1981 - Born in the North of England.
1988 - Receive my first computer as a birthday gift – a Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
1993 - Organise with several school friends to produce hand-written computer game magazines with reviews, walk-through guides and cheats. The magazines are popular. Meanwhile, I accidentally mess up my mum’s work computer by renaming system files. Oops.
1995 – Launch “Fishman’s Plaice BBS” using RemoteAccess software to provide people with dialup access to a shareware library and message boards. Produce a magazine for a school project called PC Realm, with newly discovered Microsoft Publisher and Serif software. The magazine scores me an A grade.
1996 - Write my first instruction manual whilst volunteering in the IT department of a primary school. Headmaster provides a reference praising my “step-by-step instructions for the use of Apple Mac systems”.
1997 - Finish school with all A and B grades at GCSE. My media studies project to invent a product and produce a multimedia marketing campaign is used by the school as an example for future generations.
1998 - Run a little business empire employing friends to distribute flyers for local businesses to pay for my expensive cycling hobby. Produce “Ting” magazine about bicycle trials riding for a college project.
1999 - Complete Advanced GNVQ IT and A Level Communication Studies courses. Get accepted to Coventry University on a BSc Computer Systems course. Working part-time in a furniture shop I have to assemble discounted timber bunk beds that arrive from the importer without any instructions. Noticing that I’m taking notes as I go, the boss makes me type up some instructions so that he can sell the beds at full price.
2000 - Ace a Java programming exam with the highest mark in the class by a large margin without revising or being aware of the exam’s existence (someone dragged me out of bed so that I could make it). Despite this success, I am disappointed that the degree course isn’t what I expected, so I switch to BA Communication, Authoring and Design, a course whose prospectus reads like it was designed especially for me.
2000-2003 – I work for Xerox part-time to fund my studies. Access to excellent print facilities aids the presentation of my degree work. Access to top-end software and customers who want design work sharpens my skills. I take on freelance design projects, trade on eBay and drive a florist’s delivery van to fund my new, even more expensive hobby of driving Italian cars.
2001 – Produce a two-page spread in the style of Mountain Biking UK magazine, a travel journalism feature about Coventry (challenging) and an advertising campaign to sell students the Guardian newspaper as university projects. My story, eBay Paid my Tuition Fees, is printed in the university newspaper.
2002 - Arrive an hour early for a deadline to submit a 2000 word essay. The lecturer says, “where’s the other one?” and hands be the brief. I cycle home, write and print the second 2000 word essay and cycle back to submit it before the deadline passes. I am awarded one percent lower than a First for the essay because I hadn’t spellchecked it. Get a six month internship at Enterprise IDU, where I learn a lot about wayfinding whilst designing improved signage for hospitals, museums and libraries.
2003 - Despite my final project taking pride of place at the graduate degree show, I narrowly miss out on a First and graduate with a 2.1. I quickly secure a job as an Information Designer with Kudos near Manchester.
2004 - Kudos send me to work in Budapest for 2 months. I decide to drive instead of fly, for a blast on the Autobahns in my recently purchased bargain performance car. At 155mph my windscreen suddenly cracks so I slow down. To 130mph.
2005-2006 - Things are going well at Kudos. I design and implement a calendar-based system for distributing training materials and tracking their use in a project for InterContinental Hotels. I ramp up my eBay trading to pay off lingering student debts.
2006-2008 - Now debt free and with some savings, I quit work and travel for 18 months in India, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. I get a job fixing cars and changing tyres in a Perth garage on the back of self-taught skills that can only be gained through running Italian sports saloons on a student budget. My travel blog is popular with friends, family and strangers who find it on Google.
2008 - I return to the UK. Three job interviews in three days result in three job offers. Capita offers the least money but the best gut instinct, plus I can benefit from cycling the picturesque 15 mile round-trip instead of driving. Even in the winter.
2009 – The SIMS Documentation Centre I designed is well-received by colleagues and customers as an easy and attractive method of accessing user documentation for Capita’s SIMS suite of school management software. I am assigned to document Capita’s most complex, leading-edge flagship SIMS products.
2010 – Australia calls. After a successful 19 months with Capita (and 5000 miles of cycle commuting) I quit, organise a work visa and book flights for Australia to pursue my career in the lucky country, where I find myself able to combine my design and writing skills with my love of all things automotive thanks to landing a job with Australia’s leading automotive industry journal, GoAutoNews.