Hello, world!

Developer, gamer, geek, wizard.

A passionate developer and user experience analyst, who believes in delivering solutions that are technologically elegant as well as accessible, usable, and efficient.

Excellence-driven and detail-oriented, hard-working, patient, and technically adept. Merging technical skills with a deep understanding of the human aspects of technology. A flexible addition to any workforce

Well-versed in a broad range of IT-related topics, and eager to learn and adapt.

Skills

• I have experience or training in the following technologies:
  • Java Standard Edition, and some Enterprise Edition.
  • Python.
  • PHP, and Model-View-Controller frameworks, such as CakePHP.
  • SQL.
  • HTML, CSS, JavaScript.
  • XML, XML Schemas and XML Stylesheets.
  • Regular Expressions.
• I also have experience or training in the following concepts:
  • User experience, usability, and human-computer interaction.
  • Data structures and algorithms.
  • Databases.
  • Networking.
  • Service-oriented architecture.
  • Mobile and distributed systems.
  • Linux.
  • Business and systems analysis.
  • Development methodologies, including Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.
  • Project management.

Experience

Sep 2021 - May 2022:	General Staff at Stay Nozawa.
Performed a range of maintenance activities at various Stay Nozawa properties. Tasks included network and wireless setup, building and repairs, housekeeping, kitchen assistance, and clearing snow in one of the snowiest places in the world. I fulfilled many roles as needed in order to assist in the smooth operation of Stay Nozawa's many accommodation and dining facilities in the ski town of Nozawaonsen, Japan.
Jul 2018 - Aug 2021:	Backpacker. Travelling Japan.
A working holiday across Japan, immersing myself in the language and culture. I spent time learning the basics of Japanese, and I continue to study the language at least a little every day. During my travels I supported myself financially by working various short-term and part-time jobs, mostly in hostels or offering conversational English lessons which are common in Japan.
Jul 2016 - Jun 2018:	Software Developer at Rand Merchant Bank.
Responsibilities included the extension, maintenance, and operational support of the bank's exotic trading platform. The exotic trading platform was responsible for all trade valuations and risk calculations that did not conform to more standardised trading systems and required specialised support. Worked directly with the quantitative analysis team to provide support to the trading desk, and to report to the South African Reserve Bank. Assumed responsibility for the extension and maintenance of the bank's integration into ULLink, a gateway between the bank and various exchanges, such as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This code was code developed in other areas of the bank, in languages outside of the team's core competencies.
Apr 2015 - Jun 2016:	Backpacker. Travelling Japan, Germany, Czech Republic, England, Wales, Scotland, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Gaining an understanding of cultures around the world. Developing independent problem solving skills. Learning to work outside of my comfort zone.
Dec 2013 - Mar 2015:	User Experience Analyst Team Lead at DStv Digital Media.
Dec 2012 - Nov 2013:	User Experience Analyst at DStv Online.
Jun 2012 - Nov 2012:	User Experience Intern at DStv Online.
Helped to grow DStv's user experience team from two members, to eight, including a dedicated research team. Helped to integrate user experience into DStv's Agile development culture. Worked as a multi-functional user experience analyst. Performing tasks from requirements gathering, prototyping and wireframing, a wide variety of local and remote user testing, down to detail-oriented work such as heuristic evaluation and copywriting. With knowledge of both the human and technical aspects of IT, worked closely with the designers, product owners, and developers, to balance the needs of users with the requirements of the business and technical teams. Worked with nearly every product and brand DStv has to offer, with a primary focus on video-on-demand services such as DStv Now, DStv Catch Up, BoxOffice, and Africa Magic Go. Worked across a wide variety of platforms, including responsive web, Android, iOS, DStv set-top-boxes such as the DStv Explora, Android set-top-boxes, XBox One, and Samsung SmartTVs. Helped to build and administer DStv's User Experience Lounge in the Randburg customer care centre. The lab features state-of-art recording technology, including cameras, microphones, and an eye-tracker, to better observe exactly how users interact with DStv's products and services.
Jan 2012 - May 2012:	Java Developer at Bhyve Technologies.
Worked on the SysGen system, a tool to enable drag-and-drop creation of web and mobile applications. Headed up work on a module to allow SysGen applications to interface with existing databases and webservers. Users could provide database connection information or a WSDL document, and map these systems into their SysGen application. Worked in Java, with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the interface.
2011:	Tutor of Computer Programming 1 and 2 (Java) at Monash University. Tutor of Industrial Experience at Monash University.
Ran tutorials and practical lessons covering each week's material in depth. Provided mentorship and answered questions surrounding the material. Graded weekly assignments for each class, providing individual feedback to each student on how to improve.
2010:	Development Manager and PHP developer for the Oxfam Australia Program Evaluation Management System.
Headed up development in a multifunctional Agile project team. Presented project progress at weekly demo days.

