Projects | Skills | Experience | Education | Interests

I'm a Junior Technologist at Government Digital Service (GDS). I have been working here for a year now, all of this time on Digital Marketplace, which is a digital procurement service. Throughout this year I've been learning a lot and I progressed both with my coding and teamwork skills. I also did my best to share the knowledge I have with others, for example through our programme's show and tells, through talks and a blog post on pairing, and through daily mindfulness practice I organise at work.

I think you'd like to know: I absolutely love coding! And not about any coding. What really tickles me the right way is writing the best software I can, to plan, to design, to solve problems, to constantly refactor and learn how to write better, more beautiful,clear and extendable code. I love to code in a pair, and I love coding alone, too. I love debugging and getting stuck, because problem solving is my second nature. My goal is to write lots of beautiful and functional code, and to keep learning and challenging myself.

Digital Marketplace - I am a part of the team working on Digital Marketplace, which is a digital procurement service. It is our responsibility to keep the service running, and also to iterate and make it better for our users. We work as agile, multi-disciplinary teams. Our work is planned in quarterly mission blocks and we decide together how to prioritise and deliver the improvements to the service within the scope of the mission. So far I worked on:

• email notification scripts.
• "Who buys what" mission, that was tasked with making buying more transparent and achieved that by publishing application statistics for each requirement and by building an award flow that allows buyers publicise the outcome of their procurement (both features on Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework).
• "Admin and Automation" mission, which made Digital Marketplace work better for admins by automating many admin tasks, and simplifying others. We also redesigned admin pages. Our work was informed by a mini-discovery in which all team took part.
• "Supplier accounts and declarations", where we redesigned supplier sign-up flow and moved some details from supplier declaration level to account level. This means that suppliers will not have to fill in the details separately for each framework, and also that Digital Marketplace has a single source of truth for supplier details. One of my favourite features I worked on for this mission has been "Country Picker" integration, as it helps us to have clean data for supplier registration countries while at the same time being simple to use for the suppliers themselves.
• "G-Cloud-10 launch preparation" which is our current mission. Essentially we are preparing the service for the opening of new G-cloud framework iteration for applications next month. As part of this mission we will be preparing all the moving parts which are connected to framework being open, ensuring everything runs smoothly, for example by load-balancing exercise, and working closely with Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to ensure the content and the flow are meeting all the requirements.

Pytest Easyread - As a Junior Technologist at GDS I can spend 20% of my time learning. I used some of this time to build an extension to Python's native testing framework - Pytest. I did it because as a newbie I was bewildered by Pytest's visual interface. I found it much harder to understand than the interface of Ruby's main testing tool: rspec. Hence, I set out to build an extension that will add most useful elements of rspec's visual interface and add them to Pytest. These elements include, among others: nesting via indentation, natural language feel, and giving failures index numbers for easier browsing.

Guide Me - a Swift app that guides the user around an underground station using bluetooth beacons. Our app was built with blind and visually impaired people in mind. We used frameworks for iBeacon detection and for text to speech functionality. Guide me team comprised of 5 people, all Makers Academy students. My team mates on the project praised me for "frequent strokes of genius". A demo for the project

Collective Playlist - a Ruby Sinatra web app I built during Christmas break in December 2016. It lets users build playlists together. Functionalities: Users, Requests, Playlist and Track adding. App was developed using TDD.

I discovered software development in Summer 2016 and since then I've been breathing and eating code. I started by learning Ruby. Soon after, I have been admitted to Makers Academy, a super intense and amazing practical software development course.

Straight after the course, I started working at GDS where I am working currently. At GDS I have learnt a lot about working with large codebases, collaboration, infrastructure, and generally about delivery and deployment processes.

I mostly code in Python at the moment, as this is the language we use on our team, yet I worked in an array of languages and frameworks, as per below. I'm eager to explore and learn new technologies, too.

Languages I have worked in:

• Python
• Ruby
• JavaScript / Node.js
• Swift

Frameworks I have used:

• Python Flask
• Ruby on Rails
• Sinatra
• ReactJS
• Express.js

Principles that guide me:

• TDD
• SOLID
• DRY
• Agile

Mindful Meditation: Mindful meditation is essentially a mind exercise. It helps us be more present, calmer, kinder and happier. Every Tuesday I guide a mindfulness session at work and organise quiet sessions or play recorded guided meditations for colleagues on other days.

Graphic Design and Illustration: I started to draw at the age of 4 and never stopped. Being an artist is one of the reasons I enjoy coding so much and why I rarely get stuck: both skills require creative approach and both are processes of constant refinement.

Project Coordination: My experience as a Lead Project Coordinator has taught me how to coordinate projects, manage timelines and organise necessary documentation.

Government Digital Service (March 2017 - present)
Junior Technologist
Pea's Pod (May 2015 - October 2016)
Freelance visual and flow artist
Baltic Control Int Ltd, London, UK (August 2013 - April 2015)
Lead Project Coordinator
Clic Sargent, London, UK (April 2013 - July 2013)
Volunteer Office Assistant
Baltic Control, Gdynia, Poland (August 2012 - February 2013)
Project Coordinator
B&S Translation Office, Gdynia, Poland (May 2012- July 2012)
Translator
Foundation for the Development of Education System, Warsaw, Poland (July 2011 - December 2011)
Office Assistant

• Curiosity and hungry passion for code
• Independent learner and problem-solver
• Knowledge of concepts such as OOP, TDD, SOLID, MVC and DDD
• Software Craftsmanship
• Environment: Terminal, Git, Github
• Languages and frameworks: Ruby, Rails, Sinatra, Javascript, Node.js, Swift
• Testing: Rspec, Jasmine, Mocha

• English Language, Literature and Culture
• Graduated with First-class honours equivalent.
• My modules also included: Creative Writing, Cognitive Science and Communication Theory.

Coding - not only career choice but also a passion, I regularly attend technology-related meetups and conferences (Pycon, Women Who Tech, Tech for Good, Queer Code, There is no such thing as neutral technology, Ruby User Group) and work on personal projects, like Collective Playlist.
Mindfuless and Emotional Intelligence - mindfulness and emotional intelligence classes helped me become a happier and calmer person and changed how I see myself, others, and the world around me. Still, as everyone, I am a work in progress and learn more every passing day. Comics and Illustration - my portfolio.
Hula Hoop dance - hoops are love, hoops are life :) my fanpage
Scientific approach to learning about the world - I love to learn and I apply popperism and critical thinking in everyday life. I check sources and methodology for new information, greatly appreciate non-fiction books (I'm happy to recommend some well-researched, mind-blowing books regarding Anthropology, Social Sciences, Cognitive Science, Theory of Knowledge or Historiography)
Books - “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies [...]. The man who never reads lives only one.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
Bicycle - I commute on bike whenever I can and embark on frequent cycling trips around London.