Matt Bohan Software Development

I've been writing code since the mid-'90s—starting out at PTPS/Typebusters, a family business that provided IT services to small local companies. Whilst studying for my National Diploma and HND in Computing at City College Norwich, I was already getting hands-on experience—building PCs, writing bespoke software for local print and design businesses, running training sessions, and basically doing whatever our customers needed.

Those five years juggling college and real-world IT support taught me invaluable lessons. I learnt to translate between technical jargon and plain English, to properly understand what small business owners actually needed (not just what they asked for), and that the best solution is usually the straightforward one that genuinely works.

After a year in industry at Aviva as part of my HND—working with mainframes, COBOL, and DB2—I joined them full-time in 1999 and have been there ever since. From MI and Data Warehousing systems to cutting edge Teradata telematics solutions, from Sapiens eMerge applications to modern .NET solutions, I've seen and worked with just about every technology stack a large financial services company can throw at you. I've worked across the entire spectrum of platforms—from IBM mainframes to UNIX and Linux systems, right through to modern Windows environments. In my personal time, I've even written software for microcontrollers, so I genuinely understand computing from the bare metal up. I've also experienced the full evolution of development methodologies—from traditional Waterfall through RAD to today's Agile approaches—adapting my working style as the industry has matured.

What keeps me engaged after all these years? The constant evolution. I've gone from writing COBOL on mainframes to building ASP.NET Core applications, from JCL scripts to Python automation. Technology never stands still, and neither do I.

As a member of both the British Computer Society and the Institute of Analysts and Programmers, I'm committed to maintaining professional standards and staying current with industry developments. Some of my most rewarding moments come from mentoring other developers, contributing to the tech community, or having those impromptu discussions about where our industry is heading. There's something particularly satisfying about helping someone else have that "lightbulb" moment—it takes me back to those early days helping Norwich business owners with their IT issues and helping them transition from analogue to digital.

At the end of the day, I'm still someone who gets genuinely excited about elegant solutions and clean code. Whether I'm architecting enterprise-scale systems or automating a tedious process, I'm driven by the same thing: building software that works well, solves real problems, and stands the test of time.