Profile: Joe Connor

Joe Connor
Joe grew in 1960's Britain and soaked up general knowledge from an early age. He collected Typhoo tea cards, stamps, football cards and souvenirs in albums and read I-Spy books. Everyday activities included arts and crafts, cardboard modelling, Lego, Mecanno and other construction sets. Family discussions often led to arguments which were settled using the family encyclopedias. After school Joe would visit his grandfather's engineering workshop and learnt metal and woodworking skills and was even put to work making components! Joe's interest and understanding of how things work continued throughout his teenage years with photography, developing and printing photos in his home darkroom.

After leaving school in 1974 Joe started an engineering and design career. As an early-adopter of all things technical, bought a Vic20 home computer in 1982 and learnt to code in BASIC and assembler so he could understand how computers and software works. Joe reckons that's the secret:
Start early and learn from the ground up

In mid 1980's London, Joe's career as a product designer and modelmaker led to winning the 1990 BBC Design Award as part of the Sams Design team. Leaving London to raise childen, while his wife pursued her banking career, Joe was the only dad at the school gates and his next huge learning experience!

Joe was invited to share his design expertise and lectured part time, in 3D Product Design at Colchester Institute, for eight years while contributing articles to various newsstand magazines. In 1997, along with fellow Atari enthusiasts, Joe helped launch Atari Computing magazine. He was editor and contributor until after the millenium.

Joe asserts his formative experiences have made him a specialist in general knowledge - which seems like a contradiction but Joe explained:
When researching new topics I spot the underlying principles and key facts fast.

Joe enjoys sharing his expertise through ADDucation. In common with many men of a certain age he loves lists! Joe always has a new lists in progress and he also helps maintain ADDucation's existing lists. Thanks Joe!

Lists created by Joe Connor