Education

2014:	Nielsen Norman Group, UX Certification.
2013:	Nielsen Norman Group, Usability Week in San Francisco.
Completed six days of intensive UX workshops with the Nielsen Norman Group, and UX practitioners from around the world. Completed the UX Certification exam, with a specialty in Web Design. Track and confirm this certification on the NNGroup site.
2011:	Honours Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences at Monash University.
81% for the thesis: "WebNS: Model for a Peer-to-peer Name Service" Highest marks for FIT5046 Mobile and Distributed Computing. 4.0 GPA, 85.25% WAM.
2008 - 2010:	Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences at Monash University, Majoring in Application Development and Networks.
Nomination for the IT Sir John Monash Medal, 2010. Highest marks for FIT3046 Web Systems 3 (C# and ASP.NET), 2010. Cliff Bellamy Dean's Achievement Award 2009. Overall Top Student in IT, 2009. Top Second Year Student in IT, 2009. 3.92 GPA, 90.39% WAM.
2002 - 2007:	Fourways High School
6 Matric distinctions: Mathematics, Computer Science, Science, Accounting, English, and Afrikaans. Computer Science Award.

Portfolio

• Demo: Raycasting in Java, using OpenGL - 2015 Java 8 and OpenGL Developer

  An implementation of the raycasting lighting technique. Implementing and demonstrating the algorithms defined in the Math library.

  To run, please download and extract the ZIP file. May require installing Java 8, and running java -jar RaycastDemo.jar from the command line, depending on your machine's configuration.

• Library: Math - 2014-ongoing Java 8 and JUnit Developer

  A library project, providing the mathematics used in various other projects. The project provides implementations of common mathematical functions, and methods to simplify floating point arithmatic. Current development is focused on geometry, to be used in collision detection and lighting algorithms.

  As precision is important, unit testing using JUnit is a focus for new development.

  The project was undertaken to learn the algorithms involved, and to create the functionality for use in other projects.

• Thesis: "WebNS: Model for a Peer-to-peer Name Service" - 2011 Author

  The centralisation of power of the incumbent Domain Name System presents three problems: it is vulnerable to orchestrated attacks, the administrative costs of its maintenance are increasing and there are several recorded cases of the centralised power being abused for political reasons. Peer-to-peer networks are resilient to these three problems and may be used to construct an alternative decentralised name service. By carefully constructing a structured overlay network, ensuring efficient replication of name entries, and making use of Byzantine agreement based algorithms to ensure consistency and security, a model for a decentralised, secure, scalable and available name service is created.

• SITspot - 2011 PHP Developer

  An online file system developed for storing and discussing conference papers and other works. A highly flexible permissions system allows directories and files to be shared or restricted at any granularity. The system was used throughout 2011 by students at Monash University South Africa to submit work during their Industrial Experience projects.

• Oxfam PEMS - 2010 Cake PHP Development Manager

  Standing for "Program Evaluation Management System", the PEMS was designed to allow the South African branch of Oxfam Australia better manage their operations. The system is a database-driven alternative to the disparate document-based system used previously. At Oxfam's request, the PEMS also includes small Java applets to link and open existing documents housed on their servers.

• Mini-projects

  The following are small, self-contained projects. They are undertaken in order to learn something new, because they are interesting, or simply because having the functionality available would be useful.

  • Python IRC Bot - A simple bot for the Internet Relay Chat protocol. Extensible via plugins. Written in Python, as a learning exercise.
  • JavaScript random name generator - A random name generator, using Markov chains to randomly generate believable names, based on example names as input.

Copyright © 2024 Craig Webster.