Bio
Web Design Career
My web design career started in 2004 when I returned to education part time to study the subject alongside my regular job. Upon completing my course I set out finding my own clients on which I could learn my trade on a technical and commercial level. The success of these sites was enough to earn me a full-time position as a designer/developer for a public sector eCommerce design agency in 2006.
In addition to this full time position I continued working on a freelance basis to keep my skills sharp and fresh. In the spring of 2008 I then joined a Fortune 500 company as a web developer, again whilst still being able to work on my private freelance work.
The skills I have learnt during this time are varied. My private freelance work requires me to have a solid knowledge of all aspects of design, development and programming – and of course client contact, whilst my professional career has taught me business development, financial reasoning within website building and how to organise projects involving many stakeholders across different time zones.
My skillset includes:
- Design tools:
- Photoshop
- Fireworks
- Illustrator
- Wireframing
- Development tools/languages:
- HTML/XHTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- Flash
- Programming languages:
- PHP
- MySQL
- General web technologies:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Web standards/compliant coding
- Accessibility
- Cross browser compatibility
- Information Architecture
Personal
In my spare time I share two major passions: Football and music. I am a season ticket holder at Reading Football Club, and I also captain a Sunday League team playing in the Reading Sunday League. My music interest includes playing and collecting guitars (currently I own six) and going to gigs.
Away from these two interests I also enjoy reading, DIY, cooking (I wouldn’t say I’m the best but I enjoy it nonetheless!) and chilling out in front of the TV after a hard days HTML coding!