Trevor’s mother was a classically trained singer and musician who joyfully sang whilst carrying out household chores. He believes that his love of music fundamentally helped shape his early cognitive tendencies and approach to problem-solving. He also shared his father’s passion for tinkering with technology; he had invested in a cutting-edge ‘BBC Micro’ (it was 1982) and Trevor was curious to understand ‘programming’ for himself. He learned through play and experimentation as opposed to formal teaching and his first reflection was that if learning is fun it doesn’t feel like learning in the school sense but it is no less effective.
A rather stereotypical studious type, introverted, shy, and quiet, but highly observant with a strong visual imagination, Trevor’s talent was identified at primary school and he was accelerated a year. Unfortunately, Trevor’s parents separated, and the family relocated before his 11th birthday. His secondary school experience was completely different from that of his primary. Bullying was not addressed and there was a definite incentive for a child like Trevor to keep his head down, blend in and be as invisible as possible. At this time football became his obsession and outlet, a double-edged gift that helped him to see off any potential trouble as well as allowing him to pursue a natural ability.
True academic achievement would therefore have to wait until he moved on to Sixth Form College which felt like a comparatively utopian environment. His guardian angel of football no longer required, he settled back into his academic studies, taking A-levels in English, Computer Science, and Graphical Communication, perfect, as it happens, for VR.
TECHNOLOGY INSIGHT
Trevor then went to Portsmouth University to study Business Information Technology. Delighted to leave home and have true independence, he loved his degree course and had his first taste of entrepreneurship – being one of the very few students prepared to do the washing and ironing, he set up a service and was able to make a small living for himself, leaving his first year with a profit instead of debt.
I’VE ALWAYS BEEN VERY HAPPY TO HELP AND FOUND THAT IN DOING SO THERE ARE NICHES EVERYWHERE, EITHER TAKING AWAY PROBLEMS FROM OTHER PEOPLE OR CREATIVELY FINDING ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS.
Post-university the Internet was advancing rapidly and as luck would have it the UK’s largest Internet Service Provider,
UUNET, was actively recruiting graduates. With a degree dedicated to network and systems architecture, Trevor was an ideal candidate and was offered the job immediately. The role was based at Cambridge Science Park where he had ample opportunity to work alongside senior network architects and other similarly knowledgeable, motivated and curious creative minds, many of whom had attended 48 Cambridge University. Trevor relished the intellectual discussions shared during long night shifts and took the opportunity to garner opinions on innovative ideas that he had been developing; sadly none of which came to fruition, but he learned a lot along the way.
From the 24*7 Network Operations Centre at UUNET, Trevor progressed to Director of Escalations for EMEA at WorldCom, then Verizon, based in Reading. He loved the intensity and challenge of this role but after a few years began to wonder about alternatives to corporate life.
