Simon Owen Manchester Based Freelance Front-End Web Developer

Today I have handed in my notice at The Hut Group.

I've had a wonderful time at THG and it's been incredible to see the business go from ~200 people when I first joined, to now ~4000.

THG is a fast paced, exciting place to work and I'm going to miss working with many of my talented friends. They have big plans for the future and they’re hiring across the board: https://www.thehutgroup.com/careers/

That said, as of today, I'm going freelance and looking for new challenges!

Here's some of the things I've been enjoying recently and can help you with.

Services (Technical)

Style Guides
Pattern Libraries
Component Libraries
Automation
Training / Workshops
Speaking

and here's some of the things I use to help:

HTML
CSS
CSS Animations
Sass
JavaScript
React
Bash
Git
Gulp
SVG
WordPress
Progressive Web Apps
Performance
Accessibility
Responsive Web Design
SEO

My experience has left me with a great deal of expertise in a broad range of web technologies. I love being a generalist, and I can help you with all this and more.

Services (Nontechnical)

Need a website? I can almost certainly help in some way. Please get in touch.

Support McrFRED and UpFrontConf

Since 2013 I've run McrFRED, a monthly meetup for Front-End Developer (part of Together With Google Developers and since 2015 UpFrontConf, a conference for Front-End Developers based in Manchester. By hiring me you're helping to support these. Thank you!

Location

I'm based in South Manchester and would sway towards local or remote work. However, that said, I also have easy access to Manchester on the train and can drive to anywhere else as required.

Meetings

Generally meetings can take place over Skype / Google Hangouts, or a coffee shop in Marple / Manchester.

But… fancy a walk in Edale and discussing a project? Sounds good to me!

Sound Good?

Then please use the form below to get in touch and I'll get back to you to discuss further.

Thank you in advance for your support in my new adventure, I look forward to talking about your new project with you.

Simon.

Recommendations

Simon is this incredibly rare combination of insightful and curious developer, broad and extensive knowledge of front‬-‪end development techniques, and a real motivation to me in his ability to inject energy into a community. Simon would be a huge asset to any team and I'm a bit jealous of the one lucky enough to scoop him up.‬
Paul Irish, Google Chrome Dev Team

Simon was exactly the kind of volunteer we hope for at our events; incredibly helpful, unfailingly reliable and unshakeably cheerful. His input into SmashingConf Oxford was fantastic from start to finish, especially in dealing with attendees on our busy registration desk. A very safe pair of hands; he knows he's welcome back anytime!
Catherine Clark, Smashing Events GmbH

As the Code editor for Tuts+, I was always searching for unique and timely topics to publish. Simon approached me with just such a topic which I commissioned and eventually published to a great reception from readers. The key thing is that he fleshed out a useful technique, using dotfiles for streamlining your developer setup; something that every developer wants and can benefit from. And along the editorial process, Simon was flexible and understanding taking in the feedback and ensuring that we were able to produce a top-notch feature article. He's an absolute pleasure to work with and I would not hesitate to collaborate with him in the future.
Rey Bango, Contributing Editor, Smashing Magazine

Simon is tenacious in his work ethic, never shying away from challenges and problems, he sticks to the task at hand until the job is done. He’s an important asset to the team, willing to get his hands dirty with anything and constantly keen to pass on what he knows as well as eager to learn new things and hone his own skills. Any team would be lucky to have him.
Matt Hall, Front-End Tech Lead, The Hut Group

Si is one of those members of a team that are great to have. Keen and enthusiastic to learn, not afraid to ask questions and will work his arse off when the pressure is on.
Garry Finch, Design Team Leader, The Hut Group

Working with Simon is a breath of fresh air. He’s motivated, professional and full of new ideas. In the 2 years I worked with Simon at JD Williams his proactive approach to sorting issues and getting work done to schedule certainly took a lot of stress out of project and campaign delivery.
Catriona Cronin, Online Marketing Executive, JD Williams