Skills

Languages

Like many programmers, most of my languages are self-taught. Some languages have proficiency evident in side projects, but others (e.g. C#) have only been used during employment.

In approximate order of expertise:

• Kotlin - All projects worked on day to day use Kotlin, and it is currently my strongest language.
• Java - All my personal Android projects and earlier apps for clients are written solely in Java. Additionally, I've managed Java projects across a variety of servers (Wildfly, Tomcat), most of which interacted with third party and internal APIs and handled sensitive data.
• PHP - I was responsible for a client for 3 years that primarily consisted of a large PHP CMS that communicated with many third party systems, and had hundreds of management pages and scheduled tasks. It also regularly underwent penetration tests and auditing by industry specialists.
• C# - I've written and maintained 10+ C# programs for commercial use, some using WinForms, others to run as services. Many of these have run for years without requiring any changes, whilst others required weekly tweaks.
• HTML, CSS, Javascript - Whilst I prefer back-end languages / SQL, I have extensive experience with front-end languages (and frameworks such as jQuery) and am very comfortable using them to add functionality & style.
• Swift - Creators.Direct iOS was written entirely in Swift, and contains background synchronisation, notifications, in-app payments, and other platform-specific features.
• Visual Basic - Added new features & resolved bugs in a client's Microsoft Access CMS. Additionally, independently researched and implemented a VB script and procedure to add git source control to a project that previously had not been able to, allowing multiple features to be worked on simultaneously.

Databases

I have a strong interest in order and structure, and databases perfectly fit that requirement. My MCSE, MCSA, and MTA were gained in my spare time due to my passion for databases, and I have extensive experience with most database flavours.

• MS SQL (T-SQL) - Besides my qualifications, I have also managed systems with 50+ remote SQLExpress instances, which often had to be repaired, updated, and analysed.
• MySQL - I maintained a 400GB+ MySQL instance for 3 years, including regular backups & restores, as well as hundreds of reports, data conversion exercises, and import tasks. The database had 50+ concurrent users during the week.
• SQLite - Almost all of the Android apps I've developed use SQLite alongside various ORM libraries, and have required regular patches. Additionally, performance is crucial on mobile devices, so query optimisation was essential.
• Oracle SQL - Whilst I don't have as much Oracle SQL experience as the other 3, I have worked briefly on an extremely large and sprawling database for a company worth >£20 billion.

Community Management

• Reddit & Discord - See Community Management.
• Social Media - To help promote my projects, I've used social media to let players get in touch. Pixel Blacksmith for example has active subreddit, facebook, and twitter accounts.
• Gaming - I've played various games over the years, usually in some type of community. In longer running games like MMORPGs, I've led teams of 50+ members for long periods of time and used ranks to delegate tasks to subleaders.

Other

• Servers - Oversaw and implemented a client's migration (15+ systems) from a single outdated 32-bit OS to a Windows Hyper-V server, with an Ubuntu database VM & Windows Server application VM.
• Administration - Experience managing Google Apps for Work / G Suite, domain management (including Cloudflare), Windows Server.
• Security - In addition to client's sites undergoing penetration tests, Creators.Direct implements the latest web security concepts (HTTPS, HSTS, CSRF, TLS 1.2, Content Security Policy).
• Company - Founded and handled financial records for Jake Lee Ltd, used to separate app sales from personal finances.
• Software - Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office Suite, industry standard FTP / Git / etc tools.