Lachlan Opray

Product Development Manager

Impact Data Pty Ltd

Graduated 2002

My company Impact Data Pty Ltd has been producing online database management products for small business for three years. Highlights of working for this company have come with each progression in the tools we offer to business which have been written by myself and another mathematics graduate. Current job satisfaction is derived from the ever-increasing number of businesses who make use of our software.

My position as product development manager provides me with creative freedom to design software applications and databases to meet the needs of businesses we service. We deal with a range of business types who have little or no technical staff. Therefore our software needs to perform complex sorting and reporting functions, whilst maintaining an interface that is comprehensible to users with little computer or mathematical training. Our major product allows for some fairly sophisticated customer profiling which provides our subscribers with the ability to specifically target a marketing campaign to a small number of highly interested customers.

My daily tasks at work frequently require knowledge of some subtle software design principles and programming syntax. Less frequently, my tasks require knowledge of mathematical formulas. A degree in mathematics has given me an understanding of mathematical formulas and concepts that has provided me with a strong basis for the design of logic systems. It has become second nature, so that whilst it is integral to what I do, it is largely "invisible" in my day-to-day job.