“I enjoy seeing how our company and clients operate. This is something that’s difficult to learn from a book, so these real-life experiences at Beacon have been enlightening.”

Typical Day

First Things

• Cross the garden to my shed where I work.
• Prepare for any interviews and curate questions which are personal to the candidate.
• Spend an hour or so on administrative work: checking Slack, emails, client communications, and answering questions which tend to be urgent as security is so time sensitive.

Mids

• Stop for lunch and enjoy something usually prepared by my wife. We try to eat together, but her work schedule almost always gets in the way.
• Attend meetings but try (and typically fail!) to keep Fridays meeting free.
• Review contracts and deal with paperwork!
• Spend the rest of the time at productive work, including both coding and code reviews.

Last Things

• Send off anything for U.S. eyes by day’s end.
• Shut down my computer and leave the shed.
• Aim for an hour-long walk each evening and check on the news with a podcast.
• Travel into London a couple of times per month to see some comedy, or meet with my tribe.

Position

I usually call myself the “security person” at Beacon, but this leaves a lot of questions open about what it is I do. If an issue involves security regarding practice, policy, product, or code, it usually ties back to me. I also get to work with most of Beacon’s other teams and so I often have a lot on my plate.

Great Startup Opportunities

I came across Beacon by accident; we can blame that on (or give kudos to) my recruiter. After looking at the job spec and speaking with Beacon, I decided that I liked the people, liked the idea of the company, and liked not being confined to a pigeonhole. Before I joined Beacon and started working in financial services I had worked in the gambling industry, everything from system integration to logistics. 

What Motivates Me

I don’t like being confined to a box and my job here is accommodating to that. Also, I’m determined to change the expectations of what it means for something to be secure. I believe that usability has to come first, with security being an end result.

Upcoming Goal

Apart from putting usability first, my goal is to build a team who can do what we need to, in a way which I believe works the best. On a more personal level, I am finding more time to exercise a new hobby that I picked up over lockdown: trying stand-up comedy. I’ve been told I have a habit of using comedic effects and so I started studying stand-up. Although it’s nerve wracking, it’s a fun challenge. And enjoyable.

Fast Trivia:

Music

Pink Floyd’s album, The Division Bell

Movie/TV

My favorite movie is Usual Suspects, and for TV, The Wire.

Books

I devour books!  My favorite of the classics is The Count of Monte Cristo and from the modern era, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion.

Favorite Trips

Azores

Food

Almost anything properly slow-cooked or barbecued. Or lemon sole if available.

Favorite Things

I love cycling, but unfortunately live at the bottom of a valley, so whatever direction I choose to cycle in I have to go 2.5 kilometers uphill straight away.

Little Known Fact

I have a penchant for pranks and stunts. I think leaving people with a funny memory is better than leaving them with nothing at all.

Joined Beacon

August 2021

Education

Lappeenranta University of Technology: M.Sc., Software Engineering

Hometown

I grew up in Helsinki, Finland, but have been in the U.K. for nine years. This country is still too cold for my liking, but less so than Finland.

Work Location

London