The Tribe

After a dozen years working with the United Nations I shifted my career to programming. I have experimented with JavaScript and PHP since 2017 and I strive to be a better developer every day. I joined Neontribe in 2019 hoping to use my skills in tech-for-good. When I don't dream about code (seriously now, when do the JavaScript dreams end???), I think about food, cycling along rivers that cross more than one country and 'untranslatable' words from any language (such as Sisu - Finnish for extraordinary determination/courage, especially in the face of adversity - and Utepils - Norwegian for a beer that is enjoyed outside particularly on the first warm and sunny day of the year). Addicted to stories and storytelling, Coen brothers movies and playing football. I do not have a pet alpaca.

After a decade developing IT capabilities at a sector-leading claims management company Charlie briefly tried his hand directing an SME focused IT services company. He now enjoys writing web things for Good Causes to both pay off karmic debt and explore ways of thinking about software development, mostly in PHP and JS. He’s into collaborative storytelling (with dice and cake), poorly defending liberal politics, online security/digital privacy and nursing a mild addiction to certification to bluff his way as an InfoSec pundit. He swims regularly for the secret pleasure of meditating on a problem while the body is on autopilot.

After years of writing, playing and teaching electronic music I pivoted into a career in coding by way of an intense bootcamp experience. I’m interested in group culture, emotional intelligence and helping younger generations to realise the world of possibilities that coding offers. I’m currently occupied with trying to be a better developer than I was yesterday.

I helped found Neontribe after a pre-to-post acquisition tour of duty on a fintech start-up. I’ve discovered you don’t need to be able to draw to design, and that life is journeys and pain points. I love to solve the latter and find listening always helps.

I decided not to go to Uni after school; so I worked in Customer Service Management, self-taught SQL and ended up in Management Information Systems. Falling in love with all things Data I went to Uni as a Mature Student, graduating Computer Science in 2018 and am now working towards my PhD. I joined Neontribe as an Intern in 2016. I love tech-for-good projects or anything peopleware and process-related; as Neontribe’s resident Chameleon I take on any task from coding to testing to policy writing. Outside of work I like music that goes Oontz, cuddling my French Bulldogs and drinking Tea.

Washed up from the Royal Broke of Scotland after 15 years in test and delivery management roles. Thankful to be employed, not interested in looking down once outside the office however. Neontribe has really helped with my work-life balance when it comes to juggling childcare/school runs etc. Outside of the office, I’m interested in - Blue skies. Roast duck and rioja. Hoyo De Monterrey. Champagne tasting at sunrise. Ian Fraser Kilmister. Handmade Italian leather boots. The pride of East Anglia. Dad jokes. Hurting myself and getting a high at the local bouldering club.

I had a 15-year career in the arts and local government and a short time in the world of performance storytelling before I realised that user-led service and strategy design suits my eclectic skill set. I’m a believer in tech for good, I shout about the need to allow projects to fail and I get vitriolic about only measuring things that you’re actually going to learn from. I can frequently be found doing game design to entertain 2000 people in muddy fields, or ranting on the subject.

At Neontribe, I mostly build web apps that aim to improve the reach of small charities. I work iteratively with clients and users to get as close as possible to what people need. My choice of tools (apart from Vim and Linux) depends on the project, but I often write APIs in PHP and frontends in Javascript (when I have to) and Elm (when I can). I value stories, community, open-source, transparency, integrity, generally sharing stuff and giving everyone a voice. Daily mission: contribute towards removing clusters of despair from the world and adding back chunks of empowerment.

After studying computer games programming for several years and completing a computer science degree, I found web development to be where I was able to express and utilise my design and programming background most effectively. I have interests in human psychology, nutrition, bodybuilding, enjoy bouldering, board games and sometimes take battle royale games far too seriously 😐 oh yeah, and by the time you read this I will probably have a pet hedgehog.

As the youngest surviving member of the original founders of Neontribe, I still remember when Norwich didn’t have broadband (which was this century). Fortunately, times have moved on and I now help Neontribe and our customers manage Cybersecurity, ISO 27001 and GDPR plus all the other required bureaucracy. As some light relief, I take scouts away on summer camp and help ensure my hobby of live-action role-play runs smoothly by deploying camping and scouting skills in fields throughout the year.

After experimenting with online coding courses, I committed to becoming a developer by undertaking a Computing & Game Development degree as a mature student at Plymouth University. After graduating, I started my own one-person game development company and met Neontribe by chance while exhibiting a game at a local conference. I’ve been working for Neontribe ever since, mostly on the front end of social good projects. I enjoy playing and making video games, board games, most sports and opening new tabs.

On the cusp of beginning a PhD in Psychology, I realised I needed to problem solve in a more visually creative way. Through a couple of intense years dedicating myself to the creative process, I found my passion working in design. At Neontribe, I enjoy the challenge of designing for function and communication, whilst maintaining an artistic look and feel in my work. I deeply care about working on projects for good and hope that I am helping people in a small but meaningful way. Outside of work I can be found climbing, drawing or exploring nature.

After becoming an accidental chef, I had the opportunity to leave the catering industry. I have been writing code since I was 14, building game cheats in VB6 and plugins for Counter Strike Source. Since then I've been working with a variety of languages to build accessible applications. I enjoy the challenge of keeping up with new tech and immersing myself into the culture. I have enjoyed supporting less experienced colleagues and leading a range of projects to architect and build interfaces of all sorts, whether that be application to application interfaces or web and voice interfaces.

After spending over 4 years in the charity sector, in a range of organisations from student unions to mental health, I found myself drawn to digital. During my time in the sector, I was unknowingly dabbling in user research and UX design. Falling into all the pitfalls that you can make when doing digital in the charity sector for the first time. Learning from my mistakes led me to Neontribe and I now enjoy making as many as I can quickly and failing upwards with the aim of hopefully making the world a little better.

I ran away from the theatre to become a web developer at the turn of the century. Since then I’ve been making mistakes at Neontribe as fast as I can, learning from a reasonable percentage of them. Recently I’ve been using Javascript to help teenagers talk to doctors, Americans to buy airline tickets and everybody to find their way to the loo.

After graduating in computer science in the early 90s I joined an eCommerce startup that was eventually acquired by Sun Microsystems. I was lucky enough to work in Sun's professional services for five years and delivered the iPlanet applications all over the world. After leaving Sun I qualified as a teacher (PGCE) and went on to be one of the founders of Neontribe. Outside of work I hold an ERCA level 2 and coach two age groups of children at Norwich rugby club where all four of my children play.