As sure as night follows day, the UK’s bonkers festival season and shops putting up their Christmas decorations far too early… August means one thing, Gophercon UK, and #TeamPMC devs heading to London town.

For those that don’t know, GopherCon is the UK’s only conference dedicated to all things Go programming, showcasing the latest developments for the Go language and related technologies.

This year, Shaun attended – leading a PMC crew alongside DevOps Engineer Mark Rathbone, Core Services Developer Tarique Rahman and Fullstack Performance Engineer, Peter Colquhoun – with the guys staying for two nights in Shoreditch, a stone’s throw away from the event at The Brewery events centre in the City of London.

What is Go?

Although it’s been around for over a decade now – before we hear from Shaun – what is Go itself? 

Put simply, it’s a programming language that in relative terms is still quite new – with its first full launch in 2012 after it initially surfaced as an open source in 2009.

Designed by Google, it is super efficient and looks to take the best bits of other languages used for back-end development such as Python and C, and has been deployed by some of the biggest companies in the world including Google itself, Microsoft and Meta.

At PM Connect, we use it for much of our core systems, with its scalability and efficiency a real plus. 

But enough about Go itself… let’s hear from Shaun about his time at GopherCon!

A holistic learning experience

“As someone who works in product with a mix of front and back-end, where I predominantly use PHP and Javascript, I’m basically a Go rookie! With that in mind, I was super excited to head to GopherCon and learn more about the language.

“Go is what a lot of our team uses for our core tech stack, so upskilling my understanding of it will have a big impact on how I coordinate with the teams who specialise in back-end development. I’m pleased to say GopherCon didn’t disappoint! I gained a huge amount at the conference and had a lot of fun. 

“Many of the sessions were perfect for me as an entry-level Go developer – learning more about its range of applications – the language itself, how it works – which enabled me to explore the language a lot more, too. Hearing from experienced people gave you a lot more understanding and the ability to ask questions at the end of each session made it a good environment to learn, as well as being engaging. 

“Particular highlights were ‘The 7 Deadly Sins for Gophers” by John Gregory, ‘The Hacker’s Guide to JWT Security’, by Patrycja Wegrzynowicz and ‘Boosting Test Coverage for Micro-services’, by Laura Vuorenoja. The talks were only 45 minutes, including 10-15 minutes of questions – so it kept you on your toes, rather than being too long where concentration can start wavering!”

Building team relationships

“Another key element to the conference was getting to know Mark, Tariq and Peter better – as although we all work within the dev team here at PM Connect, we specialise in different areas.

“GopherCon was awesome for this, with breakout areas where we could play Mario Kart, and a warning to all colleagues… Mark Rathbone is amazing at Mario Kart! He thrashed all of us. There was also coffee on tap, amazing food for lunch and an incredible array of doughnuts, which certainly helped keep the energy up for the day. 

“Following the conference, the evenings were a lot of fun, with GopherCon laying on table football, table tennis and drinks after the speaking finished – which provided some additional healthy competition for us! Tariq and I also headed out for a meal at the Bengal Tiger restaurant one evening, which was delicious and great to hang out.”

Valuable mission

“Overall, I had a brilliant time at GopherCon. It was a really valuable trip for me, with a good balance for stuff a new developer could learn – which wasn’t over my head, but still in-depth and informative with lots for me to take away and upskill further. 

“Most importantly, I had fun doing it and spending some quality time with my teammates – and it’s great that PM Connect invests in us being able to expand our knowledge, which ultimately helps the company in the long run.  

“All that being said, the highlight of the whole trip has to be my complementary Gopher toy! Here’s to next year.”

Shaun Whalen-Smith, Product Team Lead

Thanks for your time and thoughts Shaun… keep a lookout for another #DevDiary soon.

The post #DevDiary: All Go at GopherCon 2023 appeared first on PM Connect.

CEO Kev Dawson and VP Rafael Pico Parras were there to collect the award on the company’s behalf, in a room full of industry peers.

