Mike Barker

I worked closely with Mike for a long period on several projects, large and small, and the results are always the same: top-notch. He constantly pushes for the best, and always adds a level of polish rarely seen whilst crafting quality code. Plus, his friendly and thoughtful approach gets the best out of those around him and always has an eye on what the client wants. With those skills in play, he took naturally to team leadership, and continues to run the friendliest front-end development team I've worked with.

The best thing I can say about Mike is that I hope work him again in future.

Having Mike on my projects was genuinely something I looked forward to. Beyond his exceptional development skills, he brings a level of enthusiasm and joy to his team on a daily basis. His feedback and insights always add value and power the conversation up, helping us find better ideas, better designs and better outcomes.

He has an eye for detail as well as a vision for the bigger picture. An absolute gem to work alongside, could not recommend enough.

The phrase "absolute gun" is thrown around a lot in the developer community these days, but Mike is truly one of the few worthy of the title. Mike and I have worked together as team members, development lead and subordinate, agency director and freelancer. In all occasions and in all circumstances, I can confidently say Mike was a supporting colleague, a brilliant lead and well-oiled machine of a freelancer.

In any circumstance, Mike is a man you can trust to deliver an honest and complete result.

Mike has worked with us a couple of times, the most recent engagement extended half a dozen times as we got very used to the projects he was leading being so reliably delivered. He's a safe set of hands and delightfully easy to work with. Of course, he's an excellent developer and produces high quality work but he also understands what's needed to successfully delivery projects - for our business and our clients.

He's not a transactional contractor, he comfortably occupies a place in the team and contributes to our culture. We'll certainly miss him.

Mike is undoubtedly one of the best developers I have worked with. He possesses an incredibly rare combination of impeccable technical capability while also being an excellent communicator. In his role as a contractor he goes above and beyond, routinely informing and outlining project stakeholders of the risks and opportunities beyond the scope of his contract.

He has fantastic attention to detail in both the planning phases as well as throughout the delivery of his work. On top of all this, he's an absolute joy to be around. Fantastic attitude and work ethic (and occasionally funny).

I first began working with Mike in the early stages of his web development career and was instantly impressed by his keen desire to learn and improve in all areas of expertise. I had no hesitation in hiring him for every job from there on because his broad range of skills were a huge asset to any web project.

Mike quickly developed into a mature web designer and developer, with a keen eye for detail and a solid skill set. His design work is imaginative and full of flair, his development work always informed by the very latest techniques.

His ability to maintain a cool head and a sense of humour, while consistently keeping client satisfaction at the core of everything he does, will make him an essential component in any web team he is part of. He comes with the highest possible recommendation from me.

Mike is one of the best developers I’ve ever worked with and would be a great addition to any team.

He has great instincts when it comes to UX & UI and is someone you can trust to get the job done right. He is exceptional at communicating and has vast experience managing small and large projects.

But aside from his skillset, Mike is just a great person to work with; he makes coming to work everyday a delight.

What more can I say? He’s a top bloke!