Stephen Last

Senior Software Engineer

Senior software engineer with 20+ years experience. Primarily JavaScript focused (client & server), but also skilled in many related technologies.

Open to full-time, permanent positions, and strongly favor remote working.

Current Position

Senior Software Development Engineer

Clario (formerly ERT)

March 2019 to Present

  • Senior member of a worldwide group of 60+ software engineers
  • Recipient of an 'Extraordinary Endeavour Award', the highest award available, signed off by the Senior Management Team
  • Write software deployed to tablets and mobiles used in pharmaceutical clinical trials, for big pharmaceutical clients (JavaScript, HTML, CSS/LESS, SQL Server, GitLab, Jasmine)
  • Created a web app used by internal teams for viewing clinical trial data (JavaScript, ReactJS, NodeJS, GraphQL, Tailwind CSS, SQL Server, GitLab, Jest, React Testing Library)
  • Frequent contributor (and reviewer) of company product codebases
  • Member of the 'Tech Advisory Board' technical group of managers & senior engineers
  • 100% of projects delivered on time, even with frequently changing client requirements
  • Involved in the full project lifecycle (spec, planning, code, tests, support)
  • Work closely with different functional groups, in project teams with colleagues based around the world (solution designers, database engineers, project managers, test engineers)
  • Triage and often provide solutions for customer care tickets
  • Involved in UK engineering recruitment, onboarding & mentorship

Previous Work Experience

Full Stack Web Developer

Crusader Ltd

July 2008 to March 2019

  • Company webmaster
  • Created new e-commerce software to run all company online stores (ReactJS (with server rendering), Redux, NodeJS, GraphQL, MongoDB, AWS S3/CloudFront)
  • Created and maintained all company external websites with a focus on performance, responsive design, SEO, and non-technical maintenance
  • Created a NodeJS command line program to take data and images (resized and uploaded to AWS) from a product database, to populate online stores
  • Created a stock management web app which runs on tablets, with barcode scanner integration, for use by the warehouse team (ReactJS/Redux single page application)
  • Created a sales order processing web app which imports orders and payments (from company online stores, eBay, Amazon, PayPal & SagePay), and manages the process of picking, packing and dispatching orders

Senior Web Technologies Developer

Castle College Nottingham

June 2006 to July 2008

  • College webmaster
  • Created public website and internal staff Intranet
  • College electronic advertising
  • Created many smaller internal online systems

Internet Technology Specialist

Broxtowe College

October 2003 to June 2006

  • College webmaster
  • Created public website and internal staff Intranet

Website & Electronic Materials Development Officer

Bilborough College

April 2001 to October 2003

  • College webmaster
  • Created college's first ever website and internal Intranet

IT Technician

Bilborough College

September 1998 to April 2001

  • Maintenance and Support of 250+ computers & related equipment
  • Support for over 1,000 users (staff & students)

Technologies & Libraries

  • JavaScript (ES6+, React, Node, GraphQL)
  • HTML & CSS (inc SASS, BEM & Tailwind)
  • Git, GitLab & GitKraken
  • Jasmine, Jest & React Testing Library
  • Babel, Webpack & Vite
  • SQL Server & MongoDB

Key Abilities

  • Taking initiative and purserving through difficulties
  • Efficiently working through technical problems, independently and in teams
  • Completing tasks with thoroughness, accuracy & consistency
  • Working productively in project teams and meeting deadlines
  • Learning unfamiliar systems and codebases quickly

Areas of Interest

  • User Experience (UX)
  • Web and app systems design
  • Web performance
  • New technologies & libraries

Previous experience or exposure to: Continuous Integration (CI), Docker, Nginx, Redux, Parcel, AWS, eBay APIs, Google APIs, PayPal APIs & SagePay APIs.

Education

Clarendon College

(Now Nottingham College)

September 1995 to September 1998

  • IT GNVQ Advanced - Pass (Equivalent to 2 A-Levels)
  • IT GNVQ Intermediate - Pass

Wilsthorpe School

Long Eaton

September 1990 to September 1995

  • 9 GCSEs (Including Maths and English)