Craig Eve – Web Developer
This month’s staff snapshot stars our go-to tech wiz and rock music lover. Frequently bombarded with in-house computer and software issues as well as his own developer jobs for clients, Craig juggles these time-consuming tasks with saint-like patience.
Outside of the office, Craig likes a mix of the great outdoors – four-wheel driving, camping and bushwalking, as well as spending hours indoors crushing his opponents in Monster Hunter World and watching Marvel movies. We think the video games may be part of the reason he can use his incredible problem-solving skills to help all of us at Orion.
How long have you been a web developer and how did you get into the industry?
I started building websites as a hobby way back in Year-9 (16 years ago). Around the end of my time at high school, a friend had a business with a really terrible website, so I offered to help him out. I worked part time for them and another business, building and managing their websites, which helped me pay my way through uni.
Was there a defining moment (or moments) that made you want to become a developer?
The first time I built a full website for an assignment in school, most people struggled to put together 2 or 3 pages, while it seemed to just come naturally to me. When I got a perfect mark on that assignment, I kind of just knew that was the right path for me.
Do you follow any developers on social media and blogs that you admire or who have influenced you?
Not really. Web development isn’t a particularly glamourous industry. I generally just read up on the latest techniques on sites like stackoverflow.com or css-tricks.com.
If you weren’t a developer, what would you be doing?
I’d love to spend my days travelling the world, taking photos, and surfing every beach I find, but it’s pretty difficult to make a career out of that. Realistically I’d probably have gone into some sort of engineering career like most of my family.
How long have you been working at Orion Creative?
I started at Orion in March 2017, after spending nine years at a similar but much smaller agency.
What would an ‘average day at the office’ look like for you?
Most days start off with going through my emails and dealing with any issues that have come up overnight. Then I’ll work on whatever big projects I’ve got going on. Besides that I’ll spend my time dealing with endless random support requests or helping out around the office as the unofficial resident tech support.
What’s the biggest or most complicated project that you’ve worked on at Orion so far?
The “Portal” software is probably the biggest and most complicated project I’ve done in my time here. It’s basically a plugin for WordPress, which turns the site into a massive content library, which can be tailored to suit the client’s requirements. It’s been used as a library of case studies and marketing materials for Oracle NetSuite, a product catalogue for Printech Solutions, and an online property sales platform for the Austere Group (ecommerce for houses!)
What do you like to do in your spare time? What goes on during weekends?
These days I spend a lot of my spare time doing handy-work around my home. It’s an old place, so there’s always something that needs to be fixed up .
Besides that, I like to go camping, bushwalking, or four-wheel driving, usually in the mountains north of Sydney, or the lower-Hunter region, or if I can’t find the time to get away I’ll spend a lazy afternoon playing video games. I’m mainly into adventure games and RPGs (role-playing games). At the moment I’m hooked on a game called Monster Hunter World.
Fave movies/TV show/bands? What are you watching/listening to these days?
I’m a huge fan of the Marvel movies and TV shows, or I’ll just binge-watch whatever sci-fi shows I can find on Netflix. I usually listen to rock or punk bands like Story of the Year, Paramore, or New Found Glory, along with classics like Queen or The Eagles.
What are the top 5 things that would make your Stranded-On-A-Desert-Island list- that you just couldn’t live without?
- Bodyboard for entertainment
- Sunscreen because I burn very easily
- An axe so I could cut down some trees and build shelter
- Solar-powered VHF radio so I can call for help if I see a boat or plane
- Duct-tape (needs no explanation)
What are some fun or little-known facts about you that would surprise us?
I have two pets – a ferret named Rocket and a gecko named Thor (yeah there’s an obvious Marvel theme there).
