by Patrick Doody

Let me start by introducing myself. I’m Patrick, 39 years of age and from a working-class background. I’ve lived in London all my life, my parents moved to the UK from Southern Ireland when they were young and started a new life together and a family. I am the youngest of two children. Since a young age I was constantly questioning ‘how things worked’ and carried around many unanswered questions in my mind. I guess you could say I had a scientific mind.

When I was around eight years old my parents invested in my first computer, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k, it was top of the range back then. It was an exciting time, and after enjoying many games I soon wanted to know how the games were created and how the computer ran them. I spent many long tedious hours on copying coding from manuals…