Introduction
Born on the Isle of Wight, I am a software developer currently located in Portsmouth studying at the University of Portsmouth for a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering. I have a strong interest in combining music and creativity into software. I am a JavaScript Full Stack Developer with additional experience in languages like C#, Lua, and Python.
Education
Isle of Wight College ~ Digital Industries
After receiving my GCSEs, I headed to the Isle of Wight College to study Digtal Industries, a City and Guilds course focusing on learn a range of different technical skills. A few of the skills I learnt here were Mobile Application Development, 3D Animation and C# Application Development. My hardwork here garnered myself a Distinction Star for the course plus an additional A for my extended project, being an essay and presentation. Using my high grades from my College course, I was accepted into the University of Portsmouth for Software Engineering. My previous experience in programming at that point was relatively self-taught, focusing in Python and C#.
University of Portsmouth ~ Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering
I had no interest in Web Development before attending University, however in the first year, I quickly grew very accustomed to JavaScript and Database Management Systems such as PostgreSQL. The main goal for first year was to develop a web game using these tools, I developed a online Hangman with a leaderboard and gained a First grade.
Second year taught me alot about working in a team, working fast, and software usability. Throughout the year I was working in a team of seven to develop a fitness tracker mobile app using React Native, this can be found in my projects. One module involved working in short sprints with small teams to develop solutions to problems, and another delve into software usability and how to implement it into development.
In third year, I focused more of my studies into hardware software development. I took Robotics and Internet of Things as my optional modules. Robotics had me create simulations of logicistal transport robots. Internet of Things expanded my pre-existing knowledge about Arduino and Rasberry Pi's. For Internet of Things, we were tasked with creating a project connecting sensors and devices to a single-board computer. I developed light-based security system to protect dark spaces from intruders, when light was detected, an image would be taken and stored on a webserver only accessible from a connected phone.
The two other modules taken this year was Hacking4MoD and Software Engineering Culture. Hacking4MoD involved investigating and producing a solution for the Ministry of Defence. In a team of five, we developed three different solutions for our problem which the Common Mission Project, the organisation responsible for communicating with the MoD, nominated and shortlisted our team for the "Outstanding Solution Idea" award. Software Engineering Culture explore the history of Software Engineering and its workplace culturisms, the assignment being to do a talk about a selected area, and not make it extremely boring.
Finally, my year long assignment for my final year was my dissertation. For my dissertation I developed a MIDI Translator. A MIDI Translator is a peice of software which can convert MIDI software into actions understandable by computers, such as character keyboard input or application volume change. For example, a common translation is to set a MIDI device's knob to control application volume. I developed my own in C# .NET, using WPF for the UI. MIDI Translators already existed, but I wanted to make mine focused on usability as existing solutions were lacking in that area.
Experience
In 2023, I attended two hackathons, one of which was a complete failure, the other being a semi failure. I did the 24 hour HackSussex hackathon with a friend, we failed to deliever a decent product on time, but it showed me a valuable lesson with delievering prototypes and working as a team. The next hackathon was HackPompey, this was less of a failure as we had almost delievered a project but with a few more hours it would have been completed. That taught me how much you cannot faff around with uneccessary features when delievering a prototype. In 2024, I attended HackPompey again with a team of three to develop a Hand-Gesture Theremin which you can see further in my projects section. I heavily applied the skills (and mistakes) I learnt from the past two hackathons in HackPompey 2024.
Skills
Languages
Tools
