Wayne
Interesting Shortcuts, The Job Market & A New Website On The Way
We started the month with our Mam Tor charity walk as part of Twilo’s 10th anniversary celebrations. In true Twilo style, it wasn’t straightforward! With one eye on the pub we decided to take a ‘short-cut’ which resulted in climbing over and crawling under barbed wire fencing, falling over, getting very mucky and trespassing through farmer’s fields. We don’t think anybody saw us, but there were one or two hairy encounters with rams which could have ended badly!
Back to work and it’s been an interesting month of recruiting for a Senior Designer following Aleena sadly leaving us to take up a fully remote role earlier in the month. The job market is currently in the employer’s favour as we’ve received a flood of applications, many from people hit by redundancies. It feels like 2008’s recession all over again. According to the Office for National Statistics, 110,000 redundancies were made between January and March 2025. This is a year-on-year increase of 21,000, while vacancies fell by 15% year on year. The peak quarter in 2008 saw 180,000 redundancies, but 2025 is seeing a much steeper quarterly rise. I only hope the peak falls short of those 2008 levels, but businesses are responding by putting growth plans on hold, as reflected in the lack of vacancies.
Credit: economicsobservatory.com
We (finally) wrapped up Twilo’s new website design and we’ve started development. I must have mentioned Twilo’s new website in my monthly updates a dozen times over the past couple of years. We’ve been so busy with client work we’ve had to put it off, but a reorganisation of the company has created time and we’re now well on with development, alongside a new version (V5) of Grilla, which is our own front-end framework. I’ve enjoyed seeing what Reece has done with Grilla 5.0, including more streamlined JavaScript, and a focus on even faster page load speeds.
Andrew
Unique Systems, Gardening & Relaxation
May has been a great month for Twilo. We have cleared much of our older tasks and wrapped up some great projects. We also had the opportunity to work on some more unique systems, one of which that was built a long time ago in vanilla PHP and JavaScript. While being a good challenge, it was refreshing to work on more modern systems once again.
We have been working hard this year to build on our team culture and the way we work to make us more efficient on what we output. This has included more frequent team gatherings and changes to the way we plan projects. I have had the pleasure of witnessing how much progress we have made since January and with projects going smoother, I am looking forward to the future challenges that wait for us.
We have a couple of new projects on the horizon that I am excited for. One of these is for a restaurant chain. I’ve been on annual leave this month and it is good to come back to some fresh projects.
As mentioned, I had some time off in May. This started with finally tending to our garden since we purchased the house back in September. Our back garden is more bushes than it is grass and so when summer rolled around, it quickly became a jungle.
We had a little move around in the house as well. We decided we wanted some good VR space and moved our desks into the main room and moved the sofa and dining table into the conservatory which makes for a cozier lounging area. This also gives us an extra bedroom for guests who may stay over.
Following on, we visited our friends from Nuneaton and travelled down to Devon for a few days away. This was great for some relaxation where we just lounged about and enjoyed the local scenery. The rest of the time was spent catching up with friends and family as well as visiting different events. We had a quick visit to the UK Games Expo at the NEC which happens every May bank holiday. We normally just have a quick look as it is usually far too busy to stay for long.
With the holiday now over, it’s onwards to June.
Vadym
Hiking Boots, Big Projects, and What’s Next
May 2025 has been one of those months that makes you pause, smile, and feel grateful—for the work, the people, and the moments in between.
On one hand, I’ve been lucky to work on some amazing projects that are making a real difference globally. These are the kind of projects that remind me why I love what I do—helping deliver services that people rely on, all around the world.
And the best part? There’s more to come. New and exciting projects are just around the corner in June, and I can’t wait to dive in.
One of my personal highlights this month was taking part in a charity walk with my team in the beautiful Peak District National Park.
We laced up our boots, grabbed our backpacks, and set out on a trail that took us up Mam Tor, through lush valleys, and across windy ridges. The views were absolutely worth the effort—and so was the cause.
It was such a cool experience—fresh air, beautiful views, and lots of laughs along the way.
Looking Ahead
As I wrap up this month, I’m feeling refreshed and recharged—ready for whatever June brings. I’ve got a few new projects kicking off next month that I’m genuinely excited about, and I’m looking forward to continuing to do work that matters.
Matt
Charity Walk, Food Festivals & A New PB
This month has been another great month at Twilo. This month I’ve been diving into client KPI’s and building a road map on how we’re going to smash these KPI’s and I’m really looking forward to working hard and delivering for clients.
I also virtually attended the Google Marketing Live event; it was very informative about what is coming in the future for Google Ads. I learned a lot and I can’t wait for the launch of some new features and apply them to our existing campaigns.
At the beginning on this month, we raised £2,385 for five local charities when we walked Mam Tor. It was a great day out with the team, and we all had a lot of fun! I also got to enjoy this massive burger! Which was a worthy post walk treat. Thank you to everyone that donated, your donations mean so much and will help the five charities so much! It’s still possible to donate if you click here. Any donation is greatly appreciated.
This month I’ve kept up with my park runs and I’ve been loving them. I got a new PB of 21:48, which I’m over the moon with. Now it’s time to focus on hitting 5k in 20 mins.
I also went to the Northern Food Festival at Roundhay Park with my friends and dog. It was the perfect day out lots of sun, lots of food and just a very chilled out vibe. We’ll definitely be going again next year.
I also went to the cinema this month to see the new Mission Impossible and The Phoenician Scheme. Both were brilliant films in different ways. When seeing The Phoenician Scheme I went to Hyde Park Picture House for the first time, which was such an interesting way to see a film. As it’s an independent cinema it had all the comfort and relaxation of being at home.
Reece
Fun Rebuilds, Woodland Detours & Greek Culture
May has been a busy but satisfying month. We wrapped up the finance website project, which felt like a big milestone. It’s been great seeing it all come together, from building everything custom in WordPress using our in-house Grilla framework to styling and structuring everything. The client’s been really happy with how it turned out, which always makes it worth it.
With that done, I’ve jumped straight into working on the next version of our Grilla framework. It’s early days, but we’re already building out some new components and features that will make it even more flexible and powerful. It’s been really fun getting stuck into the rebuild, modernising bits, and making sure it’s even easier to use going forward.
On top of that, we’ve officially kicked off the new Twilo website, which is really exciting. It’s one of those rare projects where there’s loads of freedom to push things creatively and technically, and I’m excited to see where we take it.
May started with a bang, literally up Mam Tor. We did a charity walk to raise money, and managed to hit £2,385, which is incredible. The walk itself was amazing, the views were spot on, really scenic. Although we did manage to take a wrong turn on the way back and ended up detouring through some very questionable woodland. Still, it added to the adventure and we all had a laugh about it.
Mid-month I got chance to properly switch off with a 7-day trip to Athens. It was the perfect way to wind down. The city’s full of history and character, and I made a real effort to slow down, take it all in, and enjoy the culture. The highlight was definitely seeing the Acropolis and Parthenon in person, photos really don’t do them justice. I even ended up at a rooftop theatre one evening, watching a live show with the Acropolis lit up in the background. That was one of those moments you know you’ll remember for years.
