Richard has been programming for his living since 1998, but he has loved the craft ever since teaching himself assembly language as a teenager on the family computer.

He apprenticed for many years grinding data on Oracle databases, picking up C, Java, C# and other languages along the way. At present he primarily programs in Java, but he is very interested in functional programming with Clojure.

Richard was switched on to Software Craftsmanship by some excellent agile coaches who taught XP, and through the association of some inspiring Software Craftspeople he has been fortunate to work with. In addition to honing his craft, he loves mentoring and teaching others how to practice TDD and how to write clean pragmatic code.

Aside from programming, Richard is a keen club runner with the Bedford Harriers, doing all distances from 5K to marathons. He also enjoys cycling, blogging and making music.