1. ALAN GORDON
14 Donaghbrook Drive, Ballymoney, BT53 7EF 14 Maldon Court, Belfast, BT12 6GY
a@alangordon.co.uk (+44) 7731803610
Education
2011 2015, Ulster University, Coleraine. BSc Computing with First Class Honours
Notable Modules: Database Systems, Game & App Dev, Advanced Networks, & Web Development.
2009 2011, Dalriada School. A Levels, Maths (C), ICT (B), Business Studies (C)
2007 2009, Dalriada School. GCSEs, ICT (A*), Maths (A*), Physics (A), Chemistry (A), Geography
(A), Technology (A), French (B), Business Studies (B), Religious Studies (C), English Language (C).
Professional Experience
Software Engineer, ICONI Software, Belfast July 15Present
ICONI are a software company that deliver large scale enterprise MISs to organisations within the
employability sector across the UK and Ireland. They specialise in secure webbased software known
for its quick deployment and ease of use.
Designing and implementing product features throughout the stack (SQL, C#, JS, jQuery, CSS) were
the main responsibilites. The main focus of development was within C#, although SQL skills were
very often required in the creation and maintaining of Stored Procedures, Views, and Scalar/Table
Functions. Numerous large contributions include the full development of the YouthWorks Project and
a large overhaul of another existing project at one of the largest customers. Designed and developed
several classes which are now used on every project since their initial implementation. As the
development team was quite small, large tasks were often designed as part of group meetings which
required working as one team to find the best possible solution.
Investigated the feasibility of migrating existing customer solutions away from current BT hosting to
a Cloud based approach using Microsoft Azure. This involved setting up and understanding a SaaS
model and Virtual Machines (IaaS). This infrastructure experience proved invaluable in
troubleshooting issues on live systems as an idea of their hosting and networking could be quickly
understood.
Provided support for existing customers which involved configuring and releasing of UAT/Live
environments. Another large aspect was investigating customer bugs; designing a solution, estimating
and then implementing it. Supporting customers involved working closely with the Support team in
order to fully grasp the customers issue and it could be replicated and resolved.
Contributed heavily towards recruitment through representing ICONI at recruitment fairs and
introducing FizzBuzz to the interview process. FizzBuzz was chosen as there are increasingly more
efficient and complex ways to solve it which allowed standout clients to demonstrate their
programming proficiency.
Placement Software Engineer, Hewlett Packard 3PAR, Belfast June 13August 14
Involved in a variety of teams in HP 3PAR both on year of industrial placement and following
summer. HP 3PAR manufacture and develop systems and software for data storage including disk
arrays and storage management software. Tasks included:
● Python development: working as part of an agile team designing and coding a number of scripts
used for testing many different features of the storage array. Included writing a testing suite in
parallel with the feature being developed (Garbage Collection)
● Converting older test cases from outdated test suites to the more recent systems (Tcl to Python).
● Creating a standalone script to automate unit testing on daily builds.
2. Technical Experience (bold indicates most proficient)
● Languages/Scripting: Python, Java, C#
● Management Software: GIT, Bugzilla, Review Board, Team Foundation Server, Azure
● Operating Systems: Windows OS, Linux (command line use)
● Web Programming: CSS, XHTML, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, ASP.NET,
● Software: Visual Studio, Android Studio, GameMaker, IDART, PuTTY, SQLDelta, Microsoft
SQL Management Studio
● Database: MySQL, SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server (TSQL)
● API’s: Google Maps API, Twitter API
Achievements
Recent winner of the CodeSmash event hosted by ShopkeepPOS. This was using Ruby On Rails and
Test Driven Development which I had to adapt to win having never used either RoR or TDD before.
Teamwork, Leadership and Communication
● Worked as part of several globally diverse teams in HP 3PAR, this required communicating
through emails and calls and the ability to prioritise responsibilities to be able to work effectively.
● Responsible for “Tech Corner” section of weekly meeting at ICONI: hosting a technical
presentation for the team each week (Topics incl. LINQ, OOP Concepts & Branching).
● Troubleshooting skills were tested performing code reviews for other employees.
● Attending biannual Staff/Student Meeting as part of the duties of a Class Rep within University
exercised communication skills, also being approachable as a leader figure.
● Excellent customer facing skills supporting customers through phone and email at ICONI.
● Familiar with ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013
Projects
Mobile Timetable A mobile app to display a student’s personal timetable created for Final Year
Project. Deployed as a mobile optimised Web App using the WAMP stack.
Heatmap Simulation (WIP) Small application to provide a graphical representation of postcodes
spread across the UK. Created using Google Maps JavaScript API as a means to get an introduction to
this technology.
Retweet Helper Web App created using Python (Flask, Twython) for a friend to aid his giveaway
competitions. Takes in a Twitter URL, find all people who retweeted it and then tweets one of them at
random informing them they are the winner.
Interests and Hobbies
● Fitness – Pushing myself in the gym is what I strive for and I believe this gives me an excellent
attitude for succeeding in the workplace.
● New tech Created a VR FPS game for Google Cardboard using Unity. I also love learning new
technologies so I try to attend any events in my area. I recently attended BelTech ‘16 with ICONI
Software and successfully competed in a RoR Hackathon.
● Android ROM Community: Due to my keen interest in technology, I like to keep up to date on the
latest and greatest ROMs available for my phone (OnePlus One).
● Live Music – One of my true passions and as a result attend numerous events a year.
● Hardware enthusiast Spend a lot of time tweaking my PC at home. Also keen interest in
anything mechanical keyboard related. Owning several boards and cap sets.
References
Dr Adrian Moore Mr William Cochrane
Course Director, Computing Developer HP3PAR
University of Ulster Character reference
aa.moore@ulster.ac.uk wcochran53@hotmail.com
