Ian Collington

Delivering when timelines matter

About me

I'm a senior contract Java developer with 25 years' experience across complex enterprise platforms and greenfield builds.

I specialise in clean, maintainable code, pragmatic problem-solving, and raising engineering standards in agile teams.

With strong cloud and DevOps experience, I'm often trusted to take ownership of critical issues, reduce technical debt, and deliver when timelines matter.

Testimonials

CB

Craig Barker

Co-founder at BlackCat Technology Solutions

"Ian worked for me on a very challenging large scale ETL project which needed flexible and pluggable methods to allow users to create batches of complex data cleansing activities configurable via a complex UI. The team comprised of 3 developers and a QA. He was instrumental in helping set a clear technical direction within the application, providing guidance and an unswerving drive towards clean, well factored code, making future extensions for further content sets trivial. Furthermore he's happy to interface directly with both product owner and external teams as needed and always arrives at a well considered and balanced solution. Always jovial and positive in his outlook he's a true asset to any development team and I'm more than happy to recommend him."

CN

Craig Nicoll

Contract Developer

"It was a pleasure to work with Ian on the World-Check One project at Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters, Financial & Risk). Ian is an excellent full-stack developer who can be trusted to complete complex technical tasks to the highest standard. He has a pleasant and agreeable personality which makes him very easy to work with and a popular team member. Ian constantly strives to improve his technical skills in his own time and has achieved two AWS certifications. Ian would be an excellent addition to any development team."

JZ

Jigar Zala

Java Consultant

"Ian and I have worked together at Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters). Ian has thorough analytical and design skills. He is passionate about coding and is one of the best experience Java devs I have worked with. Great at learning new techs and implementing it. Always smiling, friendly and helpful, a great team player and colleague to work with."

MT

Michael Talbutt

Delivery manager at Blackcat Solutions

"Ian and I worked in the same Scrum teams tasked implementing cloud migrations on legacy systems for a challenging client. Working with Ian was always a pleasure. As well as bringing to the table an excellent set of technical skills Ian displayed an ability to quickly pick up new technologies and apply them effectively. If Ian is working on something you can be sure that it is in a safe pair of hands and will be delivered in a timely manner and to the highest quality."

PH

Pascal Harris

Technical Engineering Manager at Elsevier

"Ian worked with me on a project to build an innovative platform to aid chemistry research. He displayed a great ability to get a handle on difficult and new concepts, enabling us to deliver a software solution based on Java and Nifi. Always thorough in his work, Ian quickly became a key part of our team - and I wish him all the best for his future."

SP

Simon Phillips

Chief Technical Officer at SThree

"I've worked with Ian over the last 2 to 3 years and he is an exceptional developer. He understands what we are trying to achieve and then works diligently and quickly to achieve it. He listens and provides well thought through feedback appropriately. I can take time to discuss ideas with Ian and work out the best way through any given challenge. He's been a great contributor to the program and business."

CB

Craig Barker

Co-founder at BlackCat Technology Solutions

"Ian worked for me on a very challenging large scale ETL project which needed flexible and pluggable methods to allow users to create batches of complex data cleansing activities configurable via a complex UI. The team comprised of 3 developers and a QA. He was instrumental in helping set a clear technical direction within the application, providing guidance and an unswerving drive towards clean, well factored code, making future extensions for further content sets trivial. Furthermore he's happy to interface directly with both product owner and external teams as needed and always arrives at a well considered and balanced solution. Always jovial and positive in his outlook he's a true asset to any development team and I'm more than happy to recommend him."

CN

Craig Nicoll

Contract Developer

"It was a pleasure to work with Ian on the World-Check One project at Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters, Financial & Risk). Ian is an excellent full-stack developer who can be trusted to complete complex technical tasks to the highest standard. He has a pleasant and agreeable personality which makes him very easy to work with and a popular team member. Ian constantly strives to improve his technical skills in his own time and has achieved two AWS certifications. Ian would be an excellent addition to any development team."

JZ

Jigar Zala

Java Consultant

"Ian and I have worked together at Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters). Ian has thorough analytical and design skills. He is passionate about coding and is one of the best experience Java devs I have worked with. Great at learning new techs and implementing it. Always smiling, friendly and helpful, a great team player and colleague to work with."

MT

Michael Talbutt

Delivery manager at Blackcat Solutions

"Ian and I worked in the same Scrum teams tasked implementing cloud migrations on legacy systems for a challenging client. Working with Ian was always a pleasure. As well as bringing to the table an excellent set of technical skills Ian displayed an ability to quickly pick up new technologies and apply them effectively. If Ian is working on something you can be sure that it is in a safe pair of hands and will be delivered in a timely manner and to the highest quality."

PH

Pascal Harris

Technical Engineering Manager at Elsevier

"Ian worked with me on a project to build an innovative platform to aid chemistry research. He displayed a great ability to get a handle on difficult and new concepts, enabling us to deliver a software solution based on Java and Nifi. Always thorough in his work, Ian quickly became a key part of our team - and I wish him all the best for his future."

