I'm Simon

My story

I originate from the UK, but now live in France in a town called Nontron in the Dordogne with my wife Pat, our two poodles and two cats.

I typically challenge myself to understand different aspects of technology projectm having worked variously as Help-Desk Coordinator, Developer, ScrumMaster, Technical Architect, Practice Lead, and Product Manager at companies like SAP, Oracle, Deloitte, Apple and many, many household and non-household names across various countries and industries.

The Pandemic brought a new reality though as it hit my wife (who lives in France) hard, and so with the support of the corporation I worked for, I transitioned from the UK to a French part of the company to help support her with the after-effects of Covid.

I have a strong interest in independent publishing, and in this vein, have four series of books in various states of draft - first book is in edit so should be coming out later this year.

I've been a keen developer since the age of eleven, when I had my own paid home computer user club in the UK, sold software, and wrote programs for small businesses in my later teens to scratch that computing and entrepreneurial itch. I was told I had to go to college to get a job in IT, so I did.

A few jobs in after college, I found that this wasn't actually true in all companies, so was a bit annoyed about 'wasting' three years. But in retrospect, the three years held value that I hadn't foreseen - mostly relating to the non-educational aspects! I'm a great believer in education. I'm just not convinced about how we're told it should be delivered or instigated.

Today, it's much the same as when I was in my teens, but with extra grown-up things to think about as well.

Neurodiversity features strongly in my life - I have autism - and have been on a voyage of discovery for some time as I've been diagnosed for over ten years now, and had an inkling since childhood. I have learned various strategies for balancing my autistic and non-autistic traits over the years - a good proportion early on where I learned to embrace change until it became normal. That's served me well.

The original site (updated between 1998 and 2008) is still there on wayback machine - I took it down some time around 2010 because it hadn't been updated in a few years and still used flash animations! Still - it's a good way of getting an insight into my interests back then.

If you'd like to know what I'm up to at the moment, then catch me on my now page.