My name is Glenn Leader. I retired from my career as a Senior Laboratory Technician and a Senior ICT Support Engineer. These days, I’m a PHP developer, niche site builder, and vibe coder based in Rochester, Kent. I’ve been working for myself since 2004, after a long career in science and technology. It turned out to be the best move I ever made.
These days, I’m properly retired. The online work gets done around a full and busy life, not the other way round.
How I Got Here
I had a few different jobs before finding my niche in science and technology, as most people do. Eventually, I landed where I belonged: 14 years as a Senior Laboratory Technician in the local education department, specialising in Physics, Technology, and computer control. Another decade followed as a Senior ICT Support Engineer for the same authority.
In 2004, the authority made my role redundant. At the time, that felt like a problem. Looking back, it was a shove in the right direction. I decided I was done working for other people and set about building things of my own.
What I Do Online
I run a portfolio of niche affiliate sites. Teresa got involved in the past and will likely do so again. Right now, she has a full life of her own, teaching textile art on YouTube at All Sewn Up Textile Art. I also build SEO and keyword research tools. The most recent is PhraseFoundry.com, still growing but already useful.
I do a lot of what people now call vibe coding: working with AI to design and build PHP and WordPress projects by describing what I want, rather than writing every line from scratch. It suits me well. I enjoy it, and after twenty-odd years of PHP development, I know enough to tell when the output is nonsense.
Family
Teresa and I got married recently. Between us, we have a properly blended family. My son Marc lives with us. My daughter Judi and her partner live about 200 miles up north with my three grandchildren. The eldest is nearly 18, with roughly two years between each of them.
On Teresa’s side, my eldest stepson and his wife live in Whitstable with my youngest granddaughter. We often travel over to see them. My other stepson and his wife live locally with two of my grandsons. My stepdaughter lives in SE London. Six grandchildren in total, which keeps life interesting. Blood doesn’t come into how much I love any of them.
We look after the grandsons during school term times. It keeps you sharp in ways that staring at a screen simply doesn’t.
Life Outside the Screen
I play walking football twice a week, though we often end up running to reach the ball first. It’s good for fitness and my mental health, and one of the better decisions I’ve made in recent years. I’m still relatively new to Rochester, and walking football is a big part of why I’ve felt at home here so quickly. I’ve made several good mates through it, which at this stage of life you don’t take for granted. We’re lucky with our neighbours too. They actually wave back, which you can’t take for granted either.
Teresa and I try to get to the cinema at least once a week, and we love live music. We follow several tribute bands, which might not sound glamorous but are consistently brilliant. A good tribute act on a good night is hard to beat.
We also try to get to a European Christmas market or two each year. A Rhine river cruise in December is about as good as it gets.
Growing Things
I’ve taken up vertical crop gardening, mostly with my grandson Theo, who calls me Gigi. Short for Grandad Glenn, and it’s stuck far more thoroughly than I expected. There’s more going on than I can do justice to here, so I’m documenting the whole thing properly over at GigiGrows.com, photos and all.
Making Things
Away from screens and football pitches, I make things. I’ve been developing a range of abstract steampunk-inspired art tiles: 3D-printed masters, silicone moulds, and Jesmonite castings. It’s a slow, satisfying process, and the results are genuinely original. I plan to take them to craft markets with Teresa and her daughter, Becky, once we’re ready. That should be sometime next year.
I also bake my own bread, mostly for health reasons. Teresa and Marc demolish every loaf within a day, which is a fairly good sign that it’s working, too. There’s something satisfying about a process that’s entirely offline and produces something you can actually eat.
Rochester
We live in Rochester, Kent, one of those places that rewards you for paying attention. It’s got proper history, a castle, a cathedral, and a high street with independent shops. Charles Dickens grew up nearby in Chatham and later returned to live just outside Rochester as a famous man. The city hosts the Dickensian Christmas Festival every December in his honour. Whether or not he invented Christmas is a matter of debate, but he certainly had a hand in making it what it is.
Why This Site Exists
This is where I write about the online work: niche sites, keyword research, vibe coding, and whatever else seems worth documenting. It’s not a course, it’s not a funnel, and I’m not trying to sell you anything. It’s just one person who’s been at this for a long time, writing about what I’ve learned. If any of it’s useful to you, so much the better.