About

So, you're the nosey type?

If you are reading this, then you either want to know about Alteran Labs or myself. In either case, read-on!

About "Alteran Labs"

Alteran Labs is a long-defunct Stargate-themed community. It consisted of a small forum community of friends and Stargate fans who discussed like-minded interests. This was also one of my first ventures into hosting websites and being a webmaster.

The domain name for Alteran Labs lives-on as the domain for my personal website. So, here you are!

About Me (David)

I've always been fascinated with computers - since an early age. I've played computer games since I was a "wee lad", and was able to format and re-install an Operating System when I was just 8.

That fascination eventually turned into an A-Level qualification and subsequently a Computer Science degree. So you could say it was destiny.

Oh, and in more recent years, I managed to get hooked on My Little Pony and joined the herd of "Bronies". Please don't laugh...

My Skills and Abilities

Over the years, I've picked up a few skills here and there. I've not listed all of them, but here is a few of them...

Front-end

Front-end is one of my skill areas as a web developer. Please don't confuse this with being a designer. Some design is involved, but you won't see me using Adobe Illustrator to prototype designs. I like to prototype in code, to prove that things can be done.

HTML

HTML

Expert

This is pretty much a requirement of anyone with Front-end experience. ;-)

JS

JavaScript

Experienced

I have experience using JavaScript with jQuery and AngularJS to create dynamic user experiences (UX) and for AJAX submissions.

CSS
SASS

Cascading Style Sheets / SASS

Expert

I am experienced with the mysteries that are Cascading Style Sheets, as well as using SASS to compile more advanced Style Sheets.

Gulp

Gulp (and Grunt)

Experienced

I enjoy using task-runners such as Gulp and Grunt to streamline and automate common tasks such as compiling SASS and minifying JS.

Back-end

Back-end is another of my skill areas. Starting-off originally with PHP, I have been exposed to other programming languages as the need has arisen.

PHP

PHP

Certified

I have been using PHP almost longer than any other language. I am also a Zend Certified PHP Engineer.

Go

Go / Golang

Experienced

Go or "Golang" is a new venture for me - using it to script micro-services that form a part of bigger projects.

SQL
MySQL

MySQL

Experienced

I have been using MySQL for as long as I have been using PHP. The two go hand-in-hand, really.

Node
JS

NodeJS

Experienced

Node is a more recent skill - already having experience with JS, I quickly grasped Node and NPM to perform various tasks.

SysOps / DevOps

SysOps skills come in handy to enable me to work my way around any system. I am familiar with technologies like AWS, Vagrant and Docker to provision servers and virtual environments. The cloud is the future, after all.

Git

Git VCS

Expert

This is more a developer skill rather than SysOps.
Also, I can git bisect. I bet you probably can't. :P

#!

Unix Shell

Experienced

Having a familiarity with the Unix Shell (Bash, etc.) proved useful for hosting websites on private servers.

Nginx

Nginx Web Server

Expert

Faster than Apache HTTPD. More popular than IIS. Definitely worthwhile knowing.

AD

Microsoft ActiveDirectory

Experienced

Useful if you need to configure a Windows Domain on occasion.

My Tools of Choice

Combined with some of the skills above, I like to use certain sets of frameworks, apps and technologies to help get the job done.

Twitter Bootstrap

Well documented. Well supported and well-known. It makes UI prototyping a doddle and makes it very easy to on-board additional developers in the future.

Semantic UI

Also well-documented. A bit different, because it doesn't dominate the web like Bootstrap. It makes CSS classes very easy to read (hence semantic). This website also happens to use Semantic.

Laravel

A PHP Framework that is well documented and supported. Gives you things like DB Handling and ORM, so you can focus on writing features rather than re-inventing the wheel.

PhpStorm

This has code indexing and auto-completion, and includes some very useful features such as line formatting and PHPUnit integration. Things that lightweight/minimalist editors lack.

Everything Else

Away from work life and web design, I take part in a number of different things.

Travel

I enjoy travelling and visitng new places, both domestically and internationally (if my budget and leave entitlement permits it!)

Germany is one of my favourites.

Photography

This goes hand-in-hand with travel - you get to see great places, and you get to capture them too.

Gaming

I enjoy gaming (mostly online) in my spare time. Member of /r/pcMasterRace - go keyboard or go home.

I play, from most regular to least regular:

  • Overwatch
  • CoD: Black Ops 3
  • Team Fortress 2
  • CounterStrike: Global Offensive
  • Battlefield 4

This is a non-comprehensive list - I have other games that I may or may not play from time to time. Check my Steam profile for a more complete list.