The birth of another blog! In this first post, I explain who I am and what this blog is all about.

Who Am I?

My name is Stephen Cronin and I have worked in the software industry in Australia, UK and US for 13 years. Most of my roles have been in management, product design, project management and training.

My Interest In Web Development

My first taste of HTML was in 1997 and I’ve had a passion for web development ever since. Many of my roles have been related to the design, development, implementation, training and marketing of web based software, but only rarely has my job called for me to become involved ‘hands-on’.

About two years ago, I decided to get serious about web development. Most of my free time since has been spent developing websites and learning, learning, learning.

I now have a decent understanding of php, mysql, css, javascript and html, but every time I ‘learn something’, I find there are new things waiting for me to learn. This is an ongoing process, with my sights now turned on Ajax and on improving the skills I already have.

Why have I created a blog?

To share what I’m learning!

I’ve spent a lot of time and effort working out how to do things. It struck me that some of the things I’ve learnt may be useful to others. If sharing what I’ve learnt can help even a few people, then it will have been worthwhile.

Of course, there is an enormous amount of information already available on the Internet, so why bother? I believe I can add value by:

• pointing people toward the useful information I’ve found
• supplementing this information with my own insights
• encouraging discussion of certain issues (I want to know what you think too)
• occasionally even providing information that is non existent or hard to find.

Topics I will cover

Anything related to web development that I feel compelled to write about! Mostly this will include discussion / articles / howtos on:

• technologies I am working with (ajax, php, mysql)
• specific problems I overcome
• choices that I face (tools / technologies / business / other)
• blogging (as I am now learning about this too)
• anything else I think may be interesting to someone.

I hope some of you will find my future posts interesting and / or useful.