• Question: What/who were you inspired by?

    Asked by darcie123 on 27 Oct 2025.
    • Photo: Martin McMahon

      Martin McMahon answered on 27 Oct 2025:

      I’ve been inspired by so many people in my life starting with my granddad who was awarded a British Empire Medal during WW2 for inventing a special antenna that could be mounted on tanks and allowed radios to communicate over greater distances. It was a defining moment in history!
      Then there have been all the scientists and engineers that have invented so much that we take for granted today, but it is their imagination and determination that inspires me almost every day.
      Finally, there are the friends and colleagues that I have worked with over the years, that have done some awesome things, and their success has continued to inspire me.

    • Photo: Neil Barnby

      Neil Barnby answered on 17 Nov 2025:

      I was inspired by movies like war games and 13th floor, which got me interested in what could be done with computers, both good and bad. I was also initially inspried by an old TV series called lost in space that has a robot on it and that made me want to build my own robot, which is what got me into computer science in the first place.

Comments

  • Photo: Abby M

    Abby M commented on :

    I was particularly inspired by a mentor and senior data scientist at my last job – she encouraged me to look into PhD research and go for it! But I have also been inspired by many other people I’ve worked with – from other employees at my job, to my supervisors in my final year of university, to my friends who have all gone into such interesting jobs after we all graduated!

  • Photo: aureliabrzezowska

    aureliabrzezowska commented on :

    I think for myself it wasn’t one person but collective people throughout history that paved the way for women in computing. Ada Lovelace, the original “computers” such as Katherine Johnson, Judith Love Cohen. Women invented computing but over time it became known as a “male-dominated” field. Knowing this history encouraged me to enter it!