Steve Grainger founded Enigma Interactive 25 years ago and it has since grown into a specialist digital development agency with offices in Newcastle and London, and a 40-plus team of highly-skilled producers, designers, developers and digital strategists.
What was your first job (and what did it pay)? Other than a couple of stints stacking shelves at a supermarket, my first job in tech was for a part-time role for a research department at Newcastle University. I was studying computer science and they needed a programmer who could help them write the software for some brand new technology they were investigating called ‘interactive video’. This was way before computers had entered the mainstream and well before anyone was even aware of a thing called “the internet”, and it really marked the very beginning of the kind of digital experience we now take for granted on our phones and computers. It was a fabulous opportunity and gave me my first taste of the potential that well designed technology can have to change our lives.
What is the best advice or support you’ve been given in business? Have a vision and have the confidence that you can achieve it. It’s a lot easier to find reasons why something can’t be done than it is to find the way it can. But if you believe in something, and really want it to work, then more often than not you can find a way.
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What are the main changes that you’ve seen in your business/sector, and what are the challenges you’re facing? The main challenge with the digital tech sector is actually its biggest opportunity too, and that is the rapid pace of change. There are always new ideas, techniques and technologies arriving that mean that no matter how well you develop and design your website, app, or back office systems today, there will always be a way to make them even better tomorrow. That’s what makes the digital tech sector so interesting to work in – on pretty much any project we embark on there will be people in the studio innovating ideas for how we can make that particular thing better than anything else out there.
How has the pandemic changed the way you work? I think the hangover from the pandemic will have long lasting repercussions for many businesses. As a digital development agency, we thrive on creativity and collaboration, and it’s impossible to fully replicate that without face-to-face interactions and the frictionless idea generation that comes with that. We quickly got back to being almost 100% studio based and are thriving because of that, but when we look around at many other sectors it seems clear that there struggling to make good decisive decisions as quickly and as efficiently as they were pre-pandemic, and in the long run, I fear that may erode their competitiveness.
Who is your role model in business? I’ve never tended to have role models as such - why imitate someone else, when you can get better results just being the best version of yourself? - but if I had to pick out someone who represents the kind of innovative, original thinking that helps push the boundaries of what we can achieve with technology, then perhaps forget the here and now, go back to the 1830s and take a look at Ada Lovelace – a brilliant visionary, and arguably the inventor of modern day computer programming. At a time when women’s voices in science were seldom heard, her leaps of imagination and amazing analytical thinking foresaw how computers would develop and dominate society in the future.
What would your dream job be? I’m an inventor at heart and love the thrill of developing something new and innovative. There are actually loads of roles I’d actually enjoy doing within Enigma if I had time. Our digital producer role for example is really interesting - working with clients to design new digital solutions and then working with the development and design teams here to bring those ideas to life. Or, I’d love to go back to being a software developer which is where I started. Development is just such an enjoyable activity to earn a living from (though I suspect things have moved on a lot since I was last developing, so I might need a bit of re-training!). So, either one of those or perhaps a Lion Tamer?
What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your sector? Be passionate about what you do. Tech is an amazing scene to be working in because it’s still changing so rapidly. That means that the potential for smart people to make a genuine difference is there if you want it. You’re inventing the future so strive to be the best, and put care, energy and passion into everything you do.
What makes the North East a good place to do business? Enigma’s client base is spread across the whole of the UK so we do a lot of travelling to different parts of the country, and I can honestly say the North East is a great place to work from. It’s a fabulous place to live and work, with great culture and amenities, and excellent talent pool and is just a nice place to be. Clients who’ve never been are always amazed at just how good it is here. We never give ourselves enough credit for this though, and are constantly shy at singing our own praises when other regions are only too happy to big themselves up despite not having everything we’ve got. Maybe that understated-ness is one of the things that makes it such a good place to live, but my inner northern pride can’t help but feel we should be making a bit more of it!
How important do you think it is for business to play a role in society? Crucial – business is the wealth generator in any society, and good creative businesses generate interesting jobs. The more great businesses can flourish in our region, the better the quality of life will be for everyone here.
Outside of work, what are you really good at? The lads I still play five-a-side with are convinced I could have been a professional footballer, but I’m not so sure. I did play for local semi-pro side JCB Eindhoven throughout the 90s, but having seen just how hard even those lads trained, I don’t think I’d have ever made the grade. Good job I managed to find myself an alternative career.
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