Mug shot: Dan Beckett, senior web developer

Name

Dan Beckett

Role

Senior developer

Started at Door4

Probably about 13 years ago.

What do the letters after your name mean? 

I’ve got a foundation degree in web development from UCLAN but I’m largely self taught.

Want a brew? 

Yes – at the minute, any dark roast, through a V60 at about 1:14 ratio please.

What?

Or just a black coffee.

What do you do at Door4? 

I’m a bit of a development Swiss Army knife, I touch everything from frontend, backend, server stack – and increasingly – analytics.

Now a lot of what I do involves working closely with the optimisation team to figure out how to build the tests they want.

So if there’s a variable they want to create a test for, I’ll be involved in figuring out if it’s achievable within certain parameters and how.

Now describe your role in three words

Finding a solution.

What’s been the most important development during your time working in the digital sector? 

I think the depth of analytics – it’s changed the whole business insight industry in the digital space and shaped job roles in performance and conversion.

Name one thing you’re not very good out of the office

Chopping. Yeah, chopping, not shopping – whenever I cook it takes ages, I’m an awful sous chef.

What’s the best thing about working at Door4? 

Even after 13 years here, I learn something new every day.

Who is your professional hero?

I don’t have an individual hero.

But as a dev, so many of the frameworks you import without thinking are based on code by hundreds of unnamed developers – so I’ll say all of them.

If you were given tomorrow off work, what would you do for the day?

I’ve been getting into cocktails recently, so I’d maybe get some orgeat syrup on the go and make Mai Tais for everybody.

I think my French martini has gone down the best so far – that’s chambord, vodka and pineapple juice – plus a raspberry on top.

If there was a Dan Beckett inspired cocktail, what would it be called?

‘The frizzy bombhead’.

At Door4, whose job would you be most scared of doing – why?

Client services I think – it’s best to keep me over in the developer corner.

Tell us a (clean) joke.

My girlfriend threw a block of cheddar at me – it wasn’t very mature.