I am a software engineer, gratuating from Makers Academy in August 2019. I have been indoctrinated into the church of test driven development, Agile & Extreme Programming values, but am open to alternative ways of reaching the promised land. Before Makers, I worked in hospitality, in multifaceted roles, as a barista, hospitality assistant and events supervisor. Being the face of plans, sometimes made months in advance, my ability to be forward thinking, calm under pressure and attentive to the sometimes challenging demands of clients was frequently tested and strengthened.
| Title | Description | Development Timeframe | Technologies Used | Test Suites/CIs/CDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragons of the Caribbean | A 2D side scroller (not flappy bird!) | 8 days | Unity, C# | Unity Test Runner (NUnit), Android |
| Acebook Off the Rails | Social messaging app | 10 day | Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, RSPec, Capybara, Rubocop, Devise, Bulma-Rails, SimpleCov | TravisCI, RubyCritic, Heroku |
| Bank Tech Test | Mock tech test simulating basic banking functions | 2 days | Ruby, RSpec, SimpleCov | - |
| CustomerApp | Basic MVC app using Node | - | NodeJS, Express, EJS, MongoDB | Heroku, MLab |
| Junior Jobs App | Junior jobs aggregator app | 3 days | NodeJS, Express, React, Redis |
When I meet challenges, the belief that hardwork and effort are all I need to overcome them always gives me the sense of inevitablity when it comes to problem solving.
One of my housemates recently lost her bedroom keys, and having watched enough mmovies to believe it possible, I thought I would try to pick the lock, to save her the hassle and expense of calling in a professional. Through a combination of YouTube, lock picking gifs and a wire hanger, I was able to get it open in a couple of hours, though she did end up finding her keys on her work desk the next day.
When I first started working in the hospitality industry, I was faced with a lot of environments and situations I was unfamiliar with and had to adapt quickly. Working for an agency, I learnt how to lay tablecloths, serve wine, bar tend, food service.
At Whitechapel gallery, I went from zero coffee skills to a decent latte. I also learnt about the logistics of setting up small & large scale events.
At Vacherin, I was thrown into the world of corporate catering, a different culture to the one I had just come from. I learned hospitality skills, silver service and the expectations for this type of service. In both of these environments, I was able to quickly acquire the required skills and flourish to the point of becoming events supervisor.
These skills were very useful throughout the course, especially during our final project where we picked up a new language and built a functional game in less than two weeks.
In my personal and professional life, I try to look at situations from all angles. Growing up with bickering sisters, I found my ability to understand their
I try to understand the personalities and motivations of those I work with. I find it helps in knowing how best to communicate with them and how to frame and understand certain decisions they make. I find this reduces potential conflicts and frustration, and helps to set expectations for myself and others.
- Pair programming
- Code review, GIT workflow
- Problem solving
- OOP, TDD, MVC
- Agile/XP
- Continuous Integration / Deployment
- Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, C#, Unity
- RSpec, Jasmine, Capybara, xUnit
- Travis CI, Heroku
- Biomedical Sciences HND Modules included Clinical Immunology, Human Physiology & Biochemistry
Vacherin Ltd (2012 - 2017)
Events Supervisor
After an initial learning curve, getting familiar with my new role as a hospitality assistant - I took on the responsibilty of managing our large scale events spaces whilst the manager was on extended leave. Within six months, I was promoted to events supervisor managing the large event spaces, as well as providing support to the hospitality, cafe, kitchen and management teams.
Smart Hospitality (2011 - 2012)
Cafe Assistant/Events Supervisor
After a stint working as agency staff, I was taken on intially to work in the cafe where I had to quickly learn what a cappuccino was and how it wasn't a latte. I expanded into into an events role, providing service for daytime and evening events within our meeting spaces, aswell as in the gallery - with a promotion to events supervisor within six months.
- American Football, regular football, listening to music and reading.
- Yoga
- Philosophy - different ideas and approaches to life
- Psychology - in a practical sense; what factors effect motivation, confidence, decision making, emotions
- New technology - the constant evolution of our daily interation with tech