Hey 👋 I'm Joby Harding

Photograph portrait of Joby Harding

I'm an independent professional.Full Stack App Co is my company.

For around 15 years I've been architecting, implementing and extending web apps and online systems. I 💜 working with the web.

During that time I've worked on applications used by the UK Civil Service, Sky, Deloitte, US Department of Agriculture, Berlitz, The British Library, Amazon, Sony, The Museum of Modern Art and Arts Council England among others.

These days I choose to work with SMEs, startups and agencies who need expert technical help kickstarting and launching app ideas, working with new technologies or as their technical wingman in high-profile client engagements.

In a nutshell I'm a straight-talking software dev who values building great software and lasting relationships with clients.

I'm based in Brighton, East Sussex in the UK. Outside work, when I'm not spending time with my partner, I love mountain biking on the South Downs, gaming while lurking on Twitch and coaching new developers at Codebar.

Coding Setup

For those of a geeky persuasion and curious mind [we salute you]

Operating System:
Ubuntu & MacOS

I work on an Intel NUC & Mac Mini using a pair of 4k LG monitors. I develop on Ubuntu Linux (always the LTS) but use the Mac for design, comms, browser testing and pretty much everything else. I use Symless by Synergy to share my mouse and keyboard simultaneously between the two.

Keyboard:
Ergodox EZ

Having noticed signs of RSI back in 2015 I started my ergo-keyboard journey. My first was the Microsoft Ergonomic 4000. Boat-sized and grotesque, like hardware the 90s threw up, it felt like the cone of shame.

These days I rock a programmable, mechanical Ergodox EZ ortholinear split keyboard with a mixture of silent Cherry MX clear and grey tactile bump keyswitches for my heavy handed ex bass-playing typing. 💜💜💜

You can check out and download my personal layout, Blobfish.

Mouse:
Anker Ergo Vertical Wired

Ergo workhorse – you can't fall off. I use it with a Razr mouse bungee. Yes a mouse bungee. Remember how nasty it felt when your [wired] mouse yanked 'cos the cable dropped down the back of your desk or got snagged on something?

A bungee stops that happening and makes your wired mouse feel like a wireless one; because it's wired you'll experience virtually zero latency. Batteries not required. Yes please ⚡ 🌲🌲.

Command Line:
GNOME, Zsh, Tmux

Stock GNOME Terminal that comes with the latest Ubuntu LTS. Like Frosties it's grrreat. I use Base16 Shell to quickly switch the colour scheme depending on ambient light conditions. I use the Fira Code font.

My shell is Zsh which Apple realised is rad in 2019. I’ve been using it since 2014. Just sayin' 😉. Been using Tmux about as long. Split your terminal screen into sub-shells, run stuff in the background – what's not to like?

Editor:
IntelliJ / Vim

I like the flexibility and pro features of IntelliJ by Jetbrains. Primarily I have it configured as PHPStorm / WebStorm and occasionally leverage the PyCharm feature set. Once in a blue moon I reach for the Java support.

I use the Dracula Pro theme, Buffy or Van Helsing, coupled with the Monolisa font.

I've dipped my toe in the VS Code waters a couple of times but had issues with performance on Ubuntu and gave up getting its Xdebug integration working with Docker.

For me editors live and die by their Vim keybinding support (yeah, yeah I know but I worked hard for it 🤓). To roll out an old trope: “Editors come and go but Vim is forever”