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entrepreneur series

The Entrepreneur Series: Nick Daly, Lead Developer

Nick Daly grew up in a small town in the North East of England called East Boldon. He was always very good at chemistry and decided to study it at uni. He stayed relatively close to home to study at Durham University from 2010-2014. 

While there, he took a course in computational chemistry, which arguably changed his life. Though he always had an interest in programming, this course encouraged him to take a free online course in iPhone development over the summer after his second year. He loved the development course so much that he started making apps thereafter and releasing them in the app store. Nick wanted to make apps that could help people and that he would want to use himself. The apps were educational; one helped people study for the uni exams while another helped people prepare for their driving tests. 

After receiving his Master’s Degree in Chemistry, Nick began working at Recite Me. Recite Me built a software that makes websites accessible to those with disabilities by enabling text-to-speech, machine translations, magnifiers, language translation, etc. Nick worked on building out their mobile application capabilities. Though he enjoyed the work, he decided he wanted to get back into enabling and advancing his own applications.

Nick on graduation day in 2014.

By this time, it was clear his apps helped fill a previously unfulfilled niche in the market; they were very popular! His download numbers were high enough that he wanted to make major improvements and meet new personal goals. These included making new material and downloadable content for the apps, making a subscription version, an Android version, and a website for each. This not only improved user experience but also allowed Nick to start making some money from them. In addition to this work, he started doing some consultancy work for other companies, including Recite Me.

Nick’s app available on mobile, laptop and tablet.

After hitting all the goals he had for his applications, he decided it was time to move onto his next venture. He applied to be a software developer at Saggezza on a whim. It looked too good to be true; the job was very close to his house, it was in the Fintech sector (which had always interested him), and it was the kind of development work that could take him to the next level. All worked out and he got the job!

A few months into his software developer job at Saggezza, the opportunity to become the capability lead arrived. He applied for it and got the promotion. Additionally, he just recently became the lead developer on the project. He has really enjoyed his time at Saggezza, mainly because of the people. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and really encouraging of his personal and professional growth. The client work is also incredibly enjoyable and rewarding for him.

Nick with fellow co workers celebrating Saggezza’s 13th birthday.

His advice for young people trying to navigate their career path is: “You’ve got to do something you really love doing and if you can find what you really love doing, you’ll enjoy it a lot more and do it better [than things you may not].” When in university, he knew he liked programming and was constantly thinking about how he could make the transition from chemistry. So, he started working on it in his free time and learned all he could to become successful in it. Taking that career leap was risky but it is what came most naturally for him and worked out for the best.

And if you’re wondering what happened to his apps? You can go download them – though he no longer spends time updating them, they are still up and running in the app store. His most popular app is still the test prep app that has 250,000 users with around 5 million questions.

Want to learn more about Saggezza? Consult with an expert here.

Saggezza is a proven technology and consulting partner that delivers personalized, high-value solutions to accelerate business growth.

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