About Me
My name is John Reeves, but most people call me Jonny. I am a front end ActionScript 3 developer (but I also dabble with PHP for backend work)
I am currently a Senior ActionScript developer for Mind Candy, a UK start-up where I get to work with lots of intelligent and highly motivated people on Moshi Monsters, a safe, online world for children where they can interact and learn by adopting cute pet Monsters. The work is challenging and varied and sees me creating unique social applications from the ground up; liaising with designers and backend developers. Whilst at Mind Candy I have worked on some amazing projects, the most impressive being the complete port of a 200,000+ LOC codebase from AS2 to AS3.
Before joining MindCandy, I was working at CNET Networks UK as Lead Video Developer, working on front end video applications on sites such as CNET.co.uk and ZDNet.co.uk. Working so closely with the Video Team at CNET gave me the opportunity to do some sound engineering for them, the highlight of which was a short run of Live Sessions which can be found on the CNET TV.co.uk website. We got to work with artists such as Lightspeed Champion and The Broken Family Band – The sessions were extremely fun to work on and I hope that future roles can see me using my engineering skills.
Prior to working at CNET Networks, I spent quite a few years working as a developer at UK Record Labels (some good times, some records I would like to forget!) and at music related web start-ups. I’ve learnt a lot about rapid application development from these positions, features first, fixes later! One of the more exciting start-ups I worked for in the past was U-MYX, an interactive music format where I helped the CEO realise his ideas online and craft them into an online community.
I’m constantly looking to increase my knowledge and improve my workflow to help me get things done. Agile methodology and improving implementation of design patterns helps to keep me on my toes and the work challenging!
Alongside the programming I try to keep in touch with my Audio Engineering roots by keeping a hand in Audio Engineering (both pre and post production) and am currently helping friends out with their film projects. Like most programmers I also enjoy gaming with Fallout 3 being my current time sink.
Find me on the Web
You can find me on the web at the following places:
- Last.fm – A social networking site based around music tastes and listening preferences.
- Kirupa.com – THE site for ActionScript resources, I dip in and out of the AS3 forums lending advice and offering help to others.
- bFish – A blog of sorts which I’ve written a few popular articles for, most noticeably the one on Integrating Google Calendar into Thunderbird