Who is Matt Button and what is this site about?
Hi, I’m Matt Button. I write this blog, work as a Lead Engineer at a financial technology company in Wellington, New Zealand.
I enjoy working closely with designers, product managers, architects, principal engineers, and the development team to deliver features and functionality that customers love.
From a technical perspective, I have over 15 years of commercial C# .NET developer experience, and a broad range of experience in a variety of other technologies and frameworks including ASP.NET MVC, .NET Core, React, Redux, Typescript, Javascript, Microsoft SQL Server, Docker, AWS, Linq to SQL, NHibernate, Python, HTML and CSS.
The best way to get in touch with me is via email: [email protected]. I like getting email from people who have read my blog, so don’t hesitate to get in touch!
I’m also on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin
Work
My interest in software development started when I was about 10 years old. I spent a lot of time with an uncle of mine who was into betting on horse racing, and he created some software on his Amiga 2000 to ostensibly tilt the betting odds his favour.
Software development, which is taking a pure idea, and making it interactive and functional, had a certain mystique to the 10 year old me. At that point in my life, I was convinced my uncle was some sort of wizard. It made a huge impression on me, and even though the mystique is long gone, the deep rooted interest and motivation has remained.
I’m currently working as a software developer at a financial technology company in Wellington, New Zealand. Before that, I was Senior Developer and Development Team Lead at Contact Software. More details on my Linkedin page.
Getting Outside
I like to travel, and had an amazing adventure around Japan and Thailand in late 2016, then spent a month in the Philippines during 2018. Find out more on my Instagram page, which I used as a photo journal for lots of interesting stuff which happened during my trip.
One of my peak experiences in life was swimming with a whale shark at Sail Rock in Thailand.
I’ve always cared about my fitness, and am often running hills, and forest tracks. For me, it’s as much about fitness, as it is getting outside, fresh air, and sunlight to offset the pasty skin I’d otherwise have from spending so much time indoors, working at a desk! ;)
I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was about 19, and currently ride a Kawasaki ZX-6R.
In early 2016, I started Scuba diving (lots of gear, and air tanks) and Spearfishing (freediving on a breath hold), and surprised myself at how much I enjoy them both. I’m out diving whenever possible.
Art
In 2007, I completed a short video game demo in about 3 months, borrowing art from an old Amiga game. The intention was to pivot it into an original, sellable product with help from some artists that I met during University, and start my career as an independant game developer. Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn’t much game development happening in my home town of Wellington, New Zealand, and I never managed to find any artists who were both available to collaborate, and had the necessary skillset.
After the disappointment of not being able to find the right person to collaborate with, in 2008, I decided to start down the path of improving my artistic skills, and have only gotten better over the years. I mostly work with a combination of Blender, Unreal Engine 4, Quixel Suite, and Photoshop. You can see some of my work on my DeviantArt page.
Beer
I like to make beer. I’m no expert, or connoisseur, but I do like good beer, and in Wellington, New Zealand, we’re lucky to have The Occasional Brewer where you can make your own. The process a level above home brewing - using their high-end equipment, well-refined recipes, and guidance, it’s hard to get it wrong. You can brew whatever you want from a wide range of options.
