Employee Spotlight: John Timms
Tell us a little about yourself and what is your role at Acertara?
John and his son at the US Men’s National Team Soccer match.
I was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. I credit the majority of my technical ability to the excellent technical training I received while serving in the Royal Air Force. I attended Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering. I met my Nebraskan wife while working in southern Germany. We have two sons, who are men now. My older son is a Mechanical Engineer and my younger son is a Denver Fire Fighter. I love soccer (football where I come from) and Liverpool is my team. I played most of my life and coached for 20 years. I believe one of my gifts is working with boys and helping them grow. Coaching soccer was a tool that allowed me to do this. I am also blessed to mentor a young man who I met through the Kids Hope USA program. To stay fit I ride my bikes (road, mountain and now an e-bike….I must be getting old) which are my prized possessions! At Acertara I serve as the VP of Engineering and am responsible for the majority of our product design and development.
What do you like most about Acertara?
I get to design the whole product; analog, digital, power, embedded and take it from concept to production. You don’t get to do that at bigger companies. This also allows me to take a product from concept to production faster than bigger companies could get agreement on the concept!
What do you find most challenging at Acertara?
Getting a set of specifications from my customers! They usually only have a vague idea of what they actually want until I deliver the prototype and then….
What is your favorite movie and/or book?
My favorite movie is Enemy Mine. A sci-fi from the mid 80’s. It seems quite cheesy now, but back then the special effects were awesome! As a teenager the movies message really resounded with me. My favorite book is The Journey by Billy Graham.
Where would you like to travel to?
I have been learning Spanish for the last few years, so it’s definitely time to travel to a Spanish speaking country and get far away from the tourist areas. Puerto Rico looks favorite right now.
Top three life highlights?
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- Marrying my wife
- Marrying my wife
- Marrying my wife