SP

Simon Phillips

Chief Technical Officer at SThree

"I've worked with Ian over the last 2 to 3 years and he is an exceptional developer. He understands what we are trying to achieve and then works diligently and quickly to achieve it. He listens and provides well thought through feedback appropriately. I can take time to discuss ideas with Ian and work out the best way through any given challenge. He's been a great contributor to the program and business."

CB

Craig Barker

Co-founder at BlackCat Technology Solutions

"Ian worked for me on a very challenging large scale ETL project which needed flexible and pluggable methods to allow users to create batches of complex data cleansing activities configurable via a complex UI. The team comprised of 3 developers and a QA. He was instrumental in helping set a clear technical direction within the application, providing guidance and an unswerving drive towards clean, well factored code, making future extensions for further content sets trivial. Furthermore he's happy to interface directly with both product owner and external teams as needed and always arrives at a well considered and balanced solution. Always jovial and positive in his outlook he's a true asset to any development team and I'm more than happy to recommend him."

CN

Craig Nicoll

Contract Developer

"It was a pleasure to work with Ian on the World-Check One project at Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters, Financial & Risk). Ian is an excellent full-stack developer who can be trusted to complete complex technical tasks to the highest standard. He has a pleasant and agreeable personality which makes him very easy to work with and a popular team member. Ian constantly strives to improve his technical skills in his own time and has achieved two AWS certifications. Ian would be an excellent addition to any development team."

JZ

Jigar Zala

Java Consultant

"Ian and I have worked together at Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters). Ian has thorough analytical and design skills. He is passionate about coding and is one of the best experience Java devs I have worked with. Great at learning new techs and implementing it. Always smiling, friendly and helpful, a great team player and colleague to work with."

MT

Michael Talbutt

Delivery manager at Blackcat Solutions

"Ian and I worked in the same Scrum teams tasked implementing cloud migrations on legacy systems for a challenging client. Working with Ian was always a pleasure. As well as bringing to the table an excellent set of technical skills Ian displayed an ability to quickly pick up new technologies and apply them effectively. If Ian is working on something you can be sure that it is in a safe pair of hands and will be delivered in a timely manner and to the highest quality."

PH

Pascal Harris

Technical Engineering Manager at Elsevier

"Ian worked with me on a project to build an innovative platform to aid chemistry research. He displayed a great ability to get a handle on difficult and new concepts, enabling us to deliver a software solution based on Java and Nifi. Always thorough in his work, Ian quickly became a key part of our team - and I wish him all the best for his future."

SP

Simon Phillips

Chief Technical Officer at SThree

"I've worked with Ian over the last 2 to 3 years and he is an exceptional developer. He understands what we are trying to achieve and then works diligently and quickly to achieve it. He listens and provides well thought through feedback appropriately. I can take time to discuss ideas with Ian and work out the best way through any given challenge. He's been a great contributor to the program and business."

CB

Craig Barker

Co-founder at BlackCat Technology Solutions

"Ian worked for me on a very challenging large scale ETL project which needed flexible and pluggable methods to allow users to create batches of complex data cleansing activities configurable via a complex UI. The team comprised of 3 developers and a QA. He was instrumental in helping set a clear technical direction within the application, providing guidance and an unswerving drive towards clean, well factored code, making future extensions for further content sets trivial. Furthermore he's happy to interface directly with both product owner and external teams as needed and always arrives at a well considered and balanced solution. Always jovial and positive in his outlook he's a true asset to any development team and I'm more than happy to recommend him."

CN

Craig Nicoll

Contract Developer

"It was a pleasure to work with Ian on the World-Check One project at Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters, Financial & Risk). Ian is an excellent full-stack developer who can be trusted to complete complex technical tasks to the highest standard. He has a pleasant and agreeable personality which makes him very easy to work with and a popular team member. Ian constantly strives to improve his technical skills in his own time and has achieved two AWS certifications. Ian would be an excellent addition to any development team."

JZ

Jigar Zala

Java Consultant

"Ian and I have worked together at Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters). Ian has thorough analytical and design skills. He is passionate about coding and is one of the best experience Java devs I have worked with. Great at learning new techs and implementing it. Always smiling, friendly and helpful, a great team player and colleague to work with."

MT

Michael Talbutt

Delivery manager at Blackcat Solutions

"Ian and I worked in the same Scrum teams tasked implementing cloud migrations on legacy systems for a challenging client. Working with Ian was always a pleasure. As well as bringing to the table an excellent set of technical skills Ian displayed an ability to quickly pick up new technologies and apply them effectively. If Ian is working on something you can be sure that it is in a safe pair of hands and will be delivered in a timely manner and to the highest quality."

PH

Pascal Harris

Technical Engineering Manager at Elsevier

"Ian worked with me on a project to build an innovative platform to aid chemistry research. He displayed a great ability to get a handle on difficult and new concepts, enabling us to deliver a software solution based on Java and Nifi. Always thorough in his work, Ian quickly became a key part of our team - and I wish him all the best for his future."

