Who

am I? The valleys of rural Wales aren't quite Silicon Valley, but growing up out here gives you a lot of space to think. When I wasn't out exploring the mountains, I was teaching myself to code. A lot has changed over the years, but I’ve been building for the web since table layouts and under-construction gifs were the Hot New Thing™. Graduating university with a degree in Japanese and Web Production in 2007, I swapped Pen Y Fan for Mt. Fuji, and moved to Japan where I spent time working in the emerging Tokyo startup scene. After I came back to the UK, I joined one of the South West’s leading digital agencies and worked my way up to lead their frontend development team. These days, I run my freelance business remotely from the beautiful mountains of Abergavenny, South Wales and can also be found working on-site with clients across Wales, London, Bristol and the South-West.

What

Outside of my work I like to spend as much time as I can away from my laptop, travelling and getting out and about with my camera. I shoot on a Fujifilm X-E4 with either a 23mm or 35mm lens, or sometimes just my phone.

Why

Beyond coding, I have love for a different syntax - I am fascinated by linguistics and the psychology of language acquisition. I'm an eternal student and if you name a modern world language and I don't know a few words or phrases, chances are high that I soon will. These days, I'm equally interested in the intersection of linguistics and technology. Tired of Natural Language Processing being used solely for targeted advertising, I am currently exploring ways that NLP and machine learning could be used to improve second-language acquisition and retention.