Humans of dxw: from archaeology to code
My story started with an entirely different passion — archaeology
3 years ago, I joined dxw as a developer on our GovPress team, helping public sector clients with their WordPress websites. But my path to becoming a developer wasn’t exactly traditional.
My story started with an entirely different passion — archaeology. After studying archaeology at the University of Reading, I moved back home to Cornwall and, while job hunting, (which was quite tough at that time) I began teaching myself to code. What started as curiosity soon became a career.
One of my early roles involved building a fan site while temping, which led to more web projects — including work for a charity. It was there that someone introduced me to others in the tech industry, and I landed my first paid role as a web developer. My archaeology background gave me an edge. The role involved data analysis and map production, skills that I had picked up during my degree.
I eventually found myself working with the Eden Project, helping them build an online booking form. When that project ended, a group of developers, including myself, stayed on to work on Eden Project Live Aid. It was here that I contributed to what would become my favourite project: BikeRadar.
BikeRadar was launched under Future Publishing — one of the UK’s major publishing houses. I worked on several of their subject-specific websites, including TechRadar, MusicRadar, and various guitar magazines. At one point, me and 3 other developers were coding from a barn in Cornwall, managing websites visited by millions. We built everything from scratch: front end, back end, all custom code. It was Europe’s biggest cycling website at the time, covering everything from industry news to the Tour de France.
I then spent 5 years at the National Childbirth Trust in Bristol, starting as a developer but quickly wearing multiple hats, from infrastructure to design.
Eventually, I returned to Cornwall, picking up freelance roles and working with clients like the National Crime Agency, UK Research and Innovation, and various government-funded projects. I became skilled in both WordPress and Drupal, doing everything from maintenance to full site builds. This then led me to seeing an advert for dxw and not long after I joined the GovPress team, the rest as they say is history.