Name: Gemma Lamont
Company Role: Backend Developer
Favourite Quote: "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." ― Neil deGrasse Tyson

What is something other professionals have to deal with in your industry that you want to fix?

The lack of females in the industry is always a trying issue in STEM fields. I would love to be able to show young girls that science and math is exciting and fun and help encourage as many of them as possible to give it a go. I believe that the interest for these fields starts young and it is up to us adults to show these young girls that there is no such thing as a gendered role, science, math and technology runs the world and they can too!

What do you do at Perigee?

As a backend developer I work with keeping our servers and databases running, and developing new and exciting features for our APIs on both Cycles and Seven. Releasing these is exciting and scary at the same time as we have the ability to affect thousands of people instantly!

What’s your story?

I am originally from a small rural town in New Zealand called Motueka. After high school I moved to Christchurch to study at the University of Canterbury. In my second year I went on an exchange to Lund University where I met Henrik, who would later become my best friend and partner. After my exchange was over I went home and completed my degree in Computer Science. Near the end of my last year I started looking for a way to come back to Sweden and found a job as an Android Developer here at Perigee. A year and a half later, I am now living with Henrik in Lund, and working as a Backend Developer here at Perigee.

Your top 3 favorite podcasts/books?

• The Sword of Truth Series By Terry Goodkind
• The Diviners By Libba Bray
• The Code Book By Simon Singh

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?

This year I started Bouldering and I love it! So much fun and so challenging, and it is good for you at the same time! I also love playing board games (Dominion anyone? :D ) so you will often find me with a group of friends on a weekend battling it out! During the summer time I try to explore as much of Sweden as possible but in winter or on those far too frequent rainy days I’d rather curl up with a good book or tv show.

What are you passionate about?

I love to learn new things, it has always been something I enjoyed. I think that reading books on random subjects or listening to podcasts is a great way to continue learning after school. After moving to Sweden I started night courses in Swedish to help me learn the language and of course I am always developing new skills here at Perigee.

I also love to travel, that is one of the reasons why I came to Sweden in the first place. I love exploring new places and being exposed to new cultures. I also love being out in nature and hope to start doing more hiking now that I’m settled here like I use to do back home.

How do you think your colleagues would describe you?

That I am chatty and fun and ask lots of questions about how their weekends were :P

What would be your personal motto?

The learning is never done - I love to learn and to grow as a person, I feel if I am not growing then I am doing something wrong!

What has been your favorite project at Perigee?

I really loved getting given the Cycles project to take over and create all the new features on! I've been able to do a lot of new and interesting things, from implementing the new bigger tasks like the subscription foundation and the new sign in/up flow.

What skill(s) have you developed while working at Perigee?

I have learnt so much here! I started off pretty new to the working life having only finished my degree 6 months earlier. I learned the ins and outs of Android Development before moving on to become a Backend Developer. As a Backend Developer I have learnt so so much, from how to spin up and maintain a server to writing APIs in Golang!

Like what you heard? Want to work with Gemma? Check out our latest developer positions: https://careers.perigee.se/