Meet Wren - Our Senior Trainer / Tech Lead
As a law graduate who transitioned into computer science, Wren knows all about changing career direction. He loves to share his experiences to help guide our learners in their own careers.
Born in Shenyang, China, Wren moved to Shanghai when he was nine. In 2011 he began studying a Bachelor of Laws at Shanghai International Studies University, before moving to NZ to complete his degree at the University of Waikato in 2014. He stayed in Hamilton and graduated with a Master of Laws - LLM in 2015, then transitioned into a Graduate Diploma of Computer Science the following year, also at The University of Waikato.
These days, Wren specialises in full-stack development and test automation, as well as cybersecurity. He speaks English and Mandarin Chinese, as well as a wide range of programming languages. He is fluent in Javascript, Python and C#, and also has experience with PHP, Java, C and Bash.
Before joining Developers Institute
Wren’s career has been primarily in the cybersecurity domain, with a background in software development, maintenance, test automation and dev ops. His first work project started small, but was eventually applied by the wider company as a critical infrastructure tool to support internal usage and testing - a great career lesson in the big impact that small things can have.
Outside of work, Wren also enjoys getting stuck into fun development projects, like this arcade game he and a friend collaborated on during lockdown:
The journey of a developer is a life-long commitment with an innate drive to constantly iterate, improve and be a better self.
Outside of work, Wren enjoys gaming, as well as modelling and painting for tabletop games. Otherwise you might find him hitting the gym or tennis courts, learning new cooking techniques (he makes delicious fusion food), or chilling out with his cat - a one-year-old manx-maine-coon cross. He plays the keyboard too, and was classically trained originally, but these days he prefers jazz.
