I graduated from Anglia Ruskin University with a first class degree in Enterprise Computing (Computer Science re-branded) in 2006. Since then i’ve gained experience and diversity programming a wide range of systems in PHP for various sources.
I started work after university as a one man IT Department for a company selling batteries via their OSCommerce website. This taught me how to deal with frameworks that others have contributed to and better debug broken code. OSCommerce, as you may well know is a rabbit warren of files and making changes to a shop behind installing the odd plugin is no small task!
I left my job to work for the Visium Group (http://www.propertysecrets.net) in 2007 as a PHP Programmer. I spent most of my day extending and maintaining a bespoke PHP framework although with a shrinking team (Credit Crunch) my responsibilities stretched out a bit into server administration (Windows and Unix) and designing the systems before writing them. Although bad for the company, I considered this to be a good opportunity for me because my skills were being extended somewhat.
Sadly on the 10th August 2009 the Visium Group commenced liquidation procedures. This left me jobless however rather helpfully I had already handed in my notice to leave. I now work as a freelance PHP Programmer whilst looking after my son at home.
In my spare time I’ve been freelancing doing all sorts, PHP and otherwise. My main focus at the moment is Wordpress because there is a large market using it who are willing to pay for good quality plugins. ‘Your Members’ was the first plugin that myself and Tim Nash from www.newmedias.co.uk released in early 2008. We now have an active forum to deal with and several more projects in the pipeline.
My Kinesis Custom Build
Otherwise I’ve been playing with yet more PHP, AJAX, Javascript + JQuery, XML, RSS feeds and maintaining/hosting websites for others. What a life!
Play time!
When I was at school I used to be a keen rower (sculling). I competed in and around the North West with Queens Park High School Rowing Club in both a coxed quad and a double. I later moved from sculling to rowing in an eight with Royals in Chester. When I was at university I took up running and going to the gym in my spare time.
These days I enjoy Mountain Biking and go whenever I get chance. I built and ride a custom build bike which I have cobbled together from a Kinesis frame, RST air forks and some parts from DMR and a Giant XTC SE Bike. I previously had a Kona Shred which I had also built but some little blighter nicked it in April 2009 
I have yet to break the new one so must have done something right! I generally ride Coed LLandeglas black run when I get time and take my trusty racer to work on account of there being no mountains in the five minute ride from home to the office.
In the time between my bike being stolen and replacing it I was generously given a 15 year old racing bike. I have never loved a bike so much. The ease at which one can ride at speed is brilliant and it has yet to break down on me. I am looking to take part in a charity bike ride on it in 2010.
I have recently taken up Sailing, something which I have been meaning to do for years. I did my RYA level 2 dinghy course at Bala Lake in September 2009 and then a few days later bought a Laser 2. The boat saga is, however, on another page on this site. It’s an interesting story though if you like sailing (or tinkering with boats).
I am in the middle of writing my own boating website (and have been for 12 months!). The idea is to give people a little more insight into Narrowboats and the canals than I had when I first started out. Myself and my wife had to learn everything from the general operation of the machine to its maintenance and everyday life without any help. My plan is to offer some advice and even some sort of help network so people can find out what does what and what goes where before paying someone at a marina or similar to do it for them. The temporary domain is http://boathook.sean-barton.co.uk but when I find a suitable name for it I will move it to a similar sounding domain.
Short Personal History
Originally from a village called Littleport (Near Cambridge), I was brought up in Chester in the North West when I was 6 or 7. I went to Queens Park High School and left after my GCSES to go to West Cheshire College to do a BTEC National Diploma in Computing which I got a Distinction for.
Boat being surveyed at Gayton Marina
I decided to go back down south for university and went to Anglia Ruskin University to do a BSc (Hons). I acheived a 1st class degree and wrote my Dissertation on Active Badges designing a small PHP based mapping/tracking system.
Whilst at university, myself and my (now) Wife, Hannah, decided to invest in some property together but couldn’t afford it. So, prompted by yet another property program that featured boats, we decided that we should do the same. We read up on it and then decided to go looking at a few Narrowboats around the country.
Later that week we had bought one and were happily chugging it home from Gayton Marina in Northampton to Orchard Marina in Northwich. It took three or four weekends and a albeit a few mishaps we got it back in one piece. The boat was a bit of a mess and very dated (hence the price) so I decided to completely refit it over one of my summers from university. It was never entirely finished but nothing DIY related ever is!
The second Boat on the way to it's new mooring
After a while and once the refit was complete we decided to move out of the marina and get a new ‘inline’ mooring in Barbridge outside of Crewe. By this time we were both working in or around Crewe to it was a good move. We stayed there for a year or so and then decided to get a newer bigger boat.
We got one and luckily sold the old one about the same time although the marina we were in didn’t have any large enough moorings. We moved to another inline mooring near Northwich just outside Weaverham on the Trent and Mersey. This boat was large enough for pets so we decided to get two rabbits which lived in the saloon area (although sometimes escaped and started demolishing the rest of the boat).
We got married in summer 2007 and went to St Tropez for our honeymoon. When we got back we decided that both the commute from Northwich and an inadequate fire were too much so we bought a house in Crewe. We have now been there for just over a year and live there with the rabbits, 2 tortoises and a cat.
I have picked up quite a few things over the years in woodwork, plumbing, 12 volt electronics and general DIY skills. I am now a bit of a boat fanatic and happily bore people to tears with our exploits at any and all gatherings.
I have quite a busy weekly schedule other than my job(s). My wife and I have been learning French since 2006 with a view to move there eventually. I took up the piano in late 2008 and we both sing in the local church choir.
