CV

What you need to know

I’m a full-stack web developer with 20 years of experience behind me. I love using PHP, JavaScript, CSS (Sass), Laravel, Vue, Craft CMS, and other LAMP stack and front end technologies. Having worked in-house and agency-side, I’m now looking for a future where I can make a positive impact - not just to turnover but to people’s lives. I’m passionate about the environment (because that’s where I live), I occasionally dream in code, and I love a good cup of tea.

Current employment

• 
  Senior Web Developer, TBT Marketing, August 2017 - Present

  Leading a small team of developers in creating B2B marketing solutions for clients in the IT sector. I've made corporate websites, campaign landing pages, member portals, tools, and more. My role is mainly focused on development, but I also provide regular training for my colleagues, as well as supporting and offering consultancy directly to clients. I'm also on TBT's Mission Zero team, which is responsible for leading our business towards net zero carbon footprint.

  tbtmarketing.com

Previous employment

• 
  Web Developer, Crown Pet Foods, 2010-2017

  Created and managed corporate websites, user portals, a voucher scanning app, internal tools, and a bespoke CRM platform.

• 
  Freelance Web Developer, 2005-2011

  Providing web design and development services for churches and Christian organisations across the UK.

• 
  Webmaster, Diocese of Chelmsford, 2005-2010

  Created and managed the website and provided support to content editors.

• 
  Chaplaincy Assistant, University of Essex, 2004-2005

  Helped run the Chaplaincy Centre, leading services, running Bible study groups, providing pastoral support, coordinating outreach events, comms.

Education

• 
  University of Essex, 2001-2004

  BSc. Computer Science (2:1)

• 
  Torquay Boys Grammar School, 1994-2001

  A levels: Music (A), Computing (C), Maths (C)

  GCSEs: lots, almost all A and A* (but let's face it, these are pretty redundant at this point)

A few of my favourite things

I'm a full-stack developer. That means I love front-end and back-end equally. While not exhaustive, these are the tools I enjoy using most:

• 
  Laravel

  For projects that depend on back-end functionality, Laravel is hard to beat. It’s powerful, flexible, widely supported, and a joy to use. I’ve used Laravel to create APIs, landing pages, portals, back-end management tools, and more. It’s perhaps overkill for a single landing page, but really shines when the project calls for a complex database structure or user authentication.

  laravel.com

• 
  Vue

  When it comes to front-end frameworks, I’ve landed on Vue for many projects. It’s easy to use, expressive (I love that components include CSS as well JS and HTML), fast, easily extendable with a variety of third-party libraries, and can be put onto existing web pages.

  vuejs.org

• 
  Inertia

  When a project needs a mix of front-end and back-end capability, Inertia allows me to connect Laravel and Vue together seamlessly, so I can take advantage of the best of both worlds, without the overhead of manually creating an API. I’ve used it particularly successfully where the front-end experience is most important but some database integration is required.

  inertiajs.com

• 
  Livewire

  A bit like Inertia, except with less JavaScript involved, Livewire allows me to create dynamic front-end experiences without stepping too far out of the back-end development world. For websites that rely on Laravel but benefit from a dynamic-feeling front-end, Livewire is a great option.

  livewire.dev

• 
  Nuxt

  Vue is great. Nuxt takes it to the next level. There are some great shortcuts included to speed up development (such as automatic imports), and its ability to generate static sites makes deployment effortless. If I need to create a Vue project, I generally start by creating a Nuxt project (in fact, this CV was made with Nuxt).

  nuxtjs.org

• 
  Craft CMS

  This is my CMS of choice. I’ve used WordPress (who hasn’t?), but I’ve found Craft CMS to be a more professional platform, with far less bloat, more customisability out of the box, a better experience for content editors, finer control over the generated output, and better security. And I’m especially fond of the way the database structure (but not the content) is defined in config files that can be tracked in Git, which enables more robust deployment.

  craftcms.com

• 
  Sass

  Sure, CSS is awesome. But sometimes it needs a helping hand. That’s why I love using Sass, and typically install it by default in most projects. As a result, my CSS code is cleaner and more powerful.

  sass-lang.com

• 
  Lando

  Working on multiple projects for different clients often means defining different server requirements. Docker is great for this, but creating Docker files manually is a pain. Lando takes the stress out of containerised development environments.

  lando.dev

• 
  Netlify

  For static sites, I love hosting with Netlify. The deployment process is a doddle, with Continuous Deployment built in - code, commit, push, and BOOM it’s live.

  netlify.com

• 
  Deployer

  For PHP sites, I prefer automating the deployment process to ensure nothing gets missed. Deployer is a PHP-based tool that handles all that for me, SSHing into the server, pulling the code from the repo, running any migrations or setup required, and all with zero downtime.

  deployer.org

• 
  VSCode

  When it comes to actually writing code, nothing beats Visual Studio Code. I can easily set mine up exactly the way I want, with a plethora of extensions available (I’m particularly enjoying the Codeium extension at the moment which uses AI to autocomplete my code for me). I love the integrated terminal, and that I get all of that goodness for free.

  code.visualstudio.com

When I'm not at work

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I'm not Jack.

• Theatre

  I’ve been involved in a number of local amateur groups in Frome and Castle Cary over the past few years, taking both ensemble and lead parts. If it involves any combination of acting, singing or dancing, I’m up for it. Recent roles include Ratty in The Wind In The Willows (Merlin Theatre Productions) and Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in Anything Goes (Frome Memorial Theatre Company). 2024 also saw my debut as a Musical Director for The Wizard Of Oz (Cary Amateur Theatrical Society).

• Music

  I primarily enjoy listening to jazz and contemporary Christian worship, but also occasionally classical music. I play guitar, bass, cello, piano, and can have a fair bash at clarinet, saxophone, drums, and melodica. Oh, and I also write music too.

• Model railways

  I’m now two years into my rebuild project, constructing a OO scale fictitious GWR branch line terminus set in the late 1930s, affectionately called “Frontington and Backwoods”. I have documented my progress through YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

• Church

  I’m a licensed Reader in the Church of England, ministering to my local church and community. I also lead worship at a local ecumenical gathering called The Filling Station.

Give me a bell