ComputerGen - Enhance your programming skills

An Introduction to your Programming and Computing Tutor

I have more than thirty years experience of teaching Programming, Computing and Computer Science in all its many forms in schools, both state and private, colleges and at university.  

My earliest experience of programming was during the early 1980s when, while working for Marconi Electronics and Communications, I decided to invest in a Sinclair ZX 81.  Having taught myself how to programme in BASIC, I was able to create programs to do my tax accounts and for keeping track of personal finances.  The advent of the Sinclair Spectrum, which also had audio output, enabled me to create a speech synthesis program that could speak to the user.  This was a very exciting development as far as I was concerned, and it was this, together with my inherent love of electronics, that inspired me to take up computing professionally.  

I studied Software Engineering, first at South Bank University, then later at London Metropolitan University, to gain my 2:1 BSc Honours Degree.  After this, I went on to study for a Master's Degree at the City University.  

I began my teaching career in 1990 at South East Essex College of Art and Technology.  There I taught programming and computing to A-level and BTEC students, as well as adults who needed computing skills for business and access to university.  I worked there for a number of years before moving on to Anglia Ruskin University, in Chelmsford and Cambridge, where I worked, first as a lecturer, then later as a senior lecturer.  I have also taught at a number of schools and colleges around the country.  

I have an in-depth knowledge of a wide range of computer languages including Python, C, Visual Basic, Java, C++, Pascal, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.  

Whilst I also have a knowledge of web-site building packages such as DreamWeaver, I have in addition created professional websites, including this one, coded from first principles without the aid of any of these packages.  

Although I have spent a considerable part of my working life in education, I am nevertheless, very much in touch with today's requirements in the fields of commerce and manufacturing, having numerous contacts within the industry.  I've had a very varied career, and this wide experience has proved advantageous, not only to me personally, but has also been invaluable in terms of enabling me to both inspire confidence in my students, and provide them with the benefit of my acquired wisdom.  

I have full CRB/DBS Clearance.