“This is a big vote of confidence for what we’re striving to achieve at PM Connect. The Global Carrier Billing Summit is one of the events we underline in the calendar, so to win this award in a room full of our partners and peers is testament to our trajectory as a business and means a lot to us. 

 

“We are on a mission to make in-demand content accessible to all by matching our world-class brand portfolio with MNOs, supercharging subscriptions using targeted digital marketing and driving growth for the whole ecosystem via our DCB payment solution.

 

“We strongly believe PM Connect is pioneering this approach, executing a strategic vision and delivering the results for our partners in a way that’s sustainable in the long-term. 

 

“A massive thank you to the Global Carrier Billing Summit for the award, but most of all thank you to our amazing team for constantly going above and beyond to make our work a success. We look forward to what the future holds for PM Connect and our business associates.”

 

Kev Dawson – Group CEO

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The core of the tech team operates out of our Birmingham (UK) headquarters but technology staff have been added in both South Africa and Portugal to match our global reach.

This supports our growth, with the company now processing over 50 million monthly transactions via our industry-leading mobile payments platform. In response to this Sanjay has restructured the team to incorporate a stream-aligned workflow, which enables faster delivery to match the commercial pipeline of new mobile network integrations and product launches.

Peter Colquhoun joins the newly named Operations Performance team as a back-end developer, Lisbon-based Hugo Camilo is welcomed as a nearshore Salesforce developer, Tariqur Rahman has been recruited as a core-services developer, and Jakub Kozlowski joins as a software developer in the company’s product team.

The business has also welcomed Product Manager, Harprit Badyal, to help strengthen its integration and core platform roadmaps.

Alongside the recruitment, Sanjay has promoted George Walker to Operations Performance Team Lead and Shaun Whalen-Smith to Product Team Lead, while Harry Perry has also been promoted to Senior QA Tester.

“I said when I joined PM Connect that we have a top development team, built by my predecessor, Andrew Robins. The tech is strong, and the people are of high calibre. We needed to take this further and that starts by restructuring and strengthening resources where demand is highest. With Peter, Hugo, Tariqur, Jakub and Harprit joining us – that is exactly what we’re doing. 

“I’d also like to congratulate both Shaun and George for their well-earned promotions to leadership positions, and Harry for his promotion, too. Empowering those who are hungry for more responsibility is something I’m deeply passionate about. Learning and progression should be at the heart of PM connect’s culture, one that is self-sustained beyond myself and our Head of Development, Dwayne Rowley. Learn, develop, and improve processes – that’s what success looks like for me as a senior leader.”

 

Sanjay Mistry – Group CEO

This news follows the company’s first international technolgy recruitment last year. Amina Amijee joined as a QA in 2021, the first on-the-ground development resource in South Africa. Hugo also joins a team of three in Lisbon, Portugal, with this nearshore resource helping the company with its technical operations within the European market.

“It’s such an exciting time for PM Connect as we look to scale in the next two years. The world-leading brands we have coming on board, the huge potential in Africa, and the growth opportunities in the rest of the world. We are building something special and having an international development team is central to that. Watch this space.”

Sanjay Mistry – Group CTO

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Sanjay’s tenure at PM Connect comes shortly after we announced the newly vamped executive team, with Kev Dawson coming in as CEO and the company’s co-founder James Macfarlane moving to the role of President.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Sanjay to PM Connect. He brings extensive industry knowledge, pedigree and experience – which further strengthens both our operational and executive team – where Sanjay’s track record of quality decision making will add significant value.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for the business, as our partnership with the NBA begins to mature, we’re launching in new territories, growth is on a steep upward trajectory and our pipeline of deals is looking strong. Sanjay’s know-how will be invaluable as we continue to expand.”

 

Kev Dawson – Group CEO

“The decision to join PM Connect was an easy one for me. The company has a fantastic brand, culture and value proposition. It’s also a great opportunity to work with James (Macfarlane, Group President) and Kev, having known and respected them for many years – and to deliver on their ambitious three-year strategy.

