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| |   | | |  \| | |/ __| |/ /
| |___| | | |\  | | (__|   < 
|_____|_|_|_| \_|_|\___|_|\_\.

Welcome to my digital bothy. A simple shelter for thoughts, stories, and reflections. A place to rest and regroup before the next expedition. LilNick is back, rooted in the past, exploring anew.

Q: What is printed on the bottom of beer bottles in Minnesota? A: Open other end.

About Me: Nicholas Llewellyn

I am a Solutions Architect at Pixitmedia by DataCore, specializing in enterprise storage for the media and entertainment industry. Based in my home country of Wales, I blend over two decades of IT experience with a deep background in adventure tourism and outdoor leadership. My journey has been one of exploration, both in technology and the physical world.

Whether I'm architecting a petabyte-scale storage solution, navigating a mountain trail, or simply adding a log to this bothy, my approach is rooted in curiosity, a desire to solve meaningful problems, and a commitment to lifelong learning.

A memory from the school pitch: Growing up in Wales, I was one of the smallest players on the rugby team. To compensate, I’d launch myself shoulder-first at oncoming players. I remember one tackle against a behemoth where I ended up dazed, face pressed into the icy mud by his buttocks, but the congratulations made it worthwhile. The aggressive nature of the sport never quite suited me, but now, in a peculiar full circle, I help architect the storage infrastructure that manages the digital assets of Welsh rugby's future.

On problem-solving: A colleague once described my approach to a product by saying, "if it were a car, Nick would be just about taking an angle grinder to the back seats and starting to question whether the spoiler's worth it." This is probably fair. I believe in removing unnecessary complexity to get to the core of an issue.

On broken systems: I recently stumbled upon a job advert that included the rejection letter in the job description itself. It was a perfect, accidental metaphor for the absurdity of modern hiring. It got me thinking about how we often optimise the humanity out of our processes, a topic I explore a bit more in this reflection on rejection by design.

Interests & Pursuits

Building & Exploring: My fiancée and I built our campervan, "MewMew," from a bare-panelled van, fitting it with everything needed for a two-year, 11-country expedition across Europe. That journey was filled with misadventures, like getting the van thoroughly stuck on a steep beach road in Croatia as night fell. It taught me a lot about the practical limits of technology and the joy of solving real-world, physical problems.

The Outdoors: I'm a qualified Mountain Leader and find peace and challenge in the wild. I'm involved with the Mountain Leader Training Association, The British Mountaineering Council, and the Mountain Bothies Association. Whether it's hiking, climbing, or just appreciating the resilience of nature, the outdoors is my reset button.

Early Tech Culture: My fascination with technology didn't start in an office. It started with CB radios, punch-down tools, and a curiosity for the burgeoning worlds of security and phreaking. That early interest in how systems work—and where their vulnerabilities lie—still fuels my approach to building resilient systems today.

A note on old curiosities: A recent discovery of a tool that brought some of that old-school knowledge into a modern wrapper sparked some thoughts on the spirit of the old internet and the responsibilities that come with it. You can read those reflections on Google Dorking here.

Medieval Re-enactment: I also find joy in stepping back in time through medieval history re-enactment. It’s a fascinating intersection of craft, community, and history that offers a different kind of problem-solving.

Weather in Cardiff

Weather report: Cardiff

       .-.      Light rain
      (   ).    +7(5) °C       
     (___(__)   ↙ 13 km/h      
      ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘   5 km           
     ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘    2.4 mm

On being thorough: I once hit the character limit for notes on a support ticket in Freshdesk.

A note on work that matters: During the Gulf War, one of my brothers was on the front line in a tank, and we lost communication for a harrowing period. Today, The Frontline Club, an organisation for war journalists, uses the storage solutions I helped develop to archive their sensitive footage. There is a deep, personal pride in knowing my work helps protect the spirit of truth-seeking.

About This Site's Design

This site is intentionally simple, a statement against a web that often feels hostile to the user. I believe in a direct, content-first approach, inspired by early personal websites. This philosophy is a reaction against intrusive trends like unsolicited autoplaying videos with sound—a practice that prioritizes engagement metrics over a respectful user experience. This site loads instantly, focuses on the words, and is built to last, free from the churn of modern web development.