About
Ahoy hoy, my name is Charlie. I was born in Leeds and currently live in London.
The Red Hand Files is an inspiration for this blog. I'm not going to do a Q&A — it's just that I think the internet would be great if we all had our own cubby holes.
Work
I work as a software engineer at Apple.
Along the way, I went to the University of Manchester to study history. Back then, I imagined myself as a future political advisor, partly inspired by a "day in the life of a diplomat" article in The Guardian. After graduating, I volunteered in Nepal at an international development organisation, working with clever and brilliant people. Sadly, I spent a lot of this time worrying about my future job. It started as a time of wonder, but I panicked when I struggled to find any (paid) opportunities. I moved my focus from diplomat jobs to general graduate job boards.
Studying history was wonderful, but entering the job market with a degree in it was not. I settled on a job in digital marketing; it felt valid as many other graduates were doing the same thing. My STEM friends would tell me about exciting offers they were receiving for their potential as programmers. The Social Network and proud technologists had always made me think the skill was beyond me, but there's no push like the demands of the economy.
I taught myself the basics and was lucky that my new employer gave me the time to practise. After writing some terrible JavaScript that scraped my emails and unreliably automated my team's reporting, I began to see myself as a software engineer. But the companies I applied to did not. Around this time, I was hit by a car while cycling and received some money for the troubles. This gave me the opportunity to quit my job and attend a coding bootcamp. There, I remember discussing with a student the strangeness of being able to train for three months and instantly increase your salary beyond what your three-year degree had promised.
The main benefit of the bootcamp was that it helped me tell a story about how I could be useful. I only applied to startups as I thought it would give me the best chance to rise with the tide. I was lucky to choose Credit Kudos. It had many hard-working and talented people and was operating in a buoyant industry. I spent three years there until Apple acquired it in 2022, where I've been since.
Hobbies
I love improv and clowning; I think play is a condition for learning. I've been a keen runner throughout my adult life. And I'm learning about meditation.
I've tried my hand at writing. I wrote a short book in 2024:
