower to at least 20 teraFLOPs.

And Foreman will need it. “We always have bigger ideas than the machines can handle – we’re certainly advancing faster than Moore’s Law,” he claimed. “We’re talking chaos theory and the butterfly effect – a small difference in data quality and comprehensiveness can make a big difference to the accuracy of the forecasts.”

Foreman’s degree in mathematics helps him provide a service that people depend on and, as severe flooding, heatwaves and winter snowstorms increase in volatility, let’s hope there are more Foremans to follow.

4 Tom Barnes, 47, Technical director of Aardman

For Tom Barnes, the biggest thrill and sense of achievement of his role comes from seeing his work up on the silver screen in films such as Chicken Run, Flushed Away, or the latest Wallace and Gromit feature – that and relief when two years’ work on a project comes to successful fruition.

Barnes works with film directors to ensure picture quality remains as high as possible, no matter how simple the Plasticine modelling appears. “That might involve building or rebuilding special cameras that best capture the animation,” he said. “Or perhaps building camera controls or a programmable chip to control how equipment moves.”

Since each frame might need to be shot several times, Barnes co-ordinates the motion-control equipment so the director can accurately repeat a shot. It can then be smoothly cut into a scene without everything else appearing out of place. “A lot of this is unique, so there’s a lot of lateral problem-solving involved,” he claimed. “How do we get this shot? We need to use this, or build that, and usually we come up with something that works.”
Short features often involve shooting with 35 cameras at the same time, each with their own lighting that needs to be stabilised so that the picture remains consistent. Barnes also manages five networked Avid editing workstations in the post-production suite. “Every frame of the film is scanned into the computers for effects work, combining composite layers and digitally removing rigs, and other window-dressing tricks, such as shipping in a replacement background or covering up the fact that a light went out during the shoot. Then the whole movie is put back together and output to film.”

You rarely see their names up in lights, but without techies such as Barnes these popular animations wouldn’t look nearly so impressive.

5 James Dick, 48, Executive director of Space Insight

In space, no-one hears you drop litter, which is why James Dick has a full-time job searching out, plotting and monitoring space debris, predicting when old satellites will re-enter the atmosphere and where they might land. His company provides a service to satellite owners, warning them if their £500 million hardware comes too close to other extra-terrestrial furniture.

An astronomer by training, Dick now spends less time hanging from the back of a telescope and more time making sense of readings collected from all over Europe. “There’s a lot of programming involved to extract the information amassed from telescopes and robotic sensors around Europe. We’re creating a moving 3D map of the sky that includes all the metal thrown up there.”

A cross-sciences problem solver, Dick’s work involves creating photon-counting imaging systems, high-resolution image capture, and analysing huge datasets of how man-made objects relate to massive star catalogues. “You need to know each object’s orbit, then track it against other satellites, come back to it to see if it’s altered course, whether it’s decaying or been manoeuvred by its owner. Then our customers know whether to move their own satellites to a safe distance.”

Stargazing isn’t an introduction to the celebrity world, but Dick mixes with senior scientists from around the world, especially having been appointed chairman of the Measurements Working Group of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Committee. And who else can claim the super-secretive Defence Science and Technology Laboratory as a key customer?

6 Dorian Moore, 31, Freelance IT consultant to the stars

Technology isn’t a usual bed partner of the arts, but Dorian Moore is almost avant garde with his use of the web as a creative medium, especially in his work with fashion-centric art house SHOWstudio.

As a freelance IT fixer, Moore chooses his roles carefully, and might be doing anything from website design and reprogramming a webcam at London Fashion Week, to setting up bizarre performance art projects such as “micing up” everyone at a fashion show and audio-casting their conversations live on the net. “We’re really trying to see just how much we can do with the technologies, and I’m very much part of the creative process,” he said.

Moore bailed out of university after a year to pursue his love of the internet and was soon designing sites for the Manic Street Preachers, Kylie and brands such as Levi’s. “There was a real difference between the artists,” he said. “Kylie Minogue was hands on, really interested in how it worked, what we could do. Some people just showed up for the first meetings and left me to it.”
Now, he “provides the ground” between the technology and the creatives. “That might involve running around chasing models at a fashion show, doing site surveys for live catwalk webcasts, or working in a studio to capture images of Naomi Campbell to create a 3D interactive model.”

7 Richard Bron, 41, CEO of Blueprint Media

Conducting an orchestra of disparate technologies and industries, Richard Bron is at the heart of entertainment convergence. And he has fingers in more pies than Fray Bentos. He’s part publisher, part wholesaler, part software designer and, predominantly, an intermediary between artists, content owners, retailers and consumers as the music landscape changes.

