Who I am.

My name is Gary Stanton and I've been developing websites since 1996. I still love every minute of it.

I was born in Harrow in 1980, putting me in the enviable position of being part of the first generation to grow up with home computers. My childhood was full of awesome video games, loaded onto tape cassette and often created by bedroom coders.

These guys were creating a whole new industry, selling their games in the back of magazines and figuring out new ways to push the hardware well beyond its limits. It was a time of master geekery, unbridled creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
These are my influences.

Over my lifetime I've felt profoundly privileged to witness the evolution of technologies that birth industries... I've seen gaming go from ZX Spectrum to PlayStation, I've seen the web go from dial-up to mobile and most recently I'm watching Blockchain tech redefine decentralisation.

In short, it's an amazing time to be alive!

What I do.

Currently I am a developer working with various clients on bespoke web-based applications, through my company Simian Enterprises.
I love to solve problems, create clever features and pair them with slick user experiences.
No really, I love to do this - happy the man who is paid for his hobbies.

My primary focus for the last decade has been on CFML development, though I've always been heavy with front end work too. I favour elegant code, standards, attention to detail.
Over the course of my career I've been heavily involved in the business side of projects. I like to work with small businesses with visions of greatness.

Over recent years I've found myself playing more and more with Javascript, and somewhat inevitably I've recently got into HTML5 game development.

What I've done.

As a teenager I worked in technical support for an ISP, before moving onto software support and web development at an EPOS company.

I was hired to make my first e-commerce website in 1999 and for the next six years, helped grow the business from a one-man operation in a spare bedroom to an industry leader. It was a very involved role and a really wild ride!

I went freelance in 2005 and whilst building my client base I co-founded RetroGT.com, a clothing and merchandise brand inspired by old skool videogames. Starting two businesses at once was exciting, exhausting, rewarding... and not to be repeated!

I left RetroGT in 2012 to spend more time on development work and focus on Simian Enterprises full time.

What I like.

I like the internet. I like computing. I like innovation.
I like to see how the idea and collaboration of a few people, can inspire others to build new things on top of the old. Giants on the shoulders of giants on the backs of legends.
I like to tinker with things.
I like to share opinions, to discuss and argue. I like to learn.
I like a good story. Movies. Old videogames. Pixels. Music. Good food.

I kinda like beer, too.