My CV has been described as “eclectic”, which I have taken to be a positive as it was said to me at an interview by someone who later became my boss. I believe that I have learned valuable lessons and skills in every role that role I have had. If you would like me to expand on any points, feel free to get in touch.
Software Developer Bootcamp
12 Intensive training Course
Covering:
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python and MySQL
Charitable trust who provide connectivity and a range of additional services and content to the education sector.
All through (primary and secondary). Special needs school for children on the autistic spectrum.
Member of school senior leadership team. The role included a number of hours teaching each week.
All through (primary and secondary). Special needs school for children on the autistic spectrum.
Teaching ICT and Computer Science to GCSE level
Two form entry primary school in London borough of Wandsworth
Working with a small team to support autistic learners at the school
Discovery, review and recomendation platform for educational apps and websites.
(Part time) Review educational apps prior to their inclusion onto the platform. Provide feedback to ceators. Write lessons plans for educators to make use of apps.
All through (primary and secondary). Special needs school for children on the autistic spectrum.
Class teacher delivering the primary national curriculum
Recruitement agency with a focus on placing staff into the education sector.
Placed on an adhoc basis in schools around London
Small business providing parties and events for children and families.
With a partner ran all aspects of the business. Including building our website and web marketing.
Medium sized recruitment consultancy specialising in recruitment for the digital media industry.
Gain new clients, assertain client's recruitment needs, interview candidates and place candiates.
Small company running out of school activities for children including holiday camps and a swimming club.
Started working at camps during university holidays. Took on full time roll in 2004.
Learnt a range of programming and markup languages as well as numerous frameworks and techniques. Developed my speed while writing code and my problem solving and logical reasoning skills. Began to take a keener interested design and aesthetics.
Learning a great deal in a short space of time. Taking an approach of not “what do I know and what can I do with that” but “I have an idea for a project, how am I going to make this work”. Using my newfound knowledge and skills to develop a number of (what I hope) are original project ideas.
Managing large scale projects. Working closely with developers on a range of projects from databases to microsites has given me some experience of the product design life cycle from a client perspective. I believe this has helped inform my understanding of the process, empathy and a client centred approach to developing projects. Providing expert feedback on many software products in relation to their suitability for educational and inclusive use cases. Delivering face to face and online training to educators on the use of a number of technologies and platforms related to inclusion and accessibility has further developed my communication skills and ability to clearly explain software features to many with a low level of digital ability and no technical knowledge. Building professional networks including those from the education sector, the edtech sector, public, private and charity sector bodies as well as large multinational tech partners such as Google and Microsoft.
Instrumental in setting up and delivering the Department for Education’s Ed Tech Demonstrator Programme which was rapidly repurposed during the covid pandemic. The programme provided support to thousands of schools across England in order help them deliver remote education during lockdowns. Responsible for evaluating a range of solutions to replace an outdate training booking platform. Working with developers to set up and roll out the new platform while ensuring that all key stakeholder’s requirements were met as well as possible.
Managing conflict, leading teams, strategic planning, prioritisation, working to deadlines, handling high pressure situations and customer service.
Helping to steer the school through a turbulent time and come through it successfully.
As a primary trained teacher needed to retrain to teach computing to GCSE level. This involved learning fundamental principles of computer science rapidly as well as developing a basic understanding of programming in general and Python specifically.
Over the space of a few months, retraining myself from a knowledge base of almost zero to successfully teaching GCSE computer science and helping my students to achieve GCSE grades better than had been expected.
Managing challenging situations with a high degree of professionalism.
Initiated some important changes in classroom practice.
Testing and evaluating software for accessibility and functionality. Providing suggestions for product improvements to create a more valuable experience for users.
Customer service, patience, and creativity. A lot of experience and knowledge gained in the field of special educational needs and the use of technology in education.
With the help of technology successfully settling and teaching a class of autistic children who had previously exhibited extremely challenging behaviour and a lack of engagement in education. Generally using technology and creativity to provide better than expected educational outcomes for my learners.
Working under pressure and thinking on my feet while being placed in challenging situations each day.
Managing my own workload, basic accounting, and digital marketing. My first experience of building a website using a WYSIWYG platform and a little HTML.
Starting and growing my own company for several years. Teaching myself the digital skills required to build my own website and ensure that it placed on the first page of Google for most key search terms in our industry. Running events for Hollywood A list celebrities and royalty.
Gained a basic understanding of the digital media industry and roles within that industry. Selling and negotiation.
Bringing several significant new clients onboard with the agency including John Lewis Direct.
Customer service, professionalism, management, leadership, maintaining and using database, organisation, and administration skills.
Taking responsibility for holiday out of school care settings with over 250 children and 25 staff members.