DOer of the Month: Mike Turner

DOer of the Month: Mike Turner

We profiled Mike Turner as DOer of the Month and featured his developer profile on the front page of the DOer Gallery. If  you’d like to share your story on the blog, create your DOer profile and email community@twilio.com

 
To say Mike Turner got his start early is an understatement. Mike got the idea for Staff Guardian, when he was just 11 years old. Now, a decade later, he’s turned that idea into a key component of his IT company, TurnKey IT Solutions. Staff Guardian gives staff members who work graveyard shifts, or work alone, an easy way to send SOS alerts to their managers via Twilio. Once they press the SOS key on their Staff Guardian, an emergency call and text goes out to their managers.

We talked to Mike Turner about how he got started coding, what drew him to IT and more.

What sparked your interest into software development and IT? How old were you?

I was 11 when I built my first website, we now work on a variety of projects with start up companies through to public sector organisations

What was the first app or hack you built that you showed to family or friends?

Probably the very early version of Staff Guardian, which was called something completely different back then! – it was a simple web app that received text messages sent from lone workers when they arrived at a patient’s house. The app would record how long they spent there and after an hour, it would text them back to ask if they were okay. If they failed to reply back, an email was sent to their manager.

When did you get started using Twilio?

I came across Twilio in 2012 and we started working on ideas for integration with Staff Guardian in the spring of 2012. Since then, we have been thinking of other ways of improving Staff Guardian by making use of Twilio’s tech, such as our Emergency Control Centre  receiving calls via the client’s browser, which removes the need for their old PBX.

How are you using Twilio in StaffGuardian?

We use Twilio for SOS, when a lone worker presses their SOS button, an automated call is made to their manager, team leader or another colleague. We use Twilio’s say verb to tell them the name of the lone worker, their location and when they pressed the button.

What’s next for you?

We’re always working on new ideas, and watching the space!

Learn more about Mike Turner by visiting his personal website here