Unfiltered stories, live audience Q&A (via Slido) Join us for a relaxed and inclusive evening where seasoned tech professionals share the highs, lows, and hard-won wisdom from their journeys through startups, scaleups, corporates and digital transformation. This isn’t a panel full of buzzwords — it’s real talk, live questions, and space for the conversations that don’t usually happen at the front of the room. Our West Lancs Seasoned Professionals are: Andrew Beacock - Tech Leader 4 Hire - Founder,Tech Consultant, AI Advisor, Fractional CTO and LIFT 25 panelist With over 3 decades of software engineering experience, Andrew has built secure, scalable solutions across mobile messaging, fintech, and e-commerce. His background includes leading the 50-strong development team behind Very.co.uk, serving as CTO for multiple startups, and working with an AI consultancy. He now operates as an independent technical consultant and fractional CTO. Helping growth-stage startups and SMEs scale by refining platform architecture, structuring tech teams, and integrating AI where it adds real value. Leigh Rathbone - CAVU - Head of Quality Engineering Leigh has 27 years in tech across 14 companies and four continents, with a focus on Quality Engineering. His career has spanned groundbreaking innovations including the first touchscreen smartphone, smartwatch, and advancements in AR, VR, and streaming. Steve Humphries - Compute Unit - Founder Steve is a highly experienced Technical Director with over 25 years of experience working at the leading edge of game development. Having spent over 15 years in senior technical leadership roles at PlayStation Studios (Evolution and Firesprite) he contributed to the PS4 console architecture design and holds multiple patents. He is passionate about programming, mentoring and technical excellence. Whether you’re a developer, designer, team lead, or just curious, this is your chance to hear how it really works (and sometimes doesn’t).
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