SP

Simon Phillips

Chief Technical Officer at SThree

"I've worked with Ian over the last 2 to 3 years and he is an exceptional developer. He understands what we are trying to achieve and then works diligently and quickly to achieve it. He listens and provides well thought through feedback appropriately. I can take time to discuss ideas with Ian and work out the best way through any given challenge. He's been a great contributor to the program and business."

Services

Expert Java development services to help your team deliver high-quality software solutions.

Backend Development

Build robust, scalable Java applications using Spring Boot, microservices architecture, and modern design patterns.

API Development & Integration

Design and implement RESTful APIs, integrate third-party services, and build event-driven systems.

Cloud Migration & Architecture

Migrate applications to AWS, design serverless solutions, and implement cloud-native architectures.

Code Review & Refactoring

Improve code quality, reduce technical debt, and enhance maintainability through systematic refactoring.

Technical Leadership

Provide technical guidance, mentor development teams, and establish best practices and engineering standards.

DevOps

Set up automated build/deployment pipelines, containerisation with Docker/Kubernetes and infrastructure-as-code.

Skills

Languages
JavaShellSQLTypescript (Beginner)
AWS
API GatewayApp RunnerCertificate ManagerCloudFormationCloudFrontCloudWatchCodePipelineDynamoDBEC2ECRECSEventBridgeIAMLambdaRDSRoute 53S3SESSNSSQSVPC
Backend Frameworks
Apache CamelHibernate/JPASpringSpring Boot
Frontend Frameworks/Technologies
CSSHTMLNext.js (Beginner)React (Beginner)Tailwind CSS (Beginner)
Testing Frameworks
JUnitMockito
Languages
JavaShellSQLTypescript (Beginner)
AWS
API GatewayApp RunnerCertificate ManagerCloudFormationCloudFrontCloudWatchCodePipelineDynamoDBEC2ECRECSEventBridgeIAMLambdaRDSRoute 53S3SESSNSSQSVPC
Backend Frameworks
Apache CamelHibernate/JPASpringSpring Boot
Frontend Frameworks/Technologies
CSSHTMLNext.js (Beginner)React (Beginner)Tailwind CSS (Beginner)
Testing Frameworks
JUnitMockito
Languages
JavaShellSQLTypescript (Beginner)
AWS
API GatewayApp RunnerCertificate ManagerCloudFormationCloudFrontCloudWatchCodePipelineDynamoDBEC2ECRECSEventBridgeIAMLambdaRDSRoute 53S3SESSNSSQSVPC
Backend Frameworks
Apache CamelHibernate/JPASpringSpring Boot
Frontend Frameworks/Technologies
CSSHTMLNext.js (Beginner)React (Beginner)Tailwind CSS (Beginner)
Testing Frameworks
JUnitMockito
Languages
JavaShellSQLTypescript (Beginner)
AWS
API GatewayApp RunnerCertificate ManagerCloudFormationCloudFrontCloudWatchCodePipelineDynamoDBEC2ECRECSEventBridgeIAMLambdaRDSRoute 53S3SESSNSSQSVPC
Backend Frameworks
Apache CamelHibernate/JPASpringSpring Boot
Frontend Frameworks/Technologies
CSSHTMLNext.js (Beginner)React (Beginner)Tailwind CSS (Beginner)
Testing Frameworks
JUnitMockito
Architectures
Event DrivenMicroservicesRESTServerless
DevOps & Infrastructure
CI/CDDataDogDevOpsDockerHelmJenkins (JCasC)KubernetesTerraform
Development Tools
GitGradleJiraMavenNPM
Methodologies
KanbanScrumTDD
Architectures
Event DrivenMicroservicesRESTServerless
DevOps & Infrastructure
CI/CDDataDogDevOpsDockerHelmJenkins (JCasC)KubernetesTerraform
Development Tools
GitGradleJiraMavenNPM
Methodologies
KanbanScrumTDD
Architectures
Event DrivenMicroservicesRESTServerless
DevOps & Infrastructure
CI/CDDataDogDevOpsDockerHelmJenkins (JCasC)KubernetesTerraform
Development Tools
GitGradleJiraMavenNPM
Methodologies
KanbanScrumTDD
Architectures
Event DrivenMicroservicesRESTServerless
DevOps & Infrastructure
CI/CDDataDogDevOpsDockerHelmJenkins (JCasC)KubernetesTerraform
Development Tools
GitGradleJiraMavenNPM
Methodologies
KanbanScrumTDD

Projects

Schoolendar
Schoolendar

A subscription service that automatically creates and updates calendars with school term dates and teacher training days, syncing across all your devices.

React

Next.js

TypeScript

Calendar Integration APIs

Subscription Management

Serverless Pizza
Serverless Pizza

Serverless pizza is a simple pizza shop website for the purposes of learning about serverless in AWS.

Java

React

AWS S3

AWS CloudFront

AWS API Gateway

AWS Lambda

AWS DynamoDB

AWS Cognito

AWS Amplify

Work with me

I'm available for contract opportunities through my limited company, Yobibyte Solutions. Whether you need expertise in Java development, cloud architecture, or technical leadership, I'd love to discuss how I can help deliver your project.