Tag: Working at Mendeley

Mendelife – Meet David Lee

Alice Bonasio

David Lee

This time around, we have a friendly chat with our VP Finance & Operations David Lee, who’s been with us here at Mendeley for just under a year, before which he worked for the likes of EMI and Betfair.

What made you apply for a job at Mendeley?
Mendeley ticked all the criteria I was looking for in my next challenge: I wanted to help build a company with an innovative/disruptive product with huge potential. Work with real entrepreneurs and have a role with lots of responsibility and impact.

When you started working here, were things like you expected?
I knew there would be a cultural change going from a corporate to a start-up, but I was pleasantly surprised. Mendeley has a fun environment and a genuine team culture, it really feels like we are all in the same boat working together to make something great.

Have things changed in Mendeley since you started working here?
I like to think that I have brought a certain level of organisation and focus to the company. Not too much, but just enough.

What’s the best thing about coming to work at Mendeley?
The ability to get stuff done quickly and have a very real and immediate impact is highly rewarding and refreshing (compared with a larger corp organisation).

Do you have any pets? If not, what would be your ideal one?
My ideal pet would be a Dashchund that shits money.

Who would be invited to your perfect dinner party? (you may include fictional characters and dead people)
I was lucky enough recently to be invited to a dinner party with this years BAFTA winners/nominees. It would be hard to top that.

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
The ability to fly

What book are you reading at the moment and why?
Steve Jobs biography – it’s taken me months to get through. I am always reading about entrepreneurs, innovation, start-ups and business strategy.

What would you change about the world if you could change one thing?
Suffering

What was the first record you ever bought?
Starship – Nothings going to stop us now.

What music is on your iPod at the moment?
I am mostly on Spotify now. I love using their app platform for music discovery.

Favourite food/drink?
I do love a tasty burger

Favourite film?
Impossible question. But Star Wars would feature somewhere close to the top.

Favourite place in the world?
Tokyo with my wife

Three things you would put in Room 101
Jan, Victor and Paul! ha ha ha ha! Only kidding, those guys rock.

Now for a serious one worthy of the Mendeley vision: If you could give
unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it
be and why
Time travel.

Mendelife – Meet Carole Khalil

Alice Bonasio

Carole Khalil

 

This week we ask some questions of our bubbly Office Manager Carole, who is responsible for keeping things looking lovely and working smoothly here at Mendeley HQ. 

When you started working here, were things like you expected?
They were exactly like I imagined, really laid back and really interesting
people all passionate about the company

Have things changed in Mendeley since you started working here?
I am still working on making the office a fun place to work in and hopefully the
changes will be felt soon

What’s the best thing about coming to work at Mendeley?
Everyone is friendly and chatty (and breakfast obviously)

Do you have any pets?
I have a cat back in Madeira called Fluffy, he is all white and very fluffy. He is massive at over 7Kg and thinks he is a dog. He has one yellow eye and one blue eye. He is the best cat ever and needs attention all the time. If you don’t pay him any attention, he will come, sit on your laps and you cannot move.

What is the one website you can’t live without?
I have to say Facebook as I am following my friends from all around the world.

When you were growing up, what did you want to be?
Air hostess. I love flying.

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
I would like to be a great singer

What book are you reading at the moment and why?
Sir Alan Sugar because I was curious to get to know the man more and have a better understanding of his business mind.

What would you change about the world if you could change one thing?
Now I am going to sound like a beauty pageant contestant and say world peace.

What was the first record you ever bought?
It was actually a present but my friend back in France got me Bros: ‘When will I be famous’, loved it.

What music is on your iPod at the moment?
On my MP3 player, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English music, oh and Turkish.

Favourite video hobby?
I love dancing.

Your greatest vice?
Smoking I guess

Favourite place in the world?
It would have to be Australia, I absolutely adored the East coast.

Three things you would put in Room 101
Spiders, thunder and onions

Now for a serious one worthy of the Mendeley vision: If you could give
unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it
be and why?

