About myself

Hello, I'm Will!

I live in New Zealand 🇳🇿, where I was born and raised.

I work as a Software Engineer. Most of my experience is in backend with a focus on building high-performance and resilient cloud-native systems. Though I have experience in most areas of the stack: frontend, databases, CI/CD, etc. I'm deeply interested in other areas too, such as machine learning, infrastructure, and platform engineering.

I have experience successfully leading teams and initiatives at some great NZ companies, working closely with stakeholders, and growing the skills of engineers.

My strongest skill is learning, and I strive to be an expert at whatever my current obsession is.

My favourite programming language is Scala. Though most of my experience is in Java, C#, and recently Kotlin.

If you want to work together, I'm open to relocation. (I prefer hybrid/onsite work, but would be open to fully-remote depending on the circumstances 😄.)

Beyond work, I have quite a few interests:

What I want to do more of:

In general I like things that are simple, high quality, and sustainable.

About this site

I plan to host my blog here, and other 'pages' which (unlike the blog) will be kept updated rather than posted in chronological order (e.g. recipes, guides, travel photos).

This site is built with 11ty which is a static site generator (similar to Hugo or Jekyll). This means I mostly write markdown files and 11ty generates the html. I'm having a blast with it; it's simple, fast, and minimal.

This site is deployed to Cloudflare via GitHub Actions.

Why I created this site

And why you should consider doing the same!

1. Personal Brand

I simply think this is important. I also think it's cool you can have your own place on the internet.

2. Quality and control

Having my own site reminds me of the old internet. You used to have a lot more customisation available (remember the old social media, YouTube, etc.?) and the quality was overall higher.

These days the internet (and world in general) is consolidated to a few select sources with algorithmic feeds. I simply want more control over my own content, even if it means fewer hits.

3. Producing = Thinking

Many of us (myself included) get stuck in a consumption loop. This is especially potent given the modern web.

While initially more difficult, I think it's extremely important to produce your own content. Even if you aren't the best and nobody views your work, it's more satisfying and valuable to yourself as you use that creative part of the brain. (Not to mention, you have to start somewhere.)

Writing in particular forces you to slow down and truly think. Unfortunately we are losing this skill, especially given the developments in AI. In the future (maybe even now) there'll be groups of people that can't produce and therefore think for themselves. So going forward, this will be an even bigger differentiator.

4. I have a lot to say

This one is more personal.

I've always received feedback that I'm too quiet. However, if you get to know me, you'd realise I have a lot to say. I think I'm bad at small talk, and good at deep meaningful conversation. I'm also better at written communication (and in my opinion it's the superior method of communication).

I think this is because I want to observe and think through all options before sharing my opinion. (Though sometimes I'm simply not interested in a topic (e.g. drama) and have nothing to say.)

Overall this is a place for me to share my thoughts and ideas.

Other sites

Sites that inspired mine, in no particular order 🙌