Well hi there, it’s nice to meet you!
Here’s the part of my site where I introduce myself to you on a more personal level. If you’re anything like me, then this might be the most important page for you. When I choose to work with someone, I want to know that they have good skills but more importantly that they are also a decent person who I can collaborate with and trust.
South West based
So I’ll start with some basic stuff. I’m based in the beautiful Exmoor national park, in Somerset near Minehead. Prior to that I had lived in Bristol based for twenty years, starting my love affair with the city when I went to Bristol University to do a BSc in Computer Science.
I’m from Cardiff originally and after all this time I’m afraid that all hints of my welsh accent are truly gone. Apart from when I’ve had a few too many to drink, then my speech gets all sing-songy again and if you listen carefully you can tell by how I roll my ‘r’s!
Work history
Ever since I was a teenager I have been interested in computers and programming. I wrote a story all about my journey in programming and how professionally I’ve got to where I am today for DevelopMe who I do most of my WordPress instructing with.
Aside from coding and tech roles, I worked at the Environment Agency, in a variety of project, programme and portfolio mangement roles for 8 years. It’s safe to say I know a thing or two about managing projects and spreadsheets.
If you’re interested in seeing my CV, check my LinkedIn profile which is always kept up to date.
I love nature and sports
Most people that meet me socially are often surprised by what I do for a living, as I truly love being outside in nature doing something active. It is actually very difficult to find a picture of me taken indoors, unless it’s one taken at a conference.
When I’m not at my computer, and please don’t get the wrong impression I totally love what I do, I adore being a web developer, I enjoy gardening, running, cycling, or going for a walk with my partner Nick and our dog Lili.
But if I had to pick one passion above all others, it would be snowboarding and being in the mountains. I absolutely love snow and whooshing down mountains with a plank of wood strapped to my feet. There is nothing at all like it and if you want to get me talking non-stop about something, just ask me about snowboarding.
Green digital and green tech
Since late 2019 I’ve become super interested in the impact, both positive and negative, that digital can have on the environment. A lot of people think because data is in the cloud, it doesn’t have an impact and that’s not true at all. So there’s a lot of educating to be done, both within the tech communities and to users of tech (like everyone?!).
So as a side passion I have begun speaking at conferences and meetups about this topic. This is my favourite slidedeck that I’ve put together as an introduction to the topic, and from autumn 2021 I will take part in the Green Web Foundation fellowship programme.
Green Tech South West
At the start of 2020 I co-founded a new meetup focusing on the Bristol area called Green Tech South West. We arrange events bringing people and ideas together on the topic of green tech in it’s widest sense, so not just digital but electricity production, food production, buildings, waste management and new inventions.
It’s fun building up the community and finding out what goes on in our fair city and who is behind it. We also recently created a community forest using Bristol based compnay Ecologi. So instead of our members offering to buy us a pint to say thank you, they can plant us trees in our Green Tech South West forest instead!
WordPress community
I do a lot of voluntary work within the WordPress community, especially in Bristol. I do it because it’s my way of saying thank-you to all the lovely people who have contributed to WordPress’s open source code base or who have freely shared their knowledge with me, and others, over the years.
Bristol WordPress people
From 2016 – 2019 I was the co-lead for the Bristol WordPress People, a free monthly meet-up in Bristol. I helped to arrange talks that appealed to all experience levels in all the different disciplines that might you find using or working with WordPress: developers, designers, user experience specialists, SEOers, marketers, bloggers and business owners.
Whilst I have now stepped down from the role I am still an active part of the local and UK community.
Bristol WordCamp 2019
I was the co-lead for WordCamp Bristol 2019, which took place between the 17th and 19th May. It consisted of a contributor day on the 17th and then a two-day conference of talks on Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May. We had a diverse array of speakers covering a wide breadth of topics and around 220 attendees in total. It was a great success and I am very proud to have heped make it all happen.
Anyway, that’s enough about me, tell me about you!
Hopefully that’s given you a bit of a flavour about me and the kind of person I am. Please reach out, get in touch and let’s have a chat about how we might work together.