I am a determined, adaptable and warm full-stack junior developer. I come bearing plenty of transferable skills gained from a solid academic and practical background in psychology as well as experience teaching English abroad and coaching tech professionals in communication. For the last several years, I have also worked as a freelance proofreader and copywriter. As well as my fresh-to-the-market tech skills, I bring creativity, top-notch communication skills and an inquisitive nature to my work. And if you ask my former colleagues, they'd tell you I'm fun to work with.

In January 2021, I joined selective bootcamp, Makers Academy, marking the most exciting step in my career journey so far. I'm an ardent learner and I am excited to find a role where I can do something positive while continuing to expand my knowledge and skills that I acquired at Makers and during my previous work experience.

Hannah Desmond Copywriter (January 2019 – January 2021) Freelance Proofreader, Editor and Copywriter

• Worked independently to acquire freelance work from a range of clients, primarily SMEs.
• Researched clients' customers and organisations to create detailed briefs.
• Worked closely with web developers and delivered web copy for full websites for a range of businesses.
• Led a team of freelance proofreaders to whom I outsourced work.
• Worked closely with developers on a voluntary digital inclusion project to deliver web copy and talk through platform functions.
• Provided highly accurate proofreading services for a range of clients.

Lingo Live (May 2017 – January 2019)
Language and Communication Coach

• Remotely coached developers and other professionals in the tech industry in communication and language skills.
• Worked with learners living overseas.

SLP & SSET (September 2014 – January 2018)
English as a Second Language Teacher

– Worked closely with local co-teachers to provide high-quality English education for students.

University of Roehampton (Jan 2013 – June 2014)
Student Welfare Officer

– Helped students to achieve their qualifications by supporting them through difficulties.

• Designed taught sessions and taught large groups of students on welfare and equality issues.
• Trained staff on how to support students with difficulties.
• Developed collaborative relationships with a range of staff across support services and academic departments.

Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust (April 2010 – December 2012)
Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

• Managed a team of 6 and supervised another 2 staff members, whilst managing a caseload of approx. 40 service users.
• Taught adults lifestyle management and mental health management techniques to adults, both face-to-face and over the phone.
• Conducted therapeutic treatment based on cognitive-behavioural therapy.
• Was a point of contact for assessments of adults with communication issues and whose first language is not English.
• Delivered supervision and one-to-one training to trainee therapists.
• Taught community workshops on improving well-being to increase access for excluded groups.

Tameside & Glossop Primary Care NHS Trust (February 2009 – April 2010)
Primary Care Mental Health Worker

• Conducted therapeutic treatment based on cognitive-behavioural therapy.
• Mentored trainees.

University of Sheffield (April 2008 – February 2009)
Personal Assistant to the Corporate Planning Manager Customer Information Assistant

Fujitsu-Siemens (July 2007 - April 2008) Customer Services Administrator

I am an articulate communicator with notable written, oral, influencing, presentation and active listening skills. I have built on these skills throughout my career, starting in customer service and administrative teams. My skills grew, enabling me to become more persuasive and precise in my communication when coaching behaviour change and motivating patients and students in my mental health and welfare roles, as well as working with external teams and services with conflicting priorities, persuading them to take action, and having difficult conversations with colleagues, students and patients.

More recently, in my capacity as a freelance copywriter, I improved the web presence, visibility and credibility of a client (a social enterprise) by delivering web copy for a large website. I interviewed the MD and their staff, as well as other stakeholders such as artists and volunteers, to create a comprehensive brief. I communicated remotely with the web designer to understand the templates that I needed to work within, as well as communicate the requirements from a copy perspective. Over a period of two months, I wrote, sought feedback and revised the web copy, which you can find here: https://ourbigpicture.co.uk

It is clear from my career and educational history that I enjoy learning and developing myself. I have learned a range of new skills in my career to date. After completing my mental health training course while working in the NHS, I regularly recorded my sessions with service users and sought feedback from my supervisors. In my Senior PWP role, I kept a reflective journal and identified areas where I could improve my skillset, and I attended CPD sessions on managing anger, self-esteem, and various other relevant topics. I also shared the knowledge I acquired with other staff by providing short training sessions in team meetings. This allowed the team to develop their skillsets and provide a more comprehensive service.

The teams I have worked in throughout my career have been varied. In the UK, I worked with several teams of therapists and with academic and support staff at Roehampton University, and in South Korea, I worked in teams of local and international teams.

As a Student Welfare Officer, I worked within a close team where we often worked collaboratively, managing the welfare of the students and improving retention rates at the University. University departments, staff, and students often have competing priorities. Employing excellent teamworking skills to get the most out of collaboration was crucial, for example, when working with one particular student who was a risk to themselves, I met with my team and we created a strategy where we could all provide support to the student and share information and resources. We identified some of the areas of weakness in University policy in this area and spent time with the Student Services management team developing a new risk policy for the University.

• OOP, TDD, MVC, DDD
• Agile/XP
• Ruby, Rails, JavaScript
• RSpec, Jasmine

BA(Hons) Psychology and Philosophy, 2:1

• College of Media and Publishing – Diploma in Copywriting (Distinction)
• St. Giles International – Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
• University of Central Lancashire – Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Care Mental Health Practices

When I'm not coding, you'll find me writing comedy – mostly sketches. I have dabbled behind the stand-up comedy mic too, which is as scary as it sounds, but also very fun.

I also love fiddling about with electronic music and I've DJed at various events.