In memory of Joe Burger


Joe Burger was an integral part of the N-Space team. He was killed on the morning of Thursday 23 July.

Joe had been with us for 3 months and he has left an indelible mark on our culture and all who work here. He had considerable intellectual gifts. As a software engineer he was an exceptionally fast learner, which was something of an annoyance to those who had to train him - they would give Joe a weeks work only to find it done in one day. Joe had a lot of energy with an obvious vitality and a continual drive to self actualisation (as he would say :).

Joe discovered N-Space through our Web Page. At his job interview he wore a suit - he confessed during the interview that it was his first and only suit, which had been bought for the occasion. He thought he might have to interact with clients and so he wanted to show that he was up to the task. He need not have worried, because his interview was already the best we have ever experienced, which is saying something given the already high quality of our employees. We called his mobile and offered him a job as he was leaving the building, 30 seconds after his interview. His quality was that obvious (and we were that excited).

Joe had some other, less well known abilities. He held the world record for the number of tissues you can stuff into your mouth at one time. Not baby tissues, but full size nose-blowing tissues. He accomplished this record before a jury of his peers during a recent company retreat. He had astonishing expertise in the fields of 'Mobile Phones in the Nokia 2110 range', 'Orange Juice packaging, quality and Consumer Demographics', and many other areas that the less enlightened amongst us might regard as pointless. Whether by 'astonishing' we mean 'renaissance man' or 'alien from the planet Zarg', we are still not quite sure. During his exposition of the virtues of the Nokia 2110 vs. the Nokia 2110E more than a few N-Spacers were in serious danger of spontaneously combusting due to the force of their hysterical laughter. Joe was a vegetarian who didn't drink alchohol - he was funny just as he was. Some might suspect that the tissues he packed into his mouth contained some secret performance enhancing drug, but that wasn't Joe's style.

Joe was a great guy who lifted our spirits, engaged our minds and made us laugh. We had the highest regard for all of his abilities. We will miss him individually, as a group and as a company.