Andrew Smale joins Firemind as a senior solutions architect

Hello and welcome to the Firemind team Andrew! It’s great to have you with us. For our viewers, could you please tell us a little about yourself and your professional background?

Hi, nice to be here. I have been working in tech for a long time and have worked with AWS since the very early days (over ten years ago). I was a developer before that and studied AI in the 1990’s, making Firemind a good fit for me.

How did you find out about us and what made you decide to apply for a role with Firemind?

I heard about the interesting projects in data and AI at Firemind through personal contacts, and via AWS. I hope to help deliver solutions across all aspects of data and analytics, as well as solutions with data from sensors (audio, video and IoT).

What is your role at Firemind?

Senior Solutions Architect. Which means taking customer requirements and providing the blueprint of a solution to deliver them the most business value – quickly. Then working with the talented delivery team here to develop the solution and make sure it works.

Which areas of our business interested you the most?

It has to be generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), embedding them into solutions like Intelligent Document Processing or Natural Language interactions with data. And keeping up-to-date with the fast pace of evolution of Foundational Models.

What will be your main goals/objectives whilst working at Firemind?

Working with some great customers to ensure they get the best out of all the AWS services available.

Which aspects of your role are you most excited about?

Using the latest innovations on AWS and generally in the field of AI. I lived through two AI winters after studying it, so it is enormously satisfying to see the real-world impacts now.

What do you hope to achieve within your first 12 months here?

Create a niche where I can bring my experience and knowledge to help the company grow and become even more successful.

Outside of work, what do you get up to? Tell us about your hobbies.

I like to be active, so running, cycling and swimming – as well as learning to dance Salsa and watching football with my family.

What’s your favourite song on your playlist right now?

Texas Hold’em by Beyonce is a regular play at the moment, but I do tend to prefer Oasis or AC/DC (aka dad rock).

Any fun nicknames we should know about? If Yes, what’s the backstory?

For years I have been called “Smaley” because Andrew/Andy is such a common name in my generation. I was able to get “smaley” on Twitter when it first came out.

If you could only choose one dish to eat every meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

My son’s plant-based burger (justaburger), which we sell on match days at Ipswich Town home Football matches.

What is at the top of your bucket list?

Trekking the Machu Picchu.

What is one skill you would really love to learn?

To play electric guitar – I’m what you could call an acoustic strummer and love my twelve string, but it would be nice to master those riffs.

And finally, how do you normally wind down after work?

Strumming guitar or going for a run.