Mon 04 January 2016 by Laura Gaetano
Introducing the Captain Chef De Partie
Today we'll introduce Emile, our Front-End Developer and UI/UX Designer. Originally born in Manchester but having grown up in Algeria, he moved back to the UK when he was 8. "I felt the cold for the first time", he says; as a contrast to his time in Oran, where he spent the days on the beach eating king prawns fresh off the boat of a fisherman who was one of his dad's friends. It took him a while to get accustomed to this new city: "Manchester grew on me; it's a great city with great people".
Digital media as a universal language
After his studies (Foundation in Fine Art, HND in Multimedia Design and Degree in Interactive Communication Design and Development), he opened up a club called Soup Kitchen with some friends, where they put on weekly club nights, while working as a freelancer for several design agencies. To focus on his work as a designer, he sold his share of the club and moved to London: "where I met my amazing girlfriend Mayuna who works in theatre, film and dance". From there, they moved to Graz, where he is currently living with Mayuna and their son Avory. In the last few years since graduating in Manchester, he's picked up a HND in Project Management — which enabled him to get familiar with tools such as Jira for a kanban and scrum approach to new projects — and diverse skills in Angular, React, Ionic and React Native frameworks: "My passion lies in UI and UX Design for mobile and web applications. Good design is easily recognised: It's smooth, intelligent and calculated". As a designer, he knows more than anyone that technologies move fast and that it's important to keep learning and trying out new things: "My goal is to experiment with the boundaries of conventional design and push the limits of all forms of media forward. I truly think Digital media can be a universal language".
Sideprojects never stop
Though he isn't currently full involved in CloudFleet, Emile has enough on his plate: apart from all the various freelance jobs on the side, he is currently working on a fitness tracking application and on a calendar-to-geolocation app — both as a designer and front-end developer. Of course, he tries to (and enjoys!) spending as much time as he can with his little family: his girlfriend, his son, and his blind, half-deaf, 16-year-old Cocker Spaniel Leo. The rest of his time is then split between all of his various hobbies: from exercising (gym, Muay thai, Yoga and Meditation) and traveling to far-to-reach places, to more cerebral activities like reading about buddhist philosophy and playing chess with his brother. To his list of interests, he also adds: "disagreeing with my dad and agreeing with my mum. Agreeing with my dad and disagreeing with my mum."
Privacy doesn't have to be difficult
To him, privacy is all about the choice. Sure, in theory, we could get accustomed to no privacy, but people should have the right to choose. Emile is very clear about his thoughts on the subject: "I feel people should have the right and option to choose to have privacy; in the same way they have the option to close the curtains so people don’t look into their house, or close the door when they go to the toilet". He believes that what gives CloudFleet the possibility to solve the problem of privacy is its ease of use. As an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play solution, it can "give customers the confidence they don't have to worry about privacy". About the importance of his role in CloudFleet, he says, "I hope through my work I endeavour to convey emotions, concepts and ideas to the project. Through strong programming, development, design, UX, UI skills".