Having recently marked 10 years of working with EIDA, we sat down with Darach Finnegan and Conor Devilly to hear about their journey and how they have been an essential part of the development and growth of EIDA.
During these interviews we’ll get an insight into their backgrounds and careers to date, lessons learned, good times along the way, what their roles involve today, and how their roles will continue to evolve.
We hope you enjoy it!
Director, US Operations at EIDA Solutions
E: darach.finnegan@eidasolutions.com
Darach, congrats on marking 10 years, tell us a little about your background and your career to date with EIDA.
Thanks so much, it’s been a great 10 years at EIDA. My background wouldn’t be the typical one you would expect for someone in construction software as my undergraduate degree was focused on Agricultural-Environmental from University College Dublin. However, my career in the industry started back in 2006 when I took a role with SIBS Commissioning and Validating Specialists. During my time at SIBS I happened to meet Dan on a job we were both assigned to in Sweden, we got talking and happened to stay in touch. When Dan and Ramy set up EIDA in 2011 Dan reached out about joining the team.
I jumped at the opportunity to join EIDA. I wanted to be part of a small team, building the business from the ground up, while being able to make a difference at the company. I started out as an Account Manager working alongside Dan going out to market, meeting potential clients, and building a reputation for EIDA within the industry.
10 years later, while my role has shifted and I am now Director, US Operations based out of New York, I am still as excited today as I was the first day I joined. I’ve watched this company grow from a team of four sitting around Dan’s kitchen table to a team of 30 working across many different continents, watching our software evolve, and continuing to build our database.
What does your role involve today?
I moved to New York in October of 2021 to take on a new role as Director, US Operations and I was very excited to take on this challenge. The US is a huge market for us with many areas of opportunity to grow and expand. I have just finished my first year here and while we have made great strides in breaking into the market there is still a lot of work to do.
My typical day involves managing the US team, a lot of sales, and of course business development. The majority of my time is spent following up on leads of potential jobs or reaching out to contacts that I have met at recent conferences or trade shows. While a lot of people don’t enjoy this part of business I thrive on meeting new people while having the opportunity to help them understand how EIDA will benefit their projects.
I also spend a lot of my time travelling, visiting jobs around the country that we are already on. That’s one thing about EIDA, we continue to follow up and offer support for those jobs we’ve already secured and I view this as a hugely important part of my job. I keep track of the projects we’ve secured and the stages they are at so I can make sure to plan my visits to site when it makes the most sense. Making sure our clients feel supported is very crucial to the success of EIDA.
What have been some of the lessons or challenges you have faced in your career with EIDA?
I think lessons and challenges present themselves at the same time, and usually allow you the opportunity to learn and grow. I think when we were growing EIDA in those early days it was challenging, there was a lot of work and not a lot of us to do it. There were late nights, weekends, and a lot of travel, but this allowed me to understand our software inside and out. So although it was challenging I was able to learn and grow, giving me the opportunity to become an expert on the software which showed when talking to potential clients.
Can you tell us about some of the good times along the way?
As we’ve grown in the last 10 years I have had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest companies across the pharma, semiconductors, and data centre industry. While it can be challenging I have learned so much from each and every one of these jobs which has only helped me to grow into the role I am in today.
Not only have I had the opportunity to work in the US but I have also worked across Europe and the Middle East where I have gained invaluable knowledge of working with different cultures.
In the early days as a team of four it was all hands on deck, so while my role was Account Manager I think it was fair to say I tried my hand at everything, minus the coding, I left that to Ramy. But this was such an exciting time for EIDA and I felt like everything I was doing I was really making an impact.
And of course there have been loads of good times with the people. I know it sounds cliché to say but it really does make a difference to your job when you see the people you work with as not only colleagues but friends too. And we’ve been through it all together.
How do you see your role and work evolving in the future?
As I mentioned we’ve only scratched the surface in the US over the last year but we’ve made some great progress. The next year will be crucial for EIDA as we’ve already identified numerous large projects coming up where EIDA will be a benefit. So that means continuing to get out into the market to meet potential clients, attending more trade shows, and continuing to support our existing clients.
It’s also important that we continue to grow our team here in the US so that we can continue to grow our clients and show our commitment to the market. The next 12 months will be busy but it’s a very exciting time to be working at EIDA.
“I want to congratulate Darach on reaching this important milestone and to thank him for his years of hard work, dedication and passion. I look forward to more fantastic years of work together.” Dan McAlister, CEO
Conor Devilly
Senior Security Information Officer
Conor, congrats on marking 10 years, tell us a little about your background and your career to date with EIDA
I’ve always been interested in technology. I studied Computer Science in DIT then did a masters in Digital Investigation & Forensic Computing in UCD. Since then, I’ve obtained several professional certifications in the fields of security and cloud architecture.
I started in EIDA before all of that though! I originally started doing some QA testing for work experience. That developed into maintaining infrastructure on a part-time basis, while I was in college. Since working in EIDA full-time, my job has been to manage our cloud infrastructure and look after security & privacy issues.
What does your role involve today?
Today, my role mainly involves managing EIDA’s cloud infrastructure. We host our infrastructure on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Cloud is very exciting and always changing. We setup our first GCP environment in 2015 and the platform has totally changed since then. An important part of my job is to keep track of new features in GCP and figure out how EIDA can leverage them. Additionally, I’m constantly trying to develop our technical processes and align them with industry best practices.
The other important aspect of my role is in managing security & privacy. Security is paramount to EIDA’s customers and the cloud brings its own unique challenges and opportunities for security. My job is to ensure that security concerns are heard and catered for. I probably have a reputation for harping on about things like risk management and the principle of least privilege – but I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon! These concepts are critical for a secure organisation. Furthermore, tech is becoming more and more regulated. As EIDA’s Data Protection Officer, I advise management on compliance issues and ensure that our end-user’s data rights are protected.
What have been some of the lessons or challenges you have faced in your career with EIDA?
Balance is probably the biggest challenge for any information security professional. It’s easy to get lost in security best practices and forget about the business case behind an idea. On the other hand, it’s also easy to forget about security and blindly pursue “the next big thing”. Balancing the business case with security controls is a constant challenge.
As for lessons learned, the main lesson would be: Keep up. Both cloud and security are evolving at a lightning fast pace. You need to learn constantly or you will be left behind. It’s very important to challenge yourself to learn as much as possible.
Can you tell us about some of the good times along the way?
In general, watching EIDA grow has been a very rewarding experience. I fondly remember when I started working in EIDA. Ramy and myself would work from Dan & Ramy’s kitchen, while Dan worked from his room upstairs. Darach arrived on the scene soon after and we quickly outgrew the kitchen!
There’s been many challenges throughout the years. I’ve seen things go right, seen things go wrong and taken a large breath of relief when things work out. I consider my time in EIDA to be an invaluable experience, from which I’ve learned a tremendous amount.
How do you see your role and work evolving in the future?
I’m looking forward to building more cloud-native solutions. We’ve only recently started to truly embrace the power that GCP has to offer. There is so much left to explore and so many benefits to be realised. I’m hoping that with some coordination with our Development team, EIDA will start to build more scalable, reliable and cost-effective solutions – both for ourselves and our customers.
“A Big Congratulations to Conor on the 10 year milestone, it has been a real pleasure having him on board and hopefully many more years to come. Conor is an invaluable member of EIDA and at the core of what EIDA strives to become. A brilliant mind, with a superb attention to detail that always delivers.” Ramy Michael, CTO