'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Amid the current debate over bringing fresh talent into the industry, it is intriguing to note that most of the 125 top executives featured in the recent CRN A-list 2023 did not count a position in the tech channel or industry as their first job.
In fact, only 19 went straight into IT in one capacity or another.
OK, this does include Saturday jobs and paper-rounds. But even so, it's interesting to reflect that our century-and-a-quarter of power players weren't always destined for a top job in the channel.
From detasseling corn and muck spreading, to selling men's underwear, here we round up some of the funniest and most interesting first jobs cited by our 125 industry luminaries. Find out more about the A-list here.
Neil Thompson, CEO, Daisy Group
In a factory putting tiny Ian Botham statues in Cornflake packets for kids to drop into their bowls of milk.
Read Thompson's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Samantha Mudd, MD, Phoenix Software
A silver service waitress in the hotel that fell into the sea in 1987 Scarborough and was covered by TV crews from all over the world. Thankfully I wasn't on duty at the time.
Read Mudd's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Hayley Roberts, CEO, Distology
When I was 15, I worked in my local Littlewoods café on the pot wash. It definitely taught me how to be resilient!
Read Roberts' full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Alastair Bell, founder, Bell Integration
Building PortaKabins for a road crew in the Sahara desert, Libya in 1980 responsible for linking Sabha 400 miles away with Tripoli.
Read Bell's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Phylip Morgan, chief revenue officer, Pax8 EMEA
Muck spreading on the farm as a teenager. Dad paid me 50p per load.
Read Morgan's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Emma de Sousa, EMEA president, Insight
My very first job was a paper round when I was 13!
Read de Sousa's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, global vice president - strategic alliance partnerships, Citrix Systems
Detasseling corn and lifeguarding during my teenage summer months. Good pay but horrible working conditions at both jobs.
Read Senecal de Fonseca's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Guy Hocking, group managing director, Utilize
I used to catch fish with a rod and reel that I bought from a car boot sale, using worms I dug up from the beach. I would then sell the fish to local pubs and restaurants. I eventually ended up running one of them.
Read Hocking's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Ioan MacRae, CEO, Maintel
Working at a boatyard on the River Thames in Henley, skippering commercial craft and private hire boats.
Read MacRae's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Dominic Pierce, MD UK&I Partner Organisation, Cisco
Stacking shelves in the Co-op. Due to being taller and stronger than many of the other shelf stackers, I was put on pet food. For my two sixth form years, I smelt mainly of Kouros aftershave and Whiskas.
Read Pierce's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Etienne Greeff, CEO, Flow Transform
I started a software development shop while at school.
View Greeff's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Scott Nursten, CEO, ITHQ
I was a tree feller, paid to get rid of dead wood. Read into that what you will.
Read Nursten's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Alex Tatham, chief client & marketing officer, NSC Global
Selling men's underwear in Marks & Spencer Marble Arch (employee of the month, March 1981!)
Read Tatham's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Colin Blumenthal, CEO, Complete IT
Shovelling mushroom manure into sacks to save up for a £100 cassette/radio player in the early 1980s.
View Blumenthal's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
James Napp, MD, Bechtle UK
At 14, I built my own little snacks business, selling Tayto crisps to Irish pubs in Germany.
View Napp's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Alexa Greaves, CEO, AAG IT Services
Although I had several part time jobs as a student such as chopping cabbage in a coleslaw factory, my first main job was as a corporate foreign exchange trader.
View Greaves' full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Guy Golan, CEO, Perfomanta
Comix Express. As a complete comics geek and fan, I worked for the guy who invented the Magic software back in the 1990s. He opened a comics company where he tested his Magic ERP software as the main tool. I used to take calls from customers and place orders on their behalf.
View Golan's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Mukesh Gupta CEO & co-founder, e92plus
Double glazing sales, learning by getting straight on the phone!
View Gupta's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Rich Thompson, CEO, ANS
Door man at my uni bar.
View Thompson's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Kelly Simkiss, CEO, Cybit Group
A babysitter on a Saturday night each week when I was 13 to 14 and then a shop assistant in a newsagents on a Saturday afternoon (after dancing) and Sunday morning when I was 15… I remember being frustrated that I had to wait a whole year to be allowed to operate the lottery machine!
View Simkiss' full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Anna Assassa, CEO, Tisski
As a teenager, I worked on a market stall in Covent Garden selling ceramics, jewellery and other random bits to whoever would pay me the most. A world away from technology and my professional life now, for sure, but I certainly smile when I think about it.
View Assassa's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Paul Barlow, CEO, Servium
2nd Lieutenant Royal Marines.
View Barlow's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Zoe Chatley, MD, The Channel Recruiter
My first proper job was working as a lifeguard at my local leisure centre. I did that for six years and worked my way up to duty manager before leaving and falling into recruitment.
View Chatley's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Bob Sahota, sales director, Highgate IT
It was a commission-only, door-to-door sales role at the age of 16, helping consumers to switch their gas and electricity suppliers over. Not realising at the time it would lead to a lifelong career in sales, it was my first glimpse of solving problems for end users for performance-related pay.
View Sahota's full A-list profile here
'I shovelled mushroom manure': 25 CRN A-listers reveal their first jobs
Simone Hindmarch, co-founder and MD, Commercial
Waitressing or modelling, I can't remember which… I wasn't very good at either!
View Hindmarch's full A-list profile here