Employee Spotlight: Getting to Know... Matthew

Today, we're getting to know one of our 2nd Line Engineers, Matthew Buckley. Matthew has been with Apex since March 2022!

Born and bred in Manchester, or moved here?

Born and bred in Manchester, I have however lived all over the world but somehow always found my way back home.

What's one thing you wish more people understood about your job?

I wish people understood how mentally taxing a general day in IT support can be, from one challenge to the next, no two days are the same and it requires a lot of thought process and changes in approach to how you deal with each issue. Working in IT is not easy but it sure is rewarding when you discover something new or manage to help someone solve a tech issue allowing them to continue with their day!

What's the most memorable project or task you've worked on at Apex?

One of my memorable tasks at Apex was finding a breach for a client that they did not know about, resolving this potentially saved them thousands if not hundreds of thousands, and associated headaches that could come with it!

Who inspires you on the team and why?

I don't feel it would be fair to single anybody out for this, everybody at Apex tried their best every day to keep things running smoothly within the service desk team.

What's one thing that makes the Apex team stand out from others you've worked with?

The 'Always a Team' mentality at Apex. Everybody here works together to achieve a common goal, we always strive to help each other with trivial to complex issues, and we have so many avenues of support for colleagues.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work, I spent a lot of time gaming. I plan strategy and lead 20+ people (from around the world!) in complex, challenging encounters in a game known as World of Warcraft. This isn't all I do! But we'd be here all day as I could write a book!

If you weren't in IT, what would you be doing?

I would likely be running my own business within tech, designing and building computers for specific purposes.

You've just won the lottery - what do you do?

I'm packing an overnight bag and driving straight down to a hotel near Camelot to get that claim done!

I'm then getting a few friends password details, giving them a couple of weeks wages to take off work and taking everyone to the Maldives!

After that, and a little splurge on a nice car, it'd be time to be sensible and buy a nice house (with stables to keep my other half happy too). Start my own business but have someone else run it and follow the mighty Manchester City to every match! Between matches you'd fine me on a yacht in the Mediterranean sipping strawberry daiquiris and enjoying life!

What tech tools or platforms could you not live without?

WinDirStat or TreeSize - this tool helps us collect information on where data is stored in a machine which makes for extremely fast identification of unneeded files to clean up off a drive that is full.

What's your go-to tip for someone facing a tech issue at work?

Turn it off and on again! As cliché as it sounds, this genuinely will solve over 90% of issues with tech.

What's a common cyber security myth you'd love to bust?

"I'm a small business, I am not a target for cyber criminals". I can assure you, you are still a target like any other business. Data is gold and you likely have a lot more value than you may realise.

How do you think Apex impacts businesses in Greater Manchester?

I think Apex enables any organisation we work with to have the potential to grow without having to worry about the technical side of things. The Apex Cyber Security Sphere helps our customers keep peace of mind, whilst moving our customers into Modern Workplace allows them to expand in many different directions from hybrid working to overseas working, and expanding their workforce exponentially.