This webpage provides a link tree for my public-facing online profiles across the Web.
These communication channels are hangovers from my time contributing to free software and open source projects, but I still check them periodically.
I have also published a public key for { bob [at] trechnex [dot] com } to support those rare occasions when someone wants to send me a PGP encrypted e-mail.
Warning: It's fairly straightforward to spoof e-mail headers, so if you receive an unsolicited message from the trechnex.com domain, that may not necessarily be from me! You should ensure that the e-mail you've received passes DKIM and SPF checks. If it does not, the DMARC policy for my email host instructs your email provider to quarantine it as junk/spam.
All opinions are my own, and they are not necessarily shared by Oracle Corporation. Please direct any questions about OpenELA to Oracle's official spokespeople.
I also have accounts on the Out In Tech and LGBTQ in Tech Slack servers.
In 2013 I graduated with an Honours degree in Computer Science, then spent the better part of five years working as a software engineer for big multinational corporations. I switched gears in 2018, and have since been writing online documentation for Oracle Linux and related cloud, virtual machine, and enterprise products.
If you recognise my name, it's probably from the articles I wrote for Linux Format magazine, or that time when I forked the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Fortunately, I have earned recognition for other things too! For example, the Royal Television Society named me their Young Technologist of 2014, and my volunteer work won me a Diana Award in 2007.
I'm currently working towards a CompTIA Linux+ certification and learning the Swift programming language. It's important to keep your knowledge current when you work in the IT industry, because the technology landscape is constantly changing and today's marketable skills often become tomorrow's quirky nostalgia.
Social Media
This webpage confirms the authenticity of these public-facing social media accounts:
BlueSky doesn't support direct messages (DMs), so please use Telegram if you want to send me those.
Previous Social Media
I've been using Mastodon on and off since 2017. I may return at some point, but towards the end of 2022 I wasn't really enjoying the fedi culture or drama anymore, and was mostly there so that Glimpse users could still find me. I often recommend it to people that want to learn about Linux and FOSS stuff though.
I used Twitter from 2009 to 2022. For the final few years I kept deleting and recreating private accounts, and I finally left around the time that Elon Musk tried to back out of buying the company. Given how events later unfolded, I think that was a good call! I also think that the new "X" name is a bit rubbish.