Homepage

Blog

  • Generating SSL Certificates

    06 May 2020

    I remember a few years back when I first started using SSL certificates on my websites, I spent several hours trying to get stuff working on the command line, eventually finding an online generator and working out what they needed me to do to verify the site and generate the certificate. And once that was done, I still needed to install it on my hosting, the whole process was complicated and confusing, and even once I'd written it down it still took some concentration to get it done (and needed to be repeated every 90 days to renew the certificate).

  • Fixing Spam on WordPress

    04 Feb 2020

    As if spam wasn't already infiltrating enough areas of our lives - in our letter boxes, on our phones in our emails - it's now in our website contact forms. But as much as I would like to earn millions of dollars through a cryptocurrency, I'd also like to keep my contact form to legitimate submissions, thankfully WordPress has a few options for this.

  • 2019 - A Retrospective

    07 Jan 2020

    It's now been a couple of years since I first started doing these (and I still have a half written one for 2018). But last time I took the time to sit down and reflect on the past 12 months, it was really interesting to remind myself of all the things I've forgotten, and the past 12 months have felt like a lifetime for me.

  • How Notion runs my life

    23 Mar 2019

    During the past year, I've started using Notion to organise both my personal and professional life. I discovered it accidentally while looking for a tool to manage my side projects and now I use it as my wiki, social media calendar, to draft documents, store random bits of information and manage both my blog posts (even this post is written in Notion first) and conference talk submissions.

  • An Origin Story

    07 Jan 2019

    Five years ago I decided to rebuild my parents' business' website for their Christmas present. It was very out of date, the instructions the developer had given them were incredibly complicated and they were quoting a minimum of $400 to make any content changes. While rebuilding the site I realised how much I loved doing it, and I had an epiphany

  • The Importance of Routine

    29 Oct 2018

    When I first started working for myself fulltime, I was excited for the freedom and flexibility I could have. No rules, no restrictions and no routines, I could do whatever I wanted! But it didn't take me long before I found I was a little lost, and not really getting anything done. Maybe routines aren't necessarily a bad thing...

  • Being a More Sustainable You

    10 Oct 2018

    During the past couple of years, I started focusing more on myself and when I burnt out last year I decided to put myself first. Since then I've taken on so many new responsibilities, adventures and stressors, but since making the decision to put myself first I've been in a much better place mentally and emotionally.

  • How Google runs my Home

    26 Jul 2018

    In the past year, it's no longer unusual to see a virtual assistant in someone's house, whether it be a Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Apple Homepod, but when someone hears that I have 4 I'm always met with shock and surprise. "But what do you actually do with them?". I have an insanely busy life, and my Google Home(s) help to take care of the things that I shouldn't really have to worry about (or really don't want to). Whether it be while cooking in the kitchen, running around getting ready, working or just chilling on the couch, Google is usually able to take care of something for me (even if it can't do my washing for me yet 😔).

  • Women in Tech - My Story

    08 Mar 2018

    The other week I went to an event and got to listen to four amazing women and their experiences of working as women in tech, as well as stories from people in the audience. It was great to hear such amazing stories (especially as I knew two of the women), and it really got me thinking about how I got into tech and the journey I’ve had along the way.

  • 2017 - A Retrospective

    06 Jan 2018

    So the last month or so I’ve been reflecting a little on how this past year has gone and I’ve come to one conclusion. 2017 sucked. This past year I’ve been through some of the hardest things I’ve ever had to face. But I’ve also had some of the most amazing times this year, discovered the most amazing people and have had the best year of my life.

  • The Pants-Optional Workplace

    15 Nov 2017

    That’s the dream isn’t it? To be able to work from home, with no pants on. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be? The last couple of weeks, I’ve switched from a 9–5 office job to working as a freelancer from home. So what should you be aware of before you make the switch?

  • The Art of Project Management

    29 Oct 2017

    There’s an app for that. I’m not kidding, there’s even an app to find out if there’s an app for that. While we’re a little spoilt for choice, that can often make things harder so I’ve ventured into the world of Project Management software to hopefully make the choice easier for you.

  • #Frocktober

    25 Oct 2017

    This month, I’ve been participating in Frocktober with a friend of mine, and we’re aiming to raise $500 for ovarian cancer research. This is a very important cause, with one woman dying from ovarian cancer every 10 minutes.

  • Setting up Local Dev and Deployment Pipelines

    04 Sep 2017

    Since I discovered git, everything I do gets recorded on GitHub (it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve learnt in web). I’ve also started using XAMPP so that I can develop on my local machine. But while copying files from my local development onto my server I thought surely there must be an easier way to do this.

  • All the Balls in the Air

    02 Apr 2017

    These days your’re expected to manage several different aspects of life and at the same time keep on top of it all. Now the first thing you need to remember is to know your limits, it’s all too easy to take on too much and before too long you end up crashing and burning. I’m not going to cover that now because that’s an entirely different topic, but make sure you know where the line is, because that’s not something you want to cross.

  • A Week Wallet-Free

    26 Mar 2017

    A discussion was raised at dinner last week, about why women have much bigger purses than men. Do we really have needs so different that I need to carry around a massive wallet and my friends get to carry a few cards in their phone case? So I decided to do an experiment, can I go a week without my wallet?