I’m a veteran programmer with 40 years of commercial hands-on coding behind me. I like tools that last, systems that survive industry pivots, and projects that are fun enough to keep me curious.

• Software polymath | product builder | long-term survivor of multiple tech extinction events
• Music lover, gig addict, and enthusiastic Ableton tinkerer
• Based in Great Britain, a small island in the North Atlantic with a surprisingly noisy music scene
• Online, I’m sometimes known as The Software Wizard

I started programming in 1981 as a teenager during the early days of home and personal computing, writing BASIC on machines with almost no memory and no safety nets. From there I moved through COBOL, Java, .NET, mobile development, and into modern web and backend stacks, and today AI.

Over the years I’ve worked with:

• BASIC, COBOL, Java
• C#, VB.NET, classic ASP
• Android and Objective-C
• PHP with Laravel, Symfony, Zend
• Python, Go, and lots of JavaScript

I’ve worked across healthcare, government, retail, logistics, security, and enterprise software, including projects for:

NHS, Department of Health, Ministry of Defence, Pen Test Partners, Marks and Spencer (UK and China), Ryder, Wincanton, Orange, Waitrose, Karstadt, Bass Pro Shops, DSG International, Unipart, Budgens, BWG, and others.

Along the way I’ve built and run micro-businesses that together generated over $2.5m in sales.

I care less about titles and more about longevity. Staying useful across decades is the real challenge.

I’m currently writing a book called Debug, Deploy, Repeat.

It’s a long-form reflection on surviving and adapting through 40+ years of software development, from early home computers to the current AI pivot.

It covers career pivots, failed technologies, forgotten tools, and what actually matters if you want to keep building for decades rather than burning out after one.

More details coming soon.

I’m building an original game called Orebituary.

It’s a haunted mining world that blends retro computing aesthetics, horror, resource management, and narrative exploration. Inspired by early text adventures, ASCII worlds, and the feeling that old software had personality baked into it.

This repository will eventually include engine experiments, tooling, and world-building artefacts related to the game.

On this GitHub you’ll find:

• Vintage and legacy code
• Rebuilt classic games
• Experiments, tools, and frameworks
• Work-in-progress ideas and systems

Most of it is exploratory and evolving. If something catches your interest, feel free to open an issue or reach out.

I’m a lifelong music fan and have been going to live gigs for over 30 years, seeing everything from Andy Williams to Napalm Death.

I’m not a natural musician, but I enjoy experimenting in Ableton and occasionally pretending something might be worth uploading to SoundCloud one day.

• Website: https://philspilsbury.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philspilsbury
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philspil
• Debug, Deploy, Repeat: https://debugdeployrepeat.com
• Orebituary: https://orebituary.com