I get up at 07:00, except Wednesdays when its 6.15. I have BBC Radio 4 on in the mornings, have a quick shower, feed the cats and kids (in that order) and aim to get out the house by 08:00. I’ve been commuting to work by bike for about 5 years. I am lucky enough to live in a small village in North Somerset, which gives me a fantastic (if not hilly) ride every day.
On Wednesdays I’m out of the house by 07:00. I drive a few miles before getting my mountain unicycle (muni) out the boot, and unicycling the remaining 5 miles to work via a purpose built mountain bike track, and then under the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
I love my commute. Best way to start the day. Even the winter months are enjoyable as long as you approach them with the right attitude (e.g. “going to get wet, may as well enjoy it”).
I’m unable to function properly without copious amounts of coffee, so that’s my first priority when I arrive at work.
I’m a senior developer at Clik, which basically means being aware of most of the day-to-day projects. I tend to get involved in more backend and non-user interface stuff – or as I like to put it, that stuff which makes things work, rather than the “fluff”.
At the moment I’m working on Clik 4 and the cloud side of Clik Jobs (codename: Skynet). This is the bit which handles the communication between our servers (aka “the cloud)” and your devices and Clik installation.
My desk is hidden away in a corner of the office, so when I’m deep in a project I tend to zone out and ignore everyone! You have to battle past 3 other developers and a bike to get to my desk, so only the committed make it.
If I have any music on, I’m usually listening to acid house/techno – or classical. I find it hard to concentrate when listening to music where I can hear the words.
The development team at Clik is very good at communicating with each other. It’s easy to grab one of the other devs to get their input into anything I’m working on.
One of the favourite parts of my job is seeing ideas become software and seeing companies using what we’ve written.
I’ve worked at Clik for (well) over 10 years, so I’ve been involved in many projects, but I’m particularly proud of Clik 4. Although customers see it as just one product, from a developers point of view it’s made up of hundreds of different pieces all working together. I’m particularly proud of some of the internal workings of Clik 4 as a lot of effort went into getting those right in the early days.
I break the day up with a few games of unicycle ping pong and have some lunch which I bring in every day, except Fridays which is fish and chip day!
After a day’s programming, I cycle home, relax in the bath while listening to the Archers (there, I’ve admitted it!) and play with the kids before bedtime.