About

Technical Director, educator, and API consultant. Based in Wales, UK.

I help SaaS teams fix slow, unreliable APIs without rewriting everything. My work sits at the intersection of API quality, architecture, and delivery -- the decisions that determine whether a team ships with confidence or spends half its time firefighting.

I have been building software professionally for over 15 years, with the last several focused on PHP, Laravel, and API systems at scale. I am a PHP-FIG Core Committee member, have delivered 30+ talks and workshops internationally, and have reached over 50,000 developers through writing, talks, and technical education.

Before software, I served in the Royal Tank Regiment from 2007 to 2011. That background shapes how I work: systematic diagnosis, calm under pressure, and a strong preference for durable solutions over short-term fixes.

My consulting approach runs in three stages: diagnose the actual failure points, stabilise the riskiest bottlenecks first, then scale by leaving behind patterns and habits the team can own without me.

15+ years building and leading software teams
50K+ developers reached through writing and talks
30+ talks and workshops delivered internationally

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Jack Ellis Founder @ Fathom Analytics

"Steve has a profound mastery of APIs and a public-serving teaching approach."

Ludovic Guénet 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 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 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 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 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 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 Steven Tey Founder @ Dub.co