Andy Brace
I'm a developer who helps research and design-led teams take an idea through to something live that works for everyone.
Get in touchHow I can help
I've worked as a full-stack developer for over 20 years. These days that's mostly TypeScript: web apps in React, Next.js, Svelte and SvelteKit, mobile apps in React Native, and infrastructure as code on AWS and Azure. If something else suits a project better, I'm happy to learn it.
You'll know your subject and your users better than I do. I can get up to speed with both quickly, and with any new tools the project needs. Then I can help you take an idea from a first prototype to something live that's fast, accessible and properly tested.
What I bring
- Discovery: working out what to build. Questioning the brief, helping you understand who it's for and what they need, and finding the riskiest assumptions early, both technical and user.
- The right architecture and tools. Choosing technology that fits the job and your budget. Sometimes that's a full AWS stack, sometimes it's a free static site.
- Structured, prioritised delivery. Spotting what matters most, estimating honestly, and getting it built for when you need it.
- Learning as we build. Quick research, fast prototypes that can be tested with real users, and agile ways of working. Feeding what we learn back in, so each release makes the picture clearer for the business.
- Built for everyone. Performance, accessibility (WCAG 2.2) and testing, functional and non-functional.
- Working across the team. Explaining technical decisions in plain terms, and bringing your developers along with me.
- Faster with AI, checked by me. I use AI across all of this, from research and prototypes to building and testing, and I check everything it produces.
How I work with AI
I've built with AI for about 18 months, including in production. I know where it's strong and where it needs checking. I'm specific about what I ask it to do, and I check what comes back. I keep it safe: secrets and client data out of reach, agents limited in what they can do and run in containers, automated security and standards checks on their output, and your own AI policy followed. Using AI like this helps me deliver faster.
Where I do my best work
Charities, research, climate and energy interest me most. They're where user research, user-centred design and product thinking help a project most.