Skills | Projects | Education | Experience | Interests | Blog
For me, Software Development lies perfectly at the intersection between technology and creativity - an intersection I have been interested in since a young age - as it is a craft where anything can be made possible through technological solutions. I'm really excited about a career in Software Development as it encompasses the things I am most passionate about: creating, endlessly learning, and the ability to help further connect the world.
In February this year, I graduated from Makers Academy, an intensive 12-week coding b 8FB2 ootcamp where I learnt to code through best practices such as TDD, pair programming and religiously following Agile principles. Soon after graduating, I was hired as a Makers Academy consultant and have since been working on a project for HSBC, alongside Pivotal Labs. The project aims to continually deliver value to users with weekly iterations and frequently deploying small changes, following the same Extreme Programming rules I practiced at Makers Academy.
Designing well-crafted code is something that has become a focus of my development and it would be great to find a place of work that values software craftsmanship as much as I do.
I have a highly creative background and have always tried to think outside of the box whilst tackling any challenge. This can be seen in many of the creative and media projects I’ve immersed myself in, such as designing environmental posters, creating experimental films, handcrafting a 3D poster from old books, creating an art installation piece about emotions and even exploring film theory from new perspectives.
My first Junior Developer role coming out of Makers Academy required me to quickly pick up and learn two completely new coding languages/frameworks (Typescript/Angular and Java/Spring Boot). This experience has given me confidence that I can delve into an unfamiliar codebase and work out what to prioritise in terms of learning to maximise the help I can contribute to the team, and quickly build up a foundation to work with. My previous educational experience at MA and work experience at Premier Comms have both proved that I am capable of quickly learning and adapting to a range of tasks.
Being meticulous is one of the main reasons why I was able to progress and develop my job role throughout my time at Premier Comms. Soon after joining the digital team, this skill was recognised and I was entrusted with the responsibility to audit and create metadata files before they were used for platform deliveries.
This skill has come through in many different subjects, from placing importance on pleasant composition in the little details in Photography, Film and Graphic Design, to thoroughly scanning lines of data and code. For example, this has proven especially helpful whilst pair programming with Senior Developers at Pivotal, where analysing and questioning parts of code have brought out potential errors.
| Project | Summary | Technologies |
|---|---|---|
| Guide Me | Final project at MA. iOS app to aid users with varying degrees of visual impairment to navigate an underground station. To achieve this goal our app scans for Bluetooth beacons and passes directions to the user if it detects a beacon with an ID it knows. Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIF0KgibgrQ | Swift, Xcode, TFL API |
| Bowling Calculator | A Makers Academy weekend challenge. An app to calculate the scores of a bowling game. | Javascript, Jasmine for testing |
| Instagram Clone | A Makers Academy weekend challenge. Created a simple Instagram clone in Rails. | Ruby, Rails, Bootstrap, OmniAuth, Heroku |
| Explore Philippines | My Side Project - a web application to help people discover and explore the unique parts of the Philippines. Work in progress. | Angular, Protractor, Jasmine, Google Maps API |
You can view all of my projects and my progress so far on my Github: https://github.com/louisaspicer
Full Stack Junior Software Developer (April 2017 - Present)
Working with/at Pivotal Labs on an internal performance tracking web application for HSBC. Focused on the importance of clean code and building reusable Angular components. Another key focus was refactoring, and continuing to add to, our RESTful Spring Boot API to handle complex data. All code was developed through pair programming and TDD, and deployed via our CI Jenkins pipeline, which we managed as a team.
Digital Producer (January - October 2016)
Client lead for multiple projects, overseeing and co-ordinating their full lifecycle including asset management, encoding, QC and delivery of digital assets. Communicated with both clients and the team of digital encoders, operators and editors to achieve the smoothest possible process for delivery of content. This required having effective time management and being highly organised, both physically and mentally. As a result of these skills, I was promoted from Assistant Producer just a few months after joining, as I could be relied upon to produce a greater amount of accurate work in a short period of time.
- Software Craftsmanship
- Full stack web development
- Independent learner and problem-solver
- Focus on Agile methodologies, pair programming, XP values, OOP, TDD & BDD
- Experience with MVC framework patterns
- Trained to be tech-agnostic
Film Studies (BA), with Professional Training Year at Premier Comms
First Class Honours Degree
- Dissertation on Freudian Theory in Disney’s Frozen (2013): Interpreting the Mental Processes of the Human Psyche
I sought to re-establish Freud’s workings of the psyche through a different context to which he originally applied them. Here I merged psychoanalytic film theory with animation theory, a combination that has been widely neglected.
A Levels:
- Graphic Communications (A*),
- Creative and Media Level 3 Advanced Diploma (Overall B)
- Included Personal Learning and Thinking Skills, and Principle Learning Units e.g. Capture, Show, Investigation & Commission (A-B)
- Extended Project - Experimental Film (B)
- ASDAN Universities Award for fundraising and completion of a World Challenge Expedition (July - Aug 2011) - Raised £4000 to embark on a four-week expedition consisting of trekking to the peak of Mulanje Massif, before camping at an orphanage and helping to reinvent the space in order for the children to have a more productive learning environment.
- Blogging - for sharing experience
- Yoga - for revitalising
- Film & Theatre - for escapism
- Psychology - for the intrigue
- Travel - for the intrigue
- The Philippines - for the wonder that it is