Full-stack developer for 10 years. 4 years at Atlassian. CTO of EdTech startup for 3 years focusing on embedded systems.

SkillsRobin ID: 
Thurden
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Work expectations

Status
Actively looking
Not looking
Open to new opportunities
Hired through SkillsRobin
Location
Sydney
-
Open to relocating
Commitment
Full-time; Casual / Freelance / Part-time; Join as a startup co-founder
Availability from time of offer
In 1 month or less
Profession
Software engineering
7+ years
 experience
UX/Digital design
 experience
Top 3 programming languages/frameworks
Python, Javascript, C
Also knows
Java, Ruby
Top 3 UX Skills
Preferred work environment
Fully remote; Hybrid
Interested in working involving

I'm looking for an interesting opportunity where I can utilise my skills to help people and society in general, as well as grow myself. I've worked for years in the education space, both at EdTech companies, and as a school teacher, and have always been passionate about education. I'm also very interested in scientific work, and how I can bring technology into various fields of science to help solve problems there.

Not interested in work involving

I am not particularly interested in companies that I feel are "mercenary". Meaning those that are in it solely to make money, especially if they are exploiting others, either their employees or their customers. An example here would be a high-frequency trading company. I need to feel like the work matters, and is contributing positively to society and the world.

Other information
Able to work in Australia without visa sponsorship
Requires visa sponsorship to work in Australia

Pay expectations

Full-time
$
150000
per year
Casual / Contract
$
100
per hour
Pay is negotiable in exchange for equity
Pay is not negotiable in exchange for equity
Open to volunteering or working for equity only
Not interested in volunteering or working for equity only if joining as a co-founder

Referred by

Renee Noble
Cloud Advocate @Microsoft | CEO & Founder @ConnectEd Code | Chief Exec Director @Tech Inclusion
June 27, 2024
  •  
I managed this person

I have had the pleasure of working with this individual in a wide variety of ed-tech endeavors over the last ten years; from volunteering to teach code to high school students, to working in an ed-tech start-up, to co-founding an ed-tech business together. I have seen the huge variety of technical, leadership, and human-centric skills they bring to every team and project. Before joining the ed-tech sector, they gained a wealth of experience in the IT consulting sector, in which they established the ability to quickly onboard to new codebases and technologies, develop prototypes, and reshape codebases for future ease of use, sustainability, and growth. They joined an ed-tech start-up at which I was working, and they were quick to onboard to the stack and take on the leadership of key projects. As an existing employee, I found myself uplifted in my own work by their work patterns from consulting days and benefitted from their propensity to share knowledge and strategies.

It is always a pleasure to work with this person from a technical perspective, but the customer-focused perspective they bring to their work is what truly makes their contributions not just technically clever, but necessary for the ongoing success of users and the business. They are not about “tech for tech’s sake”; they believe in creating the tools that people need and speaking up when a team starts to lose sight of the true objective of supporting its customers in the short and long term. Having seen a lot of less-than-optimal codebases in their time as a consultant, they endeavor to create code that will set the team up for success as the business and team grow. As someone with a passion for education, this ideology extends to their team members - supporting team members at all levels to develop their skills through mentorship and their positive, approachable, and patient nature that allows them to meet people where they are and support them to overcome hurdles and build skills for success and growth.

Overall, this individual is stellar to work alongside as a teammate and co-founder who is delighted to tackle all manner of technical challenges, anywhere from full-stack development to embedded systems, getting into the weeds with new technologies or quickly whipping up a demo. Their servile leadership style when managing a project and/or team is inspiring for those working (and learning) around them and allows teams to better share their ideas, build their skills, and deliver projects that create impact.

Work experience

Proudest professional achievement
My PyCon AU 2023 talk "Wrapping up the Cruft", and the work behind that. Briefly: I spoke about how I created a suite of libraries for a micro-computer to enable students of all skill levels to engage meaningfully with coding, regardless of skill and experience. The students were able to create exciting projects, that pushed them to new levels, while never feeling out of their depth. These libraries were designed in a way that enabled more advanced students to tackle the same task in a more challenging way, by offering various levels of complexity. For example, having an analog sensor with a method to read a percentage for some students, or read the direct 16-bit analog value and then convert that to a percentage for the more advanced students. These libraries were a huge success, and enabled an entire 185 student year 8 cohort to code together, collaborating to make fully functional escape rooms in just three days, despite many of them never having programmed before. In our end of event surveys, over 90% of students said that they had a positive experience, and the majority said that the event had improved their opinion of coding. Making coding accessible to this diverse range of students required a lot of planning, careful abstraction, and a focus on how concepts are conveyed and learned by students. I am very proud of how elegant the end result was, and the impact I saw in the classes.

Chief Technology Officer (Ed-tech Company)
‍Jan 2022 - Present (2 yrs 6 mos)

  • Specializing in Micropython and Embedded Systems.

Software Engineer (Leading Technology Company)
‍Oct 2019 - Mar 2022 (2 yrs 6 mos)‍

Software and Content Developer (Educational Platform)
‍May 2018 - Sep 2019 (1 yr 5 mos)

Software Engineer (Consulting Firm)
‍Feb 2016 - Mar 2018 (2 yrs 2 mos)

  • Responsible for understanding client needs, product specifications, and developing software to meet these requirements.

Software Engineer (Accounting Firm)
‍Aug 2011 - Aug 2014 (3 yrs 1 mo)

  • Developed software to automate several tasks including:
    • Generation of fees for clients
    • Alerts of various occurrences
    • Saving and cataloging of emails across the company
  • Maintained the office network.

‍

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science (Extended Major)
‍The University of Queensland (2010 - 2015)

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Referred by

Renee Noble
Cloud Advocate @Microsoft | CEO & Founder @ConnectEd Code | Chief Exec Director @Tech Inclusion
June 27, 2024
I managed this person

I have had the pleasure of working with this individual in a wide variety of ed-tech endeavors over the last ten years; from volunteering to teach code to high school students, to working in an ed-tech start-up, to co-founding an ed-tech business together. I have seen the huge variety of technical, leadership, and human-centric skills they bring to every team and project. Before joining the ed-tech sector, they gained a wealth of experience in the IT consulting sector, in which they established the ability to quickly onboard to new codebases and technologies, develop prototypes, and reshape codebases for future ease of use, sustainability, and growth. They joined an ed-tech start-up at which I was working, and they were quick to onboard to the stack and take on the leadership of key projects. As an existing employee, I found myself uplifted in my own work by their work patterns from consulting days and benefitted from their propensity to share knowledge and strategies.

It is always a pleasure to work with this person from a technical perspective, but the customer-focused perspective they bring to their work is what truly makes their contributions not just technically clever, but necessary for the ongoing success of users and the business. They are not about “tech for tech’s sake”; they believe in creating the tools that people need and speaking up when a team starts to lose sight of the true objective of supporting its customers in the short and long term. Having seen a lot of less-than-optimal codebases in their time as a consultant, they endeavor to create code that will set the team up for success as the business and team grow. As someone with a passion for education, this ideology extends to their team members - supporting team members at all levels to develop their skills through mentorship and their positive, approachable, and patient nature that allows them to meet people where they are and support them to overcome hurdles and build skills for success and growth.

Overall, this individual is stellar to work alongside as a teammate and co-founder who is delighted to tackle all manner of technical challenges, anywhere from full-stack development to embedded systems, getting into the weeds with new technologies or quickly whipping up a demo. Their servile leadership style when managing a project and/or team is inspiring for those working (and learning) around them and allows teams to better share their ideas, build their skills, and deliver projects that create impact.

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