Welcome to my small, but growing footprint on the Web. I have over 10 years of industry-related experience and decided to specialise as a front-end web developer at the end of last year.
I have been fortunate to work with and learn from some smart people over the years. I feel that the knowledge I’ve acquired, combined with my passion for the work I do will ensure I continue to be successful in my career.
After matriculating at Wynberg Boys’ High School, I completed a Computer Science Diploma at CTI in 2002. Shortly thereafter, my career as a web developer began. In hindsight, I was fortunate to work in the Open Source world of software (web) development at this early stage.
My first job was as a PHP developer at Generator New Media. I gained valuable insight in to technologies such as Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP for short). It was during this time that I have my first recollection of learning on the Internet. This was in the form of A List Apart who continue to post invaluable content related to web standards and best practices.
A lot has changed since those early days — for the better. I worked as a Java developer at RED–i, where I got experience in an enterprise development environment. I became familiar with technologies such as Grails and jQuery. Working in an IDE was also a welcome change from the text editors of old. I learned about methodologies such as Agile, version control (SVN) and project-tracking software (JIRA). These were now a part of my daily routine (shout-out to Simon).
Most recently, at Hellocomputer, I explored the latest advancements in HTML and CSS with the arrival of HTML5 and CSS3. It was during this time that I began to see the value in the front-end developer as a specialist role — key to the success of a project. Combined with sound strategy, beautiful design and rock-solid code, you’re likely to be successful.
Welcome to my small, but growing footprint on the Web. I have over 10 years of industry-related experience and decided to specialise as a front-end developer at the end of last year.
I have been fortunate to work with and learn from some smart people over the years. I feel that the knowledge I’ve accumulated, combined with my passion for the work I do will ensure I continue to be successful in my career.