About.
I’ve been around for a long time, and as late starter, I think I’m about 5 years younger that I actually am…but I’ve lived through Y2K bug, the dotcom bubble, the introduction of the iPod and iPhone, blockchain and web 3, and countless other tech that was going to revolutionise the world, until it didn’t.
By the numbers
20+
Years on the web
10
Years at Filter
59
People I work with
100
BIMA — winner, now judging
10+
Depeche Mode concerts
∞
X-Wings, on principle
How I got here
1997
FIRST site
The first HTML I shipped was a Star Wars fan site
Hand-coded, hosted on a Geocities subdomain and created straight after we watched The Phantom Menace in Leicester Square. I needed a place to put my thoughts down. That was the year I understood what the web could be.
2001–3
after university
At my first agency
After university, I was lucky enough to walk into a job at an advertising agency called LJL. I was their Internet Account Manager and we made websites using Flash, PHP 3 and Access databases.
2007–15
move to london
London, baby
When I went to London, I started work with Hostway, first in Sales and then as their Product Manager. We worked out of Harbour Exchange in Docklands and I met Jo Ryall, who is now our System and Support Director at Filter.
2016
agency life
Agency, Agency, Agency
I found myself back in an agency environment at an up-and-coming agency called Evolving where I was Technical Director. Happily, it was where I met Olly and Lech, where we all started within three months of each other and still work together now!
2016
founding Filter
Filter is born
After working at M&M in London for 5 years, Olly and I setup Filter to get back to doing the work ourselves again. Just us in a WeWork, Lech working remotely, and three clients, we decided to to concentrate on open-source tech.
2022
personalizeWp
PersonalizeWP
We’d made a start on developing the plugin during lockdown, but in 2022 we really started ramping up the feature set and making it into a product.
2023
digital transformation
Leading a multi-year UK transformation
Specifics are NDA; but we roughly: we start work on delivering a multi-platform architecture for one of the largest hospitality companies in the UK, transforming what they do with digital and how they do it.
Today
Where I am now
Currently
CTO at Filter, advising at Inside Out Community, judging BIMA100, writing fortnightly-ish, and rebuilding this site in a block theme — itself a small case study I’ll write about when it stops being embarrassing.
In my spare time
A few things that aren’t on the CV.
01 · Music
Depeche Mode Forever
Violator is my number 1 album of all time. The Berlin Olympic Stadium show is probably my favourite concert, though Crystal Palace in 1993 runs it close. DM runs through everything I do – if you’ve ever interview with me, you’ll know the last question is “What is your favourite band?” and there is only one correct answer. No-one has ever got it right,…
02 · DISNEY
The Happiest Place on Earth
Being able to take my family to Disney World was one of my life goals, and I’ve now ticked it multiple times. It’s the place where we’re happiest and at our most relaxed. Love the planning, the rope drops and the Country Bear Jamboree. It’s the only place that I actually switch off and turn off my laptop, and as soon as we come home, we’re planning our next trip.
03 · Family
The Bedrock
Not the WordPress framework, but my family. Sarah, who keeps us all together, fed and on time, and the children – a sister and brother who actually sometimes like each other. We bond on family trips abroad and occasionally talk to each other at home.
04 · FILM
Star Wars
Original Trilogy and Andor. X-Wings over TIE Fighters, no contest. I read all the books — Thrawn, X-Wing series, the lot — back when they were canon, and I’m working through them all again. The prequels are not my bad; the sequels are better.
05 · Reading
Christie, Pratchett and Adams
Sounds like an accountancy firm, but they’re just my go-to tripartite of authors. Detective fiction, fantasy and science-fiction – an eclectic mix, but they never let me down when I reach for a book in the evening.
06 · HOME
Isle of Wight
I wasn’t born there, we moved away in my early twenties and I’ve spent longer in Letchworth, but the Isle of Wight is where my heart lives, and so it’s what I class as home. One day, I’ll retire back there with my best friends.