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Senior Developer, Captivate Audio – 2021-2022

Working as part of a team to develop and maintain a node backend and Angular frontend for a successful Podcast hosting platform.

  • Developed several significant new features which have been released to production, including a guest booking system.
  • Liaising with stakeholders across the company to rapidly iterate designs and UI concepts.
  • Support other team members in code reviews and provide advice to improve code quality and clarity.
  • Developing features in an agile manner using Test Driven Development methods and often write tests around legacy functionality before refactoring.

Software Engineer, Poductivity — 2020-2021

  • Lead developer of a groundbreaking interactive podcast technology. I created:
    • An Express JS backend server
      – A JS/Typescript SDK which allows the technology to be integrated into any podcasting app using native web components
    • An embeddable Podcast web player integrating the above SDK
    • Basic demo Android and iOS apps showcasing the ability to integrate the SDK into a native app through use of WebViews.
    • An Angular dashboard to allow Podcasters to claim their podcast, and intuitively add interactive segments to their episodes.
  • Helped obtain a US patent for the technology I developed.

Developer, Cornerstones Education — 2017-2020

  • Developed an innovative education platform designed to help teachers plan lessons, access learning resources, track progress of children and cohorts and generate reports in a single portal.
  • This portal was used by more than 1000 primary schools across the UK.
  • Worked in a small development team alongside senior-level staff and company directors to understand the needs of the business and its users.
  • Liaised with non-technical stakeholders to understand a complex range of needs, communicate potential solutions and provide rapid proofs of concept before developing the final solution.
  • Maintained the system day-to-day by working alongside support staff to diagnose, understand and remedy customer issues.
  • Created an on-the-fly custom PDF watermarking system to protect business assets.
  • Also supported the legacy system I built while at Hacksaw.
Tech stack:
  • Laravel (PHP) backend with MySQL database
  • Vue JS frontend
  • Go language was used for the PDF watermarking service for optimum performance

Senior Developer, HACKSAW — 2014-2017
Developer, HACKSAW — 2012-2014

  • Built WordPress websites and plugins for a wide range of clients including: Barnsley College, Acorn Brewery.
  • Created and maintained a range of products and systems for a specific client in the education sector, in use in over 1,500 schools and with more than 30,000 users. These include:
    • A bespoke Laravel based system for managing and tracking pupil progress which produces reports and graphs on subsets or individual pupils for parent evenings, Ofsted inspections etc.
    • WordPress based teaching resource portal with social features
    • WooCommerce based e-commerce platform selling educational materials
    • Bespoke single sign on-like system which syncs profile information between web apps, using a background queue process and Gravatar clone to allow users to upload avatars.