Here’s the bit about why we exist:

Hywel has led a wide range of dev teams for the past decade (including two VC-backed start-ups), and is a published curriculum author. He wrote his first program in C aged 9, and is currently building an 8-bit computer. He also plays saxophone for a funk band.

Dave has managed data and software teams and projects for the last decade, for the Ferrari F1 team, and in edtech startups. When he’s not indulging a lifelong obsession with jazz piano, he’s also learning how to raise two small humans.

Hayley has been the first commercial/marketing lead for 2 edtech start-ups, after running her own professional training company for 7 years. In her spare time, she's currently teaching herself pottery, oil painting and maths.

Channon has been working in Education Technology for over 10 years, during which time he has built the commercial teams for 4 start-up / scale-up organisations. Fun facts about Channon include: he currently lives in Hong Kong, he once played Simba in the Lion King in the West End and he’s a keen but lapsed musician (pianist, saxophonist).

Marco went from a full stack developer in a small company to CTO of one of the most successful Italian scale-ups. A champion of remote work before it was cool, Marco specialises in building high-performing distributed organisations. In his spare time, Marco is a wine sommelier and enjoys playing ukelele to his daughter.

Emily gets a kick out of scaling businesses that embed their values into everything that they do. She enjoys nothing more than working with scale-up founders to unlock the potential of their business by creating workplaces that enable everyone to do their best. Outside of work she is committed to getting better at photography, 70s female vocalists and dramas starring Elisabeth Moss.

Giustina fell into the world of tech over a decade ago as the first employee of the CoderDojo Foundation. From these beginnings, and the experience of leading the merger with Raspberry Pi Foundation, Giustina discovered her love for building teams, processes and all forms of efficiency. Giustina’s spare time is mainly spent chasing her two young boys, but when she gets an opportunity, she’s trying to re-learn how to do unaided chin-ups.

Fred has led tech teams for 15 years, including as ‘Chief Wizard’ (!) at Texperts, and CTO at Dressipi. An open source contributor, Fred was named ‘Ruby Hero’ in 2012. When he isn't running half marathons, Fred enjoys wind turbines and hanging out with his cat, Elrond.

Heather began her career as a chemistry teacher, and moved into software engineering in 2018 with the help of the lovely folks at Makers Academy. In her spare time, she is creating her own garden paradise and loves reading about theology.

Henry took an unusual journey into tech - a philosophy teacher at Oxford, he began researching digital humanities and developing online software for teaching coding. He then moved into freelancing as a developer. In Skiller Whale, he's finally able to combine his love of teaching with coding. Despite living in Barcelona, Henry contends that he is and always will be a Londoner.

Matt co-founded Bytemark, an internet company that was briefly popular with British nerds. He's a treasurer at One Tenth Human, a theatre company that makes science-inspired shows for kids, and likes to use his children to practice weightlifting.

Allie grew up in Oregon but now is firmly rooted in the English countryside of Sussex. Following her Masters at Edinburgh and her MBA, Allie has been a devoted member of the London start-up scene. She applies her start-up skills to her home life: raising two young kids and (pretending to) train a dog. In her very minimal spare time you’ll find her boxing or baking.

Piyush co-founded a media start-up aged 19 - a positive newspaper called The Optimist Citizen - and was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List. In his spare time, you’ll find Piyush playing piano or learning magic tricks.

Sam has been in software development since 2015, working in Healthcare and SmartEnergy tech before joining the Skiller Whale pod. An avid singer and a new(ish) parent, Sam’s many hobbies have coalesced into teaching his toddler sea shanties.

Traiko started out as a full-stack software engineer for a social media network, before shifting to ML/Data Science. During his PhD in Robotics and Machine Learning, he took an interest in teaching which led him to Skiller Whale. When he’s not working on our Python / ML curriculum, Traiko can be found nurturing his lifelong obsession with martial arts.

Meri is a published author, international speaker and experienced technology leader. Currently CTO at Pleo, she has led teams in Procter & Gamble, the Government Digital Service and Monzo, amongst others. A published author and international speaker, she is the chair of The Lead Developer conference which now runs in many cities across the world including London, New York, San Francisco and Berlin. 

Meri and her wife Elly sponsor scholarships to help more girls start STEM careers in her hometown of Stellenbosch, South Africa. In her spare time she enjoys building complex Lego, board & video gaming, snorkelling and underwater photography.