His company, Blueprint Media produces packages such as the Open Royalty Gateway and Song Centre, which give rights owners control over how their content is used, whether that’s EMI or a newly formed band practising in their dad’s garage. “New bands love this because they can make 90% of all revenue from sales instead of the 6% they could get from a label – that’s if they even get signed,” said Bron.

Blueprint’s work is by no means solely for undiscovered artists. The blend of content expertise with a good understanding of the potential of technology, means he’s engaged in planning meetings with corporate heavyweights such as Rupert Murdoch, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and BT’s head honcho Ben Verwaayen, as well as A-listers such as Robbie Williams and David Beckham.

Like many of our top ten, success means travel is a constant bane, and there’s only one way to go. “I’m 6ft 6in and I’ll be working when I get to Sydney or LA, so it’s always first class so I get some sleep on the way.”

8 Dale Barnes, 43, Technical trials manager at NTL

Dale Barnes’ role is so vague, he almost makes it up as he goes along. His job is to foresee how we’ll be using home web connections in the future, when they’re faster and even more central than today, predicting what bandwidth, loading and capacity might be needed as we move to DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification), ADSL2+ and VDSL.

“I look at how people will be using broadband in the future, from different ways to deliver the network and serious bandwidth, to actually playing with all the toys consumers will be connecting,” he explained. And that involves getting first access to everything from core networking equipment, such as home gateways and experimental broadband devices, to end users’ toys such as IP televisions and the latest games consoles. “Best of all, I’m supposed to ‘just have a go’ and see where it takes us.”

Most of his work focuses on IP transport – moving content between as many devices as possible, mobile and fixed. The biggest buzz, though, comes from working on something in testing and then later seeing it launched to the public. “When you do a presentation and change people’s perception and get a real ‘eyes light up moment’, that’s fantastic, especially when it’s the Blairs I’m presenting to.

“I loved seeing what a 100Mb/sec network could do to the home network – watching the World Cup in high definition over a set-top box, downloading an MPEG4 movie in 30 seconds and songs in milliseconds. And setting up this connected home was all in the name of research.”
9 Jeremy Silver, 46, Managing director of Sibelius

Unlike many within the music industry, Jeremy Silver saw which way the technological wind was blowing early, and made it his mission to get to grips with digital distribution and creation. His company’s Sibelius software has long been a firm favourite with musicians, professionals and students alike. All this with no formal computer-science training.

“Despite being an arts graduate, I’ve been doing quite techie stuff for over ten years now,” he said. “I was online playing Gopher and Fetch before the web was invented. It made me realise what digital technology would do to the record industry – shame they didn’t listen to me back then!”

Since taking the reins at Sibelius, Silver has used this vision to drive the software forward. “Sibelius is written largely in C++. Other products such as Groovy incorporate languages such as Flash and Java,” he said. “We’re always fine-tuning to make it better, with paired programming and peer code reviews working well for us.”

A typical day might start with phone calls to the Asia-Pacific office to discuss marketing strategies, then turn to product development, or reviewing progress on individual features, mainly based on end-user feedback. With global offices, there’s plenty of scope for travel, but it’s the journey that carried Silver from publishing to working with artists that gives him the most pleasure.

“Artists, historically, have always disliked record labels for various reasons – we have wonderful, creative relationships with musicians.” So much so that Simpsons’ music composer Alf Clausen and Elvis Costello are part of the Sibelius community, while Brian Eno “occasionally whispers ideas for the software into my ear”.

10 Mick Hocking, 36, Managing director of Evolution Studios

Just over a decade ago, Mick Hocking was an adolescent programmer on £15,000 a year. Now he has a job that most red-blooded males would die for, and travels the world mixing with rally drivers and film producers. Hocking researches, designs and produces racing games such as World Rally Championship.

“A typical day involves sitting down in front of a PS3 and firing up the latest version of the game, and testing the new elements – maybe a new physics model, reviewing a new car we’ve just dropped in or a special effect – then discussing them with the publisher.”

In order to understand exactly how the cars handle, and to realistically map true racing environments, Hocking needs to take high-definition video footage, usually from the hot seat of a car, or from the wider vantage point of a helicopter following the action.

“It’s a thrill, because we’re working with next-generation technologies, such as HD cameras and converting that into graphics we can use within the C programming environment we work in,” he explained. And when his team of 100 have had a good week, Hocking gets to play nice guy, taking them all to a local race track so they can experience what it feels like to drive one of the high-performance cars. Talk about a busman’s holiday.