From Games Tester to CEO at ANS Group

Welcome to this month’s episode of Disrupt! Hayley sat down with CEO of ANS Group, Paul Shannon, and discussed his journey into tech and how business leaders can be doing more to recruit talent into the industry.

“I stopped excelling in acedemia when I left primary school, so there’s a large part of my acedemic life where I really didn’t put the effort in that I should have done. “

This month’s guest is CEO of ANS Group, Paul Shannon! Despite not succeeding in academia, Paul found a love for technology at an early age. He quickly realised studying business and economics at university was not for him, and landed his first IT job working as internal support. Working for VM-Aware was the turning point in Paul’s career, where he truly realised what he wanted to do with his career. In 2009 he began working for tech firm, ANS Group, where he said yes to all the opportunities that came his way, and eventually became CEO.

Discussion Points

• How did you get into this industry? What’s your career journey? [01:10 – 03:33]
• Saying yes to the opportunities in life [03:30 – 04:51]
• Regrets about not finishing university [04:52 – 05:44]
• What drives you? [05:45 – 07:22]
• From game tester to CEO at ANS Group [07:23 – 09:03]
• Recruiting and retaining staff in 2022 [09:04 – 10:12]
• UK Fast and ANS Group merger challenges [10:13 – 13:02]
• What are you passionate about in the IT industry? How can you get more people involved? [13:03 – 14:43]
• Diversity and Inclusion in the IT industry [14:44 – 17:31]
• Rapid advancements in technology and the future of ANS [17:32 – 19:09]
• The great resignation and staff retention [19:10 – 22:09]
• Recruiting and training employees with no tech experience [22:10 – 24:37]
• Who has inspired you the most? [24:38 – 25:47]
• What advice would you give to your younger self? [25:48 – 26:40]
• Favourite pub snack? Crisps, nuts or olives? [26:41 – 27:25]

About Disrupt
Disrupt is a podcast where host Hayley Roberts, CEO of cybersecurity distributor, Distology, is joined by guests to challenge the stereotypes in the IT industry and highlight the innovative ways businesses are working and overcoming these issues. And generally just having a good time being disruptive!