A full-stack software developer with an appetite for learning and new challenges
Projects | Skills | Education | Experience | Interests | LinkedIn
I am a junior software developer with a passion for learning.
I recently graduated from Makers Academy bootcamp where I was able to start learning about agile web app development. Prior to Makers, I was a qualified accountant in audit at EY working with clients from the banking and capital markets sector.
Personal goals that I try to live by:
- learn something new every day
- make time for things that make you happy
For a complete list, see my GitHub repositories.
| Project | Description | Technologies |
|---|---|---|
| PostBox Web App GitHub | A virtual care-package app for gifting collections of images, gifs and videos - Makers Final Team Project | Javascript, Ruby, Rails, RSpec, Capybara |
| Chitter | A clone of the popular social media app Twitter - Solo Project | Ruby, Sinatra, Rspec, Capybara |
| Makersbnb | Our first team project at Makers - a site for listing and booking spaces, inspired by Airbnb - Team Project | Ruby, Sinatra, Rspec, Capybara |
| Bank Tech Test | An example tech test showcasing basics of object oriented programming - Solo Project | Ruby, Rspec |
| Bowling Kata | A bowling game score calculator to test my problem solving skills and knowledge of Javascript - Solo Project | Javascript, Jasmine |
Makers (Jan - Apr 2020)
During my time at Makers I learned about the importance of having an efficient and a readable codebase. Throughout the course I utilised programming principles such as SOLID and DRY, practiced using XP Values in group situations to ensure everyone was on the same wavelength, and used test driven development (TDD)/behaviour driven development (BDD) to lower the risk of introducing bugs and to improve my understanding and intentions behind how project was to work.
Books
I have read programming related books to broaden my knowledge on these topics, my favourite being the Nature of Software Development by Ron Jeffries on agile principles.
I truly believe in an agile approach to software development and hope to work with others that respect it as much as I do.
Makers (Jan - Apr 2020)
At Makers I had the opportunity to work with a very diverse group of people. I paired with someone new every day, which meant that between completing features I would be either helping someone through a task or ensuring I gained as much understanding as possible from my pair. This has allowed me to hone my ability to communicate complex ideas in a concise way.
Group projects were also a regular occurrence and we organised our own daily stand-ups, catch ups and retros to ensure the team had effective communication. Good communication is imperative for an agile team to respond to changing environments; if you can communicate, you can do anything!
EY (2016 - 2019)
In two projects I was the coordinator with the India team, in charge of work delegations, coaching (including two weeks in India of face to face coaching) and resolving issues. There was often a disconnect between UK and India teams and I was able to act as an advocate for team integration by teaching teams how to work with each other, resulting in faster completion of work.
I also had to build relationships with clients who very often didn't want to talk to auditors in order to solve questions. One client who was notorious for being hostile at the start requested that I stay on the team for his area of the audit next year.
EY (2016 - 2019)
As a senior I was in charge of overseeing the team's audit work. With each project I worked on, I gained more experience with how to approach problems; I became better at asking specific questions when something wasn't working, I learnt when and how to ask for help, and was able to recognise when solutions I came up with in the past would work again. I was also able to adapt knowledge from many sources such as my accounting knowledge, past work, asking questions of the client, and colleagues to solve issues. I learnt how to delegate to junior members and pass on my knowledge.
One instance of this was when a company had very complex revenue calculations based on many different types of intercompany recharges. I spent many hours on the phone to our Canadian contact who was able to figure out the calculations and the reasons behind them due to my questions. My senior manager awarded me an Audit Quality Coin for my efforts.
I have consistently been in education because I love learning. Ever since finishing my accountancy qualification I knew I wanted to push myself to learn something new. I knew that coding has the perfect mix of problem solving and learning something new every day for me, and realised I could make this dream come true with a career switch.
To learn you have to be adaptable. For example during a group project at Makers we had to make the switch to working remotely. By maintaining a positive attitude to the change we found we were able to work together on one computer whist on call much faster and as a result our team bonded well and we were proud of how much we accomplished in the project.
- OOP, TDD, MVC, DDD
- Agile/XP
- Ruby, Rails, JavaScript
- RSpec, Jasmine
- Passed all my exams first time due to my good timetabling of study time
- Ability to retain knowledge as exams are spread over three years
- BSc Economics, 2:1
- Modules included behavioural economics, health economics and statistics
EY (2016-2020)
Qualified Senior in Audit (October 2019 to January 2020)
Three year graduate scheme at "Big Four" accountancy firm. Clients from the banking and capital markets sector. As an auditor I had to understand my clients' businesses from what they did to how they worked in order to detect key controls and accounts in order to provide the most robust testing.
Senior in Audit (October 2018 to September 2019)
Associate in Audit (September 2016 to September 2018)
EY Foundation - Programme delivery coordinator (April to September 2019)
Six month secondment to EY's charity, aimed at providing disadvantaged 16-19 year olds with work experience and training. Duties included:
- Project Management to set up and run three separate programmes, including two bespoke programmes with companies in the construction sector.
- Creating teaching materials including a whole week's worth of content about sustainable building from scratch.
- Teaching students in summer programmes
- Reading ~ I love trying to alternate between fiction and non-fiction and I am a firm believer in the power of audiobooks - if you're absorbing the content the delivery method is unimportant.
- Baking ~ I have a rye sourdough culture that has been known to make some pretty reasonable pizza dough or my favourite caraway seed and wheat beer rye loaf.
- Bullet Journaling ~ In the summer of 2019 I began thinking of a lot of self improvement tips, from "Marie Kondoing" all my clothes (my wardrobe has never been so tidy), to exercise (yoga is the only one I've been able to keep up with), to finally bullet journaling. I find making a handwritten to do list each day really helps me prioritise and mitigate the stress of not knowing where to begin. It also helps me give myself time to properly relax which is so important for energy levels so I can learn new things every day.