I'm a creative, friendly nerd who loves problem-solving and making things with code. I've been using computers since childhood, but I've been a musician for most of my life, with the idea of learning to program dawning on me only gradually.

The first 'code' I learned was sheet music. From childhood, I used Finale music notation software to create compositions and arrangements for my musical pals, and I went on to study cello and arranging at Trinity College of Music.

Fast forward many years, and I had joined the Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra as a cellist. However, my arranging and computer skills meant I was quickly promoted to staff arranger and senior librarian. The orchestra uses iPad Pros instead of printed sheet music, so my job was to manage the database of thousands of pieces, help people with their technical troubles, and create new arrangements to keep the orchestra's repertoire fresh.

Initially, I found my multifaceted job a lot to handle, but I soon got the hang of it and wanted more of a challenge. This was when I discovered music production, which I quickly became good at as I was already proficient at its two essential components: music theory and computer skills.

A few years later, I was selling many sheet music arrangements online, and my music production skills had advanced enough for me to start a freelance career and leave the army.

In the freelancing marketplaces, I discovered a lot of demand for SEO content and found a niche in writing technical articles on music production. Though I didn't realise at the time, SEO content writing was a subtle push into programming, as I learned a lot about how the internet and websites work - the stereotype of the struggling writer (think Cabaret and Breakfast at Tiffany's) just doesn't ring true in the age of SEO.

An additional push happened when I was promoting my first official music release(opens in a new tab). I had all sorts of frustrations with this. Although I was using a website builder, trying to get my website to look nice across various device sizes took a lot of work, and I couldn't integrate Spotify pre-save links and print-to-order merchandise.

My coding lightbulb finally switched on when searching for music blogs that might write an article about my new track. I found a blog with a lovely /links page on their main site instead of using (and paying extra for) a LinkTree with a different URL. I recreated this genius idea on my site using the website builder. But also, for fun, I had a go at coding one from scratch, as a single-page site like this seemed simple enough to complete.

Following a series of YouTube tutorials, I downloaded VS Code and started writing my first HTML web page. It was pretty clunky and aesthetically challenged, but I got it working - despite knowing very little about how the JavaScript sorcery worked.

I immediately knew this was something I wanted to explore further, and I wrote an entry in my Google Calendar that day to mark the occasion: 'Saturday 4 November 2023: Started learning to code'.

I then became more systematic in my studies, completing Dave Gray's YouTube courses in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I was surprised to learn that coding could be so creative and satisfying - addictive, even - and decided that I wanted to do it as a career.

I then sold my flat so I could stop all my freelance work and study web development full-time.