Gareth Dean
Junior Software Engineer
Projects_
Gather Events

An events platform for a small business, allowing staff to create events and share with users. Users can sign up for events and add them to their personal calendar. Built using React, React-Bootstrap and Firebase for authentication, it also utilises several API's including Google calendar API, Unsplash API for images and interacts with the Eventbrite API to create and fetch events
Squircles Game

A spatial memory game built with React and styled using Bootstrap. The player is shown 3 squircle shapes which must then be recreated using 3 sliders. Two game stories are available, a random practice game and a daily game which is the same for all players this uses local storage to keep track of the player's stats
NC-News Backend Project

A backend API Project using Postgres, Sql and render to go live. The API has several endpoints which allows the developer to fetch articles by user aswell as topic. it also allows the developer the ability to post comments and votes
NC-News Frontend Project

A react project, which uses the NC-News backend project as an API to fetch and display news articles, it allows the user to filter news articles by topic, sort by date, comment count or votes and order in ascending or decending order. it allows the user to sign in andto add comments and up vote an article
Skills_
HTML 5
CSS 3
React

Express JS
React Native
JavaScript
Bootstrap
git
github
Node.js
Trello

FireBase

Jest Testing Framework
- T.D.D. Test Driven Development
- Paired Programming
- Super Test
- DOM Document Object Model
- DOM Manipulation
- Data Visualisation
- Debugging
- C.L.I. Command Line Interface
- PostgreSQL
- Rest APIs
- S.D.L.C. Software Development Life Cycle
- Agile Methodologies
- Responsive Web Design
- Kanban
- Scrum
- Version Control
- Front-End Development
- Back-End Development
- Error Handling
About_
Give me a mountain and you will find me trying to climb it!
Having spent most of my career in the construction industry, mainly in domestic renovations and specialising in all aspects of high-end bathroom fitting from the initial design and work processes to the actual physical work and completion to very high specifications. I had come to a career/life crossroads which led to me looking for a change of direction. Although I've always been interested in tech, I thought getting into the industry wouldn't be possible, until through my searching I found Northcoders and signed up for their full-stack software developer boot camp.
It may seem like a complete about-turn in career direction, but when you look at it, I'm still building things it's just that the tools in my toolbox have changed, and although my new toolbox is heavy with knowledge it’s certainly a lot lighter to carry around!
Throughout my Northcoders journey, I found many similarities to my previous career, from getting the structure of a website correct, (e.g. foundations, walls and floors) and functional parts (plumbing, electrics), to the UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) we don't want to be reaching too far for the towel and we certainly want the toilet roll holder to be where we expect it!! I will be taking my keen eye for detail, strong work ethic, close client communication and strong problem-solving skills into my new career.
At weekends you'll find me walking in the hills. I love exploring the Peak District, Snowdonia and the Lake District, add to that the odd trip to the Glencoe area for some winter walking, which led to planning to summit Mont Blanc which I achieved in 2018 with a group of 4 friends. If I'm not out in the middle of nowhere I enjoy attending many different types of sporting events and in the evenings meeting friends and going to see some live music. Even though I'm leaving the world of construction behind I still enjoy the odd home improvement project like the tradition domed pizza oven I built last year.
Gallery_

Final day at Northcoders, project group

At the summit of Mont Blanc

Self built brick pizza oven

My beautiful pups

Finish of the Guernsey costal walk
Contact_
Please dont hesitate to contact me