I'm a classic career-changer. I worked as a Chartered Accountant in financial services for a number of years but I now feel that it's time to do something that genuinely stimulates me. Why software development? Mainly because during my career when working with developers I found that reviewing their code was far more interesting than reviewing financial statements! And creating prototype applications for them was truly fulfilling. Doing the Makers Academy web-development bootcamp enabled me to accelerate my coding knowledge and unleash my creativity. I'm now looking to use these skills within a reasonably small team in a dynamic and hard-working environment, preferably with a back-end programming focus.
| Ruby Javascript |
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| Rails Sinatra |
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| PostgreSQL Datamapper ActiveRecord |
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| HTML5, CSS3 AngularJS, jQuery AJAX Heroku |
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| RSpec Cucumber Capybara Jasmine |
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| TDD, BDD Agile Methodology SOLID Design Principles Pair Programming Git Version Control |
| Project Repo | Description |
|---|---|
| Chirpy | A social networking site for language learning. My final Makers Academy project completed with four other team members. Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, AngularJS, Websockets, RSpec, Protractor, HTML, CSS |
| NapStop | A mobile app employing geolocation technology, designed to wake users up before their station stop! Built with three other team members. Technologies: PhoneGap, JavaScript, JQuery, AngularJS, GoogleAPI RSpec, Protractor, HTML, CSS |
A full listing of my Makers repos is available on GitHub
I taught myself the fundamentals of C#, WPF, SQL and VBA and used the knowledge at work to:
- Create prototype applications for developers. One particular application was the conversion of a complex series of Visio flowcharts into an investor classification engine. My manager was quite surprised by how quickly I built it and from then on used it as the benchmark speed for the development team.
- Review code with programmers during the development of new regulatory systems. This enabled logic to be refined and bugs removed quickly during the UAT process.
- Automate repetitive Excel processes using VBA - this saved the team a considerable number of man-hours.
I also developed a credit scoring application using C# / WPF for my Masters degree dissertation.
###Other skills
####Project Management
When I worked as an auditor in the Russian Far East most of the clients were natural resource companies located in extremely remote locations. Strong project management and teamwork skills (and a positive attitude) were therefore needed to plan the work and supervise the juniors within a limited timeframe at multiple sites, often with uncooperative clients!
More recently at SS&C GlobeOp, I was responsible for managing an offshore team of developers, ensuring that system modifications were fully tested and released within target deadlines.
####Technical Communication Skills
An important element of my previous role was acting as a bridge between IT and Finance, explaining business needs to the development team and IT issues to Finance. I created Excel models and business requirement documents to provide more detailed information. Similarly, during audit work it was necessary to tailor enquiries/explanations according to the audience.
####Business Awareness
I have a broad understanding of finance and business from my qualifications and experience to date. I believe that these skills are transferable to any future role and will certainly enable me to see the "big picture" business perspective when working on applications.
####Other
During the project work at Makers Academy I was told (for the first time in my life) that I had a certain competence for acting and as a result I was recruited by teams to star in their product videos, here are a couple:
I believe that this is more down to an expressive face and enthusiasm rather than any innate acting ability!
- Qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW, 2001)
- Chartered Financial Analyst program, level II (2014)
- Decision Sciences, MSc with Distinction
- Money, Banking & Finance, BSocSc 2:1
- A Levels: Mathematics (A), Geography (A), Physics (B)
SS&C GlobeOp, Hedge Fund Administrator (Apr 2010 to Nov 2014)
Systems Analyst, Regulatory Solutions
Lloyds TSB (Feb 2008 to Feb 2009)
Finance Manager, Group Operations
Georgica PLC (Aug 2007 to Dec 2007)
Financial Analyst & Accountant (temp role)
Moore Stephens Vladivostok, Russia (Oct 2004 to Jul 2007)
Audit Assistant Manager