A girl's kind of girl

clock • 3 min read

Emma Batey dreams of baking in her grandmother's house but ensures time with her daughter is the most fun

What was your first job, and how did you get into IT?
My first job in IT was at HP in Boeblingen, Germany, in the OpenView software marketing team. I spent a year there as part of my business and German degree. I guess this role was pivotal to where I am now and was probably both the hardest and easiest job to come by.

Hardest in that I spent months sending out poorly worded letters begging for any kind of business role within a large, well-known organisation, and receiving dozens of "we'll put you on file" responses. I did however get a lucky break in the end.

My brother went to a party in Stuttgart and got talking to the girl whose job I eventually got. She was leaving, and they were looking for her replacement. A quick chat on the phone later and the deal was done.

Planes, trains or automobiles?
Automobiles. I don't like to rely on somebody else to get me to meetings. My car is my home on the road and is permanently strewn with work and child-related paraphernalia.

What never fails to make you laugh?
I have a two-year-old daughter who never fails to make me laugh and smile. It's a real balancing act working full-time and being a mother, particularly in a young company that requires a lot of travel and time. Therefore, I make sure that my time with my daughter is filled with fun activities.

What would you like to do next weekend?
I have never been to New York and would love to spend a long weekend there. It always seems a long way to go for a short period of time, but perhaps next year I'll put it in the diary for a festive weekend. It seems to be something I always put off.

What would you like to have as your epitaph?
"Enjoying my lie-in."

What will be the most important trend to follow in 2014?
Hybrid storage! What else? As storage demands increase, businesses will continue to turn to hybrid storage with maximum efficiency, integrating flash with high-capacity hard disk drives.

This offers increased performance and capacity, with data protection and monitoring. It has already captured the attention of customers and investors and I believe adoption will only accelerate over the next year.

In my dreams...
...my lovely old house would be fully renovated, the wood burner going, the day's work complete (does that ever happen?), something nice baking in the oven, a glass of red wine in hand, and the tantrum-prone toddler in bed.

Your closest near-death experience?
I once went white water rafting in Interlaken, Switzerland. At one point I ended up underneath the raft flying down the icy river, struggling to surface. I eventually came back up again with a mouth full of gravel and little air in my lungs.

What is one thing you miss from being a kid that you no longer do or can do?
I miss overnight stays at my grandmother's house. Being spoiled, baking and raiding the sweetie jar.

What was the last film you saw and what did you think of it?
The last film I saw was Heffalump, snuggled on the sofa with my little girl. If we are talking grown-up films, one of my recent favourites was Olympus Has Fallen.

Emma Batey is UK and Ireland channel manager at Nimble Storage

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