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Chris Catley

FULL STACK DEVELOPER

chriscatley.com
SUMMARY

👋 I'm a career changer turned seasoned software engineer with 6 years of hands-on experience in crafting efficient solutions for complex problems and building user-focused web applications.

🚀 I have contributed to diverse projects, from digital consultancies to innovative startups. I thrive in collaborative environments, excelling in project discovery, design, and solution implementation throughout the software development life cycle.

💻 I bring a unique blend of technical expertise and creative problem-solving to every project. Whether optimising database performance or implementing innovative features, I am driven to create impactful products.

🌱 I'm open to exciting opportunities for continued learning and career growth within a challenging team environment.

SKILLS

Backend: Ruby on Rails - Ruby - PostgreSQL - RESTful APIs & Webhooks

Javascript: ES6 - React - Node - VanillaJS - jQuery

HTML/CSS: HTML5 - CSS3 - Sass - Tailwind - Bootstrap

Tools: Git & GitHub - Heroku - NPM & Yarn - Code Climate - MixPanel - Sentry - Zapier - Notion - Trello

EXPERIENCE
Florence: October 2020 - Present

Advancing from mid-level Backend Engineer to Full Stack Tech Lead at Florence, I've led transformative projects, fostering collaboration and driving product, team, and technological excellence. Adapting to the company's growth stages, I've cultivated an agile working style and championed a high-performance culture within the tech team, promoting cross-functional collaboration and providing mentorship.

Notable projects:

→ Instant Pay (£10m+ in payments): Led the end-to-end development of “Instant Pay”, transforming financial transactions for social care staff. Streamlined payments, providing instant access to funds, with an average of £800k/month and over £10m in earnings sent instantly in the last year.

→ Automated Xero Invoicing: Collaborating with the finance department, I implemented a fully automated invoicing system integrated with the Xero API. This optimised internal workflows, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency in invoicing, benefiting both the company and clients.

→ Academy E-Learning Platform Growth (From zero to £800,000 Revenue): Led the transformation of a zero-profit E-Learning platform into a revenue-generating product. Initially, as the sole team member, I served as engineer, product manager, and designer for about three months. After early success, the team expanded to include a PM, designer, and two junior engineers whom I coached into mid-level positions. Our collaborative efforts achieved a remarkable revenue growth trajectory, reaching £800,000/year, establishing the platform as a premier destination for high-quality educational content.

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Lexoo: April 2018 - September 2020

Joining Lexoo as their second full stack developer, I was a key part of their engineering team as it grew from only myself and the CTO, to a six person department.

I was the lead developer on automating the company's accounting and client payment software. This involved integrating Revolut and Xero business accounts with Lexoo's proprietary products. Over its first six months the feature handled over £100,000 of client transactions and saved the accounting team more than 100 hours of time performing manual operations.

After assisting in the design of the company homepage versions 2.0 and 3.0, I also led the re-build for both versions, ensuring the site was fully responsive and compatible in all modern browsers. This was a key part of a company wide initiative to rebrand Lexoo.

Additionally I built and updated custom Vue.js components as part of an internal design system hosted as an NPM package. I used this to facilitate a complete redesign and build of Lexoo's client facing dashboard.

Other aspects of my role also included regularly resolving technical issues, bug fixes, and implementing new product features and updates.

Graphere Digital Consultancy: Dec 2017 - April 2018

As a developer at Graphere I developed an online editor for Oxford University Press. Predominantly a Rails based CMS platform using aspects of Vue.js code, the Delta Editor gave staff the ability to update and maintain an online database with ease.

Working in a small, fully remote team, we took part in two week sprints with bi-weekly stand-ups; this involved regular communication with other developers, product managers, and working alongside various members of the client team.

General Assembly: June 2017 - Sept 2017

The twelve week web development course allowed me to enhance my problem solving skills whilst enabling me to plan and build full stack web applications that adhered to various industry standards.

Over my period at GA each day began with a group stand up, providing a space to share challenges, solutions, and to review current progress. Following this the day was compiled of interactive lessons and paired programming labs designed to help with fast-paced learning in an agile environment. Collaborating with fellow cohorts and teaching others was a huge part of day to day activities and something that I found hugely beneficial and very much enjoyed.

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Outdoor & Cycle Concepts Regional Manager & Various Positions: February 2010 - March 2017

I began work with O&CC in 2010, I progressed from a store supervisor to assistant manager within my first 6 months, then advanced to be store manager of various key London branches from there. In 2016 I was promoted from store manager to regional manager, this position gave me responsibility over the company's Cyclesurgery and Runners Need branches within central and East London, which totalled sixteen locations.

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EDUCATION

General Assembly - Web development immersive course: June 2017 - Sept 2017
Loughborough University - BA (Hons) Graphic Communication: Sept 2005 - June 2008

INTERESTS

Outside of programming I’m a big fan of cycling, boardgaming, sci-fi and fantasy, zombies, and pizza.

Any kind of movie, book, or tv-show that involves a dystopian, fantasy themed, or zombie filled future is usually on my to watch or read list. I absolutely loved the original comic book series of The Walking Dead, the Fables graphic novels are brilliant, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith are two of my favourite reads.

I’ve also watched and love all of the Marvel cinematic universe movies, and when it comes to pizza I’m a sucker for a sourdough spicy ‘Nduja.