Flow’s new acquisition, Brian Gouws of the development team, is passionate about grenades, guitars and good gags, plus many other things that don’t start with “g”. He’s into computers but he may well be a secret agent too…
Brian is a programmer, and much like his colleagues can be sucked into the web of code that is weaved on the computer screen in front of him. “I put up my hoodie, put on my earphones, and get into what I call ‘The Cave,’” he says (although he resists any reference to being Batman). “It’s like tunnel vision,” he continues, confirming that programmers are not ignoring you when you ask them something, but are simply concentrating very hard.
But when he’s not working Brian looks life in the face and laughs at it, like a crazy lunatic who won’t back down even when the game is up. He has a taste for excitement and danger that cannot be contained by HTML.
Firstly, he is a defender of the peace. “I’m training to become a police reservist,” says Brian, with a look in his eye like Steven Segal in one of his many quality movies. “It’s a cool experience. You learn good discipline.” He smiles when he speaks but it would be clear to any witness of the interview that this man would defend the law better than the cast of Boston Legal and The A Team put together. Brian has no problem stating that his training will eventually involve the use of handguns, shotguns and grenades.
For Brian, fear is just another four-letter word, like “leaf” or “lolz”. Further evidence for this comes from his willingness to hurl himself out of an aeroplane 1 000 metres up in the air, attached to an unsuspecting man with a parachute. “It’s not as scary as you think it’ll be,” he says. “I’d love to get one of those wingsuits [where you fly around like a giant squirrel]!”
The fact that this kind of insanity is condoned at the Randburg Police Station where he is training is worrying for air traffic security, who might be on the lookout for a squirrel-man with a hoodie who can throw grenades at drunk drivers from above after jumping out of an aeroplane.
When he is on the ground he also likes to take pictures and meet up with like-minded photographers. “Well, I’m dabbling in photography,” he says modestly, although by this point it becomes clear that the man is acquiring all the skills of a superspy, and that once he has mastered some kind of martial art his training will be complete, and he will start wearing a tuxedo wherever he goes.
Brian plays guitar to relax. “I’m into older music, like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, but also other bands like Rage against the Machine. And I went through a big Killers phase.” It was obvious that he was speaking in code, trying to tell his audience something top secret, but unfortunately the code was too obscure and no one was sure what he really meant. He’s also into flying remote controlled aeroplanes, as well as the humour website 9gag.com. “You can spend two hours laughing your head off!” he says (which might have been a veiled threat).
Everyone at Flow is delighted to have Brian on board, and we look forward to getting to know him a lot better!