Thanks for visiting! This page is a repository for my job-seeking resources, for prospective employers or anyone interested in the Secret Santa application - or anyone who has used it and is curious about who made it.

Click on the blue headers above or below to expand or collapse sections. You can find out more about me, and get my CV, in the About me section below.

I created this site to show who I am, and what I can do.

I taught myself C# development in 2019, and have worked in ASP.NET development for 6 years, but most of what I've done is owned by the company I work for, and has been worked on by a team of people.

In 2024 I decided to create an application that showcases my skills, as well as giving me a chance to try different techniques and strategies, and fill in some gaps in my knowledge.

I also wanted to build something that people can actually use, and I realised that every year my family does a Secret Santa that ended up not being very secret. So I built the Secret Santa site.

It's an online tool for families and other groups to organise their annual Secret Santa present exchange for Christmas. Secret Santa can:

• Automatically pick who you are giving to, but avoid drawing your partner
• Allow you to message people in your group, without giving away who is giving to who
• Remember who you gave to previously, to avoid always getting the same person
• Add suggestions, skip a year, set group limits, etc.

See the About page for more information, or register and try it yourself.

Here are some screen shots:

NB: The small random white blobs on the screen are snow falling down the page!

Yes! I've used it for Christmas 2025 with two different groups, one for my immediate family and another for my in-laws.

Yes, it's at github.com/mrmarkajohnson/SecretSanta.

The site is made using C#, a SQL Server database, HTML, JavaScript and a small amount of JQuery.

It's hosted using plex at hostinguk.net, the best value site I could find that will host ASP.NET applications and a database.

My name's Mark Johnson, and I've lived in Leeds, West Yorkshire since 1998. I studied Music and English at Leeds University, and now I work as a Senior Software Engineer.

I've had a very varied career working in many different IT-focused roles, but I'm now working in software development, which suits me best.

I'm now looking for a senior ASP.NET Developer/Engineer or team lead role, in or near Leeds and easily commutable from North/North-East Leeds.

Ideally I'd prefer a hybrid role working in a relatively small team in an SME or similar, but I'm open to other opportunities.

My LinkedIn profile is mark-johnson-20b38aa7. You can download my CV here.

My main hobby is music, I play the piano and guitar, used to play the cello well, and have played drums, sax and other instruments badly. Sadly I can't sing for toffee.

I've also produced my own music as 'Mephisto Monkey', available at Soundcloud. I haven't really advertised my music much, it's just for myself.

I don't get much time to do that these days, but I love messing around with synths. I mostly use Cubase and Reason. I enjoy improvising and never get around to writing anything down.

You can e-mail me at mrmarkajohnson@yahoo.co.uk.