Personal Details

Personal Profile

I am the web programmer for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Web Team at the University of Edinburgh and a graduate from Napier University in Edinburgh where I have achieved a 2:1 in Human computer systems. I have successfully run this website that I designed and developed for myself using XHTML, CSS, PHP, MYSQL, and JavaScript over the past 5 years. I have demonstrated these skills in both a commercial environment with my work in the University Web Team and a research environment with my Honours Project where I constructed a database driven web application to track user mouse clicks. I am experienced at using UNIX, with university training and interacting via a command line interface with web servers.

I understand both good and bad design practices which can hamper projects and use this experience to build better projects. I advocate both social business and the design of social applications. I have designed and built many different web applications for a multitude of subject areas and data sensitivity and also built a commercial database for an Edinburgh company and I am involved in the design and development of a website to promote a local Edinburgh band Medicinal Purposes.

The various experiences of design and development as well as client involvement that I advocate strongly have enabled me to produce projects which are technically innovative and exactly what the client desires.

Key Skills

I am self motivated and I am currently learning ASP.NET programming in my own time, I am capable of working well in teams and on solo projects. I evaluate and offer solutions to clients when designing websites and other applications, an example of this is when I consulted with the Edinburgh University Pony Trekking Society on their site. I offered constructive criticism which allows clients to create fluid navigation which will keep visitors happy and as a positive result increase visitor numbers. I am familiar with PHP and JavaScript including their limitations which I was made aware of during the design of my Honours Project where I encountered and solved several compatibility problems with different web browsers.

As for project management I worked for over a year as the web and database designer for the Office of Lifelong Learning at the University of Edinburgh where I managed both the website which was hosted on a Linux server and the departmental database which was hosted on a separate a MSSQL server and had to update and redesign these resources as needed. As well as several group projects in which I took the lead role during my time at university. During these projects I often had to consult with the server administrators to grant access to the clients and arrange regular meetings with the clients to update them of progress and changing events. Through this I gained knowledge of the problems how to solve them of getting departments to work together.

In addition to the project management I was responsible for project planning in close contact with the client through group meetings, email, and telephone communication. During the project and following the completion of a project I was responsible for documentation which included database documentation produced using MS Visio.

Work History

Education & Training (Basic)

Education & Training (Advanced)

Modules Currently Being Studied

Qualifications

Additional Information

Interests & Hobbies

SCUBA Diving 2005 - Present - I gained an interest in this activity through my dad who had been doing recreational diving for a few years and had really wanted to try it for myself. I got the chance in a holiday to Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt where I enrolled on a PADI Open water Course and found it to be the most rewarding hobby I had ever tried. The Sheer beauty of the coral reefs from underwater and being able to get much closer to the variety of underwater life forms was fantastic.

Role-playing 2001 - Present - Role-playing in this setting is a group of people gathered in a social setting to tell stories which are primarily built by the players and a Games master who creates the setting for the events and administrates conflicts. Recently I was a game master for the National Student gathering in Edinburgh where I set out 6 six hour story to entertain the players over the two days of the event. I also took the role as a guide of Edinburgh during the event as for many of the players this was their first visit to Edinburgh.

Driving Licence

No