Hey, I'm Dan đź‘‹
Father. Golf enthusiast. Laravel advocate. Welshman. Co-Founder of Jump24. And someone who genuinely gets excited about PHP updates (yes, we exist).
I've been writing code since secondary school, and somehow turned that teenage hobby into running one of the UK's most respected Laravel agencies.
I'm not trying to be a LinkedIn “thought leader.” I'm just a developer who’s learned a lot by breaking things, fixing them, and hoping to save you the trouble.
What I'm Up To These Days
You'll find me writing about Laravel and PHP – whether it's uncovering features we've all been sleeping on (seriously, have you used Pipelines yet?) or explaining why PHP 8.5's URI extension means parse_url() has been lying to us for 20 years.I write because I enjoy it and I hope that the things I write can help other developers in the future. If I find something cool, I like to share it.
I'm also starting to do more talks, currently these are at meetups, but hopefully I'll get the chance soon to give a talk at a bigger conference when the time is right. Honestly? Public speaking terrifies me, but the Laravel community has given me so much, that standing on stage sharing what I know feels like the least I can do to give the love back.
After years of saying "I should really do YouTube," I'm finally doing it!
The Jump24 Story
I co-founded Jump24 for a couple of reasons. 1. because after settling in Birmingham, I didn’t want to relocate with the company I was at. 2. I wanted to build an agency that worked differently. You know that feeling when you're at a company and think "if I ran this place I would..."? So I went ahead and did it.
We became Laravel Partners in 2019, not because we wanted a badge, but because we genuinely believe in contributing back to the ecosystem that's given us so much.
The best part? Building a team that shares the same philosophy: "Laravel in you Language". Meaning we make Laravel work for us and for our clients even if they are not technically minded, we help them understand how Laravel can work for them. As a team we take sophisticated solutions and make them easily understood.
Why I Do This
I've made enough mistakes, discovered enough "why didn't anyone tell me this?" moments, and learned enough lessons the hard way that keeping them to myself feels selfish.
Plus, I remember being that developer googling error messages late at night and , finding that one blog post that saved my sanity. Now I get to be the person writing those posts. It's pretty cool.
The Real Me
When I'm not obsessing over code, I'm trying to work on my swing (current mission: breaking 90 consistently). I'm a dad, which means I've mastered the art of debugging code while holding the little one. Bridgend born, Birmingham based, and still can't decide which city has better curry (only kidding).
I believe the best code is written to good music (currently into lo-fi hip hop and deep house music)and that PHP doesn't deserve the hate it gets.The Laravel community is genuinely the friendliest corner of the internet and that translates at in person events too.
Let's Connect
I love meeting fellow developers. Whether you want to:
- Collaborate with Jump24
- Chat about that weird Laravel behaviour you discovered
- Debate whether repository patterns are worth it
- Share your own PHP horror stories
- Tell me about your golf handicap (misery loves company)
- Book me for a conference talk (I promise to bring energy and practical examples)
Drop me a message on Twitter or catch me at the next Laravel meetup. I respond to everyone – even if it's just to admit I don't know the answer (yet).
New content drops every week: Follow the blog for weekly deep-dives, and subscribe to YouTube for the upcoming video series.