John Cheung — Development Director

Tell me more about your role within Stepstone!
My background is in software development and leading software development teams. But more recently at the beginning of this year, I changed roles to look after Tech M&A, that is Mergers and Acquisitions. In this role, I support the organization from a technology viewpoint to understand our capability gaps and to see where M&A might help to accelerate our strategies. I also provide a tech view into commercial M&A to grow or extend our business.

Can you walk me through from the moment you wake up until you are at the office?

I tend to wake up around 6 am. I am one of those people that has two alarms. The first one is a bit earlier and I usually just dismiss it. The second one actually wakes me up… most of the time… There’s something comforting in waking up and knowing you have a few more mins in bed. Anyhow, when I eventually do wake up, I get myself ready, and then I need to get the kids ready before I take them to breakfast club at school. It’s then a short walk to the station and a 30min train to London. When I get to London I then have a 30min walk to the office. It’s a nice walk through the city of London and over a bridge to cross the river Thames. It’s a good time to get my thoughts together and clear my head before I arrive at the office, grab a cup of coffee, and then I am good to go.

What is your favorite thing about being a developer?
Even if I am not working as a developer today, I am a developer at heart. I think that the satisfaction of solving a complex challenge, building stuff yourself, and completing something that was challenging in one way or another. I think those are my favorite things about being a developer.

What would be the one advice you would give yourself when you first became a developer?
Try to reach beyond yourself and your team to absorb, learn and get some mentoring from others. There is always something new to learn from someone who knows more than you.

What are your productivity hacks?
I think motivation is key to getting things done and you’re more motivated if you can feel you are making progress. I’m quite a methodical person and lists are good for me. So, I tend to break tasks into smaller chunks that I can complete and check off items as I go.

What is the best advice someone has given you?
Someone once said to me that “we create the matrix” and this phrase has stuck with me ever since. Basically, it means to think outside of the box and to push for what you believe in, even if it doesn’t already exist. Not everything needs to be how it currently is, right?

What was the last thing you ate? Tuna and sweetcorn pasta

Windows Mac or Linux? Doesn’t matter

Coffee soft drink or tea? Coffee

Summer or winter? Summer

Read more about The Stepstone Group, the technologies we use or take an inside look at our organisation & processes. Interested in joining us? Check out our careers page.