I'm a senior frontend engineer specialising in React, TypeScript and Next.js, with recent experience across ecommerce and product teams. I love what I do, and I'm always looking for ways to improve my craft and grow as a developer. So while I'm happy to be a frontend specialist, I'm also interested in expanding into full-stack product engineering.
In my spare time, I am finding myself drawn to deeper topics in Node.js, server-side TypeScript, API design, authentication, databases, micro-services and testing.
How I got here
My route into software was not especially linear. I first worked with HTML during my Communication Studies degree at Auckland University of Technology, then later became Web Co-ordinator in the Humanities faculty. That role gave me room to build WordPress and jQuery-era sites, sharpen my CSS, and learn how content is managed in the real world.
In 2017, after a series of roles in marketing and content management, I dived deeper into JavaScript and React. A few years later I joined motion capture tech company StretchSense. Initially, as a digital marketing assistant, I was always enviously looking over at the Software Team as they did all these cool things with motion capture gloves and code. I desperately wanted to be a developer, and after a year at the company, the opportunity to take on a React frontend role landed on my desk. I was tasked with leading the Hand Engine software rebuild in NZ and later in the UK.
Having moved to Birmingham in 2022 and leaving StretchSense in late 2023, I've worked mainly on Next.js ecommerce at 5874 Commerce, including multi-region storefronts, BigCommerce integrations and headless CMS implementations.
My next chapter in the journey is being written right now, as I cast my eyes out into the world and see many potentially rewarding avenues. Where exactly will I end up? Well, what I can say is that I'm excited to see where this path leads. I'm actively preparing myself for greater things. Life is too short to play small after all!