Meet The Team – Development

Meet our developers! If you aren’t aware, we have started a “Meet The Team” blog series where we meet each member of the WDL team. Today we get to find out more about our developers who are the masterminds behind your stunning websites.

Just like when we met the management team, we asked the following four questions to each employee:

If you weren’t working at WDL what would you be doing?
What’s your favourite film?
Do you have a hidden skill or talent?
Can you tell us an interesting fact about yourself?

Jamie Tuffen – Web Developer (Front End)

If Jamie wasn’t working in Web Development he would probably focus on his gaming habit and try to become a streamer – after all why not turn your hobby into an income?

His favourite film has always been Man On Fire. It’s such a heartwarming film about a man out for vengeance after the child he’s protecting gets kidnapped.

As for a hidden talent, Jamie and a friend went to Wrabfest a few years ago (when people were able to do things like that) and they had an axe-throwing stall. Turns out he is really good at axe throwing!

Jamie really enjoys brewing his own beer when he can – we even get updates in our weekly meeting. Although he hasn’t opened his own bar yet, maybe he secretly has a plan for the cellar in our new office – ironically called the Old Brewhouse.

Matthew Bell – Technical Support Administrator

Like Andy (check out the management “Meet The Team” blog), Matthew has a musical side to him and would love to “go pro” one day. With all these interesting talents, we really could put together a WDL “away day” agenda!

Matthew’s favourite film would have to be Snatch – another one that needs to be added to your list.

There wasn’t anything that came to mind when Matthew was asked about hidden talents. We think he’s just being modest. The speed at which he can solve a problem is incredible, and he always does it with a smile on his face.

We never knew Matthew was partly South African, and he was the only member of his immediate family not born in South Africa. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have an accent.

Jonathan Norman – PHP Developer

Jonathan is known at WDL for his handy skills. It came as no surprise when we asked him “what else would you be doing if it wasn’t for WDL” that his answer was to be an electrician or mechanic. The passion for the hands-on life intrigued Jonathan when he had a summer job as an electrician in high school and loved working on cars and motorbikes.

Despite the hands-on life, Jonathan loves a good Disney or Pixar animation. That’s why his favourite film of choice is Zootopia.

Some may say this doesn’t count as a talent, but whatever you think it certainly classes as a skill. His ability to pick up new skills and learn new systems is second to none. Jonathan even claims he can “fix anything” and rapidly learn a lot about a specific subject. I think it’s more than fair to say that we’ve seen proof of this whilst he tackles problems for our clients.

When asked about an interesting fact, Jonathan took no hesitation in responding with “I have more vehicles than sense” – although we still think you’re being a little hard on yourself there.

Rick Albary – Front-End Developer

Rick gave us two answers for alternative jobs, and both of them involved the outdoors. His first answer would have to be a postman, but being a park ranger came in at a close second.

It was only a matter of time before a Star Wars movie was mentioned in this blog. The Empire Strikes Back goes straight to the top of the list. Rick says “It builds so well on the original, really makes you feel like you’re visiting vastly different worlds, and taught me that the bad guys can win.”

Who knew we had a chef amongst us at WDL? Rick’s talent is straight out of Gordon Ramsey’s book (or maybe Gino D’acampo’s) but he is excellent at making fresh pasta.

Sticking with the Star Wars theme, Rick, to his knowledge, is the only person to have ever given Chewbacca a ‘Sorry for your loss’ condolences card.

And that brings our development team to a close. We are now halfway through this mini blog series. Next time we’ll be saying hello to our Digital Marketers. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out the Management blog, our management team really do have some “unique” talents.