Get in touch

AI development specialist, West Yorkshire

Software built properly.
In days, not months.

Most businesses know AI should be making them faster. Very few have anyone in house who knows how. That is what I do.

I'm Alex. Fifteen years building software, from small projects to large companies. Now I do it for businesses that were always told it would cost too much.

Start a conversation See what we can build

Previously you had two bad options

Most businesses get quoted thousands and told to wait months. So they don't bother, and carry on with the spreadsheet only one person understands.

  • Pay an agency

    Months of work, a price that makes your eyes water, and half the team sat in meetings.

  • Buy off the shelf

    Cheaper up front. Then you change how you work to suit it, and pay every month forever.

  • There is now a third option

    Built around how you actually work, for a fraction of the price.

The work

What we can build

A few examples. Yours does not have to be on the list.

  • A proper website rebuild

    Slow, dated, or built on something nobody supports? We will rebuild it fast, modern and easy to keep updated.

  • Dashboards that pull it together

    Your numbers live in three or four systems. We will get them onto one screen, and make it look good.

  • Spreadsheets turned into software

    The spreadsheet nobody dares touch becomes proper software. Several people at once, nothing overwritten.

  • Moving what you have to the cloud

    If it only runs on one machine in the office, we will move it somewhere safe and reachable from anywhere.

  • Rewriting software that is showing its age

    Old software still does the job. It is just expensive to change. We rebuild it on something current.

  • Security review and repair

    We go through your code for the weaknesses that get businesses in trouble, then fix what needs fixing.

Case study

A recent job, start to finish

What was wrong, what we built, and where it ended up.

One screen for orders, stock and shipping

Clippies & Folds Retail and ecommerce

The problem

The business ran on a spreadsheet and a prototype page that only worked on one machine. Nobody else could see it, and none of it was backed up.

What we did

We imported the spreadsheet once and retired it. Orders, shipping, QC, invoices and stock went onto one screen behind a Google sign in, with a record of every change.

The result

It is hosted and live, and it works the same on a phone as on a laptop. The data sits in a database that backs itself up every night, and the code is theirs.

  • Under a week from the first line of code to live
  • Six parts of the business, now on one screen
  • Nightly backups, kept for sixty days

The Summary

You are paying for the judgement, not the typing

AI writes code fast. That is the easy part, and that's not what you are paying me for.

The hard part is knowing what to ask for. Spotting when the answer is confidently wrong. Catching things you did not think to mention that will matter down the line.

AI is what makes the software affordable. Fifteen years is what makes it worth having.

  • We work out what you actually need

    Most software fails because nobody translated the business properly. That translation is something we do together, and it is the real work.

  • You are not left trusting the machine

    AI sounds equally confident whether or not it is correct. Telling the difference takes experience, and that is the part you are paying for.

  • We get it live, not just built

    Code on a laptop is not a working system. We get it hosted, secure and running in the real world.

  • It is built to last

    Anyone can generate code that runs. Making it easy to change later is a different skill.

Start to finish

How it works

One free conversation, one fixed price, and no commitment until you have both.

  1. 01

    A free half hour, however suits you

    Phone, video call or WhatsApp, whichever you are most comfortable with. You tell me what is frustrating you and I ask questions. That is usually enough for us to tell whether it is fixable, and whether I am the right person for it.

  2. 02

    A fixed price, in writing

    One number, and a plain description of what you get for it. It lists what I have assumed, so we both know what was priced.

  3. 03

    You say go, and we get started

    The plan behind the quote is already worked out, so there is no long run up. Any further sessions are covered by the price.

  4. 04

    You see it early

    You will have something to click around long before it is finished. You try it, you tell me, I change it.

  5. 05

    It goes live, and it is yours

    The code belongs to you. No monthly fee, no lock in. I am here if you want changes later, but you are not tied.

Alex Bowes, founder of Blue Amber Technology
  1. 2011 Started out as a developer
  2. 2017 Senior developer
  3. 2022 Technical lead
  4. Today Blue Amber Technology

About me

I'm Alex Bowes

Developer since 2011, senior developer since 2017, technical lead since 2022. I have worked at both ends of the scale.

On one project I led a squad of ten among more than 400 developers. On another I set the technical direction at a 15 person company. Big companies teach you how software survives years of reality. Small ones teach you to decide on Tuesday and have it working by Thursday.

I work with businesses around Brighouse and across West Yorkshire.

Industries I have worked in

  • Manufacturing Large scale operations
  • Finance Enterprise systems and compliance
  • Insurance Large scale, heavily regulated
  • Media production Small, fast moving teams

In their words

What clients say

  • My website hadn't been updated for years, and I didn't have time to change anything on it myself. Alex asked questions that made sense, and had the new site live in under a week.
    Megan Kelly Owner, Hebden Bridge Strength & Movement

Questions

Frequently asked questions

The questions I get asked most often.

How can this cost so much less than a normal quote?

Because the slow, expensive part of software got much faster. A normal quote pays for a team, project managers and an office. You are paying one experienced developer using tools that remove most of the grind.

Is this just ChatGPT writing my software?

No, but I am not going to pretend AI is not involved. It is why this is affordable. Think of a very fast, very literal apprentice that needs someone experienced deciding what to ask for, and throwing out the parts that cause problems later.

Do I own what you build?

Yes. The software and the code are yours outright. No licence fee, and nothing stops working if you stop paying me.

What if I do not really know what I want?

That is normal and it is fine. Most people know what is annoying them without knowing what the fix looks like. Working that out together is part of the job.

What happens if something breaks later?

Tell me and I will look at it. Anything that was my mistake I fix at no charge. Beyond that we can work ad hoc or set up something ongoing, whichever suits you.

Is my data safe?

I have worked in finance, insurance and manufacturing, and run security reviews as part of external assessments. I will tell you plainly where your data lives and who can reach it. Say early on if anything is sensitive.

How much does it actually cost?

It depends on the job, so I will not put a number on a web page and pretend it means anything. You get one fixed price in writing before any work starts. Most jobs come in well under what an agency would quote.

No cost, no obligation

Tell me what is frustrating you

Half an hour by phone, video call or WhatsApp, at a time that does not eat into your day. You get a straight answer on whether it is worth doing and roughly what it would cost. Whether or not you use me.

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