“The brands that we have coming on board, the potential in Africa and the rest of the world is building to something special. What excites me is that I have experience in delivering on these opportunities through my 17 years at Infomedia.

“We have a top development team here – the tech is strong, and the people are of high calibre. What I want to achieve is to take this one step further – where learning is at the heart of the culture, that is self-sustained beyond me. Learn, develop, and improve processes – that’s what success looks like for me.”

Sanjay Mistry – Group CTO

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This is an important step for the business as we continue to expand our international footprint – working closely with our European partners in a post-Brexit business climate – and expanding our development bandwidth in a big pool of talent.

A PMC welcome

To help welcome Eric, Pedro and Nuno to the PMC team – Senior Integrations Engineer and Nearshoring Lead, Chris Townsend, headed over to Lison to spend the week there.

We spoke to Chris about his time in Lisbon and how it helped the onboarding process for the new recruits, with a brief Lisbon cameo coming in the form of PMC Head of Development – Dwayne Rowley!

Over to Chris…

Onboarding the new team

“It was brilliant to head over to Lisbon to spend the week with the new guys – not only to welcome them and get into our tech stack and how we operate, but also to live and work in such an incredible city.

“At PMC, wherever you’re working, it’s essential you feel part of our culture and shared ethos. Eric, Pedro and Nuno are key and equal members of our team, and the last thing we want is for them to feel like they’re operating in a silo.

“All three guys have strong but different tech backgrounds – with Eric having 20 years PHP knowledge, Pedro with C# cloud platform expertise and Nuno a full stack developer with TypeScript and JavaScript. They picked things up super quickly and started their first tickets within a few days!”

Lisbon’s culture

“For me personally the trip was a brilliant development opportunity, integrating into a different working environment – including visiting the Hexis Technology Centre, which is a real hub. I was staying right on the coast which provided a stunning backdrop whenever I looked out of my Airbnb.

“Culturally, I loved Lisbon – and it proved pretty different weather wise in winter compared to the UK! Lunchtime was always really cool, with great places to eat and I could go and see the beautiful architecture.The food in general is amazing there. I’d always try and find a new spot every day.

“The evenings were also super fun. When Dwayne our Head of Development came we all went out for some drinks and a meal, which was a good opportunity to get to know the guys on a more personal level – including Nuno’s musical theatre, Pedro’s bee keeping and Eric’s love of playstation gaming!”

A worthwhile trip

“Most importantly, though, it was a really worthwhile trip meeting the new team members in person and integrating them to all things PMC.

“It has meant the guys have hit the ground running and their productivity since then has been superb. They’re proving to be a real asset to the company. Also – for other PMC dev team members, I couldn’t recommend visiting Lisbon enough!”

Chris Townsend, Senior Integrations Engineer

Thanks for your time and thoughts Chris… we should book in another #DevDiary soon.

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NBA League Pass

Top of the list of achievements has to be launching our landmark partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its premium live game subscription service, NBA League Pass.

Since launch, we’re already plugged into mobile network operators in Belgium, France and South Africa – where we’ve increased NBA League Pass’ subscribers by hundreds of thousands in just over six months.

Sports OTT focus

In line with this – we increased our profile in the Sports OTT market, with our white paper, Sports OTT: The Big Mobile Opportunity – which led to us being nominated for ‘Innovation of the Year‘ at the 2021 SportsPro OTT Awards.

This has driven some exciting new conversations with other world-leading OTT services – as we continue to expand our sports partner portfolio.

New services

We’ve also expanded our service offering – with the launch of our crediting partnership with revolutionary ad platform WeAre8 and EE in the UK – putting British people at the heart of the £23.6B ad ecosystem.

Alongside this, we’ve gone live with Sports Radio in South Africa with Vodacom and BCI – giving Vodacom customers access to live commentary, news updates and highlights packages of every English Premier League (EPL) match.

