I'm an enthusiastic software developer with a curiosity for learning and a passion for building interesting projects with code. I'm a career changer: after a successful eleven years working in logistics for the luxury industry, I decided I wanted a career where I can learn new things every day and build solutions that drive real business impact. I’m currently working as a junior Python developer - unfortunately the company is running out of money so I am now looking for my next challenge. I retrained at Makers Academy, a 12-week full-stack software development bootcamp. I'm looking for an exciting junior developer role in a company that has an engineer-led Agile mindset and is somewhere I can make a difference from day one.
Python, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, Google Cloud, BigQuery, Google pub/sub, Aiohttp, Django, Prometheus, CircleCI, Behave, Redis, BDD, Grafana, API design and documentation, SQL
Financial technology startup with a focus on property. I worked on Python microservices and helped to create and maintain different business functionalities, including retrieving and updating data, calling internal and external APIs and testing services locally in Docker containers.
- Learned fast: was able to deploy a new feature to production within a week of joining the team
- Understanding technical strategy: took responsibility for DevOps tooling migration from Jenkins to CircleCI
- Confident communicator: Liaised with management and line of business owners to understand product requirements from a business perspective
- Practiced Agile ways of working: daily stand-ups, fortnightly retrospectives, used Jira/Kanban board to assign tasks and prioritise backlog of work
- TDD: Used test-driven development approach to break down and solve problems
- Pair programming: Pair programmed with other team members using the driver/navigator style switching places regularly
Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Javascript, JQuery, Node.js, React.js, Express, Sinatra, HTML, CSS, RSpec, Capybara, Jasmine, Cypress, Sinon, PostgreSQL, Datamapper, ActiveRecord, Git workflow, Travis CI, Heroku deployment
- Iterative development: committing to an MVP, working towards it, reviewing if necessary
- Problem solving: Able to break complicated problems down into chunks or user stories: for example building a bowling game - was able to break the problem down into steps to guide myself through the process of building a more complex game involving different rules for strike, spare, etc.
- Self-led learning: was able to learn how to make API calls for a personal project when this had not previously been taught during the course
- Confident picking up new technologies quickly: learned new technologies within two weeks in order to build my final group project at Makers: ReactJS, Express, Cypress, Sinon
- Adaptable: able to work both individually and in a group
- Group projects: Able to communicate effectively in a group in order to unite the team and ensure we are on track to complete the given task. In our final group project we ran into conflict of interest within the team during the planning stage of the project. I was able to bring the group together to discuss our priorities and ensure that we came to an agreement on the direction of the project going forwards that each team member was satisfied with
- Project leadership: During our final group project I communicated with each team member to check they were clear on their part of the final presentation, and organised to run through the presentation to make sure it went as smoothly and professionally as possible on the day
- In charge of import, export and internal stock transfer of high value High Jewellery creations for Cartier's international clients
- Provided solutions to highly bespoke problems for high end clients. I regularly devised elegant solutions to deliver sold pieces to clients - extremely demanding ultra high net worth individuals
- Cross-functional role: I built relationships with key stakeholders from all levels of the business, local and international
- Team leadership for three international sales events, looking after high end jewellery stock valued at over £100 million. Led a team of fourteen people, planned the team rota and led training sessions to ensure the team was adequately prepared
- EMEA point of contact for client repair enquiries
- Responsible for coordinating all local and international stock movements
- Prioritisation: Used to working efficiently under pressure to strict deadlines and organising tasks accordingly
- Hard worker: Committed to delivering successful outcomes
- BA (Hons) in French with Applied English Language and Linguistics
- Upper Second Class Honours (2:1)
- Spent one year abroad studying French and Linguistics at Lyon III University
- Skills gained: Fluency in French language, developing and communicating opinions, discussing and debating different topics, translating, interpreting, working to deadlines
- A-levels gained in French (C), English (C) and Graphic Design (B)
- Nine GCSEs gained in grades A to C, including Maths and English
| Project | Description | Technologies |
|---|---|---|
| CashCow | Final group project at Makers: An app which allows users to search a company stock symbol and see live information about the stock. Users can also sign up to track their own stock portfolio. Deployed on Heroku | React, NodeJS, Express, PostgreSQL, Jasmine, Travis CI |
| Dashbook | Group project at Makers: A social network website built with Rails. Deployed on Heroku | Ruby on Rails, Rspec, Capybara, ActiveRecord, Travis CI |
| Thermostat | A responsive app which allows the user to interact with a thermostat UI | Javascript, Jasmine, JQuery |
| Winstagram | A photo-sharing social network website built with Rails | Ruby on Rails |
| Chitter Frontend | A frontend for a Twitter-like app which makes API calls to an existing backend | Javascript, JQuery |
- Mobile: 07986461943
- Email: [email protected]
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-balmforth/