Hi, I’m Johnny and I’m
an engineer
Should your brand be focused? That’s the increasingly trending advice and it does give businesses a higher chance of success.
But humans are complicated creatures and I refuse to take one of my many interests to the extreme and reduce “my brand” to one easily digestible bit.
I’m not going to choose between creating content exclusively for landscape photography, or for 4X strategy video games, or for practicing handstands. I’m not gonna create a “Frontend specialist” brand, to complement the “evangelising GraphQL” brand, while promoting the “career-change mentoring” brand.
My brand is going to be me and all the things I fancy at any time! So, get in touch if you are interested in any particular aspect, or you too want to be successful, while still showcasing your complex, fascinating self 😄
Consulting
I love solving problems and I’ve been doing that professionally as a Software Engineer for almost two decades!
The longer I am in the business, the more I seek out projects where my problem-solving will fundamentally affect the lives of more people:
Like in Babylon Health where we raised Series C to fund the mission of bringing affordable healthcare to everyone.
Or in Funding Circle where I worked on instant decisioning for loan applications, including to businesses affected by COVID-19.
If you have an ambitious project that needs delivering, and are looking for an Engineering Consultant who is an expert in Typescript, GraphQL and React, feel free to reach out.
Mentoring
My most fulfilling work.
A lot of my time is spent teaching others, but mentoring holds a special place in my heart. Its one-to-one nature, the paradoxically unique struggles every one of us has, observing progress over a long period of time... It’s fascinating.
Plus, it’s the most effective way to help someone grow! I love talking at meetups: the reach is great and most of the audience will gain a little bit from attending... but focusing on a single person to help tremendously is a different kind of payoff.
I can only have so many mentees, but do get in touch if you are interested: we may work something out 😄
Workshops
I am a firm believer in the power of workshops. Even those your employer forces you to attend! It’s all in the power of the facilitators to design something engaging that leaves you with key learnings you can apply immediately.
I run workshops focused in career-changing into frontend engineering, and leveling up as a software engineer. From zero to deploying your javascript game to the internet, from an associate engineer to approaching software startup problems like a senior.
Holding successful workshops amidst the pandemic has been a problem to solve, but the tools are getting there!
Videos & Streams
After a decade of trying out new tech by building prototypes in isolation and for my own amusement, I’ve decided to start capturing myself hacking them together!
The picture is from a livestream on Twitch, but, nowadays, I mostly make more persistent content over at YouTube.
I’m most proud of code tutorials, but they take so much time to make! I’m getting more efficient, but I also intermingle more lightweight videos, to keep the production flow going 🎬
Photography
Higher up than “blogging”, because a picture is worth a thousand words, and I have a lot to say 📷
I’ve managed to travel to quite a few fantastic places around the world: first priority is always to experience them, but I do set aside time for dedicated photo shoots!
The lockdown meant I had to find the fantastic places hidden in my London flat! Constrains spur creativity, and this shot from my balcony has quickly become a favourite.
I mostly shoot with a Sony a7R IV and my go-to lens is the Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM.
Blogging
I love writing, and sometimes I even structure my thoughts coherently enough to publish them in my blog!
There is stuff I’ve written all over the internets, some controversially hosted on Medium, but people reached out to me through this very site to ask for my content in one place and outside a paywall so... this is the start!
Everything new will be released there, so check it out 🚀
Milestones Feed
You may follow the gram for a more broad and ephemeral “activity feed”, but this is a curated and persisted list of highlights!
When I deploy something during a stream, when I toy with a side-project on the weekend, when I digital nomad my way into working remotely in a different hemisphere for a month, this is where you’d find a bit of detail.
Also likely to see early thoughts when I start a new video game, and summations when I’m done with it, placements in Beach Volleyball tournaments, as well as when I finally manage to stick an L-sit to handstand transition on the parallettes.