From the time I left full-time education in 1993, to when I became self-employed in 2004, I was a jack-of-all-trades, doing a bit of this and a bit of that. Living life. I worked in hotels, restaurants, debt collection, the Scottish Government, the US Army (as a civilian contractor), a Dutch bulb picker, a French au-pair, an English teacher in Poland, and selling insurance in Scotland (didn’t last long at that!). I even dressed up as an ice-cream cone in Amsterdam to advertise an ice-cream shop (badly paid, but lots of fun.)

I have been a freelance technology writer since 2004 when I wrote a regular eBay column for AuctionBytes (now renamed eCommerceBytes). I also contributed articles to the now-defunct Bookologist, Google Tutor, and a few other sites now lost to time (although you could probably find them on the Wayback Machine). Then came a couple of years of English teaching work before MakeUseOf asked me in 2007 to become the managing editor. I remained in that position till 2013.

From 2013 to 2016, I remained at MakeUseOf as a senior contributor, but I then branched out into other clients and other areas of writing expertise. I have become an expert at cyber-technology and online privacy, online marketing, and online business. I was the Content Management Director for Quiet Light, and a contributing writer to outlets such as Lifehacker, NowSourcing, GroovyPost, Lifewire, Trendblog, Small Business Trends, PC World, Online Tech Tips (managing editor), Help Desk Geek (managing editor), Switching to Mac (managing editor), and XDA. I am now a writer and how-to editor for Android Authority, and a self-publishing consultant.

In 2017, I decided to realise a dream of mine and start to self-publish my own spy fiction novels. With multiple books now published under the O’Neill Media and Obsessed with Books publishing imprints, I have received rave reviews for my Department 89 series and Scorpion series, with customers comparing me to Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, and Mark Dawson.