About Me

Introduction

I’m a Backend Web Developer working in Leeds. I have been working in Website Development for almost a decade. I mostly work with on backend PHP code but also have frontend experience.

Work Experience

Datadream (2013 - 2015)

I previously worked at DataDream, a small web development and design agency located in Barnsley. My main responsibilities there were developing PHP modules for an in house content management system. I also worked on bug fixes for a large website with over 500,000 users. Here I also learned a lot about Linux, LAMP and various server management tasks. I also worked with WordPress, CodeIgniter and MongoDB. Whilst here I also was responsible for doing IT support for a small recruitment agency based in London, doing various support tasks on both Windows 7 and Mac OSX machines.

Creode (2015 - 2017)

I have also worked for a Drupal and Magento specialist company called Creode. My main responsibilities involved the creation of custom PHP modules within Drupal 7. Working at Creode, I have helped build a number of different Drupal and Magento websites and took on a variety of bug fixing tasks.

Engage Interactive (2017 - 2018)

I worked at Engage Interactive, a slightly larger agency based in Leeds City Centre. My role involved bug fixing, site amendments and the creation of new features and projects for their clients.

Whilst here I gained more experience in custom PHP frameworks such as CodeIgniter and Laravel aswell as have some exposure to VueJS.

Creode (2018 - Present)

I left Engage in June 2018 and returned to Creode to further my skills in Drupal and Server configuration. Whilst here I've grown into more of a Senior Role and took the experience I gained in Laravel back to Creode, to build more custom projects. I'm trying to improve and teach other members of the Development Team Automated testing practices and Devops pipelines. I've also being a key player in moving the team over to DDEV (a Docker based development environment) and improving the dev teams internal process' and documentation.

At Creode we have started to move into using CraftCMS and I assisted in building a custom plugin for Magic Link authentication. I've also recently taken on the maintenance of the Laravel publishable package in my spare time. By doing this I am hoping to get more experience in using Github actions.

My Personality

I consider myself a positive thinker with a large focus on not just getting a job done but getting it done in the best way possible. I’m highly motivated to learn new technologies and find newer smarter ways to solve problems. There’s so much more for me to learn in various other aspects of web development and I aim to take in as much as possible.

Hobbies and Interests

In my spare time I enjoy snowboarding and tinkering with computers. Back in 2014 I built an arcade coffee table for my living room. This allowed me to expand my knowledge of the Linux operating system and try my hand at some basic electronics.

I'm also passionate about 3d printing and have built a few simple models using FreeCAD and OpenSCAD. I also run a small Etsy sticker store as a side project.

My Goals for this site

Previously I ran a WordPress site but I've been looking to get it updated and give it a fresh look for quite some time. SSG (Static Site Generation) and Statamic (a Laravel based CMS) have been on my radar for quite some time, so I've used this as an opportunity to try them both out and refresh my old site.

I want to try and keep writing more blog posts for this site and assist others in their web development journey where I can.