Interviewed by Luke Vidamour, 12th April 2021
We interrupt our regular programming to bring you an interview with our resident wildcard Sean Davidson. Sean is an exceptional lead developer responsible for building and orchestrating much of our Potting Shed digital framework and development process. We call ourselves a "design-led" studio because everything we create is beautiful, but it's essential that every beautiful thing we create works well and provides an exceptional experience for users, clients and customers. Form without function is useless in our industry, and we are privileged to have someone as technically mind in our team who also values creativity, future technologies and the less traveled roads that run parallel the status-quo.
Sean is a talented musician, combining the best of both traditional and digital audio production and performance, whilst his Wikipedia entry cites him as a regional champion omelette chef and puppet choreographer. Prepare yourself for the more eccentric side of our Shed Sessions... with a healthy dollop of peace, love, and futuristic optimism.
Hello Sean, what you do at Potting Shed, and what do you like to do outside of Potting Shed?
By day I craft devil scratchings into a set of instructions for our machine overlords. By evening I reboot, parent, and run.
What does an average day at work look like for you? Are you learning anything that’s new?
var coffee = new Coffee();
if(coffee.empty) {
coffee.refill();
} else {
coffee.drink();
}
Each and every day I learn something surprising about Silvie.
What is the difference between good code, and fantastic code?
Readability. Fantastic code should document itself. I'm a big fan of the KISS Principle - you could have something which is incredibly short and well written from a technical point of view by if you can't understand when you come back to it in a year's time then what's the point?
What’s invisible but you wish people could see?
The truth.
What inspires you the most?
Music. Born of Irish parents, I was a couple of months old when I camped at my first music festival. My parents had been active in the folk music scene from the 1960s revival until my father's death at which time he was still promoting and running a club. Not bad for 80 years of age.
What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of?
I would have to say Darren Aronofsky's debut π. There is so much to love about this movie the soundtrack, the plot, the philosophical themes, the art direction, and cinematography.
Do you think anything will change the world as much as the internet has? What and Why?
Psychedelics. As a species, we have put too much emphasis on pursuing knowledge within the material realm, rather than exploring inner space and the hard problem of consciousness.
What are your favourite songs from your teenage years that you still rock out to when nobody else is listening?
Not that I would care if anyone else is listening, but definitely Swiss neo-classical thrash metal act Coroner and the track Mistress of Deception from their seminal 1989 album No More Color.
At a time when metal bands were fixated with the pantomime theatrics of satanism, Coroner featured Rodin sculptures on their album covers and discussed themes of media manipulation and political corruption. Coincidentally enough it's exactly 31 years to the day that I saw them perform in Bradford.
How can creativity change the world?
Creativity has already changed the world, everything that exists has been brought forth from the realm of dreams to reality. We just have the need to have better dreams.
We know that your digital wizardry extends into all things music tech with a passion for electronic music, synths and studio toys. Has your love of music, technology and creativity inspired your career path and if so how do they come together to influence one another?
I had just finished my BA in Creative Music Technology before arriving in Guernsey to perform at the Vale Earth Festival as part of Sheffield-based Big Beat act Dirtbox.
During the final year of my degree, I chose multimedia as my minor option which rekindled a love of programming I had developed during my teenage years.
After settling in Guernsey, and accepting that I was too old to become a rock star I reaIised I could pursue a career in coding.
What movie would be greatly improved if it was made into a musical?
I'm not really a fan of musicals with the exception of The Wall, however, I do think it would be amusing to see a musical version of The Exorcist. Whether or not that would be an improvement is up for debate.
Read our Shed Sessions with Silvie, Tom, Al, Tabitha, Keelie, David, Luke, and RJ.