I developed an interest in web technologies early on in my degree and in my third year I was employed part-time with a local internet design company. A few local contracts later, including 6 months with the NHSIA, I realised that I would have to leave Devon to pursue my career and I moved to Reading in 1999. I held down a number of jobs during this period as the IT contracting era was still boombing, I worked on projects for GE Services, Lloyds TSB, Supreme Pet Foods, Marks & Spencer, Landmark, Ordnance Survey, FAST, Southamptom PCT and many more. My roles covered straightforward web design and development but also graphic design, instructional design and e-learning, graphical user interface design for a software company in Henley, and my last role was as a web applications developer, writing software that would run across the internet.