Mark Siedle

How did you get into your current job/field?

Funnily enough, my passion for programming started after uni, when I stumbled on a PHP/MySQL book at home. It captivated me and gave me a deeper understanding of web development, encompassing security, databases, and essential HTML/CSS skills (hello tables!). After honing various web skills for 7 years, I transitioned to an iOS development team following the iPhone launch. The excitement of working with Objective-C and the tight-knit team dynamics, on devices that had limited memory and CPU speeds, made me realize I had found my niche.

After another 7 years in iOS, the industry's shift towards Swift and my growing interest in coding led me to books like "The Mythical Man Month" and "Code Complete." They resonated with my philosophy of writing programs for people first and computers second. Around this time, my wife, a Support Lead at Octopus, suggested I apply here, with her pitch being "They code like you", referring to my values (or perhaps my OCD) when it came to both user and developer experience.

Intrigued, I experimented with Octopus 2.6 and was amazed by its single-page application capabilities. The MVC similarities to iOS drew me in, and despite my limited Angular and C# experience, I eagerly joined the Octopus team.

Seven years later, I've progressed from Engineering roles to Senior Engineering Manager, where I support teams who share my passion for good foundations; making it simpler and safer for our teams to make changes to Octopus.

What's a fun fact about you that people may not know?

We live on a 10-acre homestead-style property (that used to be part of a golf course) an hour outside of Brisbane, where we're slowly but surely building a food forest. At 5 pm each day, I head out to water a range of different trees and get to see the growth happening across the property.

What is your favorite project you've worked on at Octopus Deploy so far?

There are too many to count. But I led a small team to deliver Runbooks. The feedback we received from customers was overwhelmingly positive and the feature was a pillar of our current marketing strategy at the time. I've been proud to see that grow and become more useful to customers.

Do you have any hobbies outside of work?

Outside of work, I'm gardening, taking headshots in PUBG, making margaritas, listening to alternative rock (think Chevelle, Sleep Token, Godsmack, TOOL), smashing golf balls, and chaining episodes of Dragon Ball.

What excites you most about working at Octopus Deploy?

Our Engineering department ... it aligns with my values. Remote work where you can properly focus, short and to-the-point meetings, customer-first thinking, accountability for delivery, with realistic and sustainable timelines that can be negotiated when we discover the unexpected.

If you could eat one meal for the rest of forever - what would it be?

Tough one, but I'd say fresh rye or sourdough, lightly toasted with lashings of butter, topped with a freshly made omelette with garlic and cherry tomatoes I've picked from the garden, lightly topped with grated cheese (a Colby cheese that melts into the eggs). For sides, some chips with garlic aioli and, finally, a large vanilla thickshake with a swirl of condensed milk.