Approachable realistic professional developer
I didn't actually twitch near a computer until I was in my early twenties. This was because I grew up in Wales in the late 80s early 90s and unless you were a very classic kind of "computer nerd" they assumed you would be no good with them.
For this reason I studied drama and education to BA (Hons) level before getting a job in the "real" world with a telephony reseller based in London. It was at this time that all the computer concepts I learned when I was a child with a Sinclair ZX81 came back to me. I developed into a highly proficient "power" user in the early years of the internet.
I retrained to become an ICT Teacher at secondary level and made a sideways leap from that into Web Development in 2003. In those days I used Classic ASP and JavaScript along with standard HTML and CSS to develop my employer's web sites.
After that I moved into C# ASP.Net development at about the time that .Net 2.0 was the coming thing and I have been doing that ever since working for organisations as varied in size as 4 people at a start up level to organisations employing circa 1000 people.
In my spare time I like to write and have written a number of novels and a few paper and pen role playing games. I am really into so-called "artisanal" publishing and have typeset and published a number of professional quality books, including books that had large amounts of art assets and unusual layouts.
I also like to run paper/pen role play session with a focus on narrative games. I have been involved in the production of my own narrative RP system No Dice RPG since 2008.
I live in Wales with my wife and cat. We're looking to open a bookshop soon but we would like to leverage my freelance skills as an additional supportive income stream. I have recently returned to the world of commercial video production, something I studied between 1993-95 to broaden my skills and available services.
Work Terms
I try to maintain a healthy work-life balance but can put on a rush if necessary. A worker who is well-rested and happy is obviously more focused and will produce better results most of the time. I am perfectly happy to run consults over skype but for serious work discussions I prefer a face-to-face when practical. For all non-essential queries, tweaks or enquiries I tend to favour e-mail.