about

Hi, I’m Dom.

I’m a Senior Software Developer and Tech Lead working mainly with .NET, Blazor, Optimizely, Azure and the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

I’ve been interested in building things on the web for a long time. Like a lot of developers, my starting point wasn’t particularly glamorous. I started out making websites in Microsoft FrontPage, moved into PHP while building a text-based multiplayer RPG, then eventually found my way into .NET during university.

Since then, I’ve pretty much stayed in and around the .NET world, exploring various aspects of it, such as windows services, API's, Website, Mobile app development, and even as far as robotics!

Over the years I’ve worked on enterprise websites, CMS platforms, integrations, upgrades, migrations, greenfield builds and the occasional “why on earth is this happening?” production issue. Those are usually the moments that end up teaching you the most, even if they don’t feel like it at the time.

Why this site exists

I created this site as somewhere to write things down. Partly for myself, because I’ve noticed that the same problems, patterns and little gotchas tend to come around more than once. Sometimes it’s an Optimizely behaviour that isn’t obvious. Sometimes it’s a database table missing the one column you really needed. Sometimes it’s Docker, Blazor, AI-assisted development, or just something I’ve learned the hard way.

Writing about those things gives me a place to come back to later. And, hopefully, if someone else runs into the same issue at some point, it saves them a bit of time too!

What I write about

Most of the posts here are based on real-world development experience rather than perfect textbook examples.

That means the content will usually sit somewhere around:

.NET development
Blazor
Optimizely CMS
Azure
Docker
CMS upgrades and migrations
Debugging awkward issues
Developer tooling
AI-assisted development
General lessons learned from building and maintaining software
Or even, just something that I find interesting at that point-in-time.

It won’t always be purely technical, though - sometimes the useful bit isn’t just the code. It’s the decision-making, the trade-off, the thing that catches you out, or the reminder that of a small detail, which can help at a later date when you face that issue again.

A quick note

The views and opinions shared here are my own and don’t represent my employer.

This site is mostly a place for me to document what I’m learning, what I’ve found useful, and the problems I’ve come across while working in software.

If any of it helps someone else, even better.