celebrating 15 years at eve Wholesale

Today, we’re proud to shine a spotlight on one of the driving forces behind our technical success: Jim Turnbull who is celebrating an incredible milestone — 15 years with eve Wholesale.

From his early days on the technical team to his current role as Head of Network and Infrastructure, Jim has not only grown alongside the company but has been instrumental in shaping the backbone of our operations. His journey is a testament to dedication, expertise, and the power of continuous growth, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this achievement with him.

tell us a little bit about yourself  

Sad to say, I’m a proper Geek. My hobby is my work and vice-versa. I love learning new things about technology. So I’ll do some small projects at home, or do some training on some tech that I want to learn about. The last few years, in my spare time I’ve learned a lot about automation with Ansible and Packer which has helped with building out our new UC Hosted core. I’ve also done some work on OpenStack, built an OPNSense router and PiHole on a Proxmox stack using an old Thin Client, and installed Ethernet in the home to take advantage of higher speed Internet for streaming TV. I also like doing a bit of programming, but I’m no expert it’s just a hobby.

Outside of the tech stuff, I’m officially a Grandad, and the grandchildren call me Popsie. I like to spend time with friends, and we have a group of us that Holiday together when we can. I particularly love the Greek islands, Kos and Crete being my personal favourites. I don’t think you can beat the Greek people for friendliness, and I do like my Greek food too!

what does a typical day look like for you? 

My current role sees me primarily looking after the team that runs the eve Voice/UC infrastructure, as well as having responsibility for our internal IT. I’m still very much a hands-on technical person, as are all the technical managers in the business. I don’t think there’s a typical day, we could be building out new servers, testing the latest software upgrades or new phones, troubleshooting a customer escalated issue, helping out the development team with integration, or helping out a colleague with query or issue. This week, I’ve been helping out marketing on the eve Wholesale website.

was this your first role at eve Wholesale or has it changed over the past 15 years?

I was originally brought in as a Software Development Manager in 2010, then Group IT Manager in 2012 before taking on the additional responsibility for the engineering staff for eve Voice in 2017. There have been a lot of changes over the years, but I’ve been told I’m one of the few constants (at least I think that’s what they said!).

what do you enjoy most about your job? 

Every day is a learning day. I get pleasure out of learning something new, and then passing on that knowledge to my colleagues, or from my colleagues teaching me something new. I’m also a keen troubleshooter, and fixing that impossible problem is like scoring a goal.

can you share any notable events from your 15 years here? We did hear a story about you falling asleep on a hotel lobby sofa and getting buried by cushions…

I’d been with the company for two months when we had my first Xmas party. There was a game of heads or tails, and I remember there were 3 or 4 different offices at the time, and it was down to the last few., I was the only one left from the Stonehouse office, and my colleagues were cheering for me to win. In that moment, it encapsulates the spirit of the place. I won the prize which was a new 42″ TV (big back then, but small by today’s standards).

That properly started my journey with the company. Needless to say, there have been some fun times! On one occasion, I fell asleep in the hotel lobby bar, and my colleagues invented a new game called ‘Jimga’ where they piled as many cushions as they could find on top of me. In my defence, I have since been diagnosed with sleep apnoea!