Welcome to our “Inside DME Forensics” blog series. Over the next few weeks, each DME Forensics team member will introduce him/herself by going over a short list of interview type questions (some professional & some personal), in an effort to best describe who is it that you talk to when you call and/or email us!
This week, we talk to Tim…
Name: : Tim Bate
Company Role: Technology Manager
Favorite quote: It varies from day to day. As a forensic scientist I’ve always liked “The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge.” (Boorstin), and “Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.” (Knuth) The quote I always catch myself paraphrasing though is “premature optimization is the root of all evil”, (again, Knuth).
What do you do at DME Forensics? I manage the software development, the testing, the technical support and the technical services area. That means that I oversee everything that goes into making and maintaining our software products as well as our forensic services.
Please describe your current “work from home” setup: I’ve always done additional work from home, so the adjustment was easy for me. I already have my own NAS, write blocker and a big monitor. The only difficulty has been the terabytes of data that we work with and keeping things secure. I tend to be limited to working on small samples stored on my encrypted laptop or remote work through a VPN.
What are your credentials/experience for working in your position? I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Australia, and started working in forensics for the Victoria Police there from 2005. That was the year they converted the Video Unit into a civilian scientist run unit and combined it with the Audio Unit. I worked for the Victoria Police for about twelve years, during which time I looked into recovering video data from devices like GoPro cameras and security DVRs, and got to know Jimmy Schroering. In 2017 when I was looking for a new challenge, Jimmy offered me a job here at DME Forensics and I’ve been working here ever since.
What do you like about working at DME Forensics? I like the range of interesting problems that I get to work on. In a typical week I will have technical, mathematical, software engineering and management problems to deal with. It keeps me from ever being bored.
What is your background? I was born and raised in Australia where I studied and worked until coming to the USA in 2017. I married my Mauritian wife in 2014, and I have two sons; a three year old and a seven month old. The eldest is Australian and the youngest was born here in the USA, so we are fairly multicultural.
What are the values that drive you? I think like many people in this industry, I like that the work I do is helping people. The fact that I get to help people while solving interesting problems is a great combination for me.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working? These days whenever I’m truly not working I spend my time with my two boys. It keeps me sane and keeps my wife sane.