Profile
Andy Law
-
About Me:
I live in a town called Penicuik, which is just south of Edinburgh. I work at The Roslin Institute where my job involves interactions with dozens of research scientists. My job is to make sure that we have the right computer systems available for my colleagues to use in their analyses. Outside of work, my dog takes up a lot of time and rugby takes up all the rest.
-
Read more
My superpower is that I’m a computer programmer who is also a biologist. When I talk to biologist colleagues, I understand the words they are using because I know their work well. That lets me build better programs and systems than someone who did not know biology.
I’m very logical, and I can think fast and analyse problems thoroughly and quickly. Importantly, once I have an idea of how a system should work, I’m not afraid to change that idea if it turns out not to work like we hoped. It pays to be flexible and to adapt.
I played rugby from the age of 10, I’ve coached for over 25 years, and refereed for the last 18. I’ve refereed an international game, and been a touch judge in a Six Nations game, so that’s been fun.
-
My pronouns are:
he/him
-
My Work:
I look after data, write computer programs and make sure that we have enough computers available for scientists to do their research.
-
Read more
I get to play with some huge computers – we have a Superdome supercomputer, for example, which has 900 processors and over 23 terabytes of memory. That’s around a thousand times bigger than a typical desktop computer. And I write computer code that gets used in dozens of research projects.
-
My Typical Day:
Up at 7:00, empty the dishwasher, have a cup of tea and then take the dog for a walk. Back for breakfast and a shower and skim through the morning emails. Then off to work, unless it’s a work from home day. Check that the systems are running smoothly and that there’s nothing broken. Lunch at about 1:00 pm – check the news – then back to work until around 5:30 pm. Home, and a debrief with the rest of the family, then usually finishing up more work. We eat late – around 8:30 to 9:00 pm – then a bit of reading and bed at about 11:00 pm. I like to do a few Sudoku puzzles on the iPad before turning the lights out
-
Read more
A typical day varies from endless meetings, to the occasional day when I get to write code from morning to night. There may be problems to solve, maybe someone needs a program to do something new or perhaps we didn’t get the code to work properly the first time and we have to go and fix the bugs. Or perhaps I just need to spend time organising people and events all day. It’s very varied.
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d give it to EBSOC – our Easter Bush School Outreach Centre – to let them spend it on developing and delivering more courses and events for budding scientists
-
Education:
I went to a school called Bablake, which is in Coventry. It was a school where everyone was encouraged to be as good as they possibly could be, and to try new things. It was also very good at teaching people that sport, and art, and drama are every bit as important in life as maths and English. Important lessons. My favourite subjects were Biology, Maths and Physics.
I was lucky to have a teacher who had friends at our local university who would let us program their computer (this was 45 years ago – computers were rare then) and I got hooked. Then we got a computer at the school and we set up a computer club. I just found it natural from the start. This was my “happy place”.
After school, I worked on a farm for a year and then went to Nottingham University to study Agriculture. After the first couple of terms, I switched to study Animal Science because I found the bits about plants to be really boring. As part of my degree, I did a research project on sheep reproduction. I knew then that I wanted to be involved with more research if I possible could.
I applied to do a PhD in Edinburgh. I didn’t get that job, but they phoned me up and offered me a different project working on cows. I took that project, and I’ve been at Roslin ever since.
In 2016, I did a part-time Masters degree in High Performance Computing.
-
Qualifications:
I did my O-levels a very long time ago. I got 9 O-levels in 1979, and then did 5 A-levels (3 in 1981 and 2 more in 1982). I got an Honours degree in Animal Science from Nottingham University (a “2.1”) in 1986. Then I came to Edinburgh where I was awarded my PhD in Reproductive Physiology in 1991, and my Masters in High Performance Computing in 2017
-
Work History:
I worked in a dog kennels, and on a local farm when I was at school, then on a pig farm for a year before going to university. After my degree, I did a PhD and then got a job as a “post-doc”, doing more research. After a few years, I was promoted to be a “Group Leader/Principle Investigator” – basically someone who has managed to persuade people to give them money to do research and who has other people working for them to do some of that research.
-
Current Job:
I’m currently Head of Research Computing at The Roslin Institute
-
Employer:
The University of Edinburgh
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
rugby-refereeing computer coder
What did you want to be after you left school?
A farmer, or something related to farming
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really. I was one of the good kids
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Something in sport
Who is your favourite singer or band?
That depends on the day, and my mood. I'm listening to a lot of The Ballroom Thieves just now
What's your favourite food?
Steak pie
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To be happy, to never have to go to another boring work meeting, and that my dog lives longer than I do
Tell us a joke.
Where do rainbows go when they've been bad? To prism, so they have time to reflect on what they've done
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
rugby-refereeing computer coder
-
Comments