Where there is a Will

It seems it is a good time to be a Python developer, after my last post I received a number of good leads. All before I had finished my CV.

Its seems I’m on the job-market again.

I’m a software developer with over 10 years experience. I’m looking for a role working with Python, which has been the focus of my career for the last 18 months. Prior to that I worked with a mixture of C/C++ and Python. Ideally I’m looking for something in web development as I enjoy working with HTML / CSS and Javascript, but I’m open to other fields that may interest me. I have experience working with Turbogears and Django, as well as many other Python modules and technology.

I enjoy developing software outside of a work environment, and have created several games, applications, web sites, and open source Python modules. My blog is probably the best place to find out more about my spare time projects, see my Python articles for more information.

I’m also an author, having written a book about game development with Python. So I like to think I am a good communicator.

I’d like a full-time position, but I would consider contract work. I’m based in London, so anything in central London would be ideal. Please get in touch if you have a suitable role or would like to know more. I’m available for immediate start.

Mobile: 07722 531972

No recruiters please. And by no recruiters, I mean no recruiters.

Update: I have updated my CV (willmcgugancv.pdf)

I have a new job. I wasn’t even looking a new position, I was actually quite settled doing contract work for chessclub.com (working on a wxPython client for their Internet chess service). My new job is working for a startup, based in London, that is creating a big site with Django. I’m not sure if I can tell you much about the site itself yet, but I do think they have found a niche on the internet that isn’t fully catered for.

Starting a new job has made me consider, what I laughingly call, my career. I started out in games, writing really low level code in assembler and eventually moved in to 3D graphics. Working in games can be a lot of fun, but I found that I was solving the same kind of problems over and over again. Partially because even cutting edge games must perform the same kind of tasks as ancient (> 10 years old) games, and partially because C++ doesn’t deliver what it promises in terms of re-use of code. I also found I disliked working on massive projects because its hard to feel any sense of ownership in the project when you know you are a small cog in a big machine. Fortunately I manged to change the direction of my career by getting in to Python.

What I’ve realised recently is that my hobby projects drive my career. I got my first job in games by writing a 3D graphics demo,  subsequent games jobs were off the back of an AI life demo I wrote, and I’m sure that one of the reasons I got a job with chessclub.com was that I had already written a chess game in my spare time. Even this new job was probably helped by my most recent hobby project. So I would encourage anyone to take up some hobby projects or work on open source. I would also encourage programmers to go in to some niche technology area, rather than whatever technology is the most commercial at the time. Sooner or later any skill will become mainstream and the job market will be saturated. Better to have less common skills so that you will always be in demand. Seems to have worked for me so far.

That my self-indulgent post for this year. Back to the usual geeky stuff next post.

I’m going to Miami for a few days, so mail will go unanswered until I get back on Tuesday. :-)

I’m going away for a week on holiday. I will be back on the 24th. All mail, death-threats, wealthy Nigerian widows and Viagra special offers will go unanswered until then.

I was wandering through the super-market today (don’t click away–this gets interesting), looking for a food-stuff that I haven’t tried before, which I often do to keep myself amused. A tub of what looked like mixed spices caught my eye. I thought it might add a little zing to my curry, so I picked it up. It was something called Pan Masala, which wasn’t curry spices at all, as it contained 48% betal nut. This surprised me because I had read a Wikipedia article about it a few weeks before, and I knew that betal nut is a mildly euphoric stimulant, popular in India and parts of Asia. Which is not the type of thing I would expect to find in my local Tescos!

Naturally, I bought it. I’m not the type of person to do drugs, but sampling an exotic pleasure from the far-east sounded like the most exciting thing that would happen to me that day. Back from lunch, I sat down at my desk and opened the Pan Masala. It smelled fantastic, which was encouraging. I took a mouthful and chewed–it tasted very sweet and the flavour was pleasant enough, but after a little chewing it became slightly bitter. The texture was dry and gritty, but didn’t put me off and I was happy to chew it while I worked. I chewed the first few mouthfuls until the pieces of spice had disintegrated to a point where I could swallow, but that involved a jaw-aching amount of chewing, so I decided to spit the stuff out when it had lost its flavour (like gum).

After a while it did give me a little buzz, kind of like an espresso on an empty stomach. It also numbed my mouth and tongue, (which lasted for a few hours). I stopped chewing after I felt the effects–mainly because the ever-growing mug of pink frothy saliva put me off further consumption.

Obviously, I’m not anti-drugs–drug laws are completely arbitrary, and ineffective–but I still don’t think it is a good idea for a carcinogenic stimulant (it can cause oral cancer), to be sold without adequate warning on the packaging. Although the label did say “Warning product contains betalnuts, chew with care”. I called Tescos and talked to a man who seemed a little amused at the whole thing (he asked if I wanted to buy it in bulk), but he did make some enquiries and call me back. Apparently the manufacturer was dismissive, but didn’t sound particularily trustworthy. He said somebody will investigate, and get back to me. It will be interesting to hear their response!

I think I’ll keep the betal nut for novelty value, but I wont be chewing any more of it. It would probably lead me to try harder drugs … like nutmeg or oregano.

What do you mean its not the new year? Yesterday was 32 AW, today is 33 AW. That’s After Will. Which also makes it my birthday.

Last year was pretty good, career-wise and on a personal level. I use the term ‘career’ rather loosely because it implies some kind of direction. I don’t learn skills because they are commercial - it’s just blind luck that I manage to make a living out of them. And it seems like the skills I do learn can be a little niche, but that can often work to my advantage. For instance, my first 2 jobs involved writing software polygon rasterizers for games, at a time when 3D graphics cards were becoming popular. Even Python is a little niche, it certainly was when I started using it. But I’m now working full time with Python, and writing a book about it. I’m confident that it is a skill-set that is on the rise, and wont go the way of software polygon rasterizers!

On a personal level, last year was pretty good. I met my girlfriend last year, and I’m planning to move to London with her. Which may be quite a culture shock for someone raised in a small town in North East Scotland! I suspect it will be kind of like Crocodile Dundee, only without the boomerang.

Sorry for the self-indulgent post. I don’t do it very often. All the best for 33 AW.

The triops are just over 2 weeks old now, and as cute as a button. Tragically one hatchling died a few days ago, but the 7 that are remaining are doing well. Have a look at the photos.

(not actual size)

With no regard to my personal safety, and no safety net, I perform the amazing grape trick. Do not try this at home.

My sister sent me this (hi Jen), it is a lesson in not taking computers literally. According to Google, if you want to go from New York to Edinburgh you must swim across the Atlantic ocean. Nice going egg-heads!