Interview - Steve Smith

Name:	Steve Smith
Age:	39
Job:	Partner in SkiptonWeb. Web Developer
Date of interview:	6 July 2002

Do you live in Skipton?
Yes. My family's from Cowling, just down the road. I was born in Skipton Hospital. I travelled around a lot and I worked abroad for a few years, but I've been back and living in Skipton now for for the last 5 years.

Family here?
Yes, I have a sister, a nephew and a neice here in the town. My parents are still in Cowling.

What school did you go to?
South Craven. Did sixth form there too.

Do you have a favourite pub in Skipton?
I don't get out much, but my favourite is the Cock and Bottle.

What changes have you seen in the town over the years?
Like I say, I only moved back here 5 years ago. I do remember going to a sixth form disco at the Waterfront, what's now the Lock Stock and Barrel, back when I was 18. They woudn't serve me. There's my claim to fame - only person ever not to get served in the Waterfront.

	The web is not TV. The web is not radio. The web is not a newspaper. The web isn't passive, it's a community.

Describe your job in 5 words
Geek stuff, done in style.

Do you love your job?
Oh yes. I still can't believe that people pay me to sit on my ass and mess about with computers all day. I get to work from home too, so I really love it. You need to have self-discipline to work from home, but the freedom is excellent.

How long have you been doing it?
A year freelance, two and a half years before that.

How did you get into it in the first place?
The funny thing is I used to hate working on computers. That's a long time ago, in college, though. Anyway, I got made redundant, and decided I had to do something. I spent about 6 months teaching myself Photoshop, HTML and JavaScript, then I went out and made people websites for free just to get some practice in. I sat down and designed a database sysem for estate agents websites so they could be easily searched and updated. 6 months after that I walked into a full-time job without an interview. If you want to work in this business, all you have to do is show people what you can do. Qualifications mean nothing. I went freelance in the end partly because I wanted more creative control over the work I was doing, but mainly because the company I was working for were just plain doing things wrong. Turns out to have been the best move I ever made.

What's your typical working day like?
It varies a lot. I have to divide my time between corporate contract work, local client web jobs and looking after the SkiptonWeb site. I might drive into Leeds and have a meeting with the Pharmacy IT department at St James Hospital, then come back, pop into one of our local clients and pick up some details that need adding to their website. I spend at least 10 hours a day sat at my PC, writing e-mails, answering phone calls, drinking coffee and hopefully getting some coding done.

Whats the best thing about you job?
I'm my own boss. I have commitments but can (within reason) do what I want, when I want. I can every so often take some time out and work on something completely unrelated that interests me but appears initially pointless. So far it never has been. That way I keep my creative edge. I also feel that what I'm doing now is worthwhile. Example: one of the projects I'm currently working on for the NHS is a networked prescription logging system for St James Hospital in Leeds that will (hopefully) increase efficiency and turnaround times so that just every so often an extra bed becomes available for a patient. So that's one person treated faster. That beats the crap out building websites to sell cheese.

What's the worst thing about your job?
Being a computer nerd, I don't get out much. Working freelance as opposed to in a company just compounds that. I'm actually less good now at dealing with people in social situations than I used to be 5 years ago.

What's the most outrageous thing that's happened to you in this job?
Being asked to design a website about sheep semen.

What do you see happening in the future, in your business?
To me personally? I'll carry on like this, branch out a little. I plan to be not rich, but comfortable by 50. That's kind of late, but I bummed around for about twenty years, what can I say. To the web design business? Things are going to change a lot. Faster than they are doing now. It's hard to make concrete predictions, but I'll tell you two things for free right now: The web is not TV. The web is not radio. The web is not a newspaper. The web isn't passive, it's a community. Websites that rely the broadcast model - ie the users of the website can't essentially do anything except look at it, read it and turn the pages - are already dead in the water. And two: Copyright is history. Copyright is as unworkable right now as prohibition was back in the thirties. When you put something on a webpage you're giving it away. It's no longer yours, it's everyone's. This is not scary, this is a good thing. For 99% of us.

What effect does the internet have on you at the moment?
See above

How do you see this changing in the future?
See above

Do you have a favourite website?
I have radio 4 streaming through my PC most of the time, does that count? If not, then www.cclcomputers.co.uk they sell good, cheap PC hardware, and their pricelist is fast to download and always up to date. Simple. Just give people what they want. Don't fart around.

What are your hobbies? How do you relax?
I watch cheesy romantic movies. Saw 'Message in a Bottle' last night, and I loved it. I draw and paint a little, read some, play pool badly, and I'm forever doing up my house.

What issue is close to your heart?
World Peace.

If we gave you £5 million right now what would you do with it?
Spend half, give half away. I'd probably be tempted to try working from Bali for a while.

Do you have anything you want to plug / publicise?
Skipton Girls High School are trying to raise money for a language school. I think that's a worthy cause. Their website is at www.sinnington.n-yorks.sch.uk/