You are here: Home » Profile

Profile

Some background, where did I learn?, my employment and traveling.

about graham mclellan

Background:

Born and bred in Queenstown New Zealand, I have lived there for most of my life. I spent the first part of my teenage years at boarding school (Christs College) in Christchurch N.Z., where I first realised computers were for me. However, as just a lad I concentrated on rowing and rugby. I moved back to Queenstown after finishing school and spent time working in the tourism industry with some part-time I.T.

Learning:

I studied at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand, for four years completing a Business Systems course. From this I followed up with a Bachelor of Information Technology. During my studies I could not specialise in web development, however this is where my interests were taking me. Always keen to learn and try new things, I spent a lot of time teaching myself the skills that I would need in order to be successful in this area.

Employment:

While I was studying I designed and built several web sites for various companies around the Otago region. My first real job in the I.T. industry was at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown. Here I worked as an I.T. Administrator for three months during my summer holidays. After graduating mid 2003 I immediately left New Zealand and spent 3 1/2 years working in London. London proved quite challenging to begin with. Things were soon to change. I was given the opportunity to prove myself in the competitive world of I.T. doing freelance work, before taking the job as a web developer for Digitactive. From there I moved to a New Media Agency called Underwired*, where I was employed as Lead Developer for just over 3 years. I am now settled back in Queenstown, New Zealand as a director of the Web Design & Branding group of Swordfox.

Travel:

After I left New Zealand in August 2003 on what we Kiwi's call our O.E. (Overseas Experience), I have visited almost 25 countries ranging from Egypt, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece to see the Olympics as well as a the Greek Islands to name a few. Along the way I've been to some amazing festivals such as La Tomatina for one big tomato fight & Oxegen to see some of the best bands in the world, namely Green Day.