I am Richard Horridge, and this is my personal website.
Work
Current
I am currently an Operations Interface Manager at Network Rail. I specialise in operational data systems and maintain two operator-facing tools, a Platform Docker and a Wrong Route Tool.
I am currently undertaking a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham; my working thesis title is "Next Generation Railway Track Condition Monitoring Using Passenger Trains".
I am due to finish my PhD in December 2026.
Opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or university.
Key Skills
I am an experienced software, systems and digital hardware engineer. I am well versed in most C-type languages (C, Embedded C, C++, Fortran, Rust), UNIX/Linux environments including Docker, Podman and Kubernetes, hardware description languages (Verilog, VHDL), database environments (MySQL, PostgreSQL), as well as full stack web development (Python Flask/Django, PHP, JavaScript, CSS etc). I also have experience with other languages - Haskell, Common Lisp, COBOL. In cloud, I have five years of professional experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and three years of experience with Microsoft Azure and I am an AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional and a Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate.
I have both worked in and led several Agile teams and am well-versed in backlog prioritisation, sprint planning and management. I am skilled in using GitHub, GitLab and Atlassian Jira & Confluence for project and product management. I am a pragmatist with large language model (LLM) usage. My preferred agent harness is Pi. My preferred model is DeepSeek V4 Flash.
I am experienced in a variety of design software, both proprietary and free – while I list proprietary software packages here, I encourage anyone reading this to seek out free software options where possible! In the CAD/BIM space, I am experienced with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, SketchUp and FreeCAD, though have only used the latter three applications professionally. For 2D graphic design I have used both GIMP and Inkscape professionally. For 3D design I have some experience with Blender. My video editing package of choice is Kdenlive. I do a lot of work with geographic data, and my preferred GIS is PostGIS with QGIS as a graphical frontend.
Previously…
I completed an MSc with Distinction in Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Birmingham in 2019. Before this I worked as an Architectural / CAD Technician from 2016 - 2018.
