I am a software generalist with over 20 years experience in a variety of roles.
With a long time personal interest in Linux and networks I am effective in modern cloud-based, containerised development environments and have strong hands-on troubleshooting skills.
The streamlining of engineer workflows is something I am very keen on and so am always on the lookout for practical opportunities to automate or optimise tasks. Over the years I have experienced development life-cycles of varying levels of agility and with this I believe that finding the balance between a pragmatic approach and best practice is key to success.
Enabling others is at the very core of what is important to me as an engineer and so I aim to include mentoring and information sharing into what I do.
Skills
- Programming: Java / Python / NextJS
- Scripting: Bash / text wrangling (awk + sed + Vim)
- Continuous delivery: Buildkite / Jenkins / Docker
- DevOps: AWS Cloudformation / Terraform
- Linux: Ubuntu / Debian
- Databases: Microsoft SQL Server / SQL scripting / Hibernate ORM
- Virtualisation: VMware Workstation / VirtualBox / vSphere
- Misc: fan of regex
Experience
FanDuel
- Senior Staff Software Engineer
- March 2022 - present
- Lead Software Engineer
- March 2020 - March 2022
- Senior Software Engineer
- July 2018 - March 2020
- Software Engineer
- June 2017 - July 2018
Initially as a developer at FanDuel I worked on backend services using an in house framework (Java / Guice / Hibernate / SQS / SNS) running on AWS EC2. While eventually specialising in login / authentication flows, I gained experience in most of the available landscape during this time. As a developer I was the technical lead on some large scale and complex customer account migration activities in consolidation efforts as the company grew.
Later, I spent time working as part of an enablement / developer experience team (“Engineering Productivity”), where my primary focus was on improving developer / tester workflows. The EngProd team spent considerable focus on improving test environment availability and stability. As a consequence we allowed engineers to obtain their own environment in under 5sec, as opposed to the previous ~45min.
This same team facilitated weekly and highly attended demos and talks, featuring internal and external speakers. EngProd also created multi-day workshops on various subjects including Terraform, AWS and docker, that we ran in the Edinburgh and New York City offices.
Following this my focus was on improving DevOps tooling, and assisting on migrating applications from EC2 to Kubernetes.
My work as a Senior Staff led to returning to product development, where I am currently operate across several teams in the “Account” vertical. Account are responsible for customer sign up and KYC onboarding, as well as customised offer / acquisition / experimentation.
Aquila Insight
- Automated Test Engineer
- February 2016 - June 2017
Test team lead, responsible for implementing a green field test automation framework for Aquila’s cloud-based analytics platform.
I developed UI / API-level tests that ran in Jenkins, against Aquila’s platform (Docker on EC2).
The framework used Cucumber-JVM using Java / Spring 4, and I adopted BDD / 3A wherever possible, within the dev team’s Scrum workflow.
Sky
- Senior Engineer
- September 2015 - January 2016
- Automation Tester
- October 2012 - September 2015
Developed tests for a service-oriented CRM platform using Java, Cucumber-JVM, Spring Framework 4 and a host of other other open source libraries.
Produced UI-based integration tests within a development Scrum team, using QTP / UFT.
Iplay
Iplay deliver integrated casual games solutions worldwide.
- Senior Test Engineer / Automation Team Lead
- April 2012 - October 2012
Responsible for tests automation frameworks running on C# (with Nunit / Selenium WebDriver) and Ruby (with Cucumber / Watir WebDriver).
QuickTrace Ltd
QuickTrace provide software for use with clinical systems in healthcare.
- Software Test Analyst (contract)
- June 2010 - March 2012
Implemented test automation framework and defect tracking procedures.
Provided extensive test documentation and procedures for its execution.
Tested integration with solutions from major clinical system suppliers in the UK and Ireland (including iSOFT, GPASS, EMIS, InPS, TPP).
Crocodile Clips Ltd
Crocodile Clips (now Sumdog) develop engaging educational simulation software and online arithmetic games.
- Software Test Manager
- May 2009 - May 2010
Responsible for a team of twelve Test Engineers, ensuring smooth running of test processes in an Agile SDLC.
Provided mentoring where test documentation and execution was concerned.
Led focus groups of end users in usability testing.
Zonal Retail Data Systems
- Quality Automation Analyst
- May 2008 - May 2009
- Quality Analyst
- April 2006 - May 2008
- Helpcentre Analyst
- Nov 2004 - April 2006
I started as remote support for proprietary EPoS hardware and its embedded software / back office desktop based solution, before joining a team that tested the same.
After specialising in test automation I implemented a framework using QTP / Winrunner, running on VMware workstation.
Sykes
- Call Centre Agent
- July 2004 - Nov 2004
Helpdesk for Samsung laptop users
Qualifications / Awards / Certifications
- Computer Science BEng (hons), University of Edinburgh, 2004
- University of Edinburgh Sidney Michaelson Prize winner 2003 / 2004
- ISEB ISTQB Foundation Certificate
- MCDBA - Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (SQL Server 2000)
- MCTS - SQL Server 2005
Other interests
Outside of tech I enjoy running and playing bass guitar.