A Short Interview with Chris Walton – bet365's Production Database Team Leader
What do you do at bet365?
My current role is Production Database Team Leader in Manchester, managing a team of 13 people.
What do you enjoy about your current role?
Having such a diverse team of individuals to manage, all of whom are at different stages in their careers. Coming from a technical background myself, I enjoy being able to get involved in the tech discussions with my team, even if I don’t get involved in the coding myself.
What is your biggest achievement so far?
Growing the team!
When I initially joined 15 months ago, it was myself and two other DBAs. The team now stands at 13 (and still recruiting!). I've conducted lots of interviews but they've all been worth the effort.
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Due to our rapid expansion as a business, my team has grown and it’s certainly a challenge making sure everyone is on-boarded and brought up to speed about our systems / ways of doing things.
The team has now reached a size where we’re looking to hire another Team Lead based in Manchester to ensure everybody is given the 1-2-1 time they require. This will be a fully hands-off role, but we’re looking for somebody with a strong MSSQL DBA background so they’re able to coach and develop the team. You can find out more and apply by clicking the link at the end of this article.
What made you choose bet365?
No other company that I’m aware of pushes SQL Server to its limits as much as bet365 does. It’s mind blowing and I feel like I learn new things every week. At peak, we’re pushing half a million transactions per second across our systems. I’d also heard about bet365’s expansion into the US markets and really wanted to be a part of it. The scale of what we’re looking to achieve is phenomenal and we’re only going to get bigger.
Would you recommend bet365 – if so why?
I would absolutely recommend bet365 as a place to work. It staggers me how quickly we’re growing yet we still invest a lot in our existing colleagues. I’ve attended several management training courses and have sent my own team to week-long DBA courses, fully paid for by bet365. The training and development, in addition to the variety of work, is fantastic. We look after our colleagues as without them we could not achieve what we do as a business.
On top of that we will use whatever database technology is appropriate for each task. Whilst SQL server is the main database platform we use we also have a smaller PostgreSQL estate for some of the less highly transactional systems.
What advice would you give to someone who is looking to join bet365?
Sell yourself! Remember the interview is a chance for you to let bet365 know about your skills and experience. Make sure you focus on the technical skills / experience you have (if applying for a tech role). Sometimes people can spend too much time explaining the industry they currently work in which is less time to showcase your skills.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my short chat with Chris. We’re recruiting right now for Production DBAs and a DBA Team Lead based in Manchester, so please reach out to arrange a chat.
Production DBA Team Leader
Production DBA
Chief Product Officer
3yHalf a million transactions per seconds... impressive!! Great job!
Assistant manager at FinacPlus
3yHello all Hiring mangers, I am a customer service expert having worked with bwin party groups and sportsbetting if eprovided an opportunity i can provide better customer serviice let me know if you have any openings for english customer service at bet365. Regards Bharth