Curriculum Vitae
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Dougal Matthews
| Phone | +44 (0) 7719 780 595 | Website | www.dougalmatthews.com |
| dougal@dougalmatthews.com | @d0ugal | ||
| Github | github.com/d0ugal |
I am a hard working highly motivated open source developer with proven skills in software design and development. I enjoy working within a team and providing a technical lead. With a wide range of skills in web development I have worked in a number of different projects with small start-ups to traditional well established companies. I am interested in finding new challenges and interesting positions where I can develop innovating and successful solutions. I also enjoy a highly active social life, skiing and travelling when I get a chance.
Education
| Year | Educational Establishment | Qualification | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-2009 | Edinburgh Napier University | MSc Advanced Software Engineering | pass |
| 2005-2007 | Edinburgh Napier University | BSc (Hons) Software Technology | 2:1 |
Notable Academic Projects and Open Source
For my Masters dissertation I worked on machine learning and successfully created a learning system that was able to improve its performance at playing the board game Mancala over time. The study compared implementations using MiniMax, Evolutionary Algorithms, Neural Networks and Ant Colony Optimisation. This project was written fully in Python and made use of concurrency and distributed programming to improve performance.
In my undergraduate project I created an interface for phpMyAdmin, a highly popular open source database management system written in PHP. This project was one of the earlier and cutting edge examples of using JavaScript to create dynamic and engaging interfaces. It was featured on websites such as ajaxian.com
I am a avid open source developer. I often contribute to open source projects, including Django and a number of smaller projects. I have released a number of my own open projects, many of these are visible of my GitHub account. I try to make an open source contribution each day, my progress can be tracked at www.calendaraboutnothing.com/~d0ugal
Key Skills
| Languages/Markup | Database Systems | Technologies/Frameworks |
|---|---|---|
| Python (4 years) | PostgreSQL (3.5 years) | Django (3.5 years) |
| JavaScript (5 years) | mySQL (4 years) | SQLAlchemy (2 years) |
| Java (1 year) | MongoDb (1 year) | |
| ObjectiveC (1 year) | Redis (1 year) | |
| PHP (5 years) | Solr (1 year) | |
| XHTML, XML and CSS (8 years) |
Conferences and Training
| EuroPython 2011 (Florence, IT) | EuroPython 2009 (Birmingham, UK) |
| EuroPython 2010 (Birmingham, UK) | EuroDjangoCon 2009 (Prague, CZ) |
| DjangoCon.eu 2010 (Berlin, DE) | Microsoft Visual Studio Conference 2005 (Edinburgh, UK) |
Community Involvement
I co-founded the Python Edinburgh user group in Edinburgh which has been running for over two years now. With the group I have also successfully organised a number of small events including talks and coding sprints. I also try to attend and get involved with any user groups in the local area.
Experience
Working as a independent contractor and consultant I have been fortunate enough to work on a number of different projects for a very wide range of clients. Following is a list of some of the key projects.
| Date | Company | Duties Description |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 12 - Present | Root Creative |
At Root Creative I am responsible for creating the technical
design and implementation of a number of iPhone (ObjectiveC) and
Android (Java) with a Python backend system. Essentially the work
is to create a CMS backed iPhone and Android app but rather than
a typical website the work spans over a number of very different
and interesting platforms. |
| Nov 11 - Jan 12 | ALISS - long term alliance scotland |
Work with Django, Python, MongoDb, Redis, Solr and other related
projects for ALISS project - an Scottish NHS backed project. I
worked across most areas in this project and added both an
analytics framework and a notification framework to be used as
the service scales in the future. |
| Oct 11 - Jan 12 | QueryClick |
Python development working a high throughput web scraper utilising
Amazon Web Services, Tor and complex threading and concurrency
processes. |
| May 11 - Oct 11 | Pitchup |
Python development of the leading Campsite website in the UK. I
joined PitchUp to help add a number of key features for the 2011
summer season while helping with scalability problems and issues.
|
| 09/2010 - 07/2011 | Aviva plc |
Django and Python development working on a number of Aviva's
websites front facing high profile websites including
www.rac.co.uk. I was involved in a number of large projects and
led development of the highest traffic and most visible website
under Aviva's control at the time; www.rac.co.uk. |
| Sept 09 - Sept 10 | Loopo Ltd |
Django and Python development working on Zinc Medical Recruitment,
A medical trainee recruitment system used by medical schools and
colleges in England and Wales. This highly complicated Django
project handled applications from thousands of students in a very
short window of very complicated dynamically generated and
modified forms. |
| Nov 09 - Dec 09 | Aware Monitoring |
Development working on awaremonitoring.com for Viisys Ltd. The
work involved Python, Django, RabbitMQ, Celery, jQuery, mySQL. I
was involved in creating an initial version of their distributed
speed monitoring services. |
| Feb 09 - Sept 09 | Mobilis Performance |
Django and Python development of an online self diagnosis
physiotherapist startup. Implementing a complex self help system
with demonstration videos, history tracking and advice. |
| Jan 09 - May 09 | Landmarts |
Python (Django) development for an startup property and land
website that aimed to revolutionise the property market. The
website included implementations of various unique features in
this market area. Featuring a very sophisticated backend and a
dynamic front end with a rich JavaScript interface. |
| Feb 08 - Sept 08 | XCalibre Communications | I joined XCalibre to join their development team doing Java and
PHP development. I worked on the internals of their successful
Flexiscale cloud platform and customer control panel - used both
for Flexiscale and traditional hosting. |
| Aug 07 - Jan 08 | 1576 Advertising | Working for 1576 I was involved in making a number of websites for
local companies in and around Edinburgh. One of the larger sites
involved me undertaking the full design and implementation of a
bespoke website used by the Hunters Estate agents
(www.hunters-residential.co.uk). |
| May 07 - Aug 07 | Zero Design Ltd. |
Object Oriented Training - I was brought in to Zero design after
doing development work for them to provide training and help some
of their staff to understand and use Object Oriented techniques.
This centred around using the different object models in PHP and
JavaScript. |
References and Recommendations
Written and verbal references and recommendations are available on request. A number can also be viewed on my LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com/in/d0ugal