Behind D4RKNet
Software shaped by curiosity and practical problems.
I’m Paul Hayden, a New Zealand software developer focused on C#, .NET, and building useful systems that can keep evolving without becoming difficult to understand.
- Based
- New Zealand
- Primary stack
- C# and .NET
- Current products
- Mythborne and JobTracker
Where it started
My route into software began inside a game.
I started programming in PAWN while creating content for San Andreas Multiplayer. I had no formal background at the time, but I loved solving the puzzle, improving the result, and seeing other people use something I had made.
That led through Visual Basic and Windows Forms before I chose C# as my main language. Since then, .NET has become the foundation for applications, libraries, web services, and the larger products I continue to build.
The tools have changed, but the part I enjoy has stayed the same: understand how something works, remove the friction, and leave it better than I found it.
How I work
A practical approach.
Make it useful
Start with the real problem and build the smallest complete solution that genuinely improves it.
Keep it understandable
Clear structure and maintainable code matter because useful software rarely stops at its first version.
Refine with purpose
Iteration should make the product clearer, faster, or more capable, not simply add more to it.
Technical experience
A broad toolkit with C# at the centre.
I can read, adapt, and work across many languages and platforms, while C# and .NET remain the tools I use to design and build complete systems from the ground up.
- C#
.NET
Blazor
MySQL
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Git
Linux
Python
Lua
Arduino
C++
Google Cloud
Stripe
Application development
C# systems from interface to infrastructure.
Desktop applications, Blazor websites, reusable libraries, background services, and connected client and server systems built around .NET.
C# • .NET • Blazor • Windows Forms • Libraries
Web and data
Interfaces backed by well-structured information.
Responsive web experiences, relational data modelling, queries, integration, and the practical work needed to keep data-driven applications understandable.
HTML • CSS • JavaScript • SQL • MySQL
APIs and networking
Connecting software to the services around it.
Experience integrating external services and building networked features using APIs, HTTP communication, secure endpoints, and persistent socket connections.
REST APIs • HTTP • HTTPS • WebSockets • OpenAI • Google • Stripe
Systems and delivery
Running the software after it is built.
Hands-on experience with Windows and Linux environments, source control, web hosting, reverse proxies, and maintaining the services behind deployed applications.
Windows • Linux • Git • Caddy • Hosting • Reverse proxies
Supporting languages
Comfortable moving beyond the primary stack.
Years of working across game scripting, automation, coursework, embedded projects, and existing codebases make unfamiliar languages approachable rather than obstructive.
PAWN • Visual Basic • VBA • Python • Lua • C • C++
Education
Formal study supporting practical experience.
Qualifications completed and underway through Open Polytechnic New Zealand.
- 2025
New Zealand Certificate in Information Technology
Level 5 - 2026
New Zealand Diploma in Web Development and Design
Level 5 - In progress
Bachelor of Information Technology
Open Polytechnic New Zealand
Practical problem-solving
Understand the system before reaching for the fix.
Working with aircraft and hands-on mechanical systems reinforces the same habits I bring to software: diagnose carefully, respect how every part affects the whole, and make deliberate changes that can be trusted.
The D4RKNet community