Alex Eales

Software Engineer

Github | LinkedIn

About

Hi! I'm Alex, a 23 year old software developer from the UK. This website is a simple digitisation of my CV but should be replaced by something more interesting in the future (maybe). I've been programming for around 7 years, with experience in front-end and back-end development in a variety of languages (see below). If you have any questions, queries, or business enquireies please contact me through my LinkedIn and I would love to have a chat with you.

Interests

Running
I have been running since starting university, I ran a 10k at university, run weekly in the office run club, and am currently training to run this year for Prostate Cancer UK.

Photography
Photography has been a passion of mine for some time and is a great motivator as it encourages me to go to interesting places and take time out during my day.

Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental health and wellbeing are very important to me and I try and involve myself in promoting and improving wellbeing wherever I am as much as I can.

Skills

Technical Skills

  • Programming Languages

  • TypeScript
  • CSS (SASS/SCSS)
  • Rust
  • Python
  • C#
  • Java

  • Frameworks

  • Django
  • Preact
  • React
  • VueJS
  • Angular
  • Svelte/Sapper

  • Technologies

  • WebGL
  • WebAssembly (WASM)
  • Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

  • Platforms

  • Firebase
  • Google App Engine
  • Azure

Education

University

  • Computer Science (Bsc)
    1st Class Honours
    Graduating 2020
    University of Bath

  • Bachelors Dissertation – 1st Overall

    - “Using chatbots to automate guidance for university students who are concerned about their mental health”
    - Made using Google DialogFlow, Vue and TypeScript.

  • 3rd Year – 1st Class Honours

    - Developed an understanding of risk in systems and how to analyse and prevent it, intelligent control of real time systems, and how the internet functions practically.
    - Formed an understanding of the importance of entrepreneurship and key skills in business and business operation.

  • 2nd Year – 1st Overall

    Covered designing human-centric solutions as well as the fundamentals of computer graphics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and databases.

  • 1st Year – 2:1 Overall

    Covered the foundations of computer science, Agile SCRUM development and the ethical and social responsibilities associated with computer science as a discipline.

Secondary Education

  • A-Levels
    September 2014 - August 2016
    Wallingford 6th Form

  • - Maths [A], Further Maths [B] and Physics [B].
    - A in Extended Project Qualification, a 5000-word dissertation titled: “Is Skynet Inevitable? The Development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the Modern World”.

  • GCSE’s
    September 2009 – August 2014
    Wallingford School

  • GCSEs

    2 A*’s, 5 A’s, 2 B’s and 2 C’s.

Experience

Work Experience

  • Software Development Intern
    Potato, London
    June 2019 – July 2020

  • Potato is a digital agency who has worked with global companies such as Google, RBS, and Mozilla to develop and design solutions to deliver value to their customers through people first design. Initially I worked on a 6-person team creating a product for Google, while operating under a strict Agile SCRUM methodology. I am currently working on a 10-person team for a different Google product using an Agile Kanban workflow.

    Key Responsibilities:
    - Designing and Implementing high-quality solutions, peer reviewed by Googlers.
    - Manage the timeline of my own work with others to deliver project deadlines successfully.
    - Collaborating with the team and client to make informed decisions about the future of the product.

  • Software Development Intern
    Cognisess, Bath
    June 2018 – September 2018

  • Worked to develop a chatbot for answering users’ questions about their next career step, which involved managing a group of writers to produce content and sourcing data for the system.

  • Programming/Testing Intern
    Antstream, London
    July 2017 – August 2017

  • Tested the v1.0 of their system and produced bug reports to be acted on as well as wrote JavaScript modules for their Game Sparks integration.

  • Product Testing Intern
    Microsoft Studios, Reading
    July 2015 – August 2015

  • I was part of a 50-person testing team which illustrated the benefits of continuous communication/testing to ensure that a task is performed efficiently and effectively.

Relevant Experience

  • Relevant Experiences

  • Created Internal Library at Potato

    During a 2-week break, myself and a colleague created an internal library of components which comply with the A11y standard to help make our products accessible to all users.

  • "Make Development Great Again" Talk at Potato

    I have delivered an internal talk at Potato on the programming language Rust and how to create fast yet reliable software.

  • "Lightning Talk at Potato

    At Potato I gave a 5 minute lightning talk on the human perception of happiness and mental health and how to apply some simple wellbeing practiaces to daily life.

  • Hackathons/Coding Events

  • JP Morgan's Code for Good

    1st Prize at JP Morgan Code for Good Bournemouth (June 2017) – Won despite being one of the 2 teams comprised of only 1st year students, in a group of 11 teams. In 24 hours, we developed a solution for digitizing first aid cards for the Royal Navy Lifeguard.

  • University of Bath Launchpad

    Competed in a joint computer science and business hackathon called Launchpad in my first year and volunteered as a technical advisor in 2018.

  • Engineers Gate Hackathon

    Working as a volunteer at Engineers Gate, a joint computer science and engineering hackathon in November 2018 as a technical advisor.

  • Student Volunteering

  • Academic Representative

    I represented students as an academic representative by raising issues, with senior staff internal and external to the department, improving the course for future students.

  • Peer Assisted Learning (PAL)

    In my second year at University I was a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) leader and helped first year students learn the basics of coding. I continued this into my third year by helping other PAL leaders run their sessions more effectively.

  • Student Ambassador

    As a student ambassador, I was responsible for groups of parents and applicants when giving tours of the university campus. As well as talking/discussing with the parents and applicants about the university and the course.