It started at sixItstarted
atsix

Six months in the USA

I have a permanent disability in my right hand. When I was six, the treatment took us to the United States for six months, and that is where I first sat in front of a computer.

I came home knowing what I wanted to do. I have not really stopped since.

Fast anyway

People are surprised when they find out I type 90 to 100 words a minute. My right hand does less than most people's, so the rest of me learned to make up for it.

If you want to check, race me below.

Games, bots, and the odd virus

As a kid I made things because it was the most fun I knew: small games, bots for the game servers I ran, and at one stage a few harmless viruses to mess with my friends' computers.

They forgave me. Mostly.

I stayed for the credits

At the end of a film or a game I would sit through the credits and read the names. It amazed me how many people it took to make one thing that good.

I wanted to be one of those names: part of a big team that puts something amazing into the world.

A game that could tell if a child was colour-blind

For my undergraduate project I built a video game that helped find out whether a child was colour-blind, with a psychologist confirming every result. Kids played it because it was a game. Doctors could use it because it was a test.

It was the first time I took games out of entertainment and put them to work. Try a plate below; it is the same idea, drawn live in your browser.

Still at the keyboard

A normal day for me is at least twelve hours at a computer: the day job, my own products, and whatever I am learning that month.

I do not count it as overtime. It is what I would be doing anyway.

Hard problems, big teams

I like problems that nobody has solved yet, and I still want my name in a long list of people who built something big together.

That has not changed since I was six.