Staff Study: Sandy

Sandy is a Mathematics graduate (BSc) from the University of Warwick. After university, Sandy postponed working for yet another year by travelling around the world backpacking. His previous working experiences included machine operating in a vegetable preparation factory, heavy forklift driving; and he was also a logistics manager for a haulage company. Although, having tasted life outside his home county of Norfolk, Sandy moved to London in 2006 and has never looked back.

He developed an interest in computing and programming at an early age, and did a course in programming whilst at university. He did not become a programmer, though. In early 2006 he began working at Wanstor, soon after moving to London.

I was employed as a helpdesk analyst and given my previous working skills, this was a steep learning curve

Having worked the busy helpdesk for approximately six months, Sandy was moved out to fulfil on-site support roles.  He studied for Microsoft's MCP professional qualifications but soon realised his interests actually lay in communications. Since then he has studied various Cisco exams including the CCNA and Academy Network Security I and II courses. Sandy is also a VMWare Certified Professional and was amongst those helping Wanstor gain their partnership status.

Although I decided not to pursue a career as a mathematician, my university studies have certainly helped me to develop excellent problem solving skills

Since Sandy became Network Manager in mid 2008, he has been responsible for the Collocation Centre’s networks and as an escalation point to client networks.

On a day-day basis I find myself managing change control, project planning and implementation and giving proactive support and advice to fellow engineers and clients, but I do prefer working on large projects, like the recent data migration project for one of Wanstor’s new clients

From a very early age Sandy has ridden motorcycles.  He was a Moto-X racer having started racing at four years old, but now just enjoys riding his superbike for fun.  Also, Sandy has shot 7.62mm Target Rifle for GB in the Under 19's tour to S.Africa and GB's “Athelings” team to Canada.  He's a keen Scuba diver and has been on conservation trips including measuring Whale Sharks in the Seychelles. Sandy is also an avid film and music fan and can often be found hanging around gig venues, and looking for the next big thing!