Andy has a first class BSc honours degree in Psychology from the University of Sheffield in 1991, where he gained a particular interest in cognitive science, neuro-linguistic programming, the economics of human action, and artificial intelligence, basing his work mainly upon neural networks written with the C programming language. Using this knowledge, Andy later developed a varied consultancy career specialising in finance-based information technology, particularly in the field of derivatives pricing and trading systems, with long-term investment banking clients such as UBS and JP Morgan, particularly with the C++ and Java programming languages.