As the official tech partner – our team has managed the end-to-end Sports Radio user experience, including the development, streaming, hosting, subscription management and driving revenue through digital advertising.

“2021 has been a huge step forward for PM Connect, as we continue on our mission to make in-demand content accessible to all.

We couldn’t have done this without our partners and amazing team. I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all for your work.

2022 is set to be our best year yet, with more exciting product launches on the horizon – our ambitions to expand in both North America and Asia, alongside driving further growth in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

All that’s left for me to do is wish you Season’s Greetings – I hope you have a relaxed and restful break.

We look forward to building on our successes in 2022.”

Christopher Purdie, Chief Commercial Officer

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Tebogo Mokobo

We’re excited to welcome Tebogo into the PM Connect team as Carrier Account Manager.

Working from Johannesburg, South Africa and reporting to SVP for Africa, Deon Pinetown – Tebogo will be both supporting and boosting our rapid growth on the African continent.

Tebogo has significant experience within the mobile, tech and digital space in Africa, having been COO of Pixel Entropy – a digital agency that specialises in mobile apps.

Aruna Goturi

Also joining us is Aruna, who has been appointed as Lead QA in the development team.

Adding over six years experience to our testing function, Aruna will be applying her rich skillset to increase our test automation coverage across our product portfolio.

Drawing on QA Harry Perry’s at-the-coalface knowledge, we look forward to Aruna’s expertise adding real value to our QA team – helping ensure our products are as robust as possible.

Danielle Shipway

Alongside Tebogo and Aruna, Danielle joins the PMC fold as HR & Admin Generalist.

Reporting into our Head of People, Ayelet Goss, Danielle’s role is essential in supporting our growing international team from our HQ in the UK.

Coming from Birmingham tech outfit Packt Publishing, where she worked for six years, Danielle’s experience and knowledge will be a real asset to the company.

Olga Kostyshena

Joining the PMC fold back in 2017, we’re thrilled that Olga has now been promoted to Design Team Manager.

Working within the User Acquisition team, Olga plays a crucial role in managing the delivery of creative assets we use to drive business growth.

With extensive knowledge of the creative process, Google advertising and first-rate management skills – Olga’s role is an essential cog in PM Connect’s advertising output.

Felipe Ferreira

Working within the same team as Olga since 2019, Felipe’s excellent results has seen him promoted to Senior User Acquisition Manager.

Felipe has been responsible for some incredible ROI on his advertising campaigns, with his CPA continually improving as he drives the business’ subscription revenue forward.

Working across our full range of products, from sport, to games and fitness, Felipe continues to raise the bar within the UA team.

James Macfarlane

“These external hires are a clear sign of our intent – as we continue to grow and deliver on our mission to make in-demand content accessible to all, particularly off the back of the NBA League Pass launch and our growth on the African continent.

“Equally as important are our internal promotions. We take pride in growing our own at PM Connect – and seeing hard work from the team being rewarded is hugely satisfying.

“A big welcome to our new starters, and congratulations to the recently promoted. Onwards and upwards for team PMC!”

James Macfarlane, Group CEO

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Big win at Global Carrier Billing Summit Awards

The results are in – we won Best Merchant at the 2020 Global Carrier Billing Summit Awards for the second year running, as voted for by the carrier community!

This coveted award signifies recognition from clients, partners and industry peers alike that PM Connect is building strongly towards our mission to connect global brands to new audiences via carrier partnerships.

“I’m beyond proud that PM Connect has won Best Merchant at the Global Carrier Billing Summit Awards for the second consecutive year. This award is down to the hard work of all our team, and the industry-leading brand and carrier partners we have the pleasure of doing business with. As PM Connect continues to grow, I’m excited for what the future holds.”

 

James MacFarlane, CEO at PM Connect

Movers and shakers: from Johannesburg to Paris

Also, this month we have some exciting internal news as we have further bolstered our commercial team to support our next phase of global growth.

