Meet the Team: Laurence Urhegyi

Next up in our interview series, we put Laurence Urhegyi in the hot seat.

When discussing software projects with clients, Laurence isn't afraid to say how it is, which has made him successful in his role as he nears a decade of working at Codethink.

The interview discusses everything from Laurence’s day-to-day work, the pitfalls of enforced fun and in-office scooter riding, and the parallels between Wikipedia and free and open source software.

Q: Hello, Laurence. What is your current role at Codethink? What does your day-to-day look like?

Laurence Urhegyi: Hello, Will!

My role at Codethink is quite varied these days. In fact, I avoid using any job title since it feels a bit reductive.

I started as a project manager and have built up a fair amount of domain experience in software integration projects for embedded Linux, mainly in the automotive industry.

My day-to-day role is very customer-facing and focused on project delivery. As a result, I’ve naturally gravitated towards account management since I spend a lot of time thinking about our customers' challenges and how we could support them over the long term.

There’s an element of consultancy here, as it’s important to explain these challenges clearly as we offer solutions. I’ve also been heavily involved in sales over the years, plus some marketing (blog posts, conference talks) and recruitment/onboarding of new staff. So a bit of a smorgasbord, really!

Q: Have you always wanted to work in software engineering? Can you tell me about your background?

LU: No, I didn't always work in software

I was a secondary school teacher before working in software. That was a disaster, to be honest. Then, I worked in the admin team of the IT department of a life and pensions organisation, before moving into the project management team. That was a baptism of fire in release management as we were deploying to production systems, but I enjoyed it.

Looking back, the approach to software was outdated and not fit for purpose. Like many firms, they tried hard to change but were stuck in their ways. To be quite honest, they could use Codethink’s help to get some CI up and running!

After that, I went to London and did a stint at a web development agency. I’m not sure what I was thinking. It just wasn’t the right environment for me. There was too much enforced fun: people riding scooters in the office and that sort of caper. No thanks, not for me. I did enjoy living in London, though.

Anyway, I returned to Manchester, where I’m from, and joined Codethink shortly after that.

Q: What do you enjoy the most about your role?

LU: I’ve never once been the smartest person in the room at Codethink. You’re surrounded by highly intelligent people. Scarily so, sometimes. They bring strong opinions and challenge the status quo, which I believe is a key factor in our success.

We’re not going to cut corners or accept anything below par. We’ll often tell customers how they’re doing it wrong, but we’ll do what they need rather than what they think they need.

Q: Do you have any advice for other project managers working within software engineering?

LU: Choose an area in which to become a domain expert. You could start by reading The Phoenix Project because it will apply to any software or IT project you work on. It changed my life, genuinely.

I dislike this idea that seems to have formed that project managers should be passive members of a team, watching on from the sidelines as things unfold in front of them and doing clerical work. Utter nonsense. Get stuck in, take responsibility and be accountable.

Q: Could you name someone within the tech industry that inspires you?

LU: It’s not an individual person, but I think Wikipedia is an inspiring project, and I donate to it regularly. Not only is it an example of technology being used for the greater good and a genuine not-for-profit organisation, but it’s also an example of how distributed development practices are (almost always) more effective than monolithic approaches.

I remember a time when I considered Microsoft Encarta to be the leading digital encyclopaedia and didn’t ever think something like Wikipedia would work. How wrong I was! Clearly there are parallels between this and the success of the open source development model as well.

Related content:

• Codethink: About Us
• Meet the Team: Philip Martin
• The Linux kernel is a CNA - so what?