About the Author

I have always had an interest in computers and started out programming with a hobbyist language called Amos on the Amiga. I had originally wanted to be a games developer, but this never happened as I instead found myself drawn to Internet development. I think I blame books such as William Gibson's Neuromancer. Neuromancer contains a fantastic quote that I'll always remember: "The Matrix unfolds like neon origami beneath clusters and constellations of data." Fantastic stuff—although Gibson's world didn't contain the wonder that is IE6.

My first commercial development experience was at university (Business Computing with Psychology, first-class honors), where I worked for a small consultancy creating applications using ASP and VB6. Shortly after that, .NET arrived and I moved into ASP.NET/SQL Server development, where I have remained for the last eight years or so.

I have worked in a development/consultancy capacity in the fields of health care, government, CRM, finance, and the automotive industry, and I've been lucky enough to work around the world in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Middle East, the United States, and Australia.

I currently live in Melbourne, Australia, where I work as a developer for Imagine Interactive (http://www.imagineinteractive.com.au). I am occasionally exposed to sophisticated Australian "pom" humor, which is inevitably delivered with a bad 1820s cockney London accent. Australians are, however, some of the most welcoming, friendly, and fun people I have met, so I am thankful to the new friends I have made here (in particular Carl Belle, Lars Klint, Kamil Zagorski, David Crafti, Mark Clugston, and Jess Vandenbruggen) who have made the transition easier.

I am active in the programming community and have spoken at a number of conferences and user group events. In the United Kingdom, I set up and ran the Surrey-based .NET user group DevEvening.co.uk. I was awarded the MVP C# award in October 2008. I am currently working to bring the DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper day conference format to Melbourne (http://www.dddmelbourne.com) and set up an Australian version of DevEvening (http://www.deveve.net).

Outside of work I enjoy running and weight training, and I have an interest in artificial intelligence.

My website is at http://www.simpleisbest.co.uk, and you can follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/alexjmackey.