Hello, I'm Pablo, a Makers Academy graduate, a lover of making and lifelong learner.

• 💻 I’m currently working as a Software Engineer in Test for Orchestrating Identity and reworking my portfolio
• 🌱 I’m currently practising TypeScript with React.
• 📨 Reach me at [email protected]

I am a Full Stack Developer and Quality Engineer, Makers graduate and gold medal pillow fighting champion. Still loving the daily puzzles, challenges and constant learning of coding. Along with a passion for 'how?', 'why?' and 'let's do it!', I bring a huge wealth of experience and skills from my previous iterations as an edge-of-space explorer, forest creator, primary STEM and computing lead, Forest School Leader and expert furniture craftsperson. Curious?... Click here.

See my project page of my 'work-in-progress' portfolio site.

focussed on assuring quality through a wide range of testing and checking tools and techniques

• Java, Selenium, and a wide range of test tools, such as Postman & SonarQube.
• Using a range of testing methods, e.g. black-box, white-box, accessibility, performance, regression, user acceptance etc.
• An immersive two-week project quality testing a real-world app in development embedded in a software engineering team throughout the complete development lifecycle.

focussed on Test Driven Development (TDD), Object Oriented Programming (OOP), Agile and XP practices, and learning to learn

• Ruby, JavaScript, Postgres, MERN, RSpec and Cypress technologies, amongst others
• Version control, high-quality, clean code, and regular peer and external code reviews
• Self-led study, daily pairing, group projects and solo challenges
• Agile work practices throughout engineering projects with an emphasis on EQ

National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching at UCL (IoE) and NELTSH, London (Nov 2021 to Nov 2022)

Level 3 Forest School Leader qualification from Open College Network West Midlands through EarthCraft UK (July 2019 to Nov 2021) PGCE Certificate at The University of Cumbria, Tower Hamlets campus (Sept 2010 to July 2011)

BA(Hons) degree in Furniture Craftsmanship and Design at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, High Wycombe. Lower Second Pass (Sept 1993 to July 1996)

Foundation Certificate in Art and Design at Hertfordshire College of Art and Design, St Albans (Sept 1988 to July 1989)

Problem-solving: I love problem-solving! Researching and implementing a STEM/maker workshop and Forest School woodland with limited resources, non-negotiable deadlines and complex safe-guarding issues resulted in life-changing opportunities for children growing up in a deprived area of North London.

Communication: Clarity, honesty and empathy for me have been key for strong, positive communication with peers, the children I have worked with and a variety of stakeholders from parents to senior leaders and governors. This has been an essential part of delivering amazing opportunities to our children through the positive relationships that have been established.

Initiative and delivery: I have been repeatedly entrusted with special projects far outside my job remit and current knowledge having gained the trust that I can work flexibly, am driven to achieve and can learn whatever new skills may be required.

Growth mindset: Good fortune has repeadly found me in uncomfortable situations requiring rapid and effective learning of new skills and knowledge. I have developed a deep understanding of the importance of a growth mindset, seeing mistakes as learning opportunities and benefit of embracing challenges.

Reflection: When implementing a radically new Forest School pedagogy into my school with independent responsibility for a small team, I used constant reflection, daily discussions and an agile approach to dynamically adjust our practice maximising benefits for children, staff and stakeholders.

Meta-cognition: Research, leading teaching, being a cross-pedagogical educator, and a love of learning have given me insights into my learning processes helping me to learn more effectively and feel that everything is within reach.

Patience and resilience: I was a primary school teacher for twelve years. Do you need to know more?

Empathy: Working closely with vulnerable children and exhausted, overstretched colleagues has taught me how essential empathy is in positive collaboration and cohesive teamwork for an effective and enjoyable working life. Combined with strong, honest communication, this played a key part in creating a Forest School team with unprecedented work satisfaction and exceptional experiences for our children, and was the foundation of my successful group collaborations at Makers.

Creativity: From furniture design to living willow mazes, and irrigation systems to STEM curriculum, creativity is an unaescapable part of me and an essential part of finding the best solution to any problem.

Precision: Fulfilling the complex needs of a diverse range of children and colleagues in an unpredicatable environment and above all the extreme safeguarding requirements of Forest School has been ample preparation for Makers group engineering projects working with varied peers and managing complex codebases.

User focus: Reflective teaching is a purely user focussed process and a natural progression from years of furniture design and craftsmanship where beautiful, functional creations are designed for a specific user experience.

