SKILLS | EDUCATION | PROJECTS | EXPERIENCE | INTERESTS
I'm a Software Engineer who used to be a biosocial anthropologist, until I became frustrated with always diagnosing the problems with the world. I want to do something that changed it.
For the last seven years I've studied a variety of disciplines, and amid my studies I've watched the world advance past its potential to improve the conditions of humanity & our planet. I feel like I inevitably found tech as an answer to this issue. To me, software represents a digital, borderless world where engineers like myself can extend real, tangible help around the world.
From March 2019, I enrolled in Makers Academy, a highly selective software development bootcamp. Through a project-based, self-directed curriculum, I have come to appreciate just how effective collaboration in a team can be. I've been fortunate enough to greatly advance existing skills such as research, as well as pick up brand new ones like creating program structures and using an AGILE process in a team. The course so far has only furthered my passion to work in an environment full of challenges that are best tackled in a supportive team with mutual interests in growth.
Tech skills : Ruby, Rails, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Xcode, PostgreSQL, Python, Flask, TDD, BDD
| Project title | Description | Project Timeframe | Technologies | Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breathe | Concerned about the worsening levels of pollution in London, my team created an iPhone app that allows a user to see real-time pollution data around London on a tactile map. In two weeks, our team of four used an effective AGILE process to learn Swift and Xcode and various dependencies, along with TDD/BDD to drive the app's development. In this project, I led a number of stand-ups and retrospectives each day to help with daily progress. | 10 days (Team of Four) | Swift , Xcode, Mapbox, SwiftyJSON, Alamofire | Travis, SwiftLint, XCTest |
| Acebook: Deployed at: hhttps://acebook-isambard.herokuapp.com/ | A clone of Facebook. In two weeks we learned Ruby on Rails and Continuous Integration & Development. We followed an AGILE process to deliver an MVP to our clients. I led a number of tasks in controller logic and deployment and helped test drive the website before production. I used my experience in research and editing to quickly and effectively debug and get my team out of sticking points across the project. | 9 days (Team of Six) | Ruby , Rails, PostgreSQL | Travis, Rspec, Capybara |
| MakersBnB | A clone of AirBnB. In four days, our team learned a new tech stack including Express.JS, Jasmine and Cypress for TDD, and PostgreSQL. As our first team engineering project, we experimented with pairing and mobbing in order to find what suited us best. Together we learned how to work in an AGILE way and make use of git branching. | 4 days (Team of Four) | Javascript, Node.js, Express.js, PostgreSQL | Jasmine, Cypress |
| Machine Learning | A Machine Learning tutorial developed by Kaggle.com. Having a passion for Machine Learning and AI, I started this project to teach myself the basics. This project attempts to train a model with data from the famous Titanic sinking to predict which categories of people were more likely to survive. In addition to the tutorial, I used various online courses (Coursera, Codecademy) to supplement my learning. | 2 weeks | Jupyter Notebook, Jupyter Lab, Python, Pandas, Seaborn, Sci-Kit Learn | Test datasets |
Both my academic career and work experience have given me the opportunity to learn a host of skills that I have picked up quickly. Despite coming from a legal background, I have had the chance to learn other social as well as biological disciplines. I have also been invited to write historical pieces for a renowned journal, and have written my own novel that secured me a mentorship. I set up my own media website, and edited scripts for a production company. Initially I did not have the required experience for these roles, but I worked hard to learn and apply them as professionally as possible.
During my time at Gulf Production, I acted as co-ordinator for a nationwide project. I was able to easily find and contact specialists in a wide range of fields to participate in educational interviews for viewers in Kuwait. I helped ensure everything ran on time, and that the directors and film crew were given the necessary information for each day. The team commended me on how smoothly the 2-week project ran despite some cancellations from experts, who I was able to replace for the next day. By communicating with the film crew and drivers effectively, we were able to complete the work in the given slots. My perseverance and composure under these stressful situations led the filming to be completed on time and the directors to be happy with the material they got.
No matter where I am, I'm always learning. If there's something I don't know, I'll read about it until I understand it and can teach it to a child. As part of my Masters, I was able to study a separate field as part of a new multi-disciplinary initiative. I chose biology and studied neuroscience and genetics in order to write my thesis on the pseudo-biological ethnographies of indigenous Amazonians in the 20th century. I'm never satisfied with what I know, so even with topics I am comfortable with explaining, I dedicate several hours in the week to learning and re-learning them.
-
Makers Academy (March - June 2019)
-
SOAS, University of London (2014 - 2015) Masters in Social Anthropology
-
Queen Mary, University of London (2011 - 2014) LLB Law
-
Royal Russell (2001 - 2011) A Levels: English Literature(A), Government and Politics(A), Philosophy and Ethics(A)
Gulf Production Albania ( January 2016 – November 2018 ) Content Writer & Script Editor responsible for ensuring the company's website was easily comprehensible. I assisted in writing a number of film synopses and editing scripts for a number of shorts and television commercials.
Faseero/Stroll TV Series ( November 2017 – February 2018 ) Project Coordinator - Researched experts across disciplines including neuroscience, Judaism, arachnology, nutrition, law enforcement, finance, and meteorology. Organised two or three interviews each day into a 2-week filming schedule around the country.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelist (July 2015 - present) Wrote a 200,000-word novel in seven months, which secured me a place on the selective Writing in the Margins mentorship scheme in 2017. Worked with author Paul Witcover for several months to hone my creativity and writing skills.
IHRC ( January 2015 ) Panel speaker invited by the Islamic Human Rights Commission to give a lecture on colonisation for their annual Genocide Memorial Day, and sit on a panel for a Q&A session.
Ceasefire Magazine ( September 2014 – present day )
Columnist - Invited by the editors of Ceasefire Magazine to write historical essays on the colonisation of different regions around the world, including the investigation into the sociopolitical and economic consequences that exist today. Involved weeks of research on history and population statistics of regions like Canada and Brazil.
- I love reading about the latest research in STEM (usually biology/medicine/engineering) and social science.
- Writing both academic essays and speculative fiction stories.
- Powerlifting 4-5 times a week. I'm currently training for a meet next year and hoping to hit a total of 500kg.
- Using Twitter and other social media platforms to engage in #scicomm/science communication and discussion of structural issues related to inequality and public health.
- Reading Urdu poetry.
- The occasional MMRO or RPG game. My current favourite is Horizon: Zero Dawn.