About

Hello, I’m Barry, and you’re reading my personal website.

I’m currently looking for my next CTO role. If you’re hiring for a hybrid job in London, take a look at my work page and let’s talk.

I’ve been working with product and technology teams for over 25 years. I started my career as a software engineer, and I continue to tinker with side projects in my spare time. For a while though, I’ve been leading software engineering teams and functions as CTO/VP Engineering in companies large and small.

I’m married with two sons. My wife teaches at the same primary school where the boys go, just a five-minute walk away.

We currently live in a village in Hertfordshire, UK, but I grew up in Chelmsford. After university at Warwick in the West Midlands, I’ve lived in Auckland, Wellington, Battersea, Wimbledon, Winchmore Hill, Twickenham, Windsor, and Virginia Water.

Interests

My first computer was an Acorn Electron which my parents bought when I was six years old. So began a lifelong obsession. I wrote BASIC to loop printing “BARRY IS THE BEST” and learned programming by typing in code from magazines and saving them to cassettes. I moved up to the Archimedes: a BBC A3000 and then an A5000 on which I built simple WIMP applications. Following Acorn’s sad demise, I had a brief affair with a Dell PC before switching to an iBook, iMacs and MacBooks. I’ve been all-Apple since 2004.

I love the web. I’ve made a living from building websites, and I’ve been learning in my spare time ever since I first used a web browser in the mid-90s. While still at school, I stumbled upon ColdFusion as a way of building dynamic websites using a database. This knowledge helped gain me my first jobs as a graduate, and although I’ve long since moved on to newer technologies, I still have a soft spot for CF.

I’ve been following the IndieWeb movement for over a decade, implementing open standards like Micropub and Webmention into my personal websites, attending an IndieWebCamp and co-organising a meet-up. Lately I’ve been diving into the AT Protocol, on which I’ve built this iteration of my personal website. My philosophy is that you should own your data, and strive to build fast, unfussy, accessible websites.

Sport

I’m an Arsenal fan. I get down to The Emirates as often as the Red ticket ballot allows, otherwise I’m a tormented armchair supporter. My very first season going to Highbury as a Junior Gunner was 1988-89, the year Arsenal famously won the League at Anfield in the dying seconds of the last match. I was hooked for life.

I love a sunny day at the Oval or Lord’s watching cricket, even if England stumble once again. I’ve been to dramatic Ashes wins and farcical ODI defeats. Live cricket is the best. I’ve also seen a fair few Six Nations tests at Twickenham and rugby matches around the world. And I’ve been to Ally Pally to watch the Masters snooker for several years now.

I love watching my sons play football and cricket. My weak sporting abilities are thankfully not genetic, and their trophy-count far exceeds mine. I still pull on my football boots for a kick-around in the park with them, and use my footballing knowledge with FPL instead.

Music

I’m picky about music. Like many people, my listening habits are focused on bands I loved in my teenage years and early twenties, like Blur, Suede, Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub, Gene, The Bluetones, Super Furry Animals, and all the way back to Pearl Jam.

I don’t go to as many gigs as I used to, but I make the effort to travel into London, often to see those nineties bands that are still touring years later, or have reformed to cater to middle-aged 6music Dads like me. It’s hard to beat a festival afternoon with a beer, watching a band you like as the sun sets.

Travel

I’ve travelled a bit over the years. In alphabetical order, I’ve visited: 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇫🇯 Fiji, 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇲🇻 Maldives, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇷🇸 Serbia, 🇸🇬 Singapore, 🇿🇦 South Africa, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇹🇭 Thailand, 🇦🇪 UAE, and 🇺🇸 United States.

Some of those countries were part of a year travelling around the world after I graduated, during which I posted to my Travelblog. I lived and worked in New Zealand for almost a year, and still have very fond memories of my time in Auckland and Wellington.

I’d love to hear from you: get in touch or follow me via feeds and social media/services.