Orchestrating Identity (June 2024 to present) Software Engineer in Test

• Quality Assurance for a digital identity verification SaaS startup focussed on excellence.
• Agile development and strong communication in a small team of engineers working in multiple locations.
• Supporting two frontend apps in React and Next.js and micro-services in Java and Kotlin.
• Automated tests in BDD Cucumber and JavaScript.
• Automated end to end, exploratory and manual testing in UI and API, in addition to overall quality assurance to produce an outstanding product.

Pensano.dev (Sept 2023 to present) Product Manager and Software Engineer

• PM and dev for a React Native app for a startup in the mental health space
• Responsible for the full lifecycle of the app and ensuring code quality and user experience
• Leading a team of designers, developers and testers

The Devonshire Hill Nursery and Primary School, Haringey (Jan 2017 to Dec 2022) Forest School Leader, STEM lead and teacher

• Researched and implemented a STEM/makers workshop/classroom
• Designed and implemented a STEM primary curriculum including robotics
• Trained colleagues in STEM and primary coding
• Researched and implemented a woodland and Forest School pedagogy

The Raspberry Pi Foundation (Feb 2019 to Dec 2020) Non-formal Learning Team educational content creator

• Created online content for Code Club for Scratch, Raspberry Pi robotics and Crumble

The Rosemary Works School, Islington (Jan 2018 to July 2019) Coding and computing specialist teacher

• Specialist computing in every year group and a Minecraft club

turn IT on (April 2016 to Dec 2018) Specialist coding, computing and STEM teacher and consultant working in schools across London

• All areas of computing to all year groups across a diverse range of London schools
• Specialist projects including a near-space high-altitude balloon flight and Raspberry Pi robot wars

Seven Mills Primary School, Tower Hamlets (Sept 2011 to Apr 2016) Class teacher

• Design and technology lead

Self Employed (April 2002 to Sept 2010) Designer/maker of bespoke furniture and craft building constructions

• Ran all aspects of a business making bespoke furniture and small designer buildings

Swanzy Fine Furniture (Sept 2000 to April 2002) Sole cabinet maker in a bespoke workshop making one-off commission and exhibition furniture

Daubneys (April 1999 to Aug 2000) Cabinet maker in a high-quality workshop producing bespoke commissions for companies including David Linley, Cato and Lily Curtis

Buckingham Chilterns University College (Nov 1997 to Dec 1998) A senior technician with responsibility for the timber stores and workshop technician for HND Furniture Studies and BA(Hons) Applied Furniture Studies

Cyclone (Oct 1992 to Oct 1993) Motorcycle courier based in Soho

Self-employed (April 1991 to Aug 1992) Craftsperson involved in a barn conversion project in Teyssieu, Lot, France

• Works included electrical wiring, carpentry and dry stone - walling.

• Learn to Code with Ruby (Boris Paskhaver, Udemy, 33 hours of lectures, 2023)
• Codeacademy Learn Ruby (completed Dec 2022) Minecraft Certified Educator (2019)
• Certified Google Educator Level 1 (2018)
• Apple Teacher (2018)
• Certified Microsoft Educator (2018)
• Raspberry Pi Certified Educator (2016)
• Raspberry Pi Skycademy Graduate (2016)
• Diving Deep into Primary Programming (2018, with Jane Waite)
• LGfL Minecraft Champions (2018, LGfL/Microsoft/ProdigyLearning)
• Planning and Pedagogy for Coding in Primary (2017, with Jane Waite)
• Micro:bit Hands-On Workshop (2017, with Tig Williams)

• Volunteer Software Engineer at Pensano.dev
• Volunteer coach at codebar.io, breaking barriers into Software Development for under-represented groups
• A series of educational resources written for the Raspberry Pi Foundation Informal Learning Team including:
  • Crumble Motor Buggy (GitHub repository)
  • Motors, robot buggies and Scratch 3 (GitHub repository)
• Articles I have written for Hello World! magazine:
  • 'Get Sparkling with Crumbles', Hello World article, issue 8, May 2019.
  • ‘Get moving with Crumble’, Hello World article, issue 11, December 2019.

• Cycling Proficiency Certificate
• Chainsaw Proficiency License

• I love climbing and surfing.
• I am habitually immersed in arts and crafts and making, such as bookbinding, axe carving and painting.
• I'm a part-time board game geek.
• I have a deep love of mountains, sea and forests and very excited about all of them together.