John's biography

Optimizing the software development process

John is an experienced consultant specialising in Enterprise Java, Web Development, and Open Source technologies, currently based in Sydney, Australia. Well known in the Java community for his many published articles, and as author of Java Power Tools and Jenkins: The Definitive Guide, and founder of the open source Thucydides Automated Acceptance Test Library project, John helps organisations to optimize their Java development processes and infrastructures and provides training and mentoring in open source technologies, SDLC tools, and agile development processes.

John has been coding ever since 1982, when he managed to convince his father to buy him a TI-99/4A. He has an Honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Newcastle, and a PhD in Maths and Computer Science from the University of Aix-Marseille II in France.

John has worked in many companies over the years, as a developer, project manager, trainer and solutions architect, on a wide range of projects, and in a variety of industries. Originally from a background in C++, John discovered the internet in the mid-1990s and have been working with Java since 1999. John's main areas of expertise include Agile Java Development Practices, and in particular open source technologies. John now spends much of his time helping large companies or government organisations on Enterprise Java projects using open source technologies. His other specialties include:

• Helping organisations to optimize their development practices and infrastructure,
• Helping organisations get started in automated acceptance testing and ATDD.
• Setting up Continuous Integration environments and Java development infrastructures,
• Training and mentoring teams in Java development practices such as Test Driven Development and Software Craftsmanship
• Defining Java development standards and recommended practices, and
• Providing coaching, mentoring and training in open source technologies and agile development methods.

John has published a large number of articles on Java and Open Source topics, and is a regular contributer to sites such as Java.net, Javaworld, OnJava, DevX, and InformIT. He is also a Zone Leader on DZone, where he blogs about various Java-related topics.

John is also the author of Java Power Tools, a book which covers over 30 open source tools designed to improve the development practices of Java developers.