Technologies
A non-exhaustive list of the web and mobile technologies I'm most proficient in
Web development
- WordPress and PHP: 3 years
- Django and Python: 3 years
- .NET (C# and VB.NET): 4 years
- HTML4, XHTML, HTML5: 10 years
- JavaScript and jQuery: 5 years
Mobile development
- Appcelerator Titanium (iOS and Android): 2 years
- Mobile web development (incl HTML5 and JavaScript): 2 years
Databases
- MySQL and PostgreSQL: 10 years
- SQL Server: 5 years
My Portfolio provides a glimpse at some of my professional experience in action
Work history
Substrakt October 2009 - present
Web developer (Technical Director from March 2010)
- Developing PHP and Django websites
- Building accessible WordPress themes in HTML5
- Working closely with clients
- Assisting with spec writing
Contracting August 2008 - October 2009
- Developing WordPress and Django sites, mainly for the creative sector
- Worked with Beoley Mill Software on a complex SaaS system in .NET
HRO'C February 2006 - August 2008
Senior web developer
- Developing large-scale content management systems in .NET, for Poundland, Calthorpe Estates, Wolverhampton Grammar School and many more
- Developing email newsletters with high clickthrough rates
Education
University of Central England
BA Media and Communications (2-1)
- Named, developed website for and helped to build a radio station as part of a final year project
- Wrote dissertation on the discourse of ska punk and its associated teen culture
- Produced an-demand radio website, built an early iPlayer style system and made programmes for the site
Bournville School
GCSEs and A Levels
A Levels in Music, Computing, English and General Studies
Personal project highlights
Some of the projects I've had the privilege to work on
Rhubarb Radio
- Community radio station website built first in .NET, then rebuilt in Django
- Full live streaming and 'listen again'€functionality
- Development of Flash player for listening via the website
- Event coverage, audio production and presentation
The Big Picture
- Desktop software built to download full-size images from Flickr with a specific tag
- Downloaded nearly 80,000 images for use in a large-scale art project
Success stories
Django Dash 2010
In August I 2010 I entered a 48-hour hackathon competition, which involved building a web app from scratch. I came joint 6th with an app called Transphorm, and was the highest ranking solo coder in the contest. More details
TweetPaste
Before oEmbed (the technology that allows content like YouTube videos to be easily embedded into web pages) had built up steam, I built TweetPaste, which attracted high international usage with no marketing. The app enabled people to easily embed status updates from Twitter into their blog posts or pages. It was built first in .NET and then rewritten 8 months later in Django. The site was mimicked by other developers including Twitter's own Media team, and in February 2011 I took the site down to focus on a better way to solve the problem.
Hackitude
In late 2009 I organised a hackathon which encouraged developers and idea- generators to come together, to solve problems the city of Birmingham or its people were facing. The 'just do it' approach saw the team conceive, design and build a web app that allowed anything to be easily plotted on a Google map, whether that be local amenities, allotments, or events. It was hosted at Aquila's old Broad Street office, and beer and pizza paid for by Digital Birmingham.