Mark Norman Francis
My name is Mark Norman Francis; you can call me Norm. I'm an internet boffin — a software developer who builds things for, on, and of the internet.
For example — this CV is a website, built using my own static site generator. You can see both the source of the site and the software that builds it on GitHub. If you need an offline copy of my CV, there is a printable page with downloadable PDF.
I have previously worked at large organisations such as City University, Formula One Management, Yahoo! and Government Digital Service, and at small startups such as Artfinder. I am currently freelancing with my own company 201 Created.
I want to work in small, effective teams, not as just another developer in a large team that is only looking to add more bums on seats. The size of the company or organisation is irrelevant, only the size of the team.
I prefer working on agile projects and being led by actual user needs. I have been working in an agile manner since 2006; it makes more sense for software development.
I prefer working in teams with diversity — both for selfish reasons (exposure to other ideas and viewpoints) and also because they produce better results.
I am equally happy to work with existing code as I am starting something from scratch.
I really only want to work in teams working with, or converting to, modern development practices (testing and continuous integration, using something akin to git flow, automation of and regular deployments, etc). Anything else is so frustrating I won’t do good work.
When freelancing, I prefer longer contracts to shorter, as it takes time to get up to speed with new code and just as I start to feel effective it’s over.
I will only work in London. Occasional remote trips are fine, but I’m not living out of hotels or commuting for hours on end.
No long hours or weekends, just 9–5 — I'm happy to do more hours occasionally when there are reasons to, but never as a matter of course.
I won’t work on anything that deliberately results in harm or death.