John Taylor
Founder | Protoworks (NI)
I build software and embedded systems that solve real business problems — without unnecessary complexity. With over 20 years in software engineering, I’ve designed and delivered systems across enterprise, cloud, and embedded environments.
Through Protoworks (NI), I help SMEs, organisations and technical teams turn ideas, requirements and existing designs into practical working systems. I can take an agreed project from technical scoping through development, testing, deployment and handover, including improvements to existing and live systems.
How I Can Help
C# / .NET Applications & APIs
C#/.NET applications, APIs and internal business systems (.NET 2.0 through .NET 8+)
Embedded Systems & IoT
Embedded Linux, IoT devices, microcontrollers, and hardware/software integration
PCB Prototyping & Bring-Up
PCB prototyping, bring-up, RS485/GPIO interface boards, USB-C regulators, and custom hardware
Workflow & AI Automation
Workflow automation, low-code solutions, n8n, Node-RED, and AI agents (Antigravity, CrewAI, OpenCode)
Legacy Modernisation
Investigating, refactoring and modernising legacy software, including agreed migrations and live-system changes
SQL Server & Data Integration
SQL Server development, T-SQL performance tuning, SSIS / ETL pipelines, PostgreSQL, and data sync
Rapid Proof-of-Concept
Electronic circuits, custom PCBs, embedded firmware and software proofs of concept in agreed test environments
Architecture & Delivery Support
Technical troubleshooting, system architecture, DevOps, acting tech lead, and mentoring
Background & Market Sector Experience
Over two decades of engineering experience delivering mission-critical applications, cloud migrations, embedded devices, and integration services across diverse commercial and public market sectors:
Government & Public Sector
Enterprise records management integrations, interview recording synchronization, DVLA data sync pipelines, agricultural payment distribution & calculation platforms, emergency business grant schemes, terminal green-screen to .NET migrations, and N-Tier public sector software.
Healthcare & Emergency Services
Emergency medical services platforms, rota scheduling synchronization, single sign-on with mutual authentication, migrating legacy Classic ASP platforms to Microsoft Azure, and Azure SQL performance reporting.
Financial Services & Banking
Prime finance core systems refactoring, regulatory reporting (Brexit & compliance), micro-services containerisation, high-volume Windows services, enterprise messaging (MSMQ, TIBCO EMS), and high-availability SOA DevOps support.
Nuclear & Industrial Sector
Industrial network hardening (firewalls, switches, VLANs), nuclear sector software design and maintenance, SCADA real-time systems, and VHDL / embedded Linux hardware analysis.
Energy, Oil & Gas
Hydrocarbon accounting systems for multi-company oil exploration, real-time flow measurement, instrument certification and calibration software packages, and oilfield services systems administration.
Biometrics, Media & Accessibility
System integration for biometrics and digital media processing, and desktop accessibility software development.
Technical Stack & Technologies
Languages
Frameworks & Libraries
AI & Workflow Automation
Cloud, DevOps & Infrastructure
Databases & Data Pipelines
Networking & Enterprise Messaging
Platforms & OS
Hardware & Electronics Prototyping
On the hardware side, I design, prototype, bring up, and test embedded devices, PCBs, and supporting software tools. I also document personal builds and experiments at jktdev.co.uk.
Engineering Approach
I focus on solutions that are useful, understandable and maintainable, without unnecessary complexity. I offer Technical Advice to explore your options and Flexible Engineering for hands-on work and am comfortable joining a project with a clear specification, helping shape an early idea, or investigating and improving a development copy of an existing system.