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Dominic Burford - Professional Profile



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I am a professional software engineer and technical architect with over twenty years commercial development experience with a strong focus on the design and development of web and mobile applications.

I have experience of architecting scalable, distributed, high volume web applications that are accessible from multiple devices due to their responsive web design, including architecting enterprise service-oriented solutions. I have also developed enterprise mobile applications using Xamarin and Telerik Platform.

I have extensive experience using .NET, ASP.NET, Windows and Web Services, WCF, SQL Server, LINQ and other Microsoft technologies. I am also familiar with HTML, Bootstrap, Javascript (inc. JQuery and Node.js), CSS, XML, JSON, Apache Cordova, KendoUI and many other web and mobile related technologies.

I am enthusiastic about Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery and Application Life-cycle Management having configured such environments using CruiseControl.NET, TeamCity and Team Foundation Services. I enjoy working in Agile and Test Driven Development (TDD) environments.

Outside of work I have two beautiful daughters. I am also an avid cyclist who enjoys reading, listening to music and travelling.

 

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GeneralThat's me upgraded to Windows 10 Pin
Dominic Burford31-Aug-15 19:09
professionalDominic Burford31-Aug-15 19:09 
GeneralHow good developers deal with bad code Pin
Dominic Burford12-Aug-15 21:08
professionalDominic Burford12-Aug-15 21:08 
GeneralJavaScript: The Good Parts Pin
Dominic Burford3-Aug-15 19:23
professionalDominic Burford3-Aug-15 19:23 
GeneralThoughts on Resharper Pin
Dominic Burford23-Jul-15 20:52
professionalDominic Burford23-Jul-15 20:52 
GeneralThe 2015 Top Ten Programming Languages Pin
Dominic Burford21-Jul-15 21:06
professionalDominic Burford21-Jul-15 21:06 
GeneralMicrosoft Launches Visual Studio 2015 Pin
Dominic Burford20-Jul-15 20:51
professionalDominic Burford20-Jul-15 20:51 
GeneralGoogle is fixing the world's problems one at a time Pin
Dominic Burford16-Jul-15 2:17
professionalDominic Burford16-Jul-15 2:17 
GeneralMaking a stand for quality Pin
Dominic Burford12-Jul-15 18:47
professionalDominic Burford12-Jul-15 18:47 
Sometimes as developers we have to make a stand for quality. Whilst we need to understand the pressures that the business is facing and be sympathetic to its objectives, we also need to ensure that we don't unwittingly hamper those objectives. What I mean by that, is that we can inadvertently do more harm by simply doing what we are told without question, than by making a stand for quality and saying no to something we have been asked to do.

I can remember having a very frank exchange of views with a project manager. I was asked to make a change to an application because it was showing incorrect results on the screen (it was an Android app I was working on at the time). After some investigation, I discovered that the problem lay with the underlying data, and not the application itself. Basically, all the business logic was performed by the back-end system, and the tablet device would just display whatever data it was given. The application contained no business logic whatsoever.

I mentioned to the project manager that the underlying issue was in fact the back-end system sending the wrong information to the device, and that it was this that required fixing. Garbage in, garbage out.

The project manager was adamant that I needed to fix this quickly on the device. I made it clear that the data would be wrong everywhere else this data was used including other applications within the organisation. The project manager refused to budge and the debate could be heard by everyone in the office. Eventually, the IT Director intervened, and thankfully backed me up. A ticket was raised to get the issue fixed by the team responsible for the back-end system.

Had I just rolled over and done what I was told, the defective data that was the cause of the problem would have been fixed in one application, but would have required fixing in all the other applications too. A time consuming and expensive solution to the problem. Fixing it in the one place is clearly quicker and cheaper than fixing it in many different places.

Bear in mind that when I had this discussion, I was still on probation. I won a lot of respect that day, and people knew that I was not a "yes" man and would challenge authority if necessary.

We've all put in those quick fixes when necessary, and that's perfectly fine (within reason). But that quick fix shouldn't negatively impact other applications or areas of the business.

Making a stand for quality is about doing what is right for the business as a whole.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare

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GeneralFive truths about software development Part II Pin
Dominic Burford8-Jul-15 18:22
professionalDominic Burford8-Jul-15 18:22 
GeneralFull stack developers. Do they really exist? Pin
Dominic Burford6-Jul-15 18:48
professionalDominic Burford6-Jul-15 18:48 
GeneralHas C# peaked? Pin
Dominic Burford24-Jun-15 19:19
professionalDominic Burford24-Jun-15 19:19 
GeneralFive truths about software development Pin
Dominic Burford24-Jun-15 1:00
professionalDominic Burford24-Jun-15 1:00 
GeneralA Programmer's Life Pin
Dominic Burford21-Jun-15 18:17
professionalDominic Burford21-Jun-15 18:17 
GeneralWhy software developers get into 'religious wars' Pin
Dominic Burford17-Jun-15 1:17
professionalDominic Burford17-Jun-15 1:17 
GeneralSoftware developers - please stop moaning Pin
Dominic Burford14-Jun-15 18:36
professionalDominic Burford14-Jun-15 18:36 
GeneralRe: Software developers - please stop moaning Pin
Carl_Sharman22-Jun-15 10:08
Carl_Sharman22-Jun-15 10:08 
GeneralRe: Software developers - please stop moaning Pin
Dominic Burford22-Jun-15 20:46
professionalDominic Burford22-Jun-15 20:46 
GeneralCODE Magazine turns 15 years old Pin
Dominic Burford11-Jun-15 19:13
professionalDominic Burford11-Jun-15 19:13 
GeneralÀgile Purism Pin
Dominic Burford11-Jun-15 9:34
professionalDominic Burford11-Jun-15 9:34 
GeneralSpaghetti Code Pin
Dominic Burford9-Jun-15 20:57
professionalDominic Burford9-Jun-15 20:57 
GeneralXamarin vs Cordova Pin
Dominic Burford8-Jun-15 2:28
professionalDominic Burford8-Jun-15 2:28 
GeneralThe Role of a Senior Developer Pin
Dominic Burford4-Jun-15 18:47
professionalDominic Burford4-Jun-15 18:47 
GeneralCQRS for the Common Application Pin
Dominic Burford2-Jun-15 18:58
professionalDominic Burford2-Jun-15 18:58 
GeneralSoftware as a core competency Pin
Dominic Burford1-Jun-15 18:40
professionalDominic Burford1-Jun-15 18:40 
GeneralWhen IT Support breaks down Pin
Dominic Burford1-Jun-15 2:11
professionalDominic Burford1-Jun-15 2:11 

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