David Thompson Email & Phone Number

High Wycombe, Gb

London, Gb

Lead engineer on the DARTS modernisation project.

London, Gb

AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Node.js, React, Golang, CircleCI, GitHub ActionsInitially, I worked as a consultant embedded in a team delivering a migration from a VM-based hosting platform to Appvia’s container platform. I provided guidance and helped to implement best practices when containerising and deploying the application on the platform.I worked on Appvia’s flagship product, Wayfinder, a Kubernetes-based infrastructure management solution. I led the development of the front-end UI, a Node.js and React based web app. Building the app from the ground-up with a small team initially, iterating based on feedback from colleagues, user-research, customer demos and designers. The app used Jest and Puppeteer for testing, Ant Design for UI components and Storybook for building, prototyping and reviewing internal pages and components.I contributed bug fixes and small enhancements to the backend services written in Golang, delivering value across the entire stack. The backend runs on a Kubernetes cluster, wrapping the Kubernetes API to provide data for the UI and CLI.This role involved working with AWS, Azure and GCP clouds to provide infrastructure, via the cloud’smanaged Kubernetes services, and make this available to development teams in a consistent, secure, cost-effective way.

London, Gb

Azure, Node.js, Java, JenkinsFull-stack engineering using Node.js and Java to produce a public-facing service for Online Hearings. Initially built as a private beta for use during Personal Independence Payment benefit appeals. Features included user registration and authentication via a central service, file uploads and email notifications.The Java services were built using Spring Boot and the Node.js services using Express with Redis session store. The service was built with fully automated test coverage using Mocha and Puppeteer, using a Jenkins pipeline for CI and CD to production. There were several other services we were required to interact with, such as a central data and document store, mostly exposed as REST APIs.

London, Gb

AWS, Docker, Terraform, Node.js, Java, MySQL, CircleCIWorking to deliver GAMSTOP, a National Online Self-Exclusion Service for the Remote Gambling Association. The service was built from zero to launch in 6 months, comprising several microservices built in Node.js and Java, deployed to AWS using CircleCI and Terraform.The service includes three web applications, an internal REST API and a public-facing, authenticated API scaled to handle up to 16k requests/sec. The Node.js web applications were built using Express with a Redis session store, tested using Mocha and Puppeteer. The Java applications were built using Spring Boot with MySQL data store.The infrastructure is built on AWS, using Terraform. Each service is containerised and runs on ECS, making use of other AWS services such as RDS, ElastiCache, S3, SQS and Lambda. Every service has a pipeline to production using CircleCI where it is built, tested and deployed through a series of environments.

London, Gb

UKCloud, Node.js, Scala, MongoDB, JenkinsI joined as part of a self-organising team delivering online forms with integration into a caseworking system. Mostly working with Node.js, MongoDB, Cucumber, all delivered using a microservices architecture with Jenkins for CI and CD.Refactored a large internal dependency into smaller more manageable, testable and versioned modules, open sourcing them, where appropriate.Helped to stabilise and improve the build pipeline to production, including decreasing the runtime of the browser testing suite significantly and eradicating false negatives. Removed the unnecessary dependency on test stubs in favour of using in-lined Dyson stubs. This decreased complexity and increased stability of the apps making development and testing easier and more efficient.Migrated the existing online forms to use an open source toolkit, this included image uploads and integration into several other services such as flightstats for flight data, WorldPay for payments and a caseworking system. Payments were later migrated to use GOV.UK Pay.Began working on transitioning the services to a containerised platform on AWS, using Docker and Kubernetes. This involved using a new CI/CD tool, Drone, and changing the architecture of the services to use message queues instead of persisting data in a database.

Responsible for all technical aspects of the company, including software development and delivery using an agile process.Designing and developing pre-sales prototypes using Node.js and AngularJS, unit testing using Jasmine, built and deployed by Travis CI to the Heroku or OpenShift platforms. These prototypes directly led to further engagement with clients and potential contracts.I gathered user requirements, developed and successfully delivered a Node.js and AngularJS solution for loading sample data into a platform using a RESTful JSON API. The application was fully unit tested, built using Travis CI and deployed to the OpenShift platform.I created a repeatable deployment for an open source PHP / MySQL web-based product using Docker and AWS. This deployment was used for a “free trial” option allowing customers to evaluate the product prior to purchasing the full-service package.Recruited apprentice developers and designed a Java training programme to complement their off-site training. I ran the training programme using the Scrum methodology with the aim of providing structure, rapid feedback, visibility, focus and motivation. The programme was introduced successfully and is being continuously improved with feedback through sprint retrospectives.

Belfast, Gb

During my time at Kainos, I worked as a consultant at the UK Home Office, working as part of a scrum team on several projects from small public facing web services to a large case tracking system.I technically led the development of a large case tracking system built to handle internal Home Office and HM Passport Office correspondence, Parliamentary Questions and FOI requests. This project used a heavily extended Java (Alfresco) back-end and a PHP (Symfony2) front-end. BDD (Behat) was used to drive the development and PHPunit and JUnit were used for unit testing. Jenkins was used for continuous integration and continuous delivery to several environments hosted using Skyscape Cloud Services. I gave regular input and had a big influence on improving the agile process regularly via iteration and retrospectives. I also regularly presented at sprint reviews.Within every team I worked, I was constantly advising on ways to improve the agile process and introduced the Slack team collaboration tool. This tool was found to be invaluable as a communication medium and was subsequently used by all other agile teams.

Belfast, Gb

I worked as a consultant at the UK Home Office.I worked as the only back-end developer on a team to deliver a public facing web service to allow members of the public to find the fee and processing time for their UK visa. The source data was uploaded as a spreadsheet and processed using a PHP (Symfony2) application. Both business and public users greatly appreciated the improvements to the service. I developed the spreadsheet processing in a generic way and it was later re-used for another service to allow MPs to track their correspondence to the Home Office.I worked alongside another project team to add a form to their platform using Scala (DropWizard and Play) and Cucumber BDD testing. This created a much more consistent user experience and promoted a lot of code re-use. I presented the work at the project’s sprint review.I took over lead development of a project to manage and display events critical to the Press Office within the Home Office. Upon taking on this role, I vastly improved the development environment by using Vagrant and Puppet, refactored heavily to remove duplicate code and fixed many defects within the backlog to bring the application to a point of delivery for the customer.

London, England, Gb

During this role I carried out web application development for the public and private sectors. This included requirements gathering, analysis, design, release management, technical quality management and support. I used complex Oracle SQL and PL/SQL and FOXopen web framework to provide complex workflow solutions. I regularly attended clients meetings and demonstrated systems during the iterative development approach.I worked as lead developer or as part of a team to successfully deliver several projects for the Oil and Gas industry, working closely with the client on-site to ensure their needs were met. During these projects I gained vast amount of domain knowledge and often advised to help define policy.I developed enhancements to a salary review system for Boeing, working virtually with users in USA, Spain and Australia. Improving their spreadsheet upload processing, leading to improved user experience of the system. During a secondment in Australia, I trained and mentored four new starters and technically lead them to deliver the second phase of the project. I also trained and mentored several years of placement students, many of which have been offered permanent roles. I introduced improved workflow patterns to increase the usability of systems and reduce support requests, as well as improving the documentation for the applications.I helped to introduce the use of screen mock-ups using Balsamiq, helping to clarify screen designs with users. This helped to give more confidence in requirements analysis and provided the developer with a better starting point.

Student placement

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Computing And It

A-Levels

Gcses