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I am a maker who loves to create and build things. After spending far too many years in sales, I took the bold decision to re-invent myself as a developer and enrolled in a course at Makers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and since then I have been fortunate enough to contribute towards the growth of a start-up at My Home Group (MHG). As one of the first tech employees in a small team at MHG, my role has been more varied than just writing code. Liasing with and supporting the rest of the business has been as essential as working within the development team with tasks such as sprint planning, UX and priority setting. I am looking for an opportunity to work within a innovative and dynamic team where I am encouraged to problem solve and contribute to the growth of a business.
| Name | Description | Technologies | Testing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melody Maker | A synthesiser/ sequencer for people to learn and play around with creating music in different keys. Two week group project. | JavaScript, Web Audio API | Jasmine, Cypress |
| Bank Tech Test | An example tech test where I re-created a bank in object oriented form. Two day solo project. | Ruby | Rspec |
| PSTVE+ | A personal project which facilitates the sending and recieving of positive messages. On-going solo project. | Ruby, Sinatra | Rspec |
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Curious and passionate about code.
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Fast, independent learner
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Great collaborator
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OOP, TDD, MVC, DDD
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Agile/XP
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Ruby, JavaScript, Java, Springboot, Node, Web Audio API, React.
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RSpec, Jasmine
- Film Studies, BA hons (2:1)
- Practical course where I had the oppurtunity to make many films
- Editing, sound design and cinematography skills and their associated technologies
- Professional Diploma in Digital and Social Selling
- Covered a range of different aspects of selling online
Part of the joys of working for a start-up is that you may sometimes get a feature request with very little (if anything at all) in the way of requirements. I have found that by trying to understand the actual problem the business is trying to solve and by carefully challenging the customers pre-concieved notions a better solution can often be found than the original proposal. I quite enjoy explaining technical concepts to people who are not tech literate, not only is it helpful to increase their knowledge of the technology but I also find it helps me to understand the concept more clearly.
One of the principles that was most re-inforced to us at Makers was the importance of feedback. As a developer, after building a feature getting feedback from the customer is an essential step in ensuring that the feature is fit for use. I particularly enjoy the reflective nature of retrospectives and the built-in opportunity for giving feedback and improving upon current processes. I consistently ask for as much feedback as possible and try to take it on board in order to be a better developer as well as giving feedback when appropriate.
At the company I used to work for, we had a problem. There was a large amount of slow moving and damaged stock and very little time or budget in order to promote them. I proposed an action plan which involved selling on the Amazon and eBay marketplaces in order to expand our customer base and compete more effectively. I had to indentify which products would be most appealing to customers and how to re-frame them for an online market. I was responsible for the whole project so needed to be mindful of how each aspect would affect other areas of the business. The marketplaces continued to grow in sales and are now an essential part of the company's sales strategy.
My Home Group Ltd. (September 2018 to present) Software developer Full stack developer working in PHP and Java script on a laravel/vue stack. Working as part of a small team, I have had the opportunity to learn and grow as a developer, taking on bigger pieces of work as I have grown in confidence and skill.
Stentor Music Company. Ltd (September 2014 to April 2018)
Sales and Marketing Associate
Working in a busy sales and customer service environment, I also worked on a SAP business one implementation and built and run a successful retail store on both the Amazon and eBay marketplaces as well as leading on a project and working with developers to link sales data between the marketplaces and SAP.
I enjoy woodworking, home brewing and long walks in green spaces.