James Howden , Eastleigh, United Kingdom

Sat at my desk in the cliché office of a 'fun and inclusive' (no, there's no beer http://*******.**, there is a pool table) account-based marketing consultancy startup, staring mindlessly at a spreadsheet in an attempt to formulate this kaleidoscopic mess of colour-coded data into something meaningful to our clients. Why is it colour formatted you ask? Why did I taint this wonderful raw data set with such vibrant frippery? Many people ask me the same thing. I'll tell you what I told them - I am not a 'data-minded' person. Strange, then, that I currently lead the Data team, building bespoke databases for eCommerce technology vendors, systems integrators (SIs), Application Programming Interface (API) management suites and other companies of such ilk. Managing data sets of over 10,000 contacts, maintaining a CRM system of in excess of 200,000 contacts, formatting spreadsheets to import into myriad platforms - these aren't things I necessarily have an aptitude for. I mean, does anyone really enjoy staring at spreadsheets, making incremental changes and then contemplating how easy it would be to drown yourself in the water silo of the coffee machine when it messes the formatting up? I doubt it. But for all my griping, that isn't to say I'm not good at it - if a job is worth doing, then it's worth doing right. So if you give me a task like, say, understanding how APIs work in headless architecture in time for a meeting with a world-leading SI, you better believe it's getting done and it's getting done well.

When not contemplating drowning myself in various beverage appliances, I find myself daydreaming, casting myself off into the latest fantasy novel that has consumed my life - postulating what will befall the characters in their latest saga and attempting to absorb as much as I can from the incredible writers that bring so much joy to me, and how I can take everything I'm learning and put it to use in my novel. I often find myself reminiscing about my time abroad; travelling the cliché destinations of every youths' 'Gap yah' (gap year). If by some chance you stumble into my office and I'm not looking glassy-eyed into the distance, the look of determination you see on my face is a result of the latest challenge I'm facing - maybe learning new ways to look competent within an excel workbook, for example. More likely, however, is that I'm pondering the coming training session that evening and how I can perfect the next kata in my 16-year long karate journey. I could also be thinking about food. Actually yeah, it's most likely to be food.