Endorsements

Project: Video Sitemaps

"I commissioned John Alden to build dynamic sitemaps for Google and Bing, and to integrate BBC Social Media tools in a series of sites. John delivered the projects ahead of schedule. His work was robust, overcoming the challenges of the several back-ends. He was also proactive in dealing with internal developers and TPMs for the development and posting of the tools. I recommend John Alden for his talent, his experience and his reliability."

Project: BBC Webwise

"I can only say that the contents of John's other glowing testimonials are true. From day one of working with him on the WebWise relaunch, I had confidence in his ability to think clearly and communicate concepts to someone less technical than himself (i.e. me). He provided clear documentation throughout the project and managed the workload of his team effectively, ensuring that the updated site was delivered on time and within budget. I would not hesitate in hiring John and his team again."

Project: BBC Connect prelaunch

"It is a pleasure to work with John, who has recently delivered a challenging project for me on time and to excellent standard. He has an exceptional insight into our working practices and is both patient and versatile. His technical knowledge is second to none and I can trust his judgment when asking for advice or scheduling work in website development areas from interim solutions and redesigns to complex phased builds. He is worth his weight in gold!"

Project: ThrillSeeker

"It is no exaggeration to say that John is THE go-to guy for solving multi-platform issues that cannot be sorted by the BBC's in-house team. I hired John to save a major online campaign that was in deep trouble. With a cool head, and to a very tight deadline, John created a complex database and searchable map API, both key products for the campaign's website. In short, John is the real deal and I would hire him again in a heartbeat."

Project: ThrillSeeker

"Working Edge created the Event Finder database on ThrillSeeker website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/thrillseeker/. They did a fantastic job and the BBC has had a lot of positive feedback about the tool."

Project: Jungle database

"I have hired John to work on two projects and each time have been amazed by the efficiency of his solutions and the speed with which he delivered them. He's a great person to work with both as a consultant and as a developer and is excellent value for money. I personally recommend him and hope to work with him again in the future."

Project: Me and my movie

"Dave's attention to detail and willingness to educate non-BBC parties on how to integrate with BBC systems and platforms is commendable. Not only can Dave find answers to most technical problems, he can do it at break-neck speed and present documentation which goes on to be useful across the business. It was pleasure to work with him and witness his dedication during my time at the BBC."

Project: Headroom - tech design/consultancy

"I would have picked all of the Top Attributes for John if I were able as they all suit him perfectly. I had a contract in a department that had been established for years, using a variety of software that had been built inhouse and was totally bespoke to the organisation. My project not only touched on most of these apps but the developer working on it was also unfamiliar with them. I was completely and utterly baffled. I knew John to be familiar with this software so I bought some consultancy time from him and he brought my project to life. He not only had the in-depth knowledge required but was able to communicate this verbally and document it for me efficiently. All of this was a real value-add to my project but he also brought more. At a time when I felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights, John was able to discuss and explain complex structures at a level I could deal with and never feel patronised or completely stupid. In my experience, that's a rare trait in IT."

"John quickly established himself in the team as the one who could fix all the problems that everyone else thought were too hard. After I moved on, his influence continued to grow and he deservedly established himself as one of the principal architects of the bbc.co.uk platform. He's a nice bloke too."

"John is an exceptional software architect, project manager and team leader. With John on your project you can be sure of success."

"An excellent software architect and project manager. John assembled, trained and mentored a skills-balanced and highly effective software engineering team. He's also one of the best people managers I've ever met. It was a privilege to work with him."

Project: Me and my movie

"John brings a real sense of 'can do' to projects, his outstanding technical know-how, flexibility and detailed processes are refreshing, informative and aspirational. His technical approach to a high profile, pan-BBC project for 6-12 year olds has been nothing short of amazing. A great communicator at all levels and a very valued member of the project team."

Project: CBBC Actionscript engineering process

"John brought a level of technical and strategic knowledge to my projects that was instrumental in making them smooth as well as successful. John avoids over-complications and is excellent at creating a clean, sensible and robust technical architecture from a project spec. This influence is so resonant that even when I'm not working with John, his ideas shape how I plan and implement other projects."

"John Alden is an exceptional Technical Architect and a real pleasure to work with. He is a highly experienced Technical Project Manager and Web Engineer and I have been impressed by his thorough, logical and creative approach to devising, planning and rolling out the technical infrastructure required to build landmark interactive projects for the BBC. He has helped us achieve an enormous amount for our suite of UGC projects and I highly recommend his work."

"Working with John was one of the most enjoyable aspects of my time at the BBC. He is supremely organised, an excellent communicator, master of many technical disciplines and a thoroughly nice chap. If you have the opportunity, I wholeheartedly recommend working with John."

"If you can get John on your project, you can be sure it will deliver. John is a highly focussed, conscientious manager, with a broad and deep background in interactive projects & software development. The work his teams have produced is much celebrated at the BBC and elsewhere. What makes John's projects more valuable than most is that it's highly maintainable, and built with re-use in mind. Brilliant."

"I found John to be an excellent manager, combining a high level of technical skill with the requisite soft skills for managing a senior team of technical project managers. He made sure senior management at the BBC understood the importance of the technical team's roles to online production. He also made the time to personally write and edit a great deal of the technical documentation which is essential to our work today."

"Working with John was an absolute pleasure; I was able to go to him with outlandish editorial ideas about encouraging users to jump from platform to platform with their personal information following them, and John found a way to make it happen. He was able to explain how it worked (with the use of very artistic diagrams!) and ensure the technical side of the project ran smoothly."

"John has a rare understanding of what software engineering really means. A popular team leader with a gift for system architecting."