// speaking
Need a speaker?
James has 15 years in tech, 10 years doing standup and improv, and 20 years performing music. Comfortable on stage talking about anything from MCP servers to self-hosted infrastructure to why your deployment pipeline is a comedy of errors.
Conferences, meetups, panels, workshops, company all-hands, podcasts - whatever the format, wherever the stage. Dual British-Irish citizen, so travel is never an issue.
Request to speak at your event ›
// talk topics
What I can talk about.
Own the stack
What happens when one person runs the app code, the servers, the database, the CDN, the DNS, the SSL, and the monitoring. No handoffs, no gaps, no excuses.
AI as leverage, not theatre
MCP servers, agent workflows, self-hosted LLMs, and the boring infrastructure that makes AI actually useful. Practical lessons from shipping real AI tooling.
Self-hosted and privacy-first
Running your own stack on metal you control. Cost-effective alternatives to SaaS, local inference, and why privacy-first is a competitive advantage.
Building in the open
Shipping open-source tools, maintaining them, and the ecosystem around MCP and AI agent interoperability.
The indie tech operator
Running a solo consultancy, building a product business on the side, and the infrastructure decisions that keep both alive.
Where code meets stage
James performs as Box of Rules - drums, bass and vocals from a single bass guitar, Royal Blood style, powered by Max/MSP and custom signal chains. 20 years of live performance teaches you things about shipping software that no tutorial ever will.
These are starting points - I'm happy to collaborate with your event to build a bespoke presentation around your audience and theme.
// get a quote
Book a talk.
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