Dylan Beattie

Dylan Beattie is a systems architect and software developer, who has built everything from tiny standalone websites to large-scale distributed systems. By day, he’s the systems architect at Spotlight, where he works on HTTP APIs, distributed systems, and the architectural challenges of delivering cutting-edge online services in a company with nearly ninety years of legacy. He’s been working with Spotlight since 2000, and his first-hand experience of watching an organisation (and their code) evolving over more than a decade has given him a unique insight into how API design, distributed systems, Conway's Law, working with legacy code, and recruitment can all influence a company’s products and culture. Alongside his work at Spotlight, Dylan is actively involved in the software development community. He’s one of the organisers of the the London .NET User Group, and in 2016 he spoke at software conferences including Oredev in Sweden, NDC in London, Sydney and Oslo, Tampere Goes Agile in Finland, and BuildStuff in Lithuania and Ukraine.

Dylan grew up in southern Africa, moving to the UK when he was ten. He wrote his first web page in 1992, and went on to study Computer Science at the University of Southampton. He’s a guitar player, musician and aspiring songwriter; his other interests include skiing, scuba diving, Lego, cats, travel and photography, and he's normally found hanging around user groups, pubs and rock bars in London wearing a big black hat.