Profile: Joe Connor

Joe Connor
Joe grew up in 1960's Britain and he soaked up general knowledge from an early age. Joe 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 where he learnt metal and woodworking skills. Joe's interest and understanding of how things work continued throughout his teens with photography which expanded into developing and printing photos in his home darkroom.

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

In mid 1980's Joe was a product designer and modelmaker and he was part of the 1990 BBC Design Award team at Sams Design in London. Joe left his career behind to raise childen and was one of the first stay at home dads - another huge learning experience!

Joe was invited to share his design expertise and became a part-time lecturer in 3D Product Design at Colchester Institute while contributing articles to various newsstand magazines. In 1997, along with fellow Atari enthusiasts, Joe helped launch Atari Computing magazine and was editor until just 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