Hi, I'm Alex.
A software developer.
About
Hi, I'm Alex, an agile software developer currently working at Contic. I love working with JavaScript and all the brilliant open source technologies that come with it. In my day-to-day life, I work primarily with TypeScript, React, GraphQL, NodeJS and PostgreSQL. I also have a solid foundation in writing semantic HTML and applying responsive CSS.
Outside of work, I enjoy playing gigs with my band, Pretty Terry, DJing, producing music and speaking bad French avec l'aide de ma petite amie.
If you'd like to know more about my techical experience, you can check it out below.
Experience
Frontend
- Creating pixel-perfect user interfaces from wireframes using React, NextJS and Gatsby
- Using React Query to efficiently fetch and cache data
- Applying the principles of Atomic Design to encourage component reusage and improve project organisation
- Using Storybook to develop components in isolation and create component documentation
- Using Tailwind and Styled Components to apply responsive CSS
- Implementing rigourous testing of components using Jest and Cypress component testing to guarantee code quality
- Refactoring outdated components to meet up-to-date React standards
- Developing mobile applications using Expo and React Native
Backend
- Implementing REST-style architecture using Express
- Implementing fully-typed Apollo GraphQL servers with TypeGraphQL
- Converting REST-style backend architectures to GraphQL to improve performance and simplify authorisation
- Performing CRUD operations on Postgres databases using ORMs like Prisma and Sequelize
- Creating extensive unit and integration tests using Jest to ensure code quality
Other
- Writing end-to-end tests in Cypress to ensure confidence in code
- Implementing hygen to allow for code component generation to increase developer efficiency
- Implementing and using continuous integration tools such as CircleCI and Github Actions to ensure code quality and catch errors
- Using Docker to simplify local database management
- Giving lightning talks and trainings to introduce developers to new concepts and tools
- Interviewing potential developers to assess talent
- Training new developers to teach them fundamentals and get them up to speed with the stack used
Writing
Education
- MSc Advanced Computer Science, University of Leeds
- BSc Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Leeds