Celebrating 9 years of 93digital with our most seasoned team members 

Andrew, Nicola, Roz, Graham and Matt are some of the first hires at 93digital, having worked a collective 26.75 years at our fast-growing agency.

Through office moves, new colleagues and exciting clients, they’ve seen and done it all when it comes to website design, development and project management. Now, they’re key players in our integration into Clarity, the fast-growing global marketing and communications agency.

We think our 9th birthday presents a great opportunity to sit down with the 93digital veterans and find out their perspectives on agency life.

Graham

How long have you been at 93digital? 

4 years

What was your first role here and what is your role now?

I started as the Project Director and now I’m the Operations Director.

How has 93digital evolved since you first joined?

It’s changed a lot! When I joined I think there were only about 10 people and now it’s grown to a team of 36. We used to outsource the SEO which we now do it in-house and the client base has increased dramatically. Roz’s rescued plants have grown a bit too over the years. I remember them when they were only knee high (plants grow up so quickly nowadays)

What is your favourite 93digital memory? 

Hmmm… good question, maybe Domino’s cheese burger pizzas on training days? They were a game changer.

More of a standout memory than a favourite one was the look on Andrew’s face when I walked into the office one Monday morning to see him clearing up the aftermath of an exploded chocolate protein drink. It had fermented and blown the lid off the bottle over a hot weekend and the stuff was absolutely everywhere. On the ceiling, on the walls, on the desks. In fact, I noticed the other week that a couple of the screens in the office still have traces of it on the stands. That’s how to leave a mark. 

Other memories include Darren Snell’s remote control car. It had a flag on the aerial with ‘Help’ on it that he used to spin along the floor to Matteo on support to get his attention if a ticket came in. Oh, and the constant calls we used to get from that guy at ‘Tenacious Marketing’ (Roz and Nicola will know who I mean).

What’s the first website you remember using? 

Jeez, let me think. I’m sure it’s not the first I used but in the late 90s, Lonely Planet used to have a website called the ‘Thorn Tree’ which was basically a posh forum board for travel tips and posts. I used it a lot before one of my early travelling escapades. Another one that’s just popped in my brain is ‘Friends Reunited’ – anyone remember that pre FB days??

Roz

How long have you been at 93digital?

I’ve been here for 5 years and 3 months!

What was your first role here and what is your role now?

I started as a Junior PM (only one of two PMs across the whole company) and now i’ve reached the lofty heights of Lead PM, and the project management team as a whole now has 4 members if you don’t include Graham!

How has 93digital evolved since you first joined?

Aside from the growth in our team numbers and the number of projects we tackle, our processes have gotten so much more slicker. When I first started we didn’t have any real form of discovery process and would just jump into projects. Looking back on that time, it was actually quite stressful!

As a result the work we deliver now is much more organised, enjoyable and more effective. It means that I’m always proud of what we deliver.

What do you love most about working at 93digital?

Cliché answer but, the team! There’s not one person I wouldn’t want to sit and have a drink and a chat with. They’re my favourite part of the job, easily.

What’s the first website you remember using?

Neo-pets. I was addicted to their online version of the card-game ‘cheat’ as a child.

Which of your three colleagues would you want in your team if there was a zombie apocalypse?

Definitely Graham, he’s got two teenage sons and I can only imagine parenting is akin to fighting zombies. He’s also very calming in a crisis.

Andrew is also on the list. He’s currently building himself a patio and mixing cement by hand in a wheelbarrow. Those sound like the types of skills which would come in use to build a zombie-proof bunker.

The last spot is a hard one! I guess a zombie apocalypse would be a good time to learn an apocalypse-based useful skill? So I’ll say Fenella. She could teach me how to ride a horse which would be useful when it comes to trying to escape the zombie hordes.

Matt

How long have you been at 93digital? 

4 and a half years.

What was your first role here and what is your role now?

I was hired as a WordPress Developer, and my current role is Head of Development.

How has 93digital evolved since you first joined?

The agency was about a dozen people or so when I joined and, as I write this, we are 35 strong and currently in the process of joining Clarity, where we will be part of a team of over 150!

I am proud to have been part of the journey over the last few years and, despite the growth, the agency has always kept its culture, which is centred around the fantastic people who work here.

What do you love most about working at 93digital?

I think my last answer probably gives away what I love the most – the people! 

Everyone is approachable, friendly and just down-right lovely. There has always been a feeling of respect and support amongst the team and an understanding that we are all in it together and are part of the same team. The mood is always positive and I personally really enjoy being part of the team.

What’s your favourite/best project that you’ve worked on/are most proud of?

The Cambridge Judge Business School site build and migration is probably my best piece of work so far with 93digital.

It is the most complex project I have undertaken in my time here as it wasn’t a typical WordPress build. The 3 key areas of this highly bespoke build were:

1. The retention of the front end of the site and “lifting and shifting” it over to WordPress from another CMS, which required a lot of patience and diligence.
2. The custom content migration which required thousands of pages of content and blog posts to be migrated over to the new WordPress site programmatically.
3. The intricate content approval system which we built into the new WordPress site. This required most users to submit content changes for approval before being published publicly on the site. 

Nicola

How long have you been at 93digital?

Unbelievably it’s been 7 years! I was the first full time hire. I would never have anticipated I would have been with a company for such a long time, however the agency and my role has changed so much that it feels like I’ve worked in 4 or 5 different agencies in that period.

What was your first role here and what is your role now?

When I started it was as a designer and developer. As you can imagine with very few people at the beginning there was a fair bit of project management as well.

My role now is as Head of Design and UX, working with our team of digital designers on discovery and creative.

How has 93digital evolved since you first joined?

In too many ways for me to describe. When I started there were 3 people in a small office basement. Last week we moved into a huge London office with Clarity to become part of an international communications agency.  

What do you love most about working at 93digital?

Working with everyone in 93digital. It’s never felt hierarchical and we all value and respect each other as experts in our fields. Everyone can be involved in improving what we do, and we have a lot of fun together as well.

What’s the first website you remember using?

I first started using the internet around 96 or 97. Before the ubiquity of Google I remember hopping from search engine to search engine trying to find fan sites I could download images from. I’d leave the computer and wander off to kill the 10 or so minutes I was expecting it to take.

Andrew

How long have you been at 93digital?

I’ve been with 93digital just over 6 years, which has flown by!

What was your first role here and what is your role now?

I started 93digital as a WordPress Developer, however my main focus has always been the Front End of development, which has lead me to become a Lead Front End Developer.

How has 93digital evolved since you first joined?

93digital has come a long way! Initially we were in a basement office somewhere around Marylebone. The team quickly grew and with countless office moves and even bigger growth we are now excitedly joining the Clarity family!

What do you love most about working at 93digital?

The people I get to work with, whether it’s the core dev team, project managers, designers or the 93x team, every one of them are a pleasure to work with. Not a bad egg among us. I love my job so that’s also a massive bonus!

What’s your favourite/best project that you’ve worked on/are most proud of?

All of our most recent projects. As a developer you always want to push the boundaries of what you are capable of, whether it’s using new technologies or trying new techniques. Every new project is a fresh start to try and be better than before.