About me
Hi, I'm Matt, and I am a developer living in Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦.
My coding journey began in 2021 when I needed to build a website for a new e-commerce photography business I was starting with my wife, Amy, as a side hustle. With no technical expertise in web development and no budget to hire a developer, I turned to Squarespace to get the site up and running. To jazz the site up and make it look and feel a little less "drag and drop," I bought code snippets from developers online to implement features Squarespace didn't natively support. This was my first time encountering HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—it got me thinking: maybe I could learn to code!
For the better part of six months, I immersed myself in learning HTML and CSS using online platforms like Treehouse and Codecademy. As I built projects and solved challenges, my passion for coding grew into something I knew I wanted to pursue as a career. Like many others taking their first steps into the field, I decided to enroll in a six-month coding bootcamp at the University of Toronto.
Well... I can confidently say I knocked it out of the park. I loved every minute of it. Every week, I was learning something new and seeing the results of my efforts come to life. There's nothing quite like writing lines of code and watching them transform into functional, beautiful applications. The process of turning ideas into tangible results had me completely hooked.
More on me...
Creativity has always been at the heart of what I do. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to study Audio Engineering in Byron Bay, Australia 🇦🇺, where I dove headfirst into the world of sound and music production. I spent countless hours creating electronic dance tracks and fully believed I was destined to become the next deadmau5 🤣.
Spoiler alert: my dreams of becoming an internationally touring DJ didn’t quite pan out. But that journey taught me the value of perseverance, creativity, and working towards something you’re passionate about.
Later, I found myself drawn to the cocktail renaissance. I became a cocktail bartender and was lucky enough to work in some of the best bars in the world, collaborating with renowned spirit brands and creating unique drinking experiences for guests. That chapter of my life honed my skills in attention to detail, experimentation, and connecting with people.
These days, I channel that same creativity and drive into web development. I love the process of building something from scratch and solving problems through code, blending my passion for design and functionality. Whether I’m crafting an app like Hospo Hub or experimenting with new tools like Remix and TypeScript, I’m always excited to create and learn.