Curriculum Vitae
My CV is designed to be printed.
Interests
- Computer programming
- computer language design
- applications development
- app development
- web design and development
- Graphics and video editing
- Socialising
- Playing computer games
- Photography
- Cycling
Key Skills
- Technically minded
- Problem solving skills
- Public speaking skills
- Leadership skills
- Research, planning and coordination skills
Digital Skills
Awards
The highest award given to any undergraduate at Heriot-Watt University
An award given to the most deserving student in a 4th year Computer Science programme
An award given to the most deserving student in a 2nd year Computer Science programme
An award given students with a 70% or above average in a 1st year Computer Science programme
- Merit Award received in Computer Science course
- One of two awards given for the best project in the class of 20+
- Received for programming section and team leadership
Education
Research Project Focus: "Improving education through Digital Means"
Dissertation Focus: "ClickIt: A web-based application to aid the learning of web development in an educational environment"
Final Award: BSc with Honours of the First Class
Passes for both the Computer Science and the Physics and Engineering courses.
Achieved:
- 4× Highers (BBBC)
- 1× Advanced Higher (C)
Whilst at Ross High School I also did in-class support, I taught lessons to S1 Computing pupils, I was the Technical Manager in our Young Enterprise group and did paired reading
Mr Jamie Balfour
Curriculum Vitae
Summary
I am a dedicated and hardworking individual interested in computer science. I have had experience in many different fields, particularly related to the combination of technology and education. My other main interests in the field are the world wide web, design, UX and interaction design, networking and hardware, programming and the effects of technology.
Currently, I hold a BSc with a First Class Honours in Computer Science and I am studying an MSc in the same field. I run a digital agency, Jambour Digital ltd. which has allowed me to improve my skills in software development as well as my ability to manage others and some skills in server management.
Teaching Experience
- Taught Computing
- Started and led the Digital Literacy for Staff course to improve staff digital skills
- Managed the Positive Behaviour Praise Card and the Hot Chocolate Friday systems
- Developed digital tools:
- Interactive slideshow engine
- Embedded online polling platform
- Online tracking and monitoring system
- Extended DragonDocs Engine for interactive worksheets
- Developed the school's internal reporting system, a data extractor and a positive praise system using C#
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- School named Scotland's First Centre for Digital Excellence
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Developed digital tools:
- Slideshow engine with engaging features
- Interactive worksheets for pupils
- Lead the school's digital programme as the Digital Leader in the school
- Setup the Digital Champions programme to empower young people
- Developed own Tutoring Portal in 2019
- Continued tutoring remotely and in person
- My Portal was vital during COVID years and continued as valuable resource post-COVID
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- Became newly qualified teacher in August 2019 after PGDE
- Successfully completed 'Scotland's Mental Health First Aid' course (SMHFA)
- Developed a prototype online reporting system
- Course at Heriot-Watt University involved visiting school to work with secondary teachers in Computing
- Prepared and taught my own lessons within three consecutive Wednesdays, focusing on web development
- Assisted students with programming across all year groups
- Gained valuable understanding of classroom dynamics
- January 2011: Tutored pupil in SQA 'Intermediate 2 Computing' course
- Pupil achieved A grade
- September 2011: Tutored individual in SQA 'Higher Computing'
- Pupil passed with a C
- For both sessions, I prepared helpful revision materials for the pupil
Academic Experience
- Elected class representative for the third time and had been seen as the group leader for my subject
- Responsibilities include advocating for students' needs
- Attended meetings and addressed raised concerns
- Provided support to a student lacking initial assistance
- Recognised for interest in teaching as well as receiving the highest grade in this module the year before
- Module involved using the D3 JavaScript library
- Accepted offer and began working with student in October 2016
- Second-time lab assistant well-prepared for duties
- Took up two courses; the Praxis course that involved assisting with writing tips, IT help, and student professional development and the Web Programming course allowed application of web programming knowledge
- Spent two hours per week in this role
- Considered pursuing a PhD to extend academic achievements
- Accepted offer and recognized as 'outstanding candidate'
- Research focused on concerns of carers of children with autism regarding online safety
- Left PhD program in February 2017 due to financial constraints related to purchasing own house at the time
- Assisted first-year Computer Science students in the Web Design and Databases course
- Assessed students' work and provided feedback
- Contributions to course deemed valuable by lecturer and students
- Provided assistance to students and the lecturer with fresh knowledge
- Utilised HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL for course requirements
