Profile: Steve Purkiss
Skills: Open Source Strategy, Online Community Building, Social Media, Rapid Web Application Development, Drupal, Content Management, E-commerce, PHP, MySQL
I am passionate about encouraging the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software and enjoy coming up with new ideas using opportunities the virtual world and Free Software enable.
On a technical level, I help companies build communities around their products and services, mostly through implementing the 'community plumbing' Content Management System ('CMS') Drupal.
My career in IT started twenty years ago working for a local computer reseller helping small businesses make the most of IT. I quickly moved on to build a career out of my programming hobby and have spent most of my time working with relational databases, focusing on CMSs for the last ten years. For the last five years I have specialised in Drupal.
Examples of my work
Some of my previous clients include:
- Celebrity Gossip site HolyMoly.com
- Mazda-sponsored WeAreTriathlon.co.uk
- UK Government's National Strategies Online
- Graphics card manufacturer ATI (Consultancy)
- British Telecom (intranet development)
Prior to becoming freelance I worked for a CMS/Web Application Platform software house in London called RemoteApps. I was involved with a number of exciting projects during my time there, including:
- the first online horse-racing gambling site
- XML interfaces for online payment systems
- Volkswagen's minisite for the New Beetle
- B&Q's first DIY.com
- The Foreign & Commonwealth Office
In addition to building communities for clients, I also create and build my own, for example the Drupal South East UK group.
