A full-stack junior developer who is eagerly looking for new oppotunities to learn
Projects | Experience | Skills | Education | Hobbies | LinkedIn
After 20 years of music making with different orchestras and ensembles around the world, I was longing for a new challenge and a change from my touring life. During my time in the music business, I have been using and introducing useful apps I found online to my students and my colleagues. It sparked my curiosity and made me want to find out how these apps were built. Since then, I have been paying more attention and have realised that modern technology has become part of our daily life. Almost every business, no matter small or large, is accelerating towards a digital transformation. Software engineering has become a crucial part of modern life - and upon realising this, I decided to take the plunge to join the 16-week Makers Academy bootcamp.
Having recently completed the course, I was able to develop skills and processes in line with best industry practices. I love the process of taking small steps and patiently observing how those small steps evolve into something grand and beautiful. I enjoy writing clean and well-tested code and like to spend time perfecting user experience and accessibility. Since graduating from Makers, I have been launching myself into learning HTML, CSS and React to boost my front-end skills.
As a performer, I have collaborated with many different organizations; these include not only the usual symphony orchestras, but also organizations like pop and rock artists and even private functions for members of the Royal Family. This has given me a great deal of experience of working with people from various cultures and disciplines. As a teacher, I established my ability to engage with my students according to their individual personalities. These experiences, and the abilities I have accumulated over the years, have also formed my pragmatic approach to solving problems.
During my time at Makers, I enjoyed myself most when collaborating within a team. It was the communication, support and knowledge sharing that made the whole experience exhilarating. Similarly, I am looking forward to bringing these skills that I learned into a front-end or full-stack junior developer role, in a supportive and nurturing environment where I can contribute my knowledge and continue to develop my potential.
Tech Skills: Ruby, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Rspec, Capybara, Jasmine, Jest, Bootstrap, React, Gatsby, jQuery, Rails, Sinatra, PostgreSQL, Graphql, TDD, Cli, Git.
Soft Skills: Agile, EQ, Pair programming, Time management.
| Name | Description | Tech/tools |
|---|---|---|
| Small Steps | A carbon calculator for travelling around the UK. Takes transport mode for car, plane, bus and train. | React, Jest, Express, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Google APIs |
| Bank Tech Test | A small CLI banking system. | Ruby, Rspec |
| Zenbook | A calming clone of Facebook, for stressed devs to hang out. | Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Jquery, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap |
For a complete lists, please visit my GitHub.
In order to become a professional violinist at the highest international level, I have had to be tremendously disciplined, practising 3-4 hours a day for over ten years.
Being a freelance musician, my work environment is always diversified. Not only do I freelance with the usual symphony and opera orchestras, I also work for theatres and private recording studios. As a result, I am constantly working with different groups of people, ranging from instrumentalists to singers, actors, directors and sound engineers. I have cherished all these opportunities that I have had and I was always comfortable finding my place in the team. The highlight of my career so far would be Amadeus in the National Theatre, where I spent two years working and learning from this amazing team.
Wanting to be perfect is a huge part of a professional musician's life. In order to achieve this with my busy work life, I learned how to practice efficiently; this could be translated as: "narrow down the problem and try to understand it in order to solve it effectively".
As a Maker, I have picked up the skills to learn new languages and technologies quickly, and this is a skill I am looking forward to developing throughout my career in technology. I also love finding out new things in my own time, by reading articles on Medium as well as practicing on Exercism.io, Codewars and Codecademy.
During my final project, I discovered a great passion for design. I have continued to explore the application of HTML, CSS and Bootstrap libraries in my projects - so that I can develop my skills across the full stack.
I love experiencing new cultures and having a multicultural workplace.
- Fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, in the process of learning Finnish
- Have lived abroad for 18 years (New Zealand and United Kingdom)
Self-employed Violinist (2006 to current)
- Collaborated with various major organizations, these include Philharmonia Orchestrea, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and National Theatre.
- In order to succeed in the freelance field, I have to be very strict with my time management. I have a concert diary in order to keep track of my performance engagements and auditions, as well as constantly finding space to schedule practice time to refine my playing skills.
- When I was working in the National Theatre for the play "Amadeus", I was asked to learn to act and to improvise movements on stage while playing my instrument, which I had never encountered elsewhere in my playing career. Thanks to my flexibility in taking up new skills, within a period of 3 weeks, I was proudly performing this way on stage with ease.
Violin Teacher (2003 to current)
- When teaching, I openly encourage my students to ask me as many questions as possible. With this empathetic approach, I can have a clearer picture of what they are working on or struggling with; then I can figure out how to help them best.
- I enjoy finding different interpretations of the same concept when explaining to my students. I believe that everyone has a different way to learn, and that the key is to tailor my teaching to each student's needs.
Glass Ceiling Orchestra (2018)
Orchestra Fixer. Booking players for the ensemble based on concert projects. Major responsibilities include:
- Finding the right players for the instrumental requirement of the repertoire.
- Booking players that would work well in a team.
- Being able to find a good replacement on short notice.
UK’s leading programming bootcamp, teaching good working practices as well as coding skills.
- Curiosity and passion for code
- Commitment to best practices and delivering watertight code
- Independent learner and problem-solver
- Agile Working Methodologies
- Technical Development Learning (Ruby, Rails, JavaScript)
- Test Driven Development (RSpec, Jasmine)
- Master of Music in Performance(Violin)
- Bachelor of Music in Performance(First-Class Honours)
- Performed solo violin concerto with university orchestra
- Photography: I enjoy taking photos with my iPhone and Canon600D.
- Food: I love cooking, and trying out different recipes from all over the world.
- Gardening: I transformed the unclaimed land behind our house into my own allotment.
- Self-development: Meditation and Yoga is one of my must-haves for the day.
- Informal Concerts: Playing informal concerts for all ages. You can find an example here.