Christopher Purdie has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer. Chris has presided over a period of phenomenal expansion for PM Connect, within which he grew our reach to over 680M consumers worldwide and to over 10 million payments processed per month.

Joining him are three key strategic Vice President hires, each with different territories under their wing to solidify our ambitious plans.

Senior Vice President, Roger Davies, has come into the fold on a permanent basis to look after the North American, European and Asian markets. Deon Pinetown also joins us from Johannesburg in his role as Vice President for Africa, strengthening the company’s foothold in the African markets and beyond. Finally, Sébastien Givry is leading on our work in France, Belgium and francophone Africa from our newly-opened office in Paris.

“I am thrilled to welcome three strategic new hires into the fold at PM Connect. Deon, Sebastien and Roger are set to play a crucial role in helping us seize the mobile opportunity and solidify our place in the DCB ecosystem. Each brings with him a formidable network and unrivalled expertise, and I am looking forward to continuing to lead the team from strength-to-strength.”

 

Christopher Purdie, Chief Commercial Officer at PM Connect

Tech week talks from our CCO and CTO

This month also saw us take part in two sessions at local tech event Birmingham Tech Week as it went virtual in this year’s celebration of the region’s tech and digital prowess.

Chief Commercial Officer, Chris Purdie spoke on a panel discussing the path to customer success, whilst our Chief Technology Officer Andrew Robins sat on a discussion about how local tech companies can make the leap from start-up to scale-up.

While we missed rubbing shoulders with the local scene, we were thrilled to take part in this year’s virtual events and look forward to seeing everyone next year!

That’s it for this month. Make sure you follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with the team as we continue on our mission to make in-demand content accessible for all.

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Bringing together carriers, merchants and regulators, the Global Carrier Billing Summit is the world’s only dedicated direct carrier billing conference – with its associated awards celebrating the most impressive innovation from across the industry.

PM Connect was awarded Best Merchant; honoured for our global growth, secure and customer-focused payment systems, and strong relationships with mobile carriers.

There was tough competition to beat but PMC came out on top, with Commercial Director Chris Purdie picking up the prize from judge Joanna Cox, General Manager for the Association of Interactive Media and Micropayments (AIMM). The panel chose us for our work in driving global Direct Carrier Billing and building strong relationships with mobile operators.

Stronger Together: Connect – Secure – Grow

Directly following on from our awards success, that evening we teamed up with our trusted anti-fraud partner Evina to host an exclusive event for carriers – treating over 30 guests to drinks, canapes, and networking at London’s Coq D’Argent rooftop restaurant.

Attendees from EE, Orange, and Proximus, to name just a few, enjoyed panoramic views of the city skyline and the opportunity to connect with fellow carriers. Using Evina as our independent security partner ensures our anti-fraud technology is primed to support growth and market expansion – with the event giving network operators a chance to learn how the Evina and PM Connect partnership could help secure and boost their offering.

Back in our home city, we partnered with Birmingham Tech Week – the city’s inaugural celebration of its tech and digital community – to host an educational event in Birmingham’s Purecraft Bar and Kitchen to inspire other local developers and programmers.

CTO Andrew Robins and head Golang developer Jan Haitjema discussed the business sense behind changing our programming language, as we have moved selected services from PHP to Go, the high-performance Google-designed language also used by innovative businesses Monzo and Uber.

Andrew expanded on how the unique team culture at PM Connect empowered our developers to suggest adopting Golang to the leadership team – eventually choosing the language for its low barriers to entry, back-end capabilities and adaptability, making it a perfect fit for our ambitious growth plans.

What a month it has been for the PMC team! We’re already planning the next must-attend carrier event, as well as continuing our proud involvement in the Birmingham tech community, sharing our expertise.

Looking forward to the last few months of 2019 and into next year, expect further market expansion, more carrier partnerships and new product announcements – alongside more events in the pipeline.

Watch this space and make sure you follow us on LinkedIn for the latest blog posts and company updates, as we’ll be keeping partners and interested parties in the loop as we set our sights on new sectors and new territories.

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