I’m a husband, a blogger, a maker, a first aider, a Data Centre Manager, a programmer, a cook, a camper, and most importantly of all a dad to my two wonderful children!

I was born in West Yorkshire living in Clayton West, near Huddersfield. I moved away to The University of Hull (which was in Humberside when I started, but East Yorkshire by the time I graduated). After University I lived in Warwickshire and West Midlands, but now live in Redditch in Worcestershire (about half way between The Sauce factory and Cadbury’s chocolate factory).

Education and Work

I’ve studied between New York and London; and from Huddersfield to Hull (although not necessarily in that order). I more recently completed an degree with Georgia Tech, studied from the comfort of home.

I then leapt on the opportunity to test you. I asked if he’d been to one of the great universities, Oxford, Cambridge, or Hull.
Well?
You failed to spot that only two of those are great Universities.
Swine!
That’s right! Oxford’s a complete dump!
Blackadder Goes Forth

I have a BTEC diploma in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering and a master’s degree in Computer Science. I’m an IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert and reached LPIC (Linux Professional Institute Certification) level 2.

I’ve worked on all kinds of computers from small microprocessors to large IBM Mainframes, but it’s Linux that I like the best.

Websites

I have four of my own websites as well as a few others that I look after at work or leisure.

WatkissOnline.co.uk

My personal website – ie this one! This is my personal blog which covers just about everything I’m involved in.

The website is powered by WordPress which has been integrated into a dynamic site using a custom designed theme.

DaysOutDiary.co.uk

Looking for something to do with the kids – Come to Days Out Diary to find out about fun activities to occupy your children throughout Britain and beyond.

DaysOutDiary features my latest blog import utility to get all the days out related posts from WatkissOnline as soon as they come out.

Also see Days Out Diary on Facebook or Days Out Diary on Twitter

FirstAidQuiz.com

The First Aid Quiz web site provides a fun way to brush up on your first aid knowledge. It features online interactive quizzes, crosswords and wordsearches. The quiz runs on a quiz engine that I wrote using perl and a mysql database running on a Linux server. It also features a first aid, health and safety, and health and fitness blog, which is auto-updated from the watkissonline WordPress blog.

Also see First Aid Quiz on Facebook or follow First Aid Quiz tweets on Twitter.

PenguinTutor.com

Technology and Computer based website focussing on the Linux Operating System and resources helpul for anyone working towards Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC). This includes a practice exam style quiz and Linux tutorials. The quiz runs on a quiz engine that I wrote using perl and a mysql database running on a Linux server.
It also includes a Linux and technology blog which is auto-updated from the watkissonline WordPress blog.
There is also a PenguinTutor Facebook page and you can get status updates by following PenguinTutor tweets on Twitter.

Email

You can contact me using the email form, or see below for the social networking sites I use.

Social Networking

• Friends that know me can become friends on Facebook – Stewart Watkiss (facebook.com/sbwatkiss)
• You can also follow my tweets on Twitter: personal tweets twitter.com/stewartwatkiss; Days Out Diary Tweets twitter.com/daysoutdiary; first aid, health & safety and health & fitness tweets twitter.com/firstaidquiz; or my Linux and technology related tweets at twitter.com/penguintutor.
• For my CV or more details on my work history please visit Stewart Watkiss’ Linkedin Profile
• Finally, if that’s not enough already! I occasionally browse and comment on some of the Linux, Raspberry Pi and Maker forums normally under the username of PenguinTutor.