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Matthew Styles

About me

Matt Styles

I’m Matt Styles, a freelance software developer living in Warwickshire with my wife and daughter. I’ve been writing software professionally since 2001, and unprofessionally since roughly the moment someone let me near a ZX Spectrum.

What I do

I run Compiled Creations, a one-person software consultancy. When you work with Compiled Creations you work with me: no account managers, no juniors, no hand-offs.

Most of my time goes on full-stack web development: TypeScript and React in the browser, TypeScript and Node behind it. I’ve also spent years in C++ building desktop apps for Mac and Windows, so I’m often the person asked to port something from one to the other, or from the desktop to the web. These days I’m mostly working on scientific software.

I’ve also been a team lead, Scrum Master, Product Owner and coach, which means I have opinions about how teams work. Some of them are even right.

How I got here

  1. The 1980s

    ZX Spectrum 48K+, then an Amiga 500

    Games got me hooked, and I wanted to make them. I still do.

  2. Software engineer at Improvision

    Scientific imaging software in C++, on Mac and Windows. I learnt early that software scientists rely on has to just work.

  3. 2000s

    Team lead, Scrum Master, Product Owner, coach

    I ran teams, ran sprints, owned backlogs and coached people through all of it. Then I ended up in a purely management job and realised I missed building things.

  4. Went self-employed

    Back to hands-on work, on my own terms.

  5. Founded Compiled Creations

    My software consultancy: web, desktop, backend and porting work, done by me.

  6. Now

    Full-stack, mostly

    TypeScript and React up front, Node behind, and C++ when a desktop app needs it. Still trying to finish that game.

Toolbox

Things I’ve used enough to have opinions about.

Languages

  • TypeScript
  • C++
  • HTML and CSS
  • Objective-C
  • C#
  • Java

Frameworks and libraries

  • React
  • Node.js
  • OpenGL
  • AppKit
  • .NET

Tools

  • Git
  • Docker
  • Jenkins
  • Emscripten
  • Xcode
  • Claude Code
  • Godot

Practices

  • Test-driven development
  • Agile and Scrum
  • Cross-platform development
  • Porting desktop apps to the web
  • Coaching and team leadership

Outside work

Games are the reason I got into this. A Spectrum 48K+ and then an Amiga 500 turned me from someone who played games into someone who desperately wanted to make them. I have a GitHub graveyard of unfinished game prototypes to prove it, and I’m currently building a small turn-based RPG in Godot that I fully intend to finish. Honest.

When I’m not coding I’m usually reading, mostly sci-fi and fantasy: Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb and Terry Pratchett are the favourites. Otherwise I’m playing something (Zelda, Civilization, Baldur’s Gate 3, Balatro, or anything Nintendo makes) or watching an embarrassing amount of Star Wars and Star Trek.

A daily walk keeps me sane. Mostly.

Elsewhere