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Certification: is it really worth? With enough time on my hands, it was time to find out.

Creating even simple sequence diagrams drove me to distraction, but the code-driven approach from Mermaid has finally solved that problem.

One simple change at a time, we have reduced our use of non-recyclable products around the home. Here's how we did it and what we have planned next.

The latest evolution of my site has made it an incredibly slick experience, take a look around!

With a tool like Redux in your hand, everything can look like a nail.

Don't reinvent the wheel; stop, look and reuse!

Without too much pain, I am now solely using Node.js to build this blog, and improve it along the way.

It's fast, lightweight, widely-adopted and ludicrously-customisable. Better yet, you can easily share extensions and settings between VS Code projects.

I've recently discovered how RunKit can help bring your Node.js examples to life - anywhere!

I recently achieved a personal goal of delivering a rather nerve-wracking but rewarding talk at another excellent ESRM conference in London. Take a look at the slides!

Code interviews are generally a pain for everyone, but are great when well executed. I've had the (mis)fortune to experience several different styles, and have some advice on how to improve your tests and, ultimately, the type of candidate you hope to hire!

Four years ago, I tried to take back our digital content. How did it go, and what are we doing now?

I've had a personal goal of learning F# for some time, and HackerRank provided the perfect platform to test the language. Both are highly recommended!

Finally: a personal blog that I completely love, generated and optimised from OSS to be simple, fast and secure.

Last week, I gave a talk at the awesome Greenwood Campbell, entitled Hacking a Career in Technology. I was excited, nervous, mildly terrified, and hopeful it would be a success. So why do it, and what counts as a success?!

Last year was the most challenging but rewarding of my life. Here's what happened, and a couple of goals for the new year.

I'm sure every parent is the same, but I am constantly amazed by our little boy. I wish I had written down more of our conversations, but I had to share this beauty from yesterday evening.

Here are my ridiculously-late notes from an ever-improving re:develop conference. In short: it was excellent. It was interesting to see software mimicking real life, such as pipelines and containers. It was even better to see more women presenting and in attendance, too.

After nearly five years of running a self-hosted WordPress blog, I recently migrated it to Squarespace. It took a while to reach the decision, but I'm very happy and am looking forward to writing more frequently. But why move?

A quick review of a new, local conference that I hope becomes an annual pilgrimage.

Charts help us to visualise data, but not only do different types of chart suit different types of data, the space available for them also affects the choice.

Software and social networking changed our lives a long time ago. Ever felt chained to them, though? Or, maybe worse, don't know that you are?

Git is great. I've explained why version control is so useful before, and loved how easy it was to get started with GitHub. Now, however, having used Atlassian products as part of my daily workflow, I'm migrating to Bitbucket, its Git hosting solution. Why?

That's it! Fifteen months of planning, a house move and baby later: we're married. And what a day it was!

Have you looked at a snippet of code, given it a double-take, then thought "Woah, what is that?"

After 5.5 years of working in London, I'm relocating with my family; hopefully for many years, and probably forever, or until we retire and globe trot.

You might have have noticed that the new home of my blog looks very different, and hopefully agree it's a big improvement. That's because I made a big mistake last time: I didn't start strong.

The hickling.is domain was born. Wait: what is that, and why?

Drink proper coffee, you won't regret it.

Why? Why not?! The Ubuntu Edge is a pretty bold project.

A look at a self-hosted ownCloud solution for true ownership of personal digital content.

Today marks my fifth year in employment post-uni. Five years. I can't believe how much has changed since then!

A Dad? Me? Wow! It really takes getting used to.

Websites are easy to develop, right? Host a bit of HTML and anyone can can access it from anywhere using practically anything. Not quite.

I started the year with the ambition of creating a site to showcase what I can do. As you can see from the date of my first (and previous) post, that hasn't happened yet!

Here’s to WIHD, then; hope you enjoy the ride.