Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening all,
Thought I would properly introduce myself on here after joining. I'm James, 32 y/o from Mansfield in the UK.
Scuba diving has ended up becoming a pretty big part of my life. Back in 2023 I met my girlfriend, a dive instructor (a pretty damn good one at that), and since then I packed up my life in the UK and have followed her work around Southeast Asia, picked up my own diving qualifications, and spent a lot more time around dive centres than I ever expected to!
My line of work has fortunately allowed me to do this. Prior to this new life on the road, I worked in various roles across the digital space, predominantly in software design and development. Since leaving the UK, I have been able to work for myself as a freelancer, mostly in software dev, web design & hosting.
At the beginning of 2026, a dive shop owner we know asked if I could build something, unique to his shop, to help reduce the paperwork headache in his business. He stressed that most solutions that were already out there were mainly generic, off the shelf programs, which didn't fit his workflow as well as he would like when paying that amount of money. So I spent just under 3 months building a bespoke management system for him. That project went live successfully in March, and since then I have been turning that original program into a generic web demo so other dive centres can see what is possible.
The main idea is simple. Instead of paying monthly or annual subscriptions for software that only partly fits, you can have your own system built around your workflow. It sits on your own setup locally, so it does not rely on wifi, and it removes a lot of the paper form hassle as well. This also means no third parties, none of your shops data outside of your shop (if you like), and also the app is yours forever, not you paying a never ending fee for a program that is never really yours.
The demo is just there to show the capabilities, but the real value is in building something properly around each shop’s way of working.
Happy to chat with anyone who is curious, and I would also really appreciate any feedback from people already running dive centres.
Demo Link - https://demo.bakewelldigital.com/ - i'm available for video walkthroughs/guided tours if needed as well.
Cheers
James
Thought I would properly introduce myself on here after joining. I'm James, 32 y/o from Mansfield in the UK.
Scuba diving has ended up becoming a pretty big part of my life. Back in 2023 I met my girlfriend, a dive instructor (a pretty damn good one at that), and since then I packed up my life in the UK and have followed her work around Southeast Asia, picked up my own diving qualifications, and spent a lot more time around dive centres than I ever expected to!
My line of work has fortunately allowed me to do this. Prior to this new life on the road, I worked in various roles across the digital space, predominantly in software design and development. Since leaving the UK, I have been able to work for myself as a freelancer, mostly in software dev, web design & hosting.
At the beginning of 2026, a dive shop owner we know asked if I could build something, unique to his shop, to help reduce the paperwork headache in his business. He stressed that most solutions that were already out there were mainly generic, off the shelf programs, which didn't fit his workflow as well as he would like when paying that amount of money. So I spent just under 3 months building a bespoke management system for him. That project went live successfully in March, and since then I have been turning that original program into a generic web demo so other dive centres can see what is possible.
The main idea is simple. Instead of paying monthly or annual subscriptions for software that only partly fits, you can have your own system built around your workflow. It sits on your own setup locally, so it does not rely on wifi, and it removes a lot of the paper form hassle as well. This also means no third parties, none of your shops data outside of your shop (if you like), and also the app is yours forever, not you paying a never ending fee for a program that is never really yours.
The demo is just there to show the capabilities, but the real value is in building something properly around each shop’s way of working.
Happy to chat with anyone who is curious, and I would also really appreciate any feedback from people already running dive centres.
Demo Link - https://demo.bakewelldigital.com/ - i'm available for video walkthroughs/guided tours if needed as well.
Cheers
James
