CV

You can view a summary of my career and education history below. For privacy reasons, names of employers are not included. If you are a recruiter or HR consultant, you can contact me via the contact form to obtain a full copy of my CV.

 

Junior Java Web Developer (July 2012 – current)

I was appointed to this role following an internal interview. This is the next step in my career progression as it has long been my ambition to become more involved in server-side web development.

Working on long to short term projects, I work alongside project managers, QA testers and front-end developers in an Agile environment. My main duties involve:

  • Developing new elements for the Polopoly content management system using Java, XML and the Velocity templating language.
  • Extending the functionality of existing Polopoly elements.
  • Building new Polopoly templates using Velocity.
  • Responding to change requests from the business involving server-side development of new CMS functionality.
  • Bug fixing.

Central Support Web Technician (February 2010 – July 2012)

  • Developing news and magazine websites on the Polopoly content management system.
  • Setting up news feeds and page structures for each of the websites.
  • Creating HTML elements and CSS themes for customised web pages.
  • Developing web pages optimised for mobile browsers.
  • Editing images and logo files in Adobe Photoshop.
  • Submitting completed websites to the QA Team for testing, fixing any bugs, and liaising on any potential issues.
  • Creating articles on the Prestige publishing system to be displayed on Polopoly websites.

HR Reporting Support Analyst, HR Planning & Governance (May 2009 – February 2010)

  • Responsible for producing a wide range of monthly HR reports including headcount reports, absence reports, new entrants and leavers reports.
  • Streamlining and re-documenting the team’s existing reporting processes.
  • Successfully completing ad hoc reports for customers at a variety of levels within the company and receiving positive feedback.
  • Producing and maintaining a team site on the company intranet (using Microsoft Sharepoint).
  • Building self-serve reports using Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus.

Process Improvement Lead Adviser, Measurement & Insight, Operations (April 2008 – April 2009)

  • Delivered automated solutions which saved over 180 manual hours of activity per month within 1 year; equating to a £47k annual saving.
  • Created an Access Macro Troubleshooting Guide to support the members of the Reporting Team.
  • Devised a new project development lifecycle for the Process Improvement Taskforce.
  • Designed and implemented a brand new Process Improvement customer feedback process.
  • Successfully planned and delivered a presentation about Process Improvement.
  • Rapidly developed skills in desktop technologies including Microsoft Access, Excel, VBA and SQL.
  • Worked with customers to determine requirements and conduct a full handover of new processes.
  • Promoted the sharing of knowledge within the team.

Automation Lead Adviser, Measurement & Insight, Operations (Temporary: January 2008 – March 2008)

  • Created online versions of Ops Services reports, using Microsoft Reporting Services and SQL Server 2005/2000.
  • Devised Business Requirements Definitions for reports prior to automation.
  • Liaised with report owners and end-customers to understand their requirements.
  • Worked closely with the Transformation Team for the creation of the back-end datasets.

Reporting Analyst, Measurement & Insight, Operations (March 2007 – December 2007)

  • Promoted from Adviser level to Lead Adviser, taking on more responsibility for the department.
  • Took full responsibility for the development and running of the monthly Property Recoveries Report.
  • Liaised with internal customers and claims centres to ensure the monthly data files arrived on time.
  • Assisted with the resolution of issues and queries relating to the Property Recoveries Report.
  • Added numerous enhancements to reports in response to customer demand.
  • Developed VBA menus in Access to streamline a number of MI reports.

Test Analyst, Business Change Acceptance Test Team, IT & Business Change (Secondment: January 2007 – March 2007)

  • Responsible for executing test scripts to ensure the Exceed (Single Insurance Platform) system functioned as expected.
  • Raised system defects on the Exceed database for resolution and then re-tested the system.
  • Analysed Business Requirements and Change Requests to build test conditions and test cases.
  • Developed knowledge of the principles of user acceptance testing within a very short space of time.
  • Acted as a liaison point between the Test Team and the Process Control Team.

