About
Welcome to cooljeff.co.uk, the website of Jeff Sinclair (me in the photo, not the character from Babylon 5!).
Firstly I should explain the domain name since most people chuckle at the sound of it. Like everyone else, I wanted a website to gather my rants (sorry… I mean thoughts) on the world. My ideal domain names (jeff.com and jeff.co.uk) were taken so I was left searching for something that was easy to remember and less likely to be misspelt when verbally communicated. I remember someone telling me I was ‘pretty cool for a computer geek’, which I assume was because: I did sport and lacked a Tux T-Shirt. Since I could not think of anything better, I opted to prepend my name with ‘cool’ based on this compliment and so cooljeff.co.uk was born.
Now the more interesting stuff… I was born in London, moving out of the big city as a toddler into the Heart of England. As a kid I loved Transformers but quickly realised that no matter how much I wanted to be one, I was not a robot in disguise. Instead, I decided to take other things apart and then attempt (mostly failing) to put them back together again. My biggest conquest was at age 4 when I managed to dismantle a mains socket and grab the wires behind. Baby proofing with socket covers is great provided the kid does not get a screwdriver, mind you I only did that once! I was first introduced to a computer (BBC) at age 8 in school. My first line of code was: COLOUR 1. I got my very own computer at age 13 (Packard Bell 486). Like most of my other toys I took this apart, however unlike most other toys I managed to put this one back together again.
The vast countryside and clean air helped me develop my running skills and I did have visions of running for my country at one stage in my life. Unfortunately an injury to my knee at age 16 whilst out on a Duke of Edinburgh camping expedition left this firmly as a dream. Fortunately I had 3 very big interests: athletics, computing and chemistry. Since no doctor could work out what was wrong with my knee (one even telling me that I would never run again), athletics was not going to happen. I could not see a long term career in physical chemistry so my destiny had been set for me, it was to be computing.
All psychometric tests I’ve done have all reported the same: A ‘Plant’ who is able to communicate his thoughts clearly. Well my mum did always call me “Professor Meshugah” (Hebrew for Crazy Professor). Hence at age 18 in the year 2000, I was off to be creative, unorthodox and a generator of ideas by studying Joint Mathematics and Computer Science at Imperial College London.
It was around 2000 that I also began supporting Manchester City Football Club. I obtained my season ticket to the new stadium (Eastlands) after being on the waiting list at Maine Road for a couple of years. Being a Londener and definately not sounding like a Manc (although when I get a bit wound up I’ve been told I can sometimes swear like one), people often wonder why I support Manchester City. The explanation to this is quite simple and probably one that those people who do not have a ’strong’ relationship with a football club will understand: it’s in the blood. My dad (a Manc) has supported City since he was a kid and was brought up in what I’d call the true football supporter era. Dad had two uncles (one United, one City) that shipped him off to Maine Road one week and Old Trafford the next. Dad chose the blue path which I’ve followed and to this day I’m still a Season Ticket Holder who attends most matches (home and away).
I managed to avoid the famous Pimps on Sussex Gardens for one year and the even more famous rats in Earls Court for 2 years after that to graduate with a BSc in Join Mathematics and Computing. Since I was not ready to deal with the real world and was given a bursary to study for another year, I braved the rats in Earls Court to complete a Masters in Advanced Computing which allowed me to put D.I.C (Diploma in Computing) after my name, which as you can guess, I seldom do.
Whilst at University I did an internship at Morgan Stanley as well as worked in the produce department (unloading deliveries) in Sainsbury’s. Needless to say when the time came to join the real world, I opted to go down the financial services industry route even though I did very much enjoy my staff discount card at Sainsbury’s. I was wisked off to New York on a 18 week training programme to bring me up to speed with the various technologies I might need to use in my new role.
After training in New York, I came back to London to work in the Enterprise Application Infrastructure group developing core Java based libraries for use by the rest of the firm. I’m still in this role and have developed an interest in: XML processing, aspect oriented programming, JVM performance and Java monitoring.
If you’ve managed to get this far, here are some other facts about me:
- I have a dog called Mac who is bigger than me.
- I have a fish called Fred (yes he is smaller than me).
- I have an MG Midget called Maggie.
- I ride a Suzuki SV650 motorbike called Suzy.
