Introduction to me

Having been an avid reader of blogs for many years, I have always had an interest in doing my own, but I have never really felt I had a lot to say. I now realise that I would find it useful as an aide-memoire, but if anyone else gets any benefit from my ramblings then I will be very happy.

This blog will focus on my professional life, but may have some random posts on other things I find interesting.

I am currently the lead (and usually only) developer at Little Owl Labs, where I develop web applications and websites both for myself and for an ever-increasing list of clients.

In addition to my private work, I also hawk myself out as a developer for hire, and have worked for a number of clients ranging from digital and marketing agencies such as Juice (where I am currently working) and The Raft, as well as some public sector organisations (most recently Reigate and Banstead Borough Council).

The technologies I use most regularly these days are Ruby on Rails, Javascript, Postgres/MySQL or Mongoid, and obviously HTML and CSS. I host mainly on Heroku, but have also used both EC2 and Linux servers I have provisioned myself.

Prior to my new life as an internet applications developer I worked for a company called Visokio where we wrote desktop application software. I joined the company when it began in 2001 and stayed there until 2010 - being part of the company going from a bunch of four guys in the corner of someone else's office to a company that was supplying many blue chip companies in a range of sectors. I started as a Java developer, but later on became responsible for the Flash/Actionscript side of the development - work that was recognised with the Internet World Innovator of the Year Award in 2006.

Finally, I should probably also mention StudentProofreading.co.uk, which began many years ago (in 2006) as a little side project, but which is now the leading provider of academic proofreading services in the UK. I am still managing director of the company, and am currently undertaking a rewrite of the back-end systems.

Given my fairly diverse professional life, this blog will probably jump from topic to topic, from business matters to deep technical issues. I hope that doesn't put you off!