Who are you?

My name's Alan and I'm a Software Developer. I live near Glasgow in Scotland. You can email me at alan@ajl959.com and find me on LinkedIn

This page is just a short introduction to me, what I do, what I like and eventually to provide links to work and serve as a personal portfolio.

What qualifications and experience do you have?

Currently I have around eight years experience in the industry, from first being hired as junior developer to at least four years in my current role.

This is coupled with a computing degree from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and a good all round knowledge of basics and theory in many areas of computing.

That all round knowledge is paired with an effort to keep my knowledge and skills up to date. I regularly follow programming blogs, make an effort to read about new advanced and experiment with different languages and technology. I frequently can be found catching up on the most interesting topics on Stack Overflow, Reddit and Hacker News.

Who do you work for, what do you do?

My current role is as a Software Developer for the UK division of a leading contact centre company with a large global presence.

I have a fairly wide range of responsibility and as a result of working in a small team, I'm often responsible for everything from requirements gathering and analysis, through the design, implementation, testing and continued maintenance and troubleshooting of any applications. This gives as good appreciation of all stages of development, and the difficulties that must be overcome.

What technologies are you familiar with?

I'm primarily a Java developer, who regularly employs both custom homegrown fameworks in addition to popular ones such as Spring and Hibernate.

Typical deployment may be using Apache Tomcat, running on Windows, Solaris or Linux, all of which I use on a daily basis.

For persistance I've experience with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL, with applications frequently having to run on all of them.

For the front end I would utilise Javascript where appropriate, usually employing jQuery to assist in building dynamic sites that run successfully across various web browsers.

In addition to this I've good experience with ???.

What have you created?

I have strong experience with Facebook and Twitter integration, and have been jointly responsible for building software which allows several well known UK companies to manage their online presence.

An example of other major work involves the capture and real time processing of reporting data across various applictions in many different locations. The building of custom virtual telephone applications to allow powerful transfer, management and data capture abilities, across various telephony platforms.

Also with working for a contact centre, I've been heavily involved in the creation of intelligent voice surveys and applications using VXML. Other projects include intranet sites, for which I've used primarily Joomla.

Can I see some of your work?

Most of the cool work, any all described above, has been for my current employer and as such I can't share any code. While I love programming, I have many other interests I like to pursue outside of work and don't currently have any ongoing personal projects.

I do however have a Github account, and will be making an effort to start something and add to it.

What do you like to do with your spare time? What interests you?

From a young age I've always had a love for Motorsport. Whether it's watching Formula 1, World Rally, Motocross or even just racing my friends at the Karting.

Photography is my other main interest, both from the doing it point of view, and the history behind it, and the impact being able to capture those decisive moments has given. I think old cameras and old photographs are fantastically interesting. Recently bought my first film camera - a Pentax ME Super which is older than I am, and planning to develop my own negatives this year. Shooting film is a completely new experience, and lots of fun. Would love a Fuji X100 if anyone is feeling generous, and I'm also on Flickr.

Inspired in part by my first trip through Glen Coe, I've started Hiking and it's just great. Being somewhere that feels remote, where there's total silence, with amazing views is such a stark and welcome contrast to everyday life.

Next up is a strong interest in Design. In my book case sit books on design and typography alongside those on programming. It does go side by side with photography, and while I'm no natural designer I certainly do appreciate it and try to learn what I can.

This short list misses out things such as a general interest in Science, Engineering, and activities such as Mountain Biking.