Anna Smeaton
Web Developer
Facilitator
HTML
CSS
JS
React
PHP
Laravel
About Me
Hello and welcome to Anna Codes! I'm Anna, a web developer and former facilitator with a creative background. Born in Bonnie Scotland, I am now a proud Australian Permanent Resident and Brisbane local.
I’ve always had one foot in logic and the other in creativity. At school you'd find me diving into Physics and Maths problems during class time, and directing and facilitating at my local youth theatre after. Later, I discovered web development as the perfect middle ground: a place where puzzles, ideas, and people all meet.
How, you ask? Scroll on to see how it all unfolded.
My Journey
Assistant Workshop Facilitator
My first job (still in High School) supporting the main facilitator by helping to run workshops for the younger age groups. A relationship I kept for many years, returning in a more senior capacity in later years.
Theatre Studies Degree
4 years of deep diving into theatre history, policy and practice (directing and writing), with a year in Canada to boot!
Discovered Coding
Caught the coding 'bug' (pun intended) during lockdown. I realised how much I'd missed this type of challenge and started to consider how coding could blend my love of problem solving and creativity.
Software Development Degree
I completed a full-time MSc Software Development degree, loving the chance to formalise and broaden my coding skills. Java, Python/Django, Databases, Algorithms and Data Structures and more..
Facilitating Side Projects
Supported myself while studying with freelance facilitation projects, including successfully bidding for funding for a post-covid youth project.
Moved to Australia
After years of anticipation and a global-pandemic-induced border closure, we finally got the big move done.
Web Developer Career
Officially started working with PHP/Laravel, JS/React, MySQL and SCSS/CSS
Continuous Learning
The drive to keep learning and building is part of who I am. So here I am, creating a space to document my projects and share what I learn along the way.
Coding
I've been coding professionally since January 2023 - a whirlwind of learning, building, and problem-solving. Whether I'm turning a designer's mockups into working sites or adding new features to our Laravel vehicle platforms, there's always a new challenge.
My aim is clean, efficient backend code and intuitive frontend experiences. As a good friend and great developer told me: "always leave the code better than you found it".
Projects
Beyond Code
Where you'll find me when I'm not coding.
Brisbane Arts Theatre
Volunteer Director • Family Theatre
Directed a children's production, bringing together young performers and helping them discover the magic of storytelling on stage. This role combined my passion for nurturing young talent with the organizational and leadership skills that serve me well in tech teams.
Aerial Silks
Circus Arts • Proudly Amateur
Life is more fun upside down. For those not in the know, I describe Aerial Silks as 'the circus discipline that looks like when the cat climbs the curtains'. Much like coding, it requires patience, practice, and making sure you avoid fatal errors...