Griff Chamberlain

Job Title: Technical Consultant

I started my career in Applied Physics specialising in particle and nuclear physics. By some quirk of nature I ended up in graphic design at an Advertising Agency - where I was put in charge of computerising the design house which, in those`days, was no simple task since they insisted on using PCs when the rest of the industry had Macs - still - we proved quite a few sceptics wrong!

From here I progressed into the world of TechPubs where I gained experience with system administration and hardware maintenance as well as keeping up the graphic and web design work. It was here that I first experienced the amount of wasted time and effort that was taken by authors trying to publish documents within word processors - I spent many late hours correcting their efforts in order to meet deadlines. I investigated how this situation could be improved and stumbled upon SGML and the newly emerging XML. Following my advice, the company duely converted to an XML publishing house and I became their chief XML architect providing solutions to the nuclear and military industries.

So here I am today continuing my adventures in XML and XSLT whilst keeping up with all the latest developments. In addition I have a accumulated experience in Arbortext's software and styling languages, HTML, CSS, javascript, AJAX, VBA, Flash, Actionscript, SVG, InDesign, Quark Xpress, Photoshop, Coreldraw, Illustrator, 3Ds StudioMax and many other software titles. Along the way I have also used php, mysql and vbscript.

Hobbies and stuff

Outside of the working environment I continue with reading and playing with XML, XSL and various programming languages and am always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to enhance the publication process. Other than that, I am the lead shouter with a band, Griff Pilchard and the Net, though these days we tend to do more drinking than performing. I regularly do long distance pub crawls (this year is the Ridgeway - 86 miles) and am a life long supporter of Rushden and Diamonds FC (formerly Rushden Town FC).