I’m Oliver Norton. I’m currently a Software Developer in Test in London, though most of my day-to-day work is developing the CI/CD pipeline for my team’s project and monitoring services rather than testing. That means working with Powershell, Docker, k8s, C# and Azure DevOps Pipelines.
I also do some programming in my spare time. At the moment this is developing games in Rust using the Amethyst Game Engine. It’s pretty fun, though a lot different compared to Unity which I tend to use for game jams. The dream is to have the time to develop a simulated world on par with Dwarf Fortress. At the moment I’m just trying to figure out a nice way of implementing a turn-based system within an ECS. You can check out my GitHub if you want.
In August 2021, I have started working on an adventure game in Unity. I will be writing a devlog for it and the first entry is here.
I studied Computing at university and my master’s thesis concerned explaining neural network results. Though I don’t really do that as part of my job, I try to read papers on a broad range of computer science subjects as often as I can if for nothing but to practise that mental muscle.
As you might have guessed, I also play video games, though not as much as I used to. I play mostly RPG and strategy games and enjoy both the role-playing aspect as well as trying to optimise builds.
I also play a few tabletop RPGs, mostly GMing and occasionally playing. Recently, my group wrapped up a DnD 5e campaign where they vanquished Tiamat. We’ll soon be trying out a GURPS campaign, though I don’t have any plans for either what the campaign will involve or even the setting.
I also enjoy music: listening, playing and making it. However, I am much better at the first one compared to the other two. I listen to a range of genres, though mostly I listen to the slower and heavier side of metal and post-rock.
I play guitar and enough piano that my hands can do two things at once. I’ve made a couple of mashups in Ableton (did you know that the Cha Cha Slide goes surprising well with Call Me Maybe?), though I’m trying to write my own stuff but I find it hard to finish a track. Recently I’ve taken up DJing, mostly as a way to encourage me to explore more genres on the electronic side, though I’ve ended up mostly playing the things I’ve already enjoyed!
In the last year, I have taken up sabre fencing at my local HEMA club. It’s been a lot of fun and allows me to get some exercise while also being quite social, rather than just working out at the gym.
I also read quite a bit, typically before going to bed as it helps me to wind down and for an hour or so after lunch at the weekends.
I can be emailed at oliver@olivernorton.xyz.