Here's to the 'older heads'

There’s something about the pace of change in an industry like ours that would make you think most of the people in it are, or at least seem to be, on the ‘young and thrusting’ side.

After all, as a company we’re less than 40 years old, so the opportunities for people to have built a long career are relatively few compared with other parts of the organisation that have been in business for well over a century in some cases.

We have our fair share of young guns on the books for sure, particularly among our support staff. In fact we’ve just taken on another apprentice developer, a young accountant in our administrative office and we’ve also welcomed a student from Germany who’ll be with us as an intern for a year.

It still doesn’t mean we put the ‘oldies’ out to pasture once they hit 30... Thirty-one, maybe.

I’m joking, but even so it maybe shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it seemed to this week when we were asked to put together some information about three of our employees who are each celebrating – or at least I’d like to think they’re celebrating – at least 25 years service with PCS.

It’s a tradition in our parent Claverley Group that long-serving employees are recognised with the presentation of a gift and a mock-up newspaper front page with a picture and a short biography of them in pride of place.

Our latest trio includes two 25s in gentlemen by the name of Howard Lane and Derek Gardner and a 35 in Steve Whitbread. Derek’s a member of our management information team while Howard and Steve are front-line coders who are still working their magic among the nuts and bolts of some innovative new products after all this time.

A statto and two code jockeys – it doesn’t sound very rock and roll, does it? But every organisation needs their Steves, their Dereks and their Howards. They help to shape the way a company like ours develops and put a piece of their experience and know-how into everything we do.

I suppose, too, it’s part of the nature of the IT business that it keeps the brain young even if the knees start to go after a while.

There’s always something new around the next corner and it’s the experience and knowledge of our respected ‘elders’ if I can give them that tag, and their willingness to keep meeting those challenges that helps to channel the enthusiasm of those of us who follow in their footsteps.