A short history of myself...

This page outlines my IT beginnings and generally, with the web.

In the beginning...

My first hand at a computer was as a '80's teenager when my parents surprised and encouraged my interest in computers by buying me an infamous ZX81.

I spent hours and sometimes days in front of it, programming basic code on a tricky keyboard which surely, today, wouldn't be legally sold.

After a while, my parents upgraded my computer with a more powerful machine, the Commodore 64 which I enjoyed immensely. Another year and another birthday, I got to grips with an even more powerful Atari ST-520 . My direction in life was sealed - working with computers.

PROFESSIONAL START

Work life started with providing IT Support within the civil service in 1990 and when the Internet started to emerge in 1996 and I had an avid interest in it and started - in my own time - to study it however I could. This included reading page-to-page the online HTML teaching site Webmonkey . I then secured one of the few web-related posts in the civil service and took on responsibility for maintaining various websites with the staple web-language, HTML. . I feel lucky that I was one of the few who were originally involved with it.

In 2000, I secured my first private-sector role within a $2.3billion company Thomson NETg . Within the company, I was required to pick up skills quickly in various technologies and tools and became both a front-end designer I also managed the back-end with administering the web servers. The role with NETg certainly expanded my interest and brought me a new broad range of skills.

In 2002 I wanted to concentrate on web application development with Microsoft's .NET platform. Although I do not have any loyalty to Microsoft, I feel enthusiastic when it has new releases because it does require me to be active in learning new features so keeps me up-to-date.

present day

In November 2005 Microsoft released its latest suite of development tools under the .NET 2.0 platform, and to pick up these skills fast I re-built the onemanwebdesign website using many of its new features.

In 2005 my professional life moved more towards project management having secured a role with the UK's largest corporate hospitality firm, Keith Prowse  to design and launch a .NET 1.1 web application to provide an online booking experience to some of its major clients - mostly City big banks.

In 2006, I secured another project management-type role working directly with Charles Saatchi for the Saatchi Gallery. I project managed four web applications during a new era for the gallery under the banner ‘ Your Gallery ’ - which is an online place for all artists to exhibit their work instantly on the gallery website. ' Your Gallery ' received positive press coverage from the media including the Guardian, More 4 News and from across the Web. I felt proud that my involvement was instrumental in the creation of online web applications which generates as much excitement as if visiting the gallery in person. The Saatchi Gallery will re-open at its new home in Chelsea in 2007 so an online gallery - both displaying the gallery's professional artists, as well as showcasing new artists and creating an online community in the Web 2.0 theme - is very fitting.