Leigh Morrish, Software Engineer, Openet

What does your job involve?

Openet is a telecoms company but they’re branching out into virtualised software too. I am a proof of concept engineer, which means I demonstrate the product to show it works.

What skills make you successful?

It’s important to have a mix of communication and technical skills. I field questions from customers that are quite technical. Studying computer science in college helped me.

What other skills do you need?

I covered what I needed in my computer science course so on the technical side I was good. I try to be a people person so I volunteered for open events, talking to students as they came into the college. It developed my skills for talking to people.

What’s the best thing about your job?

At Openet I’m involved in the social club, which is very fun. Yesterday we went go-karting. You clock off at five o’clock and go have some fun with your team.

Any advice for students?

Kids these days are participating in Code Dojo, which is very good, and I’ve started mentoring those classes. You can learn all sorts of programming languages like Python and html, and it teaches you the logical side of thinking. It will definitely benefit you in the long run.