About Mike

All development for Willow Rod Development Ltd is carried out by me, Mike Hall, an avid coder, husband, father, gamer and occasional thespian.

I have been coding professionally since 2007, having worked in IT, and computer hardware specifically, since 1991. I've always had a strong interest in computers and how they work, starting with my trusty Commodore Vic-20 in 1981, right up to my MacBook Pro - my current development machine.

My current passion (and profession) is native mobile app development, both Android and iOS, as well as exploring associated technologies, including Apple Watch development and Server Side Swift development.

For those interested, this is my current skill-set:

Apple / iOS Development

Swift
Swift UI
Objective-C
XCode
Core Data

Android

Kotlin
Jetpack Compose
Java
Android Studio
Room Database
OK HTTP

Other technologies

Vapor (Server Side Swift) API and Website development
RESTful API consumption (both iOS and Android)
JSON / XML support
Unity (Game development in C#)
Postgres / MySQL database management

Conferences

WWDC attendee - San Jose - 2019
Server Side Swift conference attendee - Berlin 2018

Most of my personal time is also taken up by computers, I play a LOT of games, as well as remaking classic 8 bit games. I also maintain a (very small) collection of retro computers and games consoles.

I also play a lot of boardgames, particularly 'Ticket To Ride' and 'Carcassonne', I spend an extraordinary amount of time submerged in water and listen to an impressive range of music, from The Decemberists, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Muse and Marillion to Musical Theatre, Elkie Brookes and The Monkees

I don't watch an awful lot of TV, but I love a good Marvel film, as well as Star Wars.

I don't read as much as I should, but when I do, it's generally Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien. Lord of the Rings is, without doubt, the greatest novel ever written. The time I should be spending reading, I fill with audio books. Generally non-fiction and biographies, I've a very soft spot for the travel writings of Bill Bryson and Michael Palin.

I am tolerated by my wife, the very wonderful Ginnette Hall, and generally ignored by my daughters Kimberley Miller and Zoe Hall. I couldn't do without any of them.