I'm a full stack developer, recently graduated from the Makers bootcamp, with a large amount of commercial experience from my previous career. I'm a dedicated learner who is hugely excited to be starting their career as a developer and am hungry to learn and grow in a new role.
On the course I went from being a code novice with minimal Ruby knowledge, to working as part of a team of students developing an application in Javascript with several different API's, using new technologies and frameworks. Over the three months at Makers, I used Agile processes throughout, programmed in both Ruby and JavaScript, utilised TDD, BDD and Pair Programming, and ignited a real passion for software development.
Before that, I worked for sales and account management for several years, most recently for Makers Academy, where I was handling six-figure partnerships with companies like KPMG, Capgemini, Global, Expedia and others. Whilst at Makers I realised a goal to learn how to code, and became totally hooked on the problem-solving and creative applications of development. I decided to completely change my career, and haven't looked back 🚀
| Name | Description | Tech/tools |
|---|---|---|
| SpotiVibes | A mood-ring for music. | JavaScript, Express, React, Jest, Google Natural Language & Image Analysis API's, Spotify API. |
| Bank Tech Test | Sample tech test. | JavaScript, Jasmine. |
| Makers BnB | Group Makers project to create a clone of Air BnB. | JavaSscript, Node, Express, PostgreSQL. |
| Example Story CV | Ongoing Makers Academy project to provide a customisable template for developers to demonstrate their potential. | TypeScript, Jest, Enzyme, Bootstrap, GraphQL. |
Communication
My career before development was all about empathy, communication, understanding and trust. I feel like those are skills that are massively important in development; trust within a team when working to tight schedule, the importance of understanding briefs and communicating expectations to clients, empathising with others when they are struggling, and being able to be open and honest about your own technical challenges are all critical to being an effective developer. I'm driven, conscientious and people-orientated, and love working closely with others in a team and learning from them.
Creativity
I absolutely love making things. Most recently I built a little Twitter bot in node.js because I wanted to see how that worked, and then wrote a blog piece about it. I have always been a creative person, but came to realise the total thrill and excitement of building things with code. Once I get my teeth into a problem, I find it hard to give up until I have solved it, and my creative nature means that I come at problems enthusiastically and invent interesting ways to solve them.
Problem Solving
The growth mindset I have developed means that I take a pragmatic and determined approach to problem solving, and I find that I excel at the creative aspect of developing solutions. Something that I've learned is that every problem has a solution, even the solution is to rethink the problem. Someone told me at Makers that "being a developer is being paid to be frustrated", and that stayed with me! It's so important to not let that get on top of you.
Through a super intensive 4 month program, involving a combination of individual and group projects, Makers encourages real-world development skills. We used a multitude of different technologies to learn a tech-agnostic approach to problem solving and teamwork.
We used a great range of development best practices: breaking down user requirements into user stories and developing applications using an agile development process, working in a team to very short deadlines and with changing project requirements half way through, diagramming and domain modelling to ensure a smooth development process, and many more.
- Ruby: Rails, Sinatra, Rspec, Capybara
- JavaScript: React, Node, Express, Jasmine, Jest
- Clean Code, SRP, Readability, DRY princples
- Object Orientated Programming
- Test Driven Development
- Agile/XP Principles
- MVC website structure
- SQL/PostgreSQL
- HTML/CSS
- Film Studies BA
- Student Spokesperson for my year group
- Co-founded a theatre company whilst at University
Makers (01/2019 - 05/2020)
Enterprise Partnerships Manager
- Primary lead on six-figure partnerships with companies including KPMG, Expedia, Capgemini, News UK, Global.
- Managed end-to-end sales processes as well as ongoing account management for some of Maker's biggest partners.
- Hosted networking events, gave talks, a range of other business activities.
Beanstalk Charity (08/2018 - 12/2019)
Partnerships Manager
- Developed partnerships for the charity with schools across London.
- Utilised networks and platforms to increase visibility for the charity and create awareness for the services they provided and the problem that they set out to solve.
KeyAGENT (09/2017 - 07/2018)
Sales and Onboarding Manager
- Succesfully developed relationships with hundreds of national and independent estate agents.
- Maintained relationships and account managed for these partners on an ongoing basis.
My housemates would probably tell me I played far too much guitar if they were not so polite. I spend a lot of time outside of work writing songs and working on other little creative projects. Not with any grand intention, just because it's fun and I enjoy the process of making things. Feel free to listen to my SoundCloud if you fancy listening to what has been described as Elliott Smith without the talent or optimism.
I am also maintaining a blog about development, the jobhunt, and anything else related to technology. Also Mr Bean gifs. It's early days, but have a read here.
I also run, read, meditate, listen to a lot of music (some of it very cheerful, actually), maintain a love of cinema and art, and like arguing about politics and all of the aforementioned topics at the pub.