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About

Hi! I’m Mike

Welcome to MikeMakes

I try live my life guided by curiosity and the things that excite me. Experimenting, making, learning and breaking things…

First build Age 7Books written TwoHome Off-grid
The long version
Age 7 → 33

Twenty things that happened, in order. Watches, radio stations, a degree, a van, two books, and a modular synth.

  1. Age7

    DIY Music Alarm Clock

    Modified my Casio watch to play music instead of boring alarm bleep

    01
  2. Age15

    Radio

    Building my own radio station was so much more exciting than school, which I had pretty much given up on by this point

    02
  3. Age14

    First Business

    A hobby turned into my first business

    03
  4. Age17

    Studying electronics

    Left school to study electronics. Grades started to improve

    04
  5. Age20

    Electronics degree

    Moved to another city to study for a degree in Electronic Engineering.

    05
  6. Age24

    Combining interests: audio and electronics

    University was cool but no one was actually making anything. I realised audio and music was my bridge to go from abstract academia to real world application. This project uses an FPGA to create ultra low-latency audio effects for musicians

    06
  7. Age24
    photo — no image on file

    Gamma monitoring systems

    Worked on Gamma radiation monitoring systems for nuclear power stations. Sort of interesting but not really my thing

    07
  8. Age25

    Oil rig emergency shutdown systems

    Worked on oil rig emergency shutdown systems. It involved some intense training to allow me to ride helicopters into the North Sea

    08
  9. Age26

    Van to Home

    Made a van into my full-time travelling home. Left my job, house and sold my stuff. I called it ‘Project Vandog’

    09
  10. Age27

    Vandog Traveller

    Travelled Europe and beyond in my van. Things went viral and I became a blogger/creator within several months

    10
  11. Age27

    wrote my first book

    Wrote, designed and marketed my first book ‘From Van to Home‘… from the back of my van. It was hit.

    11
  12. Age28

    became a photographer

    People started to refer to me as a photographer. My first photo in a gallery

    12
  13. Age29

    Wrote 2nd book

    I camped alone in the remote mountains of Sardinia until I finished writing my 2nd book

    13
  14. Age29

    Exploring new realms

    I sat in the hills of Nepal with just a tarp, blanket and water. No food or technology for 3 days

    14
  15. Age29

    2nd book: best seller

    I had no idea it was a ‘staff pick’ in London’s biggest book shop until a stranger told me

    15
  16. Age30

    Modular Synths

    Spent more time in Berlin, inspired by the techno/DIY culture. I Started building a modular synth

    16
  17. Age30

    Aurora explorer

    I still hadn’t seen the Aurora Borealis, so I kept driving north until I did, taking several weeks.

    17
  18. Age30

    Living everywhere

    By this point I’d lived and travelled in many different countries

    18
  19. Age32

    Living off-grid

    Living in an off-grid community. Growing our own food, generating our own power, organising ourselves according to our own values

    19
  20. Age33

    I believe in the DIY life

    It’s the difficult option but it’s my favourite

    20

Still making things, still writing them down.

The build logs pick up where this timeline leaves off.

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