60 (+150) seconds with… Jonny Beaumont

This month we caught up with Software Engineer, Jonny! Here’s what he did before Rotaready, what he likes most about his job, and a joke so long that it broke our ‘60 second’ time limit – we’ll let you judge whether it’s worth the extra time investment ⏱ 

What did you do before working at Rotaready?

I was a student at Bath university which is actually where I first heard about Rotaready and met our Co-Founder, Carl. Carl also happened to have studied at Bath and had a stand at our careers fair. I joined Rotaready as a placement student between my second and third year, and as of September 2020 I was back as a full time employee 🎉

What do you like most about your job?

I love the problems I get to solve every day. On the face of it rota software might not sound like the most exciting or glamorous thing to develop, but in reality the problems we get to solve are so varied and interesting! 

Where do you see yourself in 20 years time?

As long as I’m still solving problems I’ll be happy – so long as I’m not still having to stare at my reflection on Zoom calls everyday. 

If you weren’t working in the Engineering team which role would you take on?

I’m not sure I could attribute this to one role in particular but I fancy the idea of being an Excel whizz. So I suppose that would be as part of the Customer Success team, helping clients implement Rotaready.

What’s your dream holiday destination?

A cottage in the mountains! I don’t mind which mountains, just as long as there’s a cottage.

What’s your favourite meal?

At the moment it’s probably pumpkin or aubergine Katsu Curry. I love Katsu Curry but became vegetarian about a year and a half ago, so had to find an alternative to chicken. At a restaurant I’d opt for pumpkin but if I’m making it at home I use aubergine  – this is my favourite recipe to follow.

What are you most likely to be found doing at the weekend?

Whether It’s taking care of my indoor or outdoor plants, I must confess that I love a bit of gardening.

What would you sing at Karaoke night?

Taylor Swift – 22 🎤

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

It’s a bit of a niche one but the ability to pause time for myself, so I could take as long as I like over things. For example when solving a problem or answering a question in a test I’d like to be able to pause time and take as long as I like to mull it over.

What’s your best joke?

So there is a farmer who owns many livestock, and also a singing horse… 

Little does he know, there are more musical talents on his farm. One day, the horse walks past one of the cows, singing, and the cow interrupts him and says; “hey horse, you know I can play the drums!” 

The horse looks at him questionably and says “Oh really? Play something.”. 

So the cow leads the horse to some empty barrels and sure enough starts playing. 

The horse responds; “Hey, you’re pretty good, we should start a band!” 

The cow agreed but said that they would need someone who could play the guitar. So the cow and the horse wander the farm all day searching for a musical companion to form a band, unfortunately, their search is fruitless. 

The next morning, the farmer drives back to the farm in his truck, bringing with him a lamb and a sheep. The horse and cow rush to them. They confront the sheep and ask him if he has any musical talent. The sheep tells them he can play the guitar, the cow and horse are elated however they need proof of this. They tell the sheep that the farmer has a guitar in his house and the next day the sheep obtains the guitar and amazes the cow and horse. Whenever they can, the trio play their beautiful music. 

One day, the farmer comes back to the farm after going to the market, but the animal band doesn’t hear him come back, the farmer hears the music and, highly intrigued, runs onto the field to see what is going on. He cannot believe his eyes and ears, he tells the animal band that need to play for more people, an actual audience. The farmer contacts a band manager and sets everything up. The band manager gets them into local news and soon transports the musical trio to the city where they play and gain popularity all over the country. 

Soon enough the band gain international fans and the manager jets them off for a grand tour. They play for days and weeks and eventually they get some time off. The members go their separate ways during this time. The sheep goes to unwind and party at clubs. The cow decides to take a plane to go back home to see his family. The horse thinks; “hey, I need a break from this, I’m going to shop non-stop!” and so he does. 

Eventually, the band’s tour break comes to an end and the band must meet up back at the manager’s record HQ. The horse is on his way back and realises that he maxed his credit cards and basically spent all of his money on clothes and the like. He only has the change left in his pockets and he is in shock. The horse calls the cow but he does not pick up. He calls the sheep and he doesn’t pick up either. 

The horse is panicking and as he is walking past the street, he sees a T.V store and it is on the news. He reads the latest headline “BREAKING NEWS: sheep from The Animal Band overdosed on drugs and alcohol and was declared dead in the hospital. Meanwhile a flight boarded by Cow from Animal Band has experienced mechanical failures and has crashed over the sea.” 

The horse, distraught, does not know what to do. His two best-friends and band companions have both died and he is completely broke. He walks into the nearest bar, completely distraught, and the bartender says; “Why the long face?”