About Rob Swan

Hi, I'm Rob. Until recently I was a web developer. I built very complex database driven websites. I've written a few widely read articles about various aspects of the web. I'm a Zend Certified PHP5 Engineer (ZCE)...

... but now I'm (primarily) a website consultant and planner.

Essentially: I used to be a web builder, now I'm a web architect.

I've spent the last five years working full time in the web design industry, and in that time have worked for a vast number of clients and sucessfully launched an huge number of very succesful web sites.

Before I got involved in the web I gained a Philosophy degree from the University of Sussex, during which time I also worked as a video game functionality tester. Essentially I was paid to play computer games and to find and report any bugs that I found in them. Both philosophy and functionality testing helped me to develop my skills in writing specifications.

Writing technical specifications has been part of my job ever since I started working as a programmer, however projects have rarely been allocated the correct time and budget to allow for accurately committing specifications to paper, for maintaining them, and for explaining them to the client.

Every project for which I have ever been allowed to produce a proper technical specification has far exceeded the expectations of the client, the developers, and the users of the website.

My CV

If you want a few more details why not download my Curriculum Vitae (July 2010).

Twitter

You can normally get a pretty good idea of what I'm up to right now from my twitter feed (you can follow me @robswan):