MY IT WORK, 2014-PRESENT
The main work I’ve done during my career in the IT industry
Founder and Principal, Black Pyramid Software
September 2008—Present
This is the umbrella organisation for all of my commercial and non-commercial open source products and projects. The key ones are listed below.
These efforts to date have focused on macOS and iOS using Swift, plus AppKit or UIKit in the case of GUI applications, developed in Xcode and released (for commercial items) through the Mac and iOS App Stores.
Other endeavours include C++ templates for FreeRTOS running on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, and Python drivers for Holtek HT16K33-based LED display products.
- iOS App Store
- macOS App Store
- Open Source macOS Utilities
- Open source macOS Libraries
- Open Source other
Senior Software Engineer, KORE Wireless
June 2023-September 2024
I joined KORE following its acquisition of Twilio‘s IoT and Wireless Business Unit. During this time I focused on the following projects:
- Microvisor
- Built developer-oriented Microvisor CLI tooling using Go in Linux/Mac/Windows native versions, supported by unit tests. The CLI:
- Interacts with the Microvisor Cloud via REST API for application uploading, deployment to devices, log retrieval.
- Operates locally to package and codesign compiled C/C++ application firmware for distribution.
- Communicates with development hardware over USB/serial for device WiFi provisioning and identity information retrieval.
- Co-engineered application firmware for a Microvisor-based battery powered Asset Tracker product, including GNSS support, sensor support, and FreeRTOS integration. This was written in C and C++.
- Continued to manage and extend Microvisor documentation and sample code.
- Electric Imp
- Continued to maintain the Electric Imp Platform developer documentation and oversee contractors maintaining the Electric Imp iOS and Android developer apps and SDKs.
Developer Educator, Twilio
December 2019-May 2023
Twilio — specifically its IoT and Wireless Business Unit — acquired Electric Imp in December 2019. During my time with Twilio:
- I was the sole Technical Writer for Microvisor, Twilio’s first own-brand IoT platform. I worked closely with the engineering team to produce documentation and sample applications (C and C++).
- I contributed a Microvisor post to the FreeRTOS Blog.
- I initiated and developed a program to revitalise and restructure the developer documentation for the business unit to evolve the presentation and information architecture.
- I Created new content: expanded developer guidance material, added introductory guides to cellular modem AT commands and the command line, added many new Super SIM tutorials; and technical guides to cellular signal strength and cellular connectivity optimisation.
- I built out the business unit’s cellular module knowledgebase.
- I rebooted and revised the Twilio cross-product end-user documentation style guide (Internal access only).
- Worked with CMS system (Wagtail) and later docs-as-code workflow with GitBooks.
Senior Tech Writer and Project Manager, Electric Imp
March 2014—December 2019
- Sole technical author for external developer-oriented content: documentation and sample code (Squirrel, Node.js, Python, Swift/Objective-C).
- Led third-party developers working on customer-centric iOS (Objective-C, Swift) and Android (Java) SDKs, and mobile apps (iOS, Android).
- Completely revamped and extended Electric Imp’s developer documentation to add:
- Oversaw major site redesign from static pages using the Jekyll enginer to a Drupal CMS-based site.
- Contributed hardware drivers and third-party web service integrattions (Squirrel) and CLI tool development (JavaScript/Node):
- Independently produced Electric Imp apps and libraries.