About

I’ve been programming since I was first allowed to use the ICL mainframe during my (brief) stay at University. Of course, from the University’s point-of-view, that single was year probably a year too many, but that’s dichotomies for you. Or not. Anyway, the introduction to mainframe BASIC via teletype was enough to nudge me down the slippery slope to a career in computing, where I’ve spent the last 30 years, mostly employed, mostly within the investment banking industry. I’ve been an operator, programmer, team leader, project manager and department head but these days I try to get away with calling myself “Geek In Residence” for the business department within the very large German bank that pays my wages and where I am involved in developing novel (to us and hopefully to our customers) financial products as well as computer-based tools.

This is where I rant, pontificate, expound about computer stuff. To a fairly large extent it’s biased toward things that I encounter at work, because that’s where I do most of my development work these days (children, I find, have a tendency to eat into one’s leisure development time).

Since I use a slightly peculiar mixture of technologies at work, principally Excel/VBA, Ruby (on and off Rails) and a screwy mix of database platforms, the complete mix may not be to everyone’s taste. I’ll try to keep the categorisation reflecting what’s going on.

I’m defiantly middle-aged and not just grumpy while programming – it’s my natural state and I like it. At time of writing my hair is receding and I have a partly-slipped disc,  one wife, two children, two dogs, a hamster and a house to keep me occupied.

Until recently I could describe myself as “forty-something”. Those days are gone forever.

And I hate Lotus Notes.