I'm a web developer, freelancer, author, speaker, entrepreneur, technical reviewer and blogger based in the North East, living in a village just outside of Chester-le-Street.
My blog
Moving on to pastures new
After nearly five years at the helm of Peacock Carter I recently decided that it was time for me to move on. I formally handed in my notice to step down from the position of Managing Director and Senior / Lead developer - and at the end of April 2011 I left the business, after handing over my technical duties to Ian and my management duties to Richard.
In the short term, I still have some involvement in the business, as a Non-Executive Director/Technical Consultant and as co-owner, however I've moved on to new opportunities. Due to my integral role in the business, I'm still helping Ian to wind down and complete one or two longer-term projects.
I've really enjoyed working at Peacock Carter, and with the team, and I'm proud of what the company as whole has achieved and what I've achieved for the company, including:
- Taking on two fantastic developers: Richard Thompson and Ian Smith
- Winning commissions for a range of third sector organisations, recently including website, CMS and online management database for NAVCA and bespoke CMS development for Equality South West, two exciting and challenging projects I won through tendering
- Working with BusinessLink.gov.uk, NHS Direct and DirectGov
- Working with a large and diverse range of clients; If you were a client, please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn
Leaving the company I co-founded almost five years ago has been a really difficult decision; Richard and I started the company on a part-time basis whilst at University, and grew it from a spare room operation to a VAT registered limited company, which moved to offices (and then to larger offices), taking on additional staff, and winnning a range of large web development projects through tendering, word of mouth, and client recommendations. So as you can imagine, stepping away from all that has been difficult, and for a range of different reasons which I'm not willing to disclose.
On the plus side, I'm able to focus much more on a range of my own projects (many of which I planned some time ago, but didn't have the time to work on them), and work on a fantastic range of projects in my new role too.
What and where you ask?
Since the start of May 2011, I'm now working full time for Smith Electric Vehicles, working on a very interesting, exciting and challenging project, the Smith Electric telemetry application, working with their teams in the UK, and in their head office in Kansas City, Missouri.
I'm continuing with my publications, a few small business interests including a new Start Up - CentralApps, and also freelance PHP work in my own time.
Posted by Michael on 29th May 2011 at 14:02
