Manual of me

Here's a manual of me, think of it as my personal user manual, it will hopefully help you understand how to work with me, how I like to work, what I value at work, what my needs and preferences are, all to hopefully enable us to work together better.

The basics you should know about me are…

Primarily remote but will happily go to the office a day or two per week. I have a record of being my own worst critic and can start to get a bit silent/resentful when things aren't always as I want them, don't take it personally!

I enjoy getting stuck in on projects, especially early ideation/conception stages or generally any stages where my skills can really shine.

I often have my headphones on listening to whatever the ~~Spotify~~ Apple Music Gods recommend, but always feel free to interrupt me, I'm always happy to chat with folk.

I Like:

  • Being prepared for meetings/projects
  • Mobbing where needed, but ideally pairing
  • Space to work out problems, but don't leave me alone for too long or I will get distracted.
  • Collaboration!
  • Workshops!

I don't like:

  • Working with a lack of direction/planning Or too much detail! I can struggle to take it all in and can lose focus
  • Mobbing for too long
  • Working in isolation (for too long) can cause focus to drift
  • Too many video calls, much prefer audio only
  • People talking over each other

What I do:

  • HTML & CSS; A spattering of JavaScript - inc. React et al.
  • Responsive & Mobile-first design and implementation.
  • UI/UX work to build cohesive experiences.
  • Using HTML/CSS/JS for prototyping and user testing
  • Promote the use of Web Standards
  • Help establish and build Design systems.
  • Enable, and improve, conversations between design and engineering.
  • Bring an engineering perspective to design. This helps drive more empathetic product thinking, with better UI/UX for the users.
  • Strongly, and vocally advocate, for Accessibility & Inclusivity, in everything we do, not just web products, but in socialtech spaces too.
  • Cultivating communities, and successfully rebooting, growing and continually supporting communities around Front-End and Accessibility.
  • Workshop facilitation.
  • A growing fondness for public speaking, from meetups to conferences, on all the good things listed about.
  • Mentoring and growing developers, of all abilities, to help them achieve their best.

The best way to give me feedback is:

Ideally, face-to-face, so if you're comfortable with that we'll hop on a call. I'm happy for it to be in any format, so long as it's timely and specific!

My superpowers are:

"Proper" Front-end, none of this framework malarkey, give me HTML/CSS, web performance, accessibility, and the ability to bridge design/engineering.

Beyond work I get my energy from…

Happiest when I'm outdoors - camping/hiking/cycling etc.

I'm a dad to two boys who I co-parent three nights a week, so there might be days/times when I have to drop off work a little earlier, but always free for async chats, and I'll always make my time up!

My typical working patterns are:

  • Early mornings: up until 11:30am
  • Late afternoons: from 14:30(ish)
  • I have the school run on Wednesday/Thursday mornings, and have my kids Tuesday/Friday afternoons.

I'm likely to read/send/reply to messages at all hours, if I do then there is no expectation of a reply, it's just the way I work.

When I'm dealing with stress, I ...

Either get a bit sweary and abrupt, or I'll fully withdraw and become silent. There's no middle ground.

My absolute requirements to do great work are ...

Being valued and having opportunities for progression Goals: - Ideally small pieces of work that are 'to-do' list friendly Good coffee Music A clear idea of "why are we doing this"

You can support me by…

Not pushing me in a direction I don't want to go, and ideally not putting me in situations that make me uncomfortable, this is highly likely to trigger my ADHD/MH issues.

  • Chatting through problems as/when they occur.
  • Get stuck in, if I'm running a workshop please get involved
  • Looking at how you can support me in achieving my goals.