Today, I sat down with Eddie Razanadimby. Having started working at ADM in the mid-80’s, he is ADM Computing’s longest serving staff member. Read the interview below.

How long have you been at ADM Computing, do you remember what year you joined?

Probably 1985-86 I think, I know I’m the longest serving member of staff!

How did you come into working at ADM Computing?

I moved over here from France and had been working in restaurants and pubs. While working in a pub called the Simple Simon’s (now called The Parrot), I met Adrian. From there, we became good friends, and Adrian offered me a job at ADM helping out in the workshop. I was quite pleased about this as sometimes, when you come from abroad it’s quite hard to find a job.

I then moved to London for two and a half years working for another company doing the same kind of job. Whilst I was working there, Adrian came to visit and offered me a job back in Canterbury. It was good as I hated London. London is great for entertainment as long as you have deep pockets, otherwise it’s pointless; so I was very happy Adrian gave me that chance to come back to Canterbury and I’ve been here since then.

Were you always into technology?

Yes, in France, I studied electricity, micro-electronics and components.

What did your day-to-day life look like back when you started at ADM?

In those days, it was very different to what it is now. In those days, ADM were building their own custom PCs, they even had the ADM logo on them. In fact, in those days, it was actually more cost effective to build your own pc than to go for a branded PC.

It was nice building PCs, when I was a kid, I used to enjoy playing with Legos and loved building things.  We were not only building PCs but also servers. It was mainly working in the workshop and getting things sorted, built, repaired…

What does a day in the life of Eddie look like now?

For a start, now it’s the other way around. It’s cheaper to buy a branded PC than it is to custom build. So mainly setting up customers machines as far as possible so that when it arrives with the customer, it’s ready to use. So primarily setup and configurations.

What is it about ADM that’s made you stay all these years?

First and foremost, my friendship with Adrian that has grown stronger, and stronger over the years. I also like ADM and Adrian’s mentality toward the employees. Adrian is the kind of person who is very friendly, very open, there’s no discrimination – and he’s always ready to help, to give you a push; and I think that’s why people stay a lot longer than they do at other IT companies. That’s what’s made me stay at ADM -until I get my P45!

I know you touched earlier on how you started with custom build PCs and now buying branded, but how do you think ADM has evolved as a company since you started?

I think ADM has made a very good reputation for itself within IT. The customer database has grown quite a lot compared to when I started, and even then it was quite a big database. I think that’s because of the quality of the people who are working here. People who work here actually stay. The other thing that’s nice to see, is how ADM has evolved in the hiring of staff. They hire people when they are young and build their confidence and carve out a career path for them.

What would you say to someone looking at a career in your field of expertise?

For an IT company, having a workshop is a great addition. There’s always elements that could go wrong. You need the experience of quickly defining what the issues are and having the ability to resolve those issues. These days, everything is going towards cloud-based, you’re only going to need an internet connection to do your work, but at the back-end of it, you need that reliability of the laptop or desktop. These skills aren’t really taught in school; a person who would like to get into this field should have the passion to self-study, focus on hardware, and be able to put what they learn into practice.

Founded in 1984, ADM Computing is Kent’s largest and longest established IT services company specialising in IT support services that help to reduce IT costs as well as improve network efficiency. We have a long history of charity work and won’t be slowing down any time soon!

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