David Allewell, Commerce Platform Engineer in Hosting

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. From keeping critical infrastructure running smoothly to helping clients work through tricky technical challenges, our team works behind the scenes to keep platforms secure, reliable, and ready to scale.

This time, we sat down with David Allewell, Commerce Platform Engineer, to chat about how he landed in web hosting, what his day-to-day actually looks like, and where he thinks the industry is heading next.

About David

So, tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Nublue.

I'm David, and I work as a Commerce Platform Engineer across Nublue and CTI. Basically, I spend my days keeping our hosting infrastructure running well and looking for ways to make it better, especially on the commerce side of things. That means a lot of supporting deployments, fixing technical issues, and rolling out improvements that make life easier for both our developers and clients.

How did you end up in hosting? Was it always the plan?

Honestly, not at all! The job listing I applied for was actually wrong, so I turned up expecting to become a developer. Funny how things work out, because I ended up on the Hosting Support team instead, and I'm hugely proud to be part of it. The work can be tough, but the guys are always ready to help at the drop of a hat, and that kind of support around you makes all the difference.

What did you do before joining Nublue, and what made you want to make the move?

Nublue was actually my first role straight out of university, where I studied Maths. I'd wanted to take Computer Science as a minor, but it was oversubscribed that year! I've always had an interest in development and web design though, I even built my own mock website for a GCSE coursework project, so when the graduate role at Nublue came up, it felt like a natural fit.

David's role at Nublue

What does a typical week look like for you?

Truthfully, there's no such thing as "typical" in this job, and that's part of the appeal. Most of it boils down to problem-solving, and it's all very "Try this, did it work? No? Try something else!" A lot of my time goes on new tickets, either sorting them to the right people or stepping in to fix client issues myself. The rest is internal improvements, because new bugs and vulnerabilities crop up every day. It keeps you on your toes.

What kind of problems do clients usually bring to you?

Nine times out of ten, it starts with "my website's showing an error." Sounds straightforward, but the cause behind it can be almost anything. The satisfying part isn't just fixing it, it's figuring out why it happened in the first place, so it doesn't keep coming back.

What's your favourite part of the job?

Automation, hands down. So much of infrastructure work is repetitive by nature, and if you can automate it, you free up time for the stuff that's actually interesting, the problems that need real thought rather than routine admin.

David's take on the industry

What's the biggest shift you've noticed in hosting recently?

AI-driven traffic and bots, without question. The kind of traffic hitting our sites has changed massively over the last five years or so. It used to be that an attack came from one IP, or a small range. Now it's waves of AI-driven botnet traffic instead. DDoS attacks are far more common than they used to be. That's made WAF tools like Cloudflare, who we partner with, a real necessity rather than a luxury.

Is there anything you wish clients understood better about hosting?

It's the classic IT department thing, when everything works, no one wants to know you, and when something breaks, everyone wants to know why they pay us! But there's a surprising amount going on in the background. Security patching, improving our deployment processes, performance testing the latest hardware and software, to name a few. I'd say at least half of what I do goes completely unseen by clients.

What does great look like in your field, and how do you know when you've nailed it?

Client feedback always matters, good or bad. Hosting tends to sit in the background while development gets the attention, more so now that AI can write new code in minutes. But fixing a problem that's been around for ages, with a neat solution that doesn't disrupt the client at all? That's the best feeling in this job.

What's one thing Nublue does differently that genuinely sets you apart?

The support, hands down. I'm not in day-to-day support much these days, but it's still something I'm proud of. You email us and get straight through to someone who knows their stuff and is easy to deal with. And it's usually the same person with you from start to finish. That's really hard to find anywhere else.

A bit more about David

When you're not at work, what are you into?

When I'm not behind a laptop, you'll usually find me at a pool table. I play at all sorts of levels, from pub league right up to county level for Lancashire. I also run an individuals league that's hit 100 players this year! Outside of that, I'm usually reading, hunting for new games on Steam, or chasing down gig tickets.

If you had to describe Nublue in three words, what would they be?

Ooh, tough one! I'd have to go with dependable, responsive, and real.

We do what we say we'll do, we're quick to respond when you need us, and there's no corporate nonsense, you're always dealing with real people.