Day in the life – Simon Driscoll

Meet Simon Driscoll, Senior Application Developer for Clinisys. Since joining the company in 2001, Simon has played an integral part in many projects throughout his career and continues to do so within his current role. We recently sat down with Simon to chat about his experiences at Clinisys, how his career has progressed and the changes he has been a part of over the years. Continue reading to find out more about Simon, and the latest developments he and his team are working on.

What has been your favourite project you have been a part of so far?

I have worked on a number of excellent projects over the years, but I think what we are working on currently must be the most exciting. Our focus at present is the Cloud, and how we can apply this new innovative use of technology to Clinisys solutions. I had yet to work on a Cloud development project, and therefore was very keen to be a part of the team responsible for developing and deploying our Cloud based Specimen Processing Module (SPM) application. Having the opportunity to work with such new technology is what makes this project so interesting, we are entering unexplored territories and improving our solutions’ capabilities in ways never seen before.

Overall, I think the new developments we are making with the Cloud demonstrates how Clinisys strives to be at the forefront of innovation and prioritises providing our customers with modern solutions that they can rely upon daily.

Is there anything that challenges you within your role?

Of course. We are constantly challenged, from dealing with customer issues, new deployments and developing new solutions there is never a dull moment.

However, I enjoy the challenge of something new and having my skills tested. Each new project has brought with it the opportunity for me to improve my knowledge and expand my skillset, the most recent development being learning to work with the Angular web framework on our latest Cloud project. This required quite a bit of independent learning, which has resulted in me being able to deepen my understanding of this new technology and utilise it to progress the development of our latest solution. Extensive research is a key step in any development project, especially when we are working with new technologies, frameworks, or interfaces.

How has Clinisys has changed over the years?

Over the 20 years I have been with Clinisys, there have been a lot of changes. I think the most noticeable change is the growth that has been achieved by the company over recent years. For some time, the development team was a small group within the UK and Ireland, tasked with a wide range of responsibilities from development to deployment. However, we now have several teams spread across the globe, with colleagues in America, India and throughout Europe. As a result, we can benefit from the expertise within each region. I think it’s fair to say we have really embraced a global approach to development and that we can now apply these new skillsets and knowledge to improve the solutions and services we provide for our customers.

How has your role developed over the duration of your career?

Over the years Clinisys has embraced changes within the market and the new technology that enters it; this has allowed my role to remain interesting and everchanging. I have been lucky enough that throughout my career at Clinisys I have never been stuck working on one project for too long. As new projects have surfaced, I’ve had the chance to join new teams, work with cutting edge technology and be a key player in the improvement of our solutions and services.

In your opinion, what is the culture of Clinisys?

The culture of collaboration is very strong throughout the teams at Clinisys and ours is no different. The work we do requires involvement and dedication from all team members, it is also vital that we are adaptive to any changes or challenges that occur.

An example of this was throughout lockdown, during the COVID-19 pandemic. I had only just started working on the Cloud project when we had to adapt our way of working very quickly, from being predominantly office based to working from home 5 days a week. Where many struggled with this change, our team thrived. In fact, I would say some of our best work was produced over the course of the pandemic, as we learned to used tools such as Microsoft Teams to strengthen our collaboration. This really cemented the team and since returning to more traditional working, we have been able to apply some of these practices to benefit our current projects.