Developer and Academic

Alex Mac

Developer with over 3 years of experience in web development.
Graduate with a BSc Computer Science degree from the Open University and currently studying for a Masters with a focus on project management and technology.

Get in touch

About me

Hello and warm welcome to my personal development site! This site was originally intended to be a showcase for some of the technical skills I have gained during my time working as a Web Developer, however it has turned more into a blog of sorts about my personal development journey.


I plan to continually update this site, as and when time allows, outside of my academic and working commitments. Although it looks a little empty at the moment, I intend to attempt to maintain the site with periodic updates where I will share my recent developments.


If you're wanting to reach out or learn a bit more about me, check out the following socials:

Work experience

Junior Production Engineer
Difford's Guide, United Kingdom
2021 - Present

Production Engineer part of a small but highly experienced IT team.
Day to day tasks involve helping maintain one of the world’s most popular cocktail websites building on and further developing my skills gained from my BSc through working with various computing and programming languages.
My role exposes me to all aspects of development: helping maintain the frontend, making necessary changes to the backend and also assisting with patching and other sysadmin tasks.

Customer Assistant
Tesco, United Kingdom
2019 - 2021

Retail position involving various tasks such as PayPoint, National Lottery, Click + Collect and sales through the Tesco POS system.

Ecommerce Coordinator
Stan's Pals Limited, United Kingdom
2017 - 2019

Oversaw the development and maintaining of the ecommerce side of the business, ensuring that selected store products were available to potential customers on our website, and that stock levels, descriptions and photos were accurate.
The role also involved operational management, making use of my IT and legal skills to manage various aspects of the business both online and offline.

Bus Driver
Arriva Bus, United Kingdom
2017 - 2019

Developed problem solving skills, as well as improving my overall skills interacting with members of the public with different requirements and from a variety of different cultures.

Director
Stan's Pals Limited, United Kingdom
2015 - 2016

Founding director of a small local business specialising in pet services. Planned and developed the first website for the company, as well as assisting in the development of policies and procedures.

Education

Master of Science
The Open University
2024 - Present

Currently studying with a specialist focus on Project Management and general Technology Management.
This qualification will assist me in my continual personal development, and my desire to transition towards leadership and managerial roles within the tech industry in the future.

Bachelor of Science (Computing and IT)
The Open University
2017 - 2022

Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, with a more specialised pathway relating to development and engineering modules, as well as UI/UX
This degree provided me with the foundations to get me to where I am today in my career.

Bachelor of Laws
University of Derby
2012 - 2015

Undergraduate degree in Law, covering all aspects of domestic and international law.
This degree provided me with many transferable and valuable skills that are important when dealing with clients and considering legislation.

Skills

Below is a list of some of my key personal proficiencies.

Problem-solving

Proficient in assessing and approaching problems in a logical way to achieve a solution, working both on my own initiative and recognising where external input is required.

Time management, planning and organisation skills

Skilled at managing academic study, full time working and carer responsbilities on a day-to-day basis. Organisational and planning skills ensure I can fulfil work, personal and academic commitments.

Communication

Experienced in communicating effectively and fostering good positive relationships with those around me, and the importance of good verbal communication to ensure others feel comfortable and valued. Also aware of the need for good non-verbal communication, especially in remote roles and when working with clients.

User Interface/User Experience

Mindful of the need for good design and a positive user experience, appreciative of great design that is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing.

Analytics

Proficient in analytical skills, allowing me to assess situations and also detect possible anomolies and issues.

Keen to learn

I have a strong desire to constantly develop and refine my skills, whilst also enjoying continous learning.

Versatility

Knowledgeable in a variety of past academic and employment fields, building up a strong work ethic to adapt and learn new concepts quite quickly.

Attention to detail

Diligent in regard to the attention to detail and the quality of my work, allowing me to produce work of a high standard and learning from errors.

Ambitious

Keen to progress and expand my knowledge base, whilst understanding and welcoming the knowledge and experience I can gain from others.

Portfolio Examples

Below are some of the projects I have carried out to help develop my skills as a developer further, a majority of these are from projects I have undertaken in my spare time to learn more about various different technologies.

Project 1:
Healthcare App for home carers (Open University)

Read more about the project

Description:

For my final project of my BSc I embarked on creating and logging the project process of building a web application for a health dashboard that would assist home healthcare workers with managing appointments and medications for their patients. This incorporated many of the skills learnt as part of my degree.

Role:

As an academic project for my degree, I took on a variety of roles including project management, user interface design and active development for both frontend and backend tasks.

Blog Posts

View all posts »

Read some articles where I share some of my thoughts on various topics related to technology, both specific to certain products and to various technologies and other interests within the field.