Meet The Team - Chris McCabe - CTO
What is your name and what position do you have at Neurovalens?
My name is Chris McCabe and I’m CTO at Neurovalens.
What course did you study at university?
Originally, I studied Theoretical Physics at Queens but quickly changed over to the master's course in Computer Science.
How did you first get interested in that field?
I’ve always been interested in computers. I started using MS-DOS when I was around 5 but I didn’t start programming until I was about 13 or 14. My motivation was to make video games but getting learning materials at that time was difficult and expensive. I kept programming as a hobby through secondary school in various languages and domains until I started studying Theoretical Physics where we had two courses based around programming, I decided that’s what I wanted to do, so I changed course to study Computer Science.
What attracted you to work at Neurovalens?
A few years ago a recruiter reached out to me and asked if I had time to meet a guy who was setting up a neurotech company in Belfast. I met with Jason (CEO) for a coffee and he explained what Neurovalens was and what they were trying to do. In the beginning, I had very little idea about the science behind the technology. I could tell that Jason was very passionate and knew what he was talking about, so I decided I’d like to work with him and see where that would lead.
What are the most enjoyable things about working at Neurovalens?
There are lots of things about working at Neurovalens that are enjoyable. We have a great team that are lots of fun to work with, we work with interesting technology and we get to develop technology which will hopefully be able to help a lot of people.
What motivates you in your work?
My main motivation is to help grow the company and help it reach its goals. Our aim is to develop treatments for a lot of serious illnesses and conditions, so that’s a constant motivator.
What are your long-term career goals?
At the moment, my goals don’t look much past helping Neurovalens achieve its potential, but in the very long term, I’d love to start a video game company. I’ve been interested in video games and video game development since I was quite young and I’ve worked on small video game projects on and off for nearly 20 years. It’s an industry that’s still very much in its infancy in Northern Ireland and it would be fun to see if there’s a way to contribute to that.
Do you have any interests or hobbies outside of work?
Outside work, I love playing video games, particularly classic video games as well as working on little video game prototypes. I’m also an avid reader and I enjoy listening to music.
