About Gavin Coates - Freelance Web Developer
I have been interested in computing since a young age, I had an Acorn Electron as a child, and spent many an hour entering source code for programs from a book my father bought for me. Eventually I progressed to the PC platform, where I began making websites for some of my interests, launching www.multiplayercentral.co.uk (April 2001 - Dec 2005) with a friend, a website dedicated to news and reviews of online multiplayer games.
In 2001 I began a university course on Information technology at Heriot-Watt university, before transferring to the University of Paisley, where I graduated with a degree in Computing. During my time at university I launched a second website, www.taxiwayalpha.com (Feb 2003 - Present), featuring information and news about aviation in Scotland.
After university I began working for a local web design company, where I specialised in creating dynamic, PHP driven websites. I was involved in a number of projects, including the creation of custom content management systems for a number of clients, and the integration of a hotel reservation system with their website, to provide online booking facilities. In 2005 I left the web design company to work for a local engineering company, where I was responsible for the development of an internal job and resource tracking system.
After developing internal systems for the local engineering company, I realised that other companies could benefit from automating their internal systems in a similar way. I have been working on a freelance basis ever since.