After 25 years within various finance departments it took a year long stint as a Financial Controller at a digital agency to find a passion for coding. Over the years I've learnt a logical thought process integral with business finance, whether this be day to day running of a department or the improvement of process and systems. A drive to learn and immerse myself within coding/development led me to Makers Academy with a goal to make software development a new career.
| Project | Description | Tech. |
|---|---|---|
| Acebook | A social web-app enabling users to post, comment and like shared messages. A Makers group project | Ruby, Rails |
| GildedRose | Tech test, Golden master of test implemented with refactoring | Ruby |
| Make It Rain | An app to predict the following days FTSE 100 movement, A big learning curve from using a new language(Python) and a new technologies(Machine Learning) | Python, Scikit |
| Babel Chat | Instant messenger with translation, chat that recognises and translates into your chosen language | JavaScript, Node, MongoDB, React |
My past employment has given me a good grounding for working within teams made up of technical and non-technical people, the Makers Academy experience has built on these skills through pair progamming and group projects.
Each previous role has had a steep learning curve when trying to implement new systems and processes as with legacy code the output is understood (tested) so that small improvements can be implemented. Working on challeneges that try to mirror legacy code has been a revaltaion, I found them an enjoyable challenge. A small expample of this can be seen with our Gilded Rose Kata - I firstly ran the tests, read through the code to get an idea of output then created a golden master of tests to cover all possible outcomes before starting the refactoring process.
Working within finance has ensured that a high level of accuracy is kept at all times but maintaining clear readable information, something which has transferred well when writing clean readble code.
A good grounding in OOP through our understanding of Ruby has helped pick up other languages, week 5 we moved onto JavaSript with no prior knowledge and within a week I found a basic understanding and our week 10 project program to estimate if the following days FTSE index would got up or down using machine learning and Python, again a language I'd never used until that point.
- Independent learner and problem-solver
- OOP, TDD, SOLID, MVC
- Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, Node
- Rspec, Capybara, Jasmine
CIMA Professional qualification - Management Level
Head London (Oct15 to Jan17)
Financial Controller
Working closely with heads of department and MD
Ensuring all financial and project deadlines are kept.
Manage the month-end reporting process, including forecasting and client profitability
Developed and implemented utilisation and client profitability reporting
Partnered with CEO, MD and external M&A consultancy firm to address the business’s pending sale process. Includes financial and legal due diligence process
Cobham Communications (May15 to Sep15)
Financial Analyst (contract)
Quick to learn complex international systems to provide analysis
Mediacom (Mar14 to Feb15)
Finance Manager
Produced monthly and quarterly group reports (SAP Cartesis) including forecasts
Re-design of staff reporting (over 1000 staff)
Working closely with HR to enable two uncompatable systems work togeather
M&C Saatchi (Oct11 to Feb14)
Financial Controller
Produced monthly management accounts and variances analysis for 3 entities
Hosted regular meetings with entity CEO’s to provide insights on the management
Set up the NY office in 2013 included the supervision accounts/reporting until local financial director was hired. Setup and managed the local payroll process.
Set up the Abu Dhabi office in 2012 included the supervision accounts/reporting until local financial controller was hired. Setup and managed the local payroll process.