I am a fast learning software engineer with a background in the arts sector. I retrained in 16 weeks on the Makers Academy software engineering bootcamp. In those 16 weeks I went from knowing some basic Ruby and JavaScript, to conceptualising and delivering a full stack, test driven, React website in a small team.
I am working in my first tech role now as a junior full stack developer at a veterinary services company, helping to save animals.
An ever-growing selection of my recent projects and collaborations...
| Name | Description | Tech/tools |
|---|---|---|
| Beach Finder | Final Makers group project - An original concept for a beach information website using multiple APIs to display weather, tides, address and map information. Built and presented in two weeks. | Node.js, React, Mongoose, MongoDB, Express, Jest, React Testing Library, CSS |
| Arduino fan | I built a fan using an arduino, computer fan and other bits of hardware I had lying around. It turns on/off based on room temperature and has some pointless LEDs for fun. | Arduino, C++, prototyped in Kotlin & JUnit |
| Acebook (Live link) | Weeks 8-9 Makers group project - Facebook clone. Originally built with Handlebars and converted into React during the second week. | Node.js, React, MongoDB, Mongoose, Express, Handlebars, Cypress, Jest |
| MakersBnB | Week 5 Makers group project - Airbnb clone with user registration, authentication, list a property, book a property and confirm a booking. | Ruby, RSpec, Capybara, Sinatra, PostgreSQL, HTML, CSS |
| Gilded Rose | Mock tech test - Refactoring legacy code focusing on high code quality. | Ruby, RSpec |
Makers Academy (Apr-22 to Aug-22)
Skills I gained at Makers
- Pair programming: working collaboratively with people with different learning styles
- Patience: with myself whilst learning new concepts and when teaching others
- Setting realistic goals: not getting overwhelmed and breaking down problems
- Test Driven Development: trusting the TDD process to guide me towards a better and well tested result
- Meaningful code review: thoroughly reading and understanding other people's code before committing it to the main branch
- Group project working: finding a balance between getting work done and ensuring that everybody's ideas were included
- Mentoring: I was inspired by my own great mentor to take on two mentors who are currently studying at Makers. This has been very rewarding so far
Tech I worked with at Makers
University of Surrey (Sep-09 to Jun-13)
- 1st Class Honours
- Specialised in ensemble performance, requiring strong teamwork and communication skills
- Awarded a performance scholarship
I can typically understand a concept, or a framework well enough to get started with it very rapidly and then build upon my understanding and knowledge as I use it. For example, learning React and transforming the Acebook project into a dynamic website in just a few days.
I am good at breaking down a problem into smaller chunks and finding a clear path for navigating large and tricky problems. An example of this would be planning the Beach Finder project at Makers, where we used GitHub projects to develop a user story and split the task into manageable tickets.
I can be patient and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others, especially when those who are willing to learn. I find great satisfaction from helping somebody find a solution themselves. I built upon my previous teaching experience during my time at Makers, espcially in group projects or pairing sessions.
At Cambridge Junction, I honed my leadership skills whilst overseeing multiple projects from their inception, through all stages of fundraising and delivery, right through to evaluation and monitoring. It was my job to keep the delivery team on track and on budget, and to report back to the funder at the end. I applied this experience to my group work at Makers by carrying out frequent standups and retros.
VetCT (Oct-22...)
Full stack developer. Currently I'm developing the UI for tools to help veterinary radiologists work more efficiently to help save more animals' lives!
Tech stack: React, TypeScript, AWS, Jira, Node.
Cambridge Junction (Jan-20 to May-22)
- Project planning and management, from idea generation through to grant writing and donor stewardship
- Communicating across departments to ensure our portfolio of projects were on track and budget
- Building relationships with donors to facilitate their trust resulting in increased financial support
- Managing the membership scheme and low level donations, which increased by approximately 75% during my time in post
- Training other members of the team to use box office and donation software
- Member of the Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity and Belonging group who met regularly to improve our approach to these issues, including making the building more accessible and hiring a team that better represented the community we served
Cambridge City Council & Cambridge Folk Festival (Oct-18 to Dec-19)
- Networking with the local business community, to build more meaningful relationships and increase donations
- Adapting to a changing work environment during a transfer from a charity to the local authority
- Identifying a gap in the market and developing a membership scheme for the Corn Exchange music venue
BirdLife International (Sep-16 to Oct-18)
- Taking the initiative to update outdated administrative practices enabling me up to spend more time raising funds resulting in increased fundraising income
- Working with a web developer to plan and implement new donation pages on the website to improve user experience and increase donations.
Hazard Chase (Sep-15 to Sep-16)
- Hitting the ground running with tight deadlines from day one, learning on the job and taking initiative to ensure work was carried out on time with no training
- Rapidly gaining familiarity with diary management software to arrange artist travel, accommodation and visas
Arts Marketing Association (Nov-13 to Sep-15)
- Promoted from a more junior position after a few months to take ownership of the membership scheme. In the new role I implemented a new method to enable renewals online which improved user experience
- Travelling across the UK to represent the organisation and host different training events, ensuring that the events ran smoothly
University of Surrey (Sep-13 to Jun-14)
- I took on this role fresh out of University and my main responsibility was to teach students how to manage music events. The main challenge I faced was dealing with imposter syndrome, which I managed by planning lessons thoroughly so I could feel confident that I was delivering high quality content.