I help SaaS teams fix slow, unreliable APIs without rewriting everything.
Better performance, fewer incidents, faster delivery. Practical API diagnosis, stabilisation, and technical decision-making for teams that cannot afford to stop.
Your API is probably slowing the team down in more ways than one.
Latency spikes, brittle integrations, inconsistent behaviour across environments. These problems compound fast. The team stops trusting the system, debugging slows, and confidence in releases quietly erodes. I work with SaaS teams to find the actual failure points, fix the riskiest ones first, and leave behind standards the team can own long after I am gone.
Why teams trust me
years solving hard software problems
From systems under real operational pressure to leading engineering teams through complex delivery.
developers reached through writing and education
Authority built through practical articles, conference talks, and hands-on delivery.
talks and workshops delivered internationally
Helping teams make better decisions around APIs, architecture, and engineering enablement.
Your API is probably slowing the team down in more ways than one.
An unreliable platform does not just create technical debt. It erodes engineer confidence, stalls product work, and turns delivery into a cycle of caution and context switching.
You are firefighting instead of building
Latency spikes, brittle integrations, and unclear ownership keep pulling engineers back into incident mode.
The team has stopped trusting the system
Every release feels risky because API behaviour is inconsistent, debugging takes too long, and root causes stay murky.
A rewrite feels bigger than the problem
You know the platform needs work, but replacing everything would cost more time than you have.
How I work
An API Stability Framework built around diagnose, stabilise, and scale.
No consulting theatre. Get clear on what is actually broken, fix the highest-leverage issues first, and leave the team with better habits than it started with.
Diagnose
Find the hotspots, instrumentation gaps, and reliability failures that are actually costing you time.
Stabilise
Fix the riskiest endpoints, contracts, and bottlenecks first so the team can get back to building.
Scale
Leave behind patterns, guardrails, and decision-making habits the team can keep using without me.
Trusted by teams
"Steve is one of the most thorough and thoughtful educators I've seen. He puts in a ton of effort and it clearly shows."
Aaron Francis
Founder, Try Hard Studios
"Steve is the teacher you wish you had in school. He’s informative, entertaining, and passionate about what he does. I’m always excited to see more of Steve’s content!"
Alex Six
Senior Software Engineer, Zillow
"To me, there's one word that comes to mind: 'passion'. There are only a handful of people with the same passion for programming as Steve."
Brent Roose
Developer Advocate, JetBrains
"Steve is a great developer with a wealth of knowledge that has contributed to many projects we have. His passion for API means we benefit from his aim for the best."
Chris Miller
Team Lead, PHP Architect
Three ways to work together
Without the bloated consulting package.
API Audit
A focused investigation into the performance, reliability, and design issues slowing your team down.
A clear action plan, prioritised fixes, and a faster route to stability.
Performance and Reliability Fixes
Hands-on work to remove bottlenecks, cut avoidable incidents, and make delivery feel less stressful.
Real improvements without a costly rewrite.
Ongoing Advisory
Strategic technical support for engineering leaders and senior engineers making hard API and architecture calls.
Sharper decisions, stronger standards, and a trusted outside perspective.
Ready to stop losing time to API instability?
Send a bit of context on the team, the symptoms, and what good looks like. I will tell you whether an audit, a fix sprint, or ongoing advisory is the right next step.