This post, my first of 2010, is about some changes that are happening/have happened and what I can expect for the rest of the year.
The first change is that I am now a bona-fide employee! In November 2009 I worked freelance for a marketing agency based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Called Rare Creative, I had completed some projects for them during 2008, and re-connected with them during the summer of 2009. Whilst working under contract, they offered me a permanent position to take effect from 4th January 2010, which I jumped at.
This is a fantastic opportunity for me. Although I have loved the last five years as a freelancer, it was a little stressful at times not working when I would be working next, or whether we could afford to do things we wanted to do. This year we can catch up on all the projects we wanted to do, and even save for a trip to America.
I will still be continuing with a couple of projects I started last year. It may or may not be under the guise of Integrity (I need to check all options first), though I will post updates here when appropriate.
Another change is my move from the Microsoft platform for both PC requirements and web-programming platforms. I purchased my first Mac in December 2009, and will look to purchase more Apple based gear this year. I will also learn to program in Objective-C/Cocoa to write software for the Mac/iPhone, and web sites will be developed in PHP. I may do some projects in .Net if I need to, but most of my efforts will be towards the Mac/Linux/open-source arena. (I may use other technologies, such as Adobe Air, for Rich Internet Applications. It, of course, depends on the project).
Finally, you’ve probably noticed that this blog has changed back to WordPress. That’s partly because of my move towards Linux-based web applications (as I mentioned above), and also because I wanted to. Some features of the previous site will appear here shortly, when I get the time to complete it.
Thanks for reading, and hope you have a great year.