About
Learning doesn’t have to be boring.
SkillEmber was created from a simple belief: Any subject can be made engaging to learn.
Too much training still means sitting through long presentations, clicking through slide after slide, or reading pages of information and hoping some of it sticks.
I wanted to create something different — learning that gets you involved, makes you think and, most importantly, is actually enjoyable.
From building software to building people
My career started in software development, initially working freelance before moving into larger technology organisations. From there, I moved into Technical Product Ownership and eventually into leadership, managing and developing a large community of Technical Product Owners and Business Analysts.
As my roles changed, I became increasingly interested not just in solving problems myself, but in helping other people develop the skills and confidence to solve them too.
A big part of that was creating a supportive community where people could learn from each other, share their strengths and make the whole team stronger. I introduced regular learning opportunities, collaborative sessions and engaging onboarding for people joining the team.
I also wanted to make the most of the occasions when we were actually together in person. If you're going to bring a room full of people together, I think it should offer something more valuable than a presentation they could have watched from their desk.
That meant experimenting with different ways of making learning more interactive, practical and memorable.
From training rooms to escape rooms
Some of my favourite sessions became escape-room-style learning experiences.
Instead of simply being presented with information, people had to explore it, discuss it, solve problems and apply what they were learning to progress through a series of challenges.
I've run these sessions with rooms of up to 50 people, and they completely change the atmosphere of training. There's discussion, collaboration, competition and a genuine sense of achievement — especially when you finally hear that satisfying click of a lock opening after a team has worked out the answer.
More importantly, people are engaged.
I've found interactive learning particularly valuable for people who struggle to stay engaged with more traditional presentation-heavy training, including many neurodivergent learners. Rather than expecting everyone to learn by sitting and listening, it gives people something to investigate, discuss and do.
And that experience became the inspiration for SkillEmber.
Bringing the experience online
SkillEmber takes the same principles and brings them into a digital learning platform.
Rather than simply being told about a concept, you might need to investigate a scenario, uncover information, prioritise competing options, make decisions, solve puzzles or crack a code before you can move forward.
The challenges aren't there just for the sake of making things difficult. They're designed to get you actively using the ideas you're learning.
Courses can be completed individually or worked through together as a group, bringing some of the experience of those original training-room sessions into a format you can access anywhere.
Much of SkillEmber is focused on Agile, Product Ownership, Business Analysis, technical delivery and better ways of working, drawing on situations and challenges I've encountered throughout my own career.
But the underlying idea can go much further than that.
Because if something can be learned, there's probably a more interesting way to learn it.