Medical research to beat diseases like cancer and Climate change to make sure we have a planet if we get to live longer

Mendelife – Meet Steve Dennis

Alice Bonasio

Steve Dennis

 

This week in our series of blogs about Team Mendeley we find out a bit more about our Lead Interaction Designer/iOS Product Manager Steve Dennis. When Mendeley was looking to expand its design team 3 years ago, our founders Victor Henning and Paul Föckler  approached Steve, who had moved to the UK from New Zealand just a month before… “they found my personal site through a science-hack-day I’d registered for. I started less than a week after first meeting Victor and Paul” he recalls.

Have things changed in Mendeley since you started working here?
Yes, for the better.  Everything is a lot more structured than it was 3 years ago, which allows for better planning, and ultimately better products for our users which is what matters.  Also free breakfast on Mondays is a pretty great addition!

What’s the best thing about coming to work at Mendeley?
Interacting with our users every day is what keeps me going.  Our users are friendly and very passionate about the product.

Do you have any pets? If not, what would be your ideal one?
If I had the option, it would be a baby monkey.  Riding backwards on a pig optional, but preferred.

What is the one website you can’t live without?
Is it ok to say Mendeley.com? Cause it actually pays for all my food…  Otherwise Twitter.

When you were growing up, what did you want to be?
A rubbish collector.  Then a stunt-man.  Then a computer tech.  So I became a Designer.

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
Backend programming.  It would be amazing to be able to develop small product ideas in my spare time.

What book are you reading at the moment and why?
Re-reading Indy Young’s ‘Mental Models’, because it’s always good to keep this stuff fresh.

What would you change about the world if you could change one thing?
I’d make burgers healthy enough to be eaten every day, and plentiful enough for that to be sustainable.

What was the first record you ever bought?
Garbage’s first album.

What music is on your iPod at the moment?
First ten bands via shuffle: Machine Head, Ling Tosite Sigure, Beck, Puscifer, Sikth, Klone, Deftones, Three Trapped Tigers, Devin Townsend Project, and Twelve Foot Ninja.

Favourite food/drink?
The blood of my enemies… or maybe pizza.  I’ll go with pizza.

Your greatest vice?
Coke Zero.

Favourite film?
Fight Club.

Favourite place in the world?
Bed.  Location irrelevant.

Now for a serious one worthy of the Mendeley vision: If you could give unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it be?
Any area that furthers space exploration, which, to be fair, is wide enough to touch on most research areas in some way.

 

Mendelife – Meet See Wah Cheng

Alice Bonasio1 Comment

This week we continue to introduce you to the fantastic people that make Mendeley what it is. See Wah Cheng has been Software Engineer/Product Manager with us for almost 3 years, so a true Mendeley veteran! Before coming to us, he got interested in academic research through his work at Cancer Research UK, so we start out by asking what made him apply for the job at Mendeley?

“After 2 years at CRUK, I wanted to go back to working in a startup. The fact that Mendeley was voted the best social innovation startup at the Europas made me want to apply”

When you started working here, were things like you expected?
The office was QUIET (everyone has headphones on)! Everyone was very clever.

Have things changed in Mendeley since you started working here?
The office is much less quiet now! More clever people

What’s the best thing about coming to work at Mendeley?
Seeing my colleagues, knowing that I am making progress with a great product

Do you have any pets?
No, but I’d like to have a giant St Bernard

Who would be invited to your perfect dinner party?
Beethoven (as follows from the above!)

What is the one website you can’t live without?
currently brockleycentral.blogspot.com

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
To be able to swim

What book are you reading at the moment and why?
Last one I read was 1984 by George Orwell

What would you change about the world if you could change one thing?
More respect between cyclists and drivers

What was the first record you ever bought?
Umm.. cannot remember. Manic Street Preachers perhaps?

