Summary

I'm Benjamin Howarth, currently 21 years old, and a freelance website developer, specialising in ASP.NET, XHTML and CSS layouts, AJAX and Javascript, along with some SQL-related skills.

I love what I do - it's very difficult to describe to a lot of people just how much I love my job, because most people aren't as fortunate as I am in successfully securing a career doing what they love doing. I am also almost completely self-taught - I have no "formal" A levels, GCSEs, or a degree in computing, web design/development or any related discipline. My portfolio and client list tells it's own story about the quality and integrity of my work.

How did I get into my job?

By sheer curiosity. I have mild Asperger's syndrome which makes me very curious about the world around me. It also makes me very intelligent (update: I recently sat the Mensa Home Test and had it assessed and they estimate my IQ to be 155, in the top 1% of intelligent individuals in the population. Am sitting my full test on the 14th February - wish me luck!), but with the detriment of a lack of basic social skills. School and college were hard because I didn't understand my peers and how to interact and socialise with them. On the other hand, my teachers had no idea how to handle me because I asked the most awkward questions to really try and push my knowledge and understanding to it's absolute limits.

I started writing computer programs when I was 12. I had a very old machine that wouldn't play any new PC games (I had a 4-bit graphics card) and so I went to my library to find a book on how to make my own PC games. I found one, that taught me about a language called BASIC. I began programming on a couple of old BBC microcomputers that were in my classroom at school, whilst I was also learning HTML at the time to create my own pages for our school intranet. When I was 14 I realised that the two languages (HTML and BASIC) could be merged to program ASP, and I was hooked!

Since then I've taken the foray into migrating to ASP.NET and it's been a remarkably comfortable and easy transition. Microsoft has done a lot to open up it's web and programming platforms to remain competetive within the marketplace and I give them fair credit for doing so.

I've also become a lot more understanding about web technologies as a whole, including search engine optimisation (SEO), accessibility and compliance (U.S.C. Section 508, W3C WAI guidelines, and the UK Disability Discrimination Act), interactivity and user experience, complete life-cycle of development, end-user support, and much much more.

This site is for Geoff W, Nick T, David S and Margaret M, who have all given me advice, support, and knowledge throughout my career.

I hope you enjoy my thoughts which I will be publishing on a regular basis. Most of it is technical, some of it is marketing and business advice, and some of it is letting off steam!

And finally, if you like what you see, and you want to see what I can do for you, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Benjamin