Development work

Current status: I've recently started working for Datapane and I'm not looking for work.

I work (rather, worked) as a freelance computer programmer, and this page is for people who may be interested in hiring me.

I have experience in programming and web development going back 20 years — in fact, even further, if you count the programming I did for fun as a teenager! Over this time, I've gained experience with a large range of technologies and skills, covering the full development life-cycle. In the past this has included languages such as C, C++, C#, Perl, PHP, VBA/Excel, and I've been heavily involved in business analysis and requirements gathering, as well as end-to-end design and implementation of software projects.

Skills

My current skill set is focused on:

Full stack web development

Server-side, I prefer to use Python and I'm an expert with the Django web development framework (having been a part of the core Django team since before version 1.0 - username 'spookylukey').

I'm also proficient with client-side programming (HTML/CSS/Javascript), including realising web designs (e.g. working from Photoshop mockups) and implementing fully responsive designs.

Team leader

I've successfully led remote teams of freelance developers, ensuring quality and code practices that have enabled online businesses to grow because of the solid technology being built.

Recruiting

As part of leading teams, I've also been involved in recruiting and interviewing more members for the teams. If you are interested in hiring Django developers, but cannot afford my rates (I charge a fair bit due to my level of experience), I may be able to help you out by conducting online recruiting and interviewing of candidates. I simply charge my normal hourly rate for this work, rather than taking a cut as agencies normally do.

Project rescue!

You may be in a position where you have an existing Django project that needs work — or needs converting to another system. Having seen a number of projects in different states, I may be able to look at a project and advise you the best way to take it forward given your requirements and budget.

Development standards

I take pride in the quality of my work, and so I have a page documenting my development standards.

Web site portfolio

Examples of web sites I've created (or been heavily involved in) that are public:

  • Wolf & Badger

    For a number of years I was the lead developer on this e-commerce site, and did a lot of work on it, including implementing the current responsive design, as well as a lot of backend work.

  • Christian Camps in Wales

    A web site I've created and run (unpaid) for a Christian charity that I'm involved in. As well as the public section (which includes an online booking system), there is a lot behind the scenes for camp leaders to manage their team of officers (source code).

  • LearnScripture.net

    This is a social Bible memorisation website that I made and run using Django. This is an unpaid side project, with several hundred active users, and a focus on being fully accessible and fast on mobile devices (source code).

  • Bradford Keswick

    A very small site made using django-fiber.

Project portfolio

In addition to public web sites, there are a number of software projects I've been involved in, either on a paid or volunteer basis, that are examples of my work. They are all Open Source and available for free:

In addition, my contributions to other Open Source projects can be found mainly on GitHub and GitLab.