SOME OF THE LARGE CORPORATES WHERE I HAVE WORKED MY FORCE MAGIC...
Now I mostly focus on startups and early-stage companies
I'm a code monkey experienced at leading other code monkeys ;)
I have been in leadership roles almost my entire career. I love to mentor and lead people, and have managed the successfull delivery of several $multi-million global projects.
I have a deep understanding of software architecture across several domains. I have built neural networks, simulations, games, AI bots, mobile apps and large global enterprise apps.
I embraced Angular 2+ the day it launched and so learned Typescript before most. Since then I have used it in React, NodeJS, Firebase, NextJs, Remix ... the list goes on!
Although I was a .Net and C# developer for many years, I switched to Ruby on Rails in 2013 and have used it to design and buid several apps and API's.
I have been a Scrum Master and a leader of Scrum Masters but I'm not religious about it. I use what works to deliver results.
In 2013 I started working with AWS to manage and deploy a SaaS app with over 100 micro-services using docker containers. I am currently learning Kurbenetes and Fission (serverless computing). I use Heroku daily.
From apps to companies
My own dev team and I were hired to design and build the UI and UX experience for this cutting-edge secure email client and SaaS service. It was rated 4/5 by PC Magazine, using words such as 'slick' and 'intuitive' describing the UI/UX I had designed and built.
Unfortunately it was later forced to shut down by the government's security services. Yes, it was too secure for their liking! :)
I am a life-long learner and am currently learning my 36th programming language/framework/database. Yikes, I sometimes wonder why did I choose this career!?
The list so far:
1. 1982 Spectrum BASIC
2. 1985 BBC BASIC
3. 1986 Assembler
4. 1986 FORTRAN
5. 1987 Amstrad BASIC
6. 1988 VAX VMS BASIC
7. 1988 ADA
8. 1989 Lisp
9. 1990 Prolog
10. 1991 Strand88
11. 1993 MS AccessDB
12. 1994 VBA
13. 1995 Visual Basic
14. 1997 Progress 4GL
15. 1998 C++
16. 1999 SQL Server/T-SQL
17. 2000 Oracle/PLSQL
18. 2000 Javascript
19. 2000 HTML
20. 2000 CSS
21. 2003 C#/.Net
22. 2008 Silverlight/WPF/XAML
23. 2012 Ruby & Ruby On Rails (with Redis/Sidekiq/MongoDb)
24. 2012 PostgresSQL
25. 2013 AngularJS
26. 2014 GoLang
27. 2015 Python
28. 2016 EmberJS
29. 2016 Angular
30. 2016 Typescript
31. 2017 Powershell
32. 2018 ReactJs, NextJs
33. 2019 Firebase, NodeJs, Lambdas
34. 2020 GatsbyJs
35. 2021 HyperLedger Fabric
36. 2022 Nx Repo
37. 2023 Move/SUI blockchain
38. 2024 RemixJS
I also have experience with Azure, AWS, Heroku, Redis, RabbitMQ, Docker.
Graduating with Distinction in 2010 I completed my part-time MA degree - it only took 5 years! (but to be fair, I was busy building my own company at the same time).
This is a demo of my MA research project at Microsoft Technology Center in the UK. A table-top touch based multi-player game exploring new ideas in UX.
Graduating 2nd in my class, with 3 scholarships and a National Award, I am eternally grateful to my professors who pushed me to reach for the stars.
I am fascinated by AI and built my first neural network on a 64 processor transputer platform in 1991...and I am still learning how computers learn (the above certificate is from 2015).
It is Jan 2019 and I am excited to have been accepted to join the Founders Institute and start work on building yet another new company! Watch my place in the matrix for updates!
I had "a calling" to teach, and started at age 17 in my free time as a volunteer teaching children with special needs. For the next ten years teaching was the major focus of my career. Although I love to teach, you rarely get to develop awesome software, which I love more, and so I decided to move on. However, the experience left me with an enormous respect for teachers everywhere. Education is at the heart of the type of future we are building for humanity.
Once teaching was 'out of my system' it was time to move on and work in the burgeoning IT sector as a developer and consultant.
There is an educational revolution taking place. Schools are still running on a Victorian Model, but all that is set to change. We are just seeing the beginning of a worldwide learning revolution.
Easypeasy is an early years educational mobile and web app that I helped a London-based startup to build. It has received high praise and public recognition as you can see in the gallery below.
Stamp Collecting, Coin Collecting, Miniature Painting, Origami, Calligraphy, Bird Watching, Photography, Dungeons & Dragons, Table Top Wargaming, Swimming, High Diving, Scuba Diving, Snowboarding, Charity Fundraising, Organising Black Tie Charity Balls, Cooking, Debating, Roller Hockey, Soccer, Rugby, Swimming, Sprinting (U13 County 110m Hurdles), Fencing, Karate, Ju-Jitsu, Basketball, Magazine Editing, Writing (Poetry, Essays. Short Stories), Proofreading, Squash, Sports Coaching - Soccer/Cricket/Rugby, Amateur Acting (only twice!), Brewing Beer (epic fail), Board Games, Chess, Go, Travel (but not as a tourist - I have lived in 10 countries by choice), Archery (I sucked), Shooting (yes, real guns, but also not for me), Hydroponics, Reading (SciFi, Fantasy, Biographies, Historical Novels), Sailing, Guitar, Piano, Naturism, Camping (including working as a camp counsellor/leader), Mountain Biking, Kite-Surfing, Surfing, Volleyball, Video Games, Volunteering, Languages (another epic fail). And finally, one time I flew a stunt plane!
<- This is my twin catching some rays in Brazil before heading out for some surfing on that epic beach.
I am equally happy working fully remote or in an office.
But I have had enough of long commutes!
Oscar Wilde
Although this is my favourite quote, my favourite writer is Isaac Asimov. His epic saga "The Foundation Series" changed my life.
If you have not read it, you should. It will expand your consciousness like no other book I have ever read...and trust me, I have read quite a lot!
The Arts are a vital part of a thriving culture, so when a young student I had previously taught needed help launching his film career I was only too glad to help produce his first short films. He now runs his own successful film company in London, UK.
"Paying It Forward" is something I love to do (and is also one of my all-time favourite movies).
