Senior Developer
Java, Oracle, MS SQL Server
Senior developer with over 15 years of Java and SQL development experience in the financial services sector. I have a strong product and customer focus and am passionate about initiating and delivering high-quality solutions that respond to changing business environments.
My career began as a SAS programmer supporting a data entry system for a Clinical Research Organisation,
before learning PowerBuilder and moving to the City to build personal insurance applications.
After six years, I switched to Java and joined a newly-created development team to build a new claims handling system.
I stayed with the team maintaining and supporting several claims applications until 2018
when I moved to a new team as a developer supporting an online broker portal, developed in Mendix.
At the beginning of 2019, after twenty years at the company, I had the opportunity to take a career break to take care of my family.
The majority of my career has been developing large, multi-country internal applications using Java and SQL.
I designed and developed multiple application modules, including a contact book and early loss notification system.
I have developed application database schemas, data scripts and stored procedures for applications and database reporting for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.
I have reviewed code and database scripts, planned and managed monthly application releases and created technical documentation, such as coding standards and technical specifications.
I have experience in solving complex problems, both on my own and working with others.
I have strong written and verbal communication skills and can speak to people at all levels.
I have gained a lot of business knowledge from my years in the insurance industry,
and have excellent business engagement and customer service skills from developing and supporting applications.
I can organise workloads and manage my time effectively to meet project deadlines.
I have experience of mentoring junior team members and organising work for offshore developers.
I have always enjoyed learning and coding, but I have missed developing applications and working in a team since leaving my last role.
During my career break, I have been studying part-time and keeping up-to-date with software development.
In September I joined the Tech Returners "Your Return To Tech" programme to learn React and AWS cloud services, and develop a "Tech For Good" project over eight weeks.
The project, Pretty Please, is a React web application connected to an AWS RDS database via Java AWS lambda functions.
I feel that my experience and transferable skills, combined with the training and opportunities of the "Your Return To Tech" programme,
will ensure I am an asset to my future employers when I return to my career in technology.
When I'm not thinking about coding, I'm usually thinking about food. What to eat next, what to cook, what restaurant to visit next. This love for food began after I bought an old copy of the Good Food Guide for 50p from my local library and ultimately led to me getting married in a restaurant. Now every holiday and day trip is centred around what good food there is to eat.
Reading has been a big part of my life. Fiction-wise, I'm a big fan of early Paul Auster, and my current favourite is Elizabeth Strout.
Aside from cookbooks, I have an interest in productivity and psychology, especially in the area of habits and mindset.
In this area, I found The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande to be a great book about how to improve processes, especially when working in a high-stakes environment.
I'm a city person and love living in London. Before lockdown, I enjoyed spending time walking around, visiting galleries and museums (and the occasional restaurant). Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney are all amazing cities, but London is the best!