Hey folks! So far we've introduced LukeH and Thomas from the Tech team, with one more coming later this month, but today we've got Alex Price.

You can check out the rest of the team posts here.

What is your role at Just About?

CTO - Chief Technology Officer. It's a fancy way of saying 'Head of Tech'. I'm part of the leadership team and line-manage our engineers, as well as our Head of Product. Together we build the platform you're using now!

Why did you join JA, and where did you work before?

I loved that the JA mission was one of global scale, and that the road to that scale would throw up lots of hands-on technology challenges. My first conversations with Rupert were full of talk of managing on-platform finance, various app integrations, bots, and much more, much wilder stuff. Suffice to say: it was clear that the web platform was just the beginning, and that got me fired up.

Before joining JA I was the CTO of a start-up I co-founded called Ecologi, where our mission was to make reducing and offsetting carbon emissions effortless and rewarding. I was there for over four years and when I left we'd helped businesses and individuals fund the planting of over 50 million trees and avoid over 2 million tonnes of CO2.

How did you get started in this industry?

I've been writing code since I was 14 and have always had an affinity with the web. I love the flavour of creativity and problem solving that comes with software engineering, and still get a buzz when I hit 'save' and see the changes I expected pop up on the screen. Through the growth of Ecologi I got more and more into the leadership side of engineering, and now a significant portion of my enjoyment comes from seeing my team thrive.

Non-work quick-fire round

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

An architect, which on reflection doesn't seem very imaginative as childhood dreams go! I think I liked the idea of technical drawing and designing cool spaces; I was, and still am, quite a fan of the Legos.

Share a hobby you currently have.

Fun fact: I live on a houseboat on the river Thames in the UK, so lots of my 'hobby' time is spent doing odd jobs around the boat and keeping her shipshape. I'm also a massive speciality coffee nerd so I spend far too much time each day faffing with my V60. I love hiking, e-biking, yoga, acroyoga, and generally all things fitness. A few years ago I got into skydiving and this year I plan to learn to paraglide 🪂