I Build Things Using Code - Web Systems

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I'm Ian Muir & I Moved From Chemistry To I.T.

Here's a bit of my story. I started my career in chemistry before transferring my skill-set to the internet. Not an obvious skill-set transition; so let me explain further.

I'm an analytical chemist by profession - not a pharmacist. I started in quality control where things are fairly easy. Something is either pure or not and conforms to a particular composition or not.

First hurdle done; I thought I knew it all... I could analyse things using wet chemistry or put something in a machine that would print out a chemical breakdown and think: yes - that's in spec'.

Books Lie To You! - Not as Expected

Being an analyst; I read a lot about how chemicals react and how you can separate one chemical from another.

1. Rust dissolves in hydrocholic acid
2. Add ammonia carefully and it will form a solid
3. Filter, dry and weigh the iron compound you've created
4. From this, calculate how much iron is present

That's great, in theory, if you start off with a rusty piece of carbon steel. Calcium, magnesium and aluminium are just a few of the things that can interfere so you get the wrong result.

Time To Take The Red Pill - Reality Check

My second transition was to an independant testing laboratory. I had experience by now so I ran a section that could best be described as a "catch all" and I learned very quickly that text-book analysis just doesn't work. You have to understand the problem and what's important.

I dealt with companies, individuals, basically anyone who had a problem and needed something analysed. I covered the full range; from the composition of Roman mortar on Hadrian's Wall¹ via the grade of aluminium used for the Swing Bridge² over the Tyne to printable cake icing that had been exported and was turning brittle in storage³.

Eureka!

I got some soil from a building company to be analysed for "heavy metals & contaminants" (this is a generic term for things like lead that pollute rather than improve the soil). One analysis later and there was a full range of results for different metals and chemicals in trace amounts. The report was sent and a few days later, the client was in the lab to ask what they meant. His "problem" was that he had a waste disposal issue with tonnes of soil to remove from site to land fill and he would be charged many thousands of pounds more if the soil was "Special Waste" i.e toxic or heavily polluted rather than general waste.

Results Are OK - Solutions Are Better

I provided a second, simplified report to accompany the first with an interpretation based on the "Special Waste Regulations" to say that the waste was pretty much just soil and not contaminated with heavy metals, asbestos and such like. Problem solved.

Full Circle - Chemist To Web Developer

By the time I was ready for a change in career; I had a wealth of knowledge that I could apply to content writing and an intrinsic understanding of the problems that needed to be solved rather than just providing results.

Working for myself; I read everything relevant that I could; worked out how html, css and javascript come together and what type of information search engines like. I focussed on function rather than form to begin with and started to get my first website up the rankings by working smart rather than spending a fortune buying links to gain credibilty.

Since then I've built sites for specific keywords, some with over 250,000 pages to find out if there was an upper limit to how many would be acceptable. I never experimented with a client's site. I just built something similar if I needed to figure out an optimal solution.

That was over 15 years ago and those strategies don't work now but the fundamentals never change:

1. If you want to be found for something - talk about it
2. Use descriptive content that adds meaning
3. Don't over do it
4. If it looks repetitive or "spammy" then it is
5. If you emphasise it then it must be more important
6. Don't make me think!
7. If you're selling something - make it easy to buy