David Thornton
Solution Architect/Lead Developer, Arnie

I’m the Lead programmer/analyst on the Arnie product which manages insurance claims for the auto industry. I manage all aspects from devops AWS cloud infrastructure, to the front end UI to the database.

I’ve been here for 8 years in my second stint, 6 months in 2008 in my first. I came back so I must love it.

I started work in Woolworths while in uni, then I’ve worked for the last 33 years in the computing industry.

Ultimately I’m looking forward to retiring and hitting the beach, but I love my work, so I might semi-retire and tinker forever. I am very logically minded, so I enjoy the challenge. My job is almost like a SUDUKO, which most people do for fun.

I like the challenge of staying up to date with the ever changing landscape. In my first year at uni we had no computer screens and only card punch readers, and in the last 5 years I had to learn all about AWS cloud.

Year 10 was useless as English wasn’t my strong suit, but I did have straight A's in math and science. I spoke to my guidance counselor and said I do not want to be an accountant or math teacher. So what now? They said try computers, which I had never heard of, and I did, and I’ve never looked back.

I love most sports and I’m a bit of Adrenaline junkie. I like snowboarding, kite surfing, sky diving, and riding on the biggest roller coasters in world. I absolutely love the beach so beach volleyball 2 on 2  is a must. I played basketball and participated in triathlons when I was younger.

I also have 10 pinball machines as my sedentary hobby, which is also very mathematical both in playing and repairing the machines.