Wales, UK
About me
Developer Educator & API Mentor
Developer Educator and API mentor with 15+ years building scalable web applications and leading engineering teams. Currently Technical Director at Lila Fuches and Core Committee member of PHP-FIG, helping shape industry standards. Recognized technical writer (php[architect], Laravel News, and more) and international speaker focused on practical learning for modern API teams. Specializing in Laravel, Go, API design, developer experience, and hands-on team coaching.
Currently
October 2024 — Present
Technical Director
Lila Fuches Limited ↗ (opens in new tab)Architected and launched a scalable Laravel SaaS platform using an API-first approach, supporting rapid user growth and seamless feature expansion. Led technical strategy, modernized infrastructure, and optimized CI/CD pipelines. As fractional CTO, guided hiring, roadmap planning, and product direction, while mentoring developers to improve code quality and team collaboration.
March 2026 — Present
Laravel Content Owner
certificates.dev ↗ (opens in new tab)Responsible for creating the Laravel certification curriculum, designing code challenges, running bootcamps, and representing certificates.dev at industry events and conferences as a speaker.
February 2024 — Present
Core Committee Member
PHP FIG (Framework Interoperability Group) ↗ (opens in new tab)Contributed to PHP language standards by drafting and reviewing proposals focused on framework interoperability. Participated in open discussions and formal voting processes. Shared practical developer insights to help guide the direction of new PSR standards adopted by the PHP community.
August 2023 — Present
Technical Columnist
php[architect] ↗ (opens in new tab)Authored monthly technical deep-dives on advanced PHP topics and architectural best practices for one of the industry's most respected publications. Simplified complex concepts for a broad developer audience using storytelling techniques and clear, practical examples. Collaborated closely with editorial teams to ensure technical accuracy and maximum reader value.
How I got here
I started my career not as a developer but as a Combat Engineer with the British Army. The discipline, problem-solving under pressure, and systematic thinking I built there shaped everything that came after.
Combat Engineer
HM Forces, Royal Engineers
Frontline deployment to Afghanistan. Specialised in IED detection and route clearance operations.
Founder
PHP South Wales
Built Wales' premier PHP developer community from zero to 200+ active members over four years.
CTO
Lila Fuches Limited
Led product from MVP through to market-ready SaaS platform, establishing technical foundations for scale.
Senior Engineering Manager
Geomiq
Managed 12+ engineers across three products, delivering Laravel applications for 100,000+ manufacturing clients.
Developer Advocate
Treblle
Spoke at 15+ global conferences, created 50+ technical resources, and generated $250K+ in qualified leads through content.
Technical Columnist
php[architect]
12+ monthly deep-dives reaching 50,000+ developers — maintaining 95%+ reader satisfaction through technical storytelling.
Core Committee Member
PHP-FIG
Contributing to PSR standards that shape how millions of PHP developers write interoperable code.
Technical Director
Lila Fuches Limited
Architecting a scalable Laravel SaaS platform with API-first design, serving 10,000+ users.
Writing & Recognition
Regular columnist at php[architect] — one of the PHP community's longest-running technical publications — and a recognised contributor to PSR standards as a PHP-FIG Core Committee member.
PHP Community Recognition
PHP FIG
Outstanding Technical Writing
php[architect] Magazine
Laravel Certified Developer
Certification for Laravel
Recent publications
Building your first MCP server with Laravel ↗ (opens in new tab)
Sevalla Blog
Comprehensive guide to the Model Context Protocol (MCP), demonstrating how to build AI-native Laravel applications that can be confidently used by AI assistants like Claude.
Building an API Starter Kit for Laravel ↗ (opens in new tab)
PHP Architect
Deep-dive into Laravel application architecture patterns, featuring real-world case studies and performance optimization techniques.
How Steve Writes Laravel Code ↗ (opens in new tab)
PHP Architect
Comprehensive exploration of clean code patterns and AI integration in modern PHP applications.
API Essentials: A Developer's Guide to Authentication, Validation, and DTOs ↗ (opens in new tab)
PHP Architect
In-depth exploration of essential API development concepts in Laravel, including authentication strategies and Data Transfer Objects (DTOs).
Community
I've always believed that the best way to level up is to bring others with you. From founding a local meetup to speaking on international stages, community has been central to everything I do.
- 200+
- Members in PHP South Wales
- 40+
- Meetups organised
- 50+
- Developers mentored
What people say
“Steve is one of the most thorough and thoughtful educators I've seen. He puts in a ton of effort and it clearly shows.”
Aaron Francis
Founder, Try Hard Studios
“Steve is the teacher you wish you had in school. He’s informative, entertaining, and passionate about what he does. I’m always excited to see more of Steve’s content!”
Alex Six
Senior Software Engineer, Zillow
“To me, there's one word that comes to mind: 'passion'. There are only a handful of people with the same passion for programming as Steve.”
Brent Roose
Developer Advocate, JetBrains
“Steve is a great developer with a wealth of knowledge that has contributed to many projects we have. His passion for API means we benefit from his aim for the best.”
Chris Miller
Team Lead, PHP Architect
“Steve is an awesome guy who knows a thing or two about APIs. I’ve learned so much from his content on his YouTube channel as well as his API video course.”
Davor Minchorov
Senior PHP Engineer, Adeva
“Steve is an awesome writer and communicator, he can take complex problems and communicate them in a way that anyone can understand.”
Eric Barnes
Founder/Editor, Laravel News
“Steve is highly engaging and an expert in what he does. I bookmark everything he publishes and refer back to it on a regular basis. The API king!”
Gary Clarke
YouTuber, Gary Clarke Tech
“Steve is one of the top API experts in the world and has been teaching our community for years.”
Jack Ellis
Founder, Fathom Analytics
“Steve has a profound mastery of APIs and a public-serving teaching approach.”
Ludovic Guénet
Software Engineer, Epekta
“Steve is a stream of knowledge. If you like clean, strict code and silky APIs, there’s nobody I’d sooner turn to for advice!”
Luke Downing
Educator, Laracasts
“Steve is an absolute weapon. We came for the APIs but we stayed for the clean code, robust systems architecture and deep knowledge of Laravel conventions. Steve made our code faster, more stable and easier to maintain ourselves in the future.”
Peter Thomson
Chief Technology Officer, Icehouse Ventures
“Steve was fantastic to work with. His deep understanding of Laravel, both technically and culturally, made him the perfect person to collaborate with.”
Phil Leggetter
Head of DevRel, Hookdeck
“Steve’s enthusiasm and positive attitude makes his educational content super easy to digest and makes learning new tools and languages really fun.”
Sam Carré
Head of Engineering, Plannr CRM
“Steve is one of my favourite people. He has a huge passion for teaching developers about APIs and good coding practices.”
Stephen Rees-Carter
Friendly Hacker, Valorin Security
“Steve brings knowledge and passion to the community, with easy to follow content that adds real value to any company that uses him.”
Steven Tey
Founder, Dub.co
Get in touch
Whether you want to talk APIs, discuss a project, or have me speak at your event — I'm always happy to hear from developers and teams doing interesting work.