Control Concepts Welcomes Trevor Payne
New Hire Spotlight
Name: Trevor Payne
Title: Senior Systems Engineer
Contact: trevorp@controlconcepts.net
Control Concepts is excited to welcome Trevor Payne to the team as a Senior Systems Engineer. As a lead programmer on the Integrator side for many years, Trevor brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in AV systems programming and software development, with a specialty in Crestron. Trevor’s role at Control Concepts will focus on bringing together seemingly disparate systems and establishing a unified codebase that drives deployment for large projects.
Tell us a bit more about your role at Control Concepts?
I consult with client end users and support staff to determine needs, desires, and functionality of a specific space. My specialty is a focus on larger projects and their deployments. As part of this, I look to spot similarities in seemingly disparate systems to establish a unified codebase that facilitates accelerated deployment and simplified maintenance of both AV automation and audio DSP programming. I currently specialize in Crestron with an eye towards augmenting my AMX and Extron skills in the future.
What were you doing before you joined the company?
I was the lead programmer at an AV integrator in Houston, TX.
What drew you to the company?
CCI has a sparkling reputation in the industry. I’ve long used their products in the form of the Biamp Tesira modules, and was impressed by both the consistency of functionality and the design of the code.
List one short and one long term professional goal for yourself.
My primary short-term goal is to gain my Crestron Silver Master Certification. My long-term goal is to become proficient enough in Simpl#Pro to facilitate large-scale deployments utilizing the language.
What makes Control Concepts different from other companies in the AV Industry?
There seems to be a strong focus on modularity and standardization (which is not too different from other Programming Houses) while still encouraging creativity and novel problem solving (something that seems to be less favored in this corner of the industry).
What do you see as the greatest opportunity in the AV industry?
The greater convergence of AV and IT, along with utilization of modern programming languages by major automation players. This is finally allowing for access to the wide world of data-driven analytics that has already been present, but inaccessible to AV programmers and without substantial investments in developing proprietary middleware. Access to this data and the available analytics gives us an opportunity to create systems that learn from and anticipate user input, minimize the possibility of user error, and lead to improved usability.
What do you see as the greatest threat?
The greatest threat to the AV industry has always been itself. A lack of investment in a company’s human capital leads to poor outcomes both directly for that company and indirectly for the industry. If a customer has a bad installation or programming experience, they typically don’t blame their integrator, they blame Crestron, or AMX, or Extron. The next time budgets are passed around, they may forgo upgrading their conference room space in lieu of dropping in a Cisco desk phone and giving the users a remote control for the projector.
What one piece of advice would you give someone looking to pursue a career in the AV industry?
There are people in this industry that have forgotten more than you will ever know. Learn from them whenever you can, even if it’s related to systems you think you’ll never touch in your life. I never thought I would have to deal with reel to reel recorders….
What do you enjoy most about the work that you do?
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
Knowing that you’ve lived up to that ideal with the client at the end of a project.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
I’m a serial electronics tinkerer. I build custom PC keyboards. I collect and restore straight razors.
What is the last book you read?
The Death of Expertise: The Crusade Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Thomas Nichols
