Quote: “I’ve always been a bit of a geek.”

In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, Michael Waitze is joined by Darren Moore, the Head of Development of Arthur Online, a cloud-based property management platform dedicated to boosting efficiency and saving time with over 145,00 properties listed. In addition to that, he’s also the Managing Director of Firecreek, a company developing a wide range of digital products with a passion for top quality code building, committed to providing usability, accessibility, and quality service. 

They discussed how a simple rivalry between brothers became Darren’s passion and future, the rapid development of technology, process of writing code and working in an agile environment.

A Tale of Two Brothers

“Both me and my brother were magnetised to technology,” revealed Darren. 

Growing up in a family that already had an interest in technology; with his older brother learning about programming in college, and his father working with technical processes, Darren had always had a deep fascination with all aspects of technology.

He explained that he had always been a bit of a geek, and had been programming and hacking around from as early as 12 years old. But it was really the rivalry between him and his brother that kick started his passion for it all. 

Darren explained that although his brother had been studying programming at school, he refused to teach Darren any of it, and the natural need to one-up each other as siblings led to him to take matters into his own hands and he started learning programming himself. 

“I remember sneaking into his room and stealing his disks, those little floppy disks and seeing what he had built and putting them onto my own computer,” laughed Darren. 

This interest in technology, combined with his strong passion, led the way for Darren’s career. After doing some work experience during school, at just a mere 14-years of age, he was working freelance developing HTML websites. 

The Rise of Dead Knowledge

“I learnt a lot over those years, but all the stuff I did learn is dead now,” said Darren.

The digital landscape is in a state of perpetual change. It goes without saying that technology has come a long way and has helped make our everyday lives more convenient in every aspect of life. 

Darren revealed that although he learnt a huge amount of information in his early years, about both programming, coding, and everything in between, his knowledge of technology is just dead knowledge now. He explained how different things have changed such as how to put up sites, how to host them and the language of coding. 

They go on further to speak about how Darren’s team has managed to stay current with all the various emerging technologies in the world, and the different processes they employ such as working in sprints. 

Building Everything From Nothing

When asked whether or not it’s difficult to build something out of nothing, regarding coding for digital products, Darren shared that for him “it’s the most fun part.” 

Building digital products, let alone businesses, takes an undeniably strong combination of skills, strategy and execution. For some, starting with a blank canvas is incredibly daunting, and just like art, each decision you make on that canvas could either result in a masterpiece or, well, just an accident. 

Darren shared that he enjoys the creative freedom a blank canvas gives, however, he highlighted that there is a huge difference between starting with a blank slate for something you are creating as a hobby and for commercial clients. He then outlined the different approaches to both tasks and his experience with both over the years. 

From there, they spoke about Arthur Online and Firecreek, Darren’s experience with startups and the difference between those and the ones he is working with now and more.

To learn more about Darren Moore and his long journey to where he is today,