- Elected class representative for third and fourth years
- Third-year from September 2014 to April 2015
- Fourth-year from September 2015 to April 2016
- Responsible for raising students' concerns at meetings and actioning what I could from meetings
- Given additional leadership roles such as relaying information back and supporting students
- Represented university in front of BCS panel to help the university reaffirm their recognition
Industrial Experience
- I have developed all websites hosted by Jambour Digital
- The idea of my own company was built on my talent for developing websites freelance
- Company focuses on web development, graphics, and consultancy and I do all areas of development
- Developed websites for car salvage companies
- Created XML phonebook system for Grandstream SIP phones using PHP and database
- Developed database-driven server monitoring application using PHP
- Re-developed websites hosted by DH Systems
- Left job to start my own company
- Worked at Maglabs in a fast-paced environment
- Generated reports on database data and fixed bugs
- Added small features to PHP-based web application service
- Honed skills in PHP, MySQL, and shell scripting
- Learned React.js and Symfony during employment
- Freelance web development involved creating websites on demand
- Utilised modern technologies such as PHP7, HTML5, and CSS3
- Transitioned from freelance work to laying the foundations for my limited company in February 2017
Other Experience
I worked as a kitchen assistant at Bissets Hotel in Gullane as my summer job for two hours a week whilst I was at school.
This job was an important step for me in becoming confident with individual clients as well as working within a team.
This job saw me working with another member of staff tidying and cleaning the bedrooms for a week and doing various other chores around the premises. It required me to get up at 6 am every morning to be at work by around 8 am to ensure that I would get there on time. It showed that I had determination and efficiency as well as the ability to work well as part of a team.
Voluntary Work
- I ran the Code Club at the local library offering kids under 16 an opportunity to learn to code
- Volunteered on Saturday mornings from 10 am to about 11:30 am
- I received lots of good feedback about how helpful I was and that the kids were loving the hour of code they got every Saturday
- Became a STEM Ambassador and responded to request at Knox Academy
- Acted as classroom assistant in Computing department
- Assisted students from S1 to S6 in various levels of ICT and Computer Science
- I trialed out my ClickIt application with pupils whilst at this school
- Teachers found assistance valuable and helpful
Projects
In October 2015 I began to work on my BSc Honours year project. As part of this, I developed an application to aid new web developers with web development called ClickIt. The main purpose of this was to help school children and new web developers learn HTML using a drag-and-drop system.
In October 2014 I began working on a completely new project, writing my own BlackRabbit Script in Java. I had to stop due to work and university consuming my time. In May 2015, I rewrote the whole engine. This time within one week, I had written a very powerful engine that can be built upon by others too. After two months of work, it featured a mathematical parser, a logic parser and a compiler for Java code. Some of my friends and colleagues were very interested and have written programs in my language. There is much more about it on my website.
As part of my own website development and moving away from using third party plugins, I decided to invent my own plugins that can easily be reused. I call this group of plugins my Web Independently Styled Project (WISP) and it consists of a slideshow, responsive navigation bar, PHP comment system, a content management system and much more.
This project is a personal project to build the best content management system out there! In July 2017, the project was renamed DASH and was rebuilt from the ground up. My CMS is designed from the ground up to integrate with any website and make it easy to use. DASH is used on my own website and it is constantly receiving updates to make it better and better.
My personal website is one of my biggest achievements. In April 2010 I had an idea that it would be good to share what I know with the world. Because of this, I decided to open a website dedicated to both professional work and my personal life. My website went through a major refurbishment in June 2013. My website is built with my skills in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP and MySQL.
My SED command generator page is the most popular in any search engine.
I took up a programming hobby due to my interest. I have developed products such as an imaging/graphics application, a web browser and an easy-to-use programming language. Nowadays, I develop several large personal projects, but I also help others by writing programs to automate things for them.
Other Work
With this unpaid voluntary work, I was a member of a political party for a few months helping out with duties such as delivering flyers and leaflets. My role was crucial in delivering to certain areas that had been difficult to cover by the party before, due to a lack of members in the area.
I was a key member of our Young Enterprise Scotland team in charge of the IT side of the products as well as being one of the front members of the sales team. Our team managed to sell the majority of our products that were for sale and were one of the more liked teams by the public.
