A Reflection on Perth

I’ve lived in Perth for just over three years and on this coming Monday I’ll be moving back to my original home of Melbourne, Victoria, and to join my girlfriend (who moved a few weeks earlier for work). It’s been an amazing experience living in one of the most isolated capital cities in the world, and one I will not forget.

Location and Career Change

Before I moved to Perth I was working as a Mac technician and SME consultant. I’d done web development on and off since 2005 but it was always as a side project and just a bit of fun. I had no intention of continuing to be a technician/SME consultant in Perth so a career change was in order. I’ve done web development as a hobby for a long time, so why not make a career out of it.

Sometimes turning a hobby into a job can take all the fun out of it. I love going to the gym and keeping fit, but I know I would never want to become a personal trainer, let alone work in a gym. Thankfully turning web development from a hobby into a career did not meet that unfortunate demise.

Web Developer, Officially!

My first job was handling the entire development process where I worked with some amazing talent in Perth. Henry Luong, Daniel Elliot, and Ryan Vincent were all really clever designers and it was a great experience to try and turn their designs into a reality. I knew that I was definitely on the right path, but I found I enjoyed more of the backend process. Dealing with browser quirks for the frontend frustrated me. I knew that I’d prefer to handle the backend side of things, and a year later got the opportunity of a lifetime to work at Humaan.

My last day at Humaan was yesterday but I was there for just under two years. Working with the team there has been an incredible experience and I’ve had the pleasure of working on some really cool projects, one of which is easily the biggest project I’ve ever got to work on. The team at Humaan are amazing and I feel truly honoured to have worked with them all for two years. It was easily the best job I’ve ever had. You know it’s a great job when you’re excited to go to work every day.

I’ve made some lifelong friends at Humaan and while it pains me to leave such an experienced team, it’s time to move on back home.

The Perth Web Community

When I moved to Perth and trying to immerse myself into the web scene I found a group on meetup.com called Front End Web Developers Perth (or just Fenders for short). There I met some really amazing people and learnt a tremendous amount of things!

The leader of the group, Mandy Michael (who I can neither confirm nor deny is also Batmandy) deserves special recognition. She built up a community that is super friendly, helpful, and supportive. Mandy gave me opportunities where I got to do a number of presentations, run a workshop, and be a judge for a competition. I am forever thankful to Mandy for those opportunities. I honestly believe the Perth web development community wouldn’t be the same without Mandy’s incredibly hard work and commitment to setting up the group, organising events, and just generally being an all-round superstar. Three cheers to Mandy!

Patima Tantiprasut also deserves a special mention, her infectious energy and personality drives Localhost. I honestly have no idea how Patima manages to do so many things but also remain the most energetic person I’ve ever met. Thank you Pats, you’re awesome!

Melbourne Bound

As I write this it’s Saturday evening. On Monday I fly back to Melbourne and start the next chapter of my life. I’ve got a gig as a developer for a small boutique development agency where I’ll be doing more PHP , Vue.js and probably some Golang! I’m super excited to see what comes next.