Apparently there’s a time in every web developer’s life when they “roll their own” Content Management System, and this was mine! After redundancy a friend introduced me to an ex-Olympic Swimmer and entrepreneur who had a nightclub promotion business.
In an industry where the turnaround of staff is high, he had problems maintaining and growing his mailing list. I created a system which staff had to use in order to send invites, and to receive payment for their work. This solved his problems, and in return I remember quite a few times enjoying his clients establishments… even dancing next to Naomi Campbell!
After this project finished I decided to return to Essex and rejoined the online networking forum where I’d met my previous employer. I discovered its funding by the DTi had ended, and a company called Ecademy had bought it. They’d rebuilt it using an Open Source framework called Drupal, a system, and community, I ended up becoming very familiar with over the next two decades!