Hello world.

I'm Simon Dickson. I've worked in media, politics, government and technology over the last 25 years. People used to think it was a curious career path.

I was born and raised in Northern Ireland; but the 1970s and 80s were not happy times in my homeland, and I knew from an early age that I wasn’t going to hang around. I moved to England to go to university; and like many in my generation, I stayed.

Living in England has unquestionably made me feel all the more Irish, as you’ll immediately see on any rugby weekend or Eurovision night.

My career found me. I was literally in the right place at the right time to become a website specialist. I’ve worked for Sky News, Microsoft and various arms of Her Majesty’s Government – long before that became fashionable.

I first started working with WordPress, the software behind this very website, in 2007; and it has occupied my working hours ever since.

I was a solo consultant… then an agency co-founder (twice)… then, having sold my business to WordPress ‘foster parent’ company Automattic, I worked on the VIP team, bringing large-scale sites and clients to WordPress, and helping to expand the global partner ecosystem.

I left the company in May 2020, to seek fresh challenges and refreshed motivation. Having taken a few months off to support my family through the disruption of a global pandemic, I returned to consultancy in March 2021, offering my services as a Product-Owner-for-hire through a new company, Tintou.

My passion in life is cycling. I particularly love to ride the track: indoors whenever the opportunity arises, but more often, outdoors at Reading’s Palmer Park.

I finished close enough to the front enough times to win the Reading Track League B Division in 2018 and again in 2021. I have been on the podium at Irish national masters, with aspirations for more; and I was in the top 20 in my age group at 2024’s World Masters for the 500m time trial.