# Jessica Smith

> Jessica Smith — Gamer, Geek, Software Engineer

Jessica Smith (mintopia) — Gamer / Geek / Software Engineer

I build things, break things, and sometimes talk about it. You can usually find me at a LAN party or conference; and when I'm not doing that, I'm normally at home with my cats.

## Links

- GitHub: https://github.com/mintopia
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mintopia.net
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicasmithuk/
- Email: jess@mintopia.net

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## About


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## Blog Posts

### So. How are you holding up?
- URL: /blog/so-how-are-you-holding-up/
- Date: 2026-04-10
- Tags: website, personal, update
- Summary: Another post promising that I'll be blogging more regularly. Will I actually do it this time? Who knows!


### It's been a long time. How have you been?
- URL: /blog/its-been-a-long-time-how-have-you-been/
- Date: 2025-05-27
- Tags: personal, website, update
- Summary: A catch-up after a long silence — new job, new cats, an ADHD diagnosis, a PHP bugfix 16 years in the making, and more.



## Articles

### A cat named Pixel
- URL: /articles/a-cat-named-pixel/
- Date: 2022-07-18
- Tags: personal, pixel, cats
- Summary: Remembering Pixel — a floofy companion through lockdown, and the hole he left behind.



## Projects

### LanCache
- URL: /projects/lancache/
- Tags: gaming, lancache, opensource, docker, lanparty
- Summary: Saving bandwidth and improving download speeds for LAN parties with a local caching proxy for game updates
- Repository: https://github.com/lancachenet



### Control
- URL: /projects/control/
- Tags: lanparty, php
- Summary: A seat picker and seating manager for LAN parties. Built in Laravel and PHP.
- Repository: https://github.com/mintopia/control



### Music Party
- URL: /projects/musicparty/
- Tags: lanparty, php, spotify
- Summary: A communal music request system for parties. Like Spotify's jam mode, but with moderation and voting. Teaching people why democracy is bad through the medium of music.
- Repository: https://github.com/mintopia/musicparty




## Talks

### Packets, Protocols and PHP: Networking Fundamentals for Developers
- URL: /talks/networking-fundamentals/
- Tags: php, networking, beginner
- Summary: A practical introduction to networking concepts for developers, covering everything from TCP/IP to HTTP, DNS, and BGP.

- Appearances:
  - Dutch PHP Conference 2026 (2026-03-13)
  - PHP Thames Valley (2026-01-23)
  - PHP UK Conference 2026 (2026-02-20) — Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-sYEwWdBrM



### Observing your PHP application with OpenTelemetry
- URL: /talks/php-opentelemetry/
- Tags: php, observability, devops
- Summary: Want to add OpenTelemetry to your PHP application, but don't know where to start? Here. Start Here.

- Appearances:
  - PHP South West (2025-07-09) — Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1V567BeBsk