a3f9c21PHP-FIG
~300M
Author of PHP standards
Member, PHP-FIG
A member of PHP-FIG, the official PHP standards body, and an author of PHP standards that are now reaching around 300 million installations.
01About
Pay it forward.
“I’m an innovator, creative thinker and problem-solver with a passion for helping, enabling and developing other people. It’s why I travel the world as a public speaker and trainer, and why I have deep roots in open source: I love giving back to people and to the ecosystem of technology. ‘Pay it forward’ is the phrase I stick by.”
02ByteHire
Technical talent. Precisely hired.
Paul’s company. ByteHire is the technical validation layer between the candidate market and your interview process: engineers assessing engineers, so only evidence-supported candidates reach your calendar.
Founded by leaders from the open source community
01 Candidate claims
High volume. Unverified.
02 The Technical Validation Layer
Role context, practitioner judgement, evidence. Where the noise stops.
03 Focused shortlist
Few. Precise. Examined.
- Right first shortlist
- 80%
- Interviews that convert
- 90%+
- Less wasted screening
- 60–90%
of roles filled from the first shortlist, because every candidate arrives with evidence attached.
interview-to-offer conversion. Senior time goes to depth, judgement and fit.
reduction in internal screening workload for hiring teams.
Validation sequence01 / 06
- 01
Calibrate the role
Technical domain, delivery environment, seniority and the evidence a credible candidate should show.
- 02
Set evaluation criteria
Subject matter experts define depth, architecture, production maturity and leadership judgement.
- 03
Examine candidate claims
Real contribution and practical judgement, separating exposure from genuine capability.
- 04
Capture the evidence
A proprietary platform structures criteria, practitioner notes, concerns and recommendations.
- 05
Produce the Screening Pack
Claim, observed evidence, strengths, gaps, role alignment and interview focus, in one readable pack.
- 06
Hand over a shortlist
Interview time goes to the strongest candidates. The final decision stays with the client.
Roles ByteHire validates
- CTOs
- Technical co-founders
- Delivery leads
- Senior engineers
- Platform specialists
- Cloud & DevOps
- Data & AI
- QA / SDET
- Cyber security
- Solutions engineers
If a poor hire here would show up in the roadmap, it belongs on this list.
“ByteHire delivered a top-tier data engineer fast. He made an immediate impact, and we’ve since filled permanent roles with the same quality.”
03Open source
Two decades of giving back.
A contributor to the PHP language since 2005, an author of PHP standards, and a long-standing voice in the CI/CD world.
e07b5d22005–
The PHP language
Open source contributor
Contributing to PHP itself for more than twenty years.
9c4e1aa2023–
Dagger
Commander & contributor
Contributor to Dagger, the programmable CI/CD engine.
51d0f8b2020–
Continuous Delivery Foundation
Ambassador
An ambassador for the foundation behind the leading CI/CD projects.
c2a77e0Jenkins
The Jenkins project
Member
Involved in Blue Ocean and Jenkins X.
7f3b9022020
cdCon speaker
Continuous Delivery Foundation
Speaker at the foundation’s flagship conference.
d8e6c14Zend
Zend Certified Engineer
PHP certification
Certified by Zend, the company behind the PHP engine.
0b91f3eASM–TS
A true polyglot
11 languages
From assembly and C to PHP, Python, Java and TypeScript.
04On stage
Organiser, speaker, trainer.
He travels the world teaching engineers, and runs two of the UK’s PHP conferences.
Organiser2023–
PHP UK Conference
London
Organiser2017–
ScotlandPHP
Scotland
Talks and workshops on
- CI/CD
- Software design & architecture
- Automation testing & quality engineering
- Distributed systems & microservices
- BDD, TDD & DDD
DevoxxSymfonyConPHP UK ConferenceScotlandPHPcdCon
05Career
Where failure is expensive.
Banking, government, health and fintech: two decades of architecture, quality engineering and DevOps leadership.
-
2021–PresentGlasgow
ByteHireLive
Founder & Chief Technology Officer
- Built ByteHire to bring engineering judgement to technical hiring: experts interviewing experts.
- Leads the technology behind its validation platform and Screening Packs.
-
2020–2022Accounting platform
bexio AG
Principal Engineer & Principal Architect
-
2020Engineering leadership
Expansive Solutions
Head of Engineering
-
2018–2019West Midlands
Ministry of Justice UK
Lead Consultant, Technical Architect
-
2017–2018London
Oasis Loss Modelling Framework
Lead Consultant, DevOps Architect
-
2017Cloud infrastructure
Barclays
Cloud Infrastructure Services Consultant
-
2014–2015Bristol
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Lead Software Consultant
-
2011–2014Glasgow & remote
BestBuys · Opinurate
Chief Technology Officer, twice
Banking & FinTechUK GovernmentHealth & NHSAutomotiveAccountingTravelE-learningRetail & e-commerce
06Toolchain
Polyglot by practice.
The roles he has held, and the languages he has shipped in.
- Principal Software Engineer01
- Principal Quality & Test Engineer (SDET)02
- Lead DevOps & SRE Engineer03
- Technical, software, infrastructure & solutions architect04
- Head of Engineering & CTO05
ASMCC++C#GroovyJavaJavaScriptPerlPHPPythonTypeScript
✓Software, infrastructure & test architecture
✓Distributed systems & microservices
✓CI/CD, quality assurance & test automation
✓TDD · BDD · DDD
✓Teaching, mentoring & bringing teams together
Pay it forward.
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