Process Control Adviser, IT & Business Change (June 2005 – December 2006)

  • Defined and developed business process audits for Pricing, Conversion, Documentation and Contact Centres, most notably the Motor Renewal Review pricing audit.
  • Created complex audit templates (using Microsoft Excel and Access) and optimised existing ones.
  • Applied statistical sampling methods to Process Control audits.
  • Trained and coached colleagues within Process Control and the wider department.
  • Set up and edited a bi-monthly team newsletter.

 

Education, Professional Qualifications and Other Training
School, University, College or Other Institution Dates Qualification/Subject Studied
From To
Lynda.com 06/2011 Current xHTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, SEO, Photoshop CS2, Installing Apache, MySQL & PHP, HTML5
Lumia Development 02/2009 02/2009 IBM DB2 SQL
Chartered Insurance Institute 06/2007 06/2008 Certificate in Insurance (Cert CII)
Self Study 05/2004 12/2004 PHP and MySQL
University of East Anglia 09/2002 06/2005 BSc. (Hons) in Computing Science (2:1)
City College Norwich 09/2000 06/2002 A Levels in Computing, French and Media Studies. AS Level in Geology
Pitman Training 01/1999 04/1999 Elementary Word Processing (First Class Pass)
Framingham Earl High School 09/1995 06/2000 8 GCSEs including Maths and English Language

 

Memberships:

Chartered Insurance Institute (Cert CII) – Member from June 2007 to February 2010. (I resigned my membership in February 2010 as I’m no longer working in the insurance industry).

British Computer Society – Professional Member (MBCS) – Member since May 2009.

Norwich Inter-Varsity Club (local activities-based social club) – Active member since November 2008. In August 2009 I joined the committee, assisting with the club’s website development and maintenance.  My main achievements are as follows:

  • In early 2011 I converted the club’s website to use WordPress as a CMS, to make it easier to update.  I also created a custom WordPress theme for the website.
  • Also in 2011, I re-designed the club’s A5 leaflet so that it matches the style of the new website.  This is to keep the branding consistent, and the new leaflets were launched at the 2011 Christmas party.
  • Throughout 2011 I reviewed the club’s social media strategy.  I replaced the old Facebook group with a brand new Facebook page, which made it possible to link to a new Twitter account.  I update the Facebook and Twitter pages at least once a week to show the details of the latest clubnights. We have also begun to use YouTube as an additional way of promoting the club’s events.
  • During 2011 I hosted more of my own for the club, especially cinema nights, which were popular.  In the summer I organised a Norwich ghost walk (led by “The Man in Black”) which was my most successful event with around 12 attendees.
  • In 2010 I set up a brand new gallery page using a PHP script.  This is easier to maintain than the previous gallery page, as the script makes it possible to upload a batch of photos via a web browser and thumbnails are created automatically.
  • In 2010 I wrote a help guide which was published in the IVC monthly bulletin, explaining how to use the members’ area (forum, gallery and calendar).  This also explained to users how to register.
  • I re-organised the forum categories so that it is easier for members to find the section they require.
  • In early 2010 I changed the domain name provider, so that it’s the same as the hosting provider.  It is more convenient to have these both managed from the same account.  In mid-2011 I upgraded the hosting plan as we required more space.
  • In early 2010, when we were still using the static HTML website (before I converted it to use WordPress), I tidied up the code so that it validated and displayed correctly in all major browsers.

My other responsibilities include:

  • Updating the Forthcoming Highlights page with details of the latest events.
  • Moderating the online forum, including the approval of new member registrations and keeping the forum software (MyBB) up to date.
  • Monitoring Google Analytics to keep an eye on site trends, eg the number of visits and where they are coming from etc.
  • Setting up email accounts and email forwarders for the club’s committee members.
  • Attending monthly committee meetings, to keep the other committee members up to date with progress and other information relating to the website.