What music is on your iPod at the moment?
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Yes, Steve, still listening to them)

Favourite video game/hobby?
Angry Birds / climbing

Favourite food/drink?
Oreo /  Good ale

Your greatest vice?
too many…

Favourite film?
Apocalypse Now

Favourite place in the world?
Sighișoara

Three things you would put in Room 101
Crap TV, Crap Music and More crap music

If you could give unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it be and why?
Renewable Energy

Mendelife – Meet Matthew Green

Alice Bonasio

This week we introduce another member of the Mendeley team: Business Executive Matthew “Matty” Green. He’s a relative newbie, having been with us for 3 months now, so we thought we’d get his thoughts on coming on board while they’re still fresh!

Why did you apply for this job at Mendeley?
There aren’t many small exciting companies around in London that combine a great product with huge potential, as well as the desire to change the world (of research) for the better. What more could you ask for?

And were things like you expected once you started working here?
I’d worked in tech companies before so knew roughly what to expect, though the office atmosphere was really much better! Had to get used to table football instead of table tennis…which I’m still struggling to adapt to.

Have things changed since you started?
The company is growing really fast so even in the 3 months since I started there have been more desks (and people) around me, so I guess that’s a good thing!

Do you have any pets?
No, but I’d love a Koala, or a Hippo. Logistically, both could be problematic – for different reasons.

Who would be invited to your perfect dinner party?
Marilyn Monroe, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Billy Connolly & Michael Palin…

What is the one website you can’t live without?
Not strictly a website, but Spotify gets me through a lot. The boring answer would be BBC

When you were growing up, what did you want to be?
A footballer…

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
Can this be fictional as well? If so, flying.

What would you change about the world if you could change one thing?
Stop anything Reality TV related ever being created… Or man’s inhumanity to others…

What was the first record you ever bought?
Ace of Base – All that she wants

What music is on your iPod at the moment?
The Tallest Man on Earth

Favourite food/drink?
Steak & red wine…

Favourite film?
Goodfellas

Favourite place in the world?
Parque Tayrona in Colombia

Three things you would put in Room 101
Minor celebrities ‘famous’ for being on a reality-TV show; George Osbourne; Crying babies on public transport

Now for a serious one worthy of the Mendeley vision: If you could give unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it be and why?
Astrophysics – just seems to be so much out there that we still have absolutely no idea about…

Mendelife – Meet James Rasell

Alice Bonasio

 

 

Welcome to a new series of posts directly “from the horse’s mouth” where the team here at Mendeley tells you a bit more about themselves.

As English author, poet and artist John Ruskin once said: “Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you what you are,” so we thought it would be nice to share with our community not only what life as a Mendeleyan is like, but also what makes them tick, their likes, dislikes and aspirations.

For our very first post, meet systems administrator James Rasell (also known as Tatooed James), who’s been with Mendeley for 4 months now and aspires to owning a black and white cat (“what’s not to like about them?”)

So, James, what’s the best thing about coming to work at Mendeley?
Free breakfast and the ability think freely!

Who would be invited to your perfect dinner party?
Jimi Hendrix, Gandhi, Gautama Buddah, David Attenborough, David Bowie, Tony Stark, Brian Cox

What is the one website you can’t live without?
sourceforge.net (source for finding, creating and publishing open source software for free)

When you were growing up, what did you want to be?
Astronaut or as it was known as a child…Space Man!

What was the first record you ever bought?
Offspring – Smash

Favourite food/drink?
dolsot bibimbap (a Korean Hot Stone Bowl with mixed rice, vegetables, meat and egg)

Favourite film?
Impossible to pick, but forced on the spot – The Matrix.

Favourite place in the world?
Koh Tao, Thailand…30m underwater scuba diving.

What book are you reading at the moment and why?
World War Z as I want to read it before seeing the film.

Favourite video game/hobby?
Listening to and playing music

If you could acquire one extra skill or talent, what would that be?
Teleportation or fluency in languages

If you could give unlimited funding and resources to one area of research, what would it be and why?
Astrophysics – As an earth and planetary science graduate it is something close to my heart and a subject which can have great resonance. It is said Christianity put science back by 500-1000 years; imagine what the world would be like if that was not the case (ignoring obviously the lack of renaissance art and so forth). I also believe a greater understanding of the universe and its working would aid most others subject fields and lead to a better world.