My Work

Having graduated from the University of Essex with a third class degree in Computer and Microprocessor Systems, I practised as a software developer in the UK IT industry for twelve years before having to give up work for health reasons. I was always very frustrated with the degree of incompetence I found in my industry (as indicated by the high proportion of projects which are never finished or don't work properly on installation) and I started to write a book - The Craft of Computer Programming - based on what I learnt from my experiences. My health problems made it hard going though and I ended up not writing much more than 15-20 pages, though I hope the more open-minded amongst IT enthusiasts may find my ideas amusing and/or interesting! Feel free to let me know what you think at sssaje10@gmail.com.

I worked for some years with Charles Cook who has developed a very useful open source XML-RPC.NET library.

My Hobbies

I used to be an archer and play five-a-side football, but I restrict my activities now to collecting banknotes. I admire the craftsmanship that goes into producing the artwork, particularly on older notes, and I like the way notes reflect the culture of their country of origin. I am a member of the International Bank Note Society. I was a contestant on the Channel 4 gameshow "Countdown" in 2004, but I went completely to pieces and only scored about half what I usually score at home!

My Other Interests

Coming from a rather dysfunctional family, I have an interest in psychology and (primarily due to self-preservation) particularly emotional bullying. I also have an interest in religion and regard myself as a Christian, though I don't belong to any particular Church, having my own beliefs.

The first company I worked for produced stockmarket information systems and I've been following the markets ever since. I dabbled in spread-betting for a while, but, in practice, was almost completely unsuccessful. I posted my attempts at trading on my web logue and still continue to comment on the stock market. Here are some useful sites for market information if you want to give it a go yourself:

• A Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market - my own introduction to the subject.
• uk.finance.yahoo.com - free quotes, charts, historic price downloads and discussion boards.
• www.digitallook.com - free financial information for company research.
• www.selftrade.co.uk - execution-only stockbroker providing free data and charts to all.
• www.igindex.co.uk - market leading financial spread-betting company.
• uk.reuters.com - free news and fundamental info with further, subscription, services.
• www.hl.co.uk - Hargreaves Landsdown - stockbroker with unit trust and OEIC data.
• www.ft.com - the Financial Times newspaper with world-wide financial information.
• www.moneyweek.com - Money Week magazine (register here for an enlightening daily e-mail).
• www.investorschronicle.co.uk - the Investor's Chronicle magazine.

I also support the following charities:

• www.cambodiatrust.org.uk - supports landmine victims in Cambodia and the region.
• www.sightsavers.org - works to treat and prevent blindness in the developing world.
• www.oxfam.org.uk - international disaster relief agency.
• www.lepra.org.uk - British Leprosy Relief - works to treat leprosy and other diseases of poverty.
• www.rnli.org.uk - Royal National Lifeboat Institution - operates a volunteer lifeboat service around the UK.
• www.unicef.org.uk - UNICEF UK - promotes children's rights around the world.
• www.redcross.org.uk - British Red Cross Society - emergency relief and social care agency.

My other links are in a Del.icio.us cloud.