Photo of Alfie Renn

Alfie Renn
Software Engineer & Web Designer

View online! https://cv.alfierenn.dev

About

Hi! I'm Alfie: physics graduate, toki pona speaker, and software engineer. I love to make beautiful things with code (mainly using HTML/CSS/JavaScript and Python), including websites, apps, and graphs. With all my work I create good quality, robust, and well-tested code, as well as powerful automation and well-organised git repositories, empowering collaboration. Do check out my website and GitHub!

Work Experience

Freelance Software Engineer / Web Designer
https://alfierenn.dev/
March 2023 - Present
Highlights

  • Co-maintaining gspread, an open-source Python API for Google Sheets with over 8 million downloads per month, demanding a high level of future-planning and project management.

  • Management and upkeep of WordPress and Shopify eCommerce sites for an international brand.

  • Maintaining an extensive database of tens of thousands of vehicle paint colours using CSVs and SQL, including keeping it up to date, adapting the database format to the needs of the users, and ensuring a reproducible data pipeline.

  • Development and upkeep of a bespoke PHP plugin enabling dynamic product content for WordPress, as well as programmatic integrations with common WordPress plugins like WooCommerce and Yoast SEO.

  • Developed a mod for the video game Factorio in Lua, involving a low-level partner-plugin for the voice chat client Mumble, written in C. Released on Windows and Linux.

  • Interfaced with an electronic dot-matrix display discarded from a bus station, using C, requiring an involved knowledge of electronics and low-level communication protocols.

ByteSnap Design
https://www.bytesnap.com/
August 2022 - March 2023
Software Engineer
Highlights

  • Utilised Vue and TypeScript to create an intuitive, user-friendly web application, using robust design patterns and best practices to ensure optimal functionality and user experience.

  • Designed and developed a responsive, feature-rich web application using Flutter and Dart, incorporating a range of views and user-friendly interfaces for maximum ease of use.

  • Employed WPF and C# to create a high-performance application, using SQL and an MVC architecture to facilitate the viewing, manipulation, and analysis of data.

  • Streamlined the deployment process of complex code with multiple dependencies, using Docker and GitLab CI to optimise the development process and improve productivity.

Durham University Physics Department
https://www.dur.ac.uk/qlm/
June 2021 - August 2021
Solar Physics Research Student
Researching novel telescope imaging techniques using quantum gases
Highlights

  • Developed robust code with Python for fabricating and analysing images from a solar telescope.

  • Performed deep literature review to justify techniques used in the creation of said telescope.

  • Discussed and acted upon desires and needs of telescope engineers, theorists, and observationalists.

Viper RF
https://www.viper-rf.com/
August 2019 - September 2019
Design Engineer Intern
Programmed and debugged a real-time optimisation algorithm on a microcontroller with **C**. This was used to minimise power losses for a microwave generator, to be used in an ion thruster for space satellites, improving both industry knowledge and personal skills.

Awards

  • July 2019

    Durham University

    Florence Nightingale Award for Graphical Excellence

    Awarded for the optimal presentation of quantitative data to illustrate a Helmholtz coil. Used Python for graphing.

Volunteer

gspread - Simple interface for working with Google Sheets
https://github.com/burnash/gspread/
June 2023 - Present
Open-source Maintainer

Maintaining an open-source Python library for interacting with Google Sheets, including adding new features, fixing bugs, and responding to user issues.

British Heart Foundation
https://www.bhf.org.uk/
March 2023 - Present
Electrical Tester

Testing electrical equipment for sale in charity shops.

Contact

Sheffield, UK
alfie@alfierenn.dev
https://alfierenn.dev/
Blog
https://blog.alifeee.co.uk
Website
https://alifeee.co.uk
LinkedIn
alfierenn
GitHub
alifeee

Education

  • 2018 2022

    Durham University

    https://www.durham.ac.uk/

    MPhys Physics

    Grade: 1st (77%)

    Courses

    • Masters Project: Using Machine Learning to Optimise Quantum Optics Experiments

  • 2011 2018

    Cottingham High School and Sixth Form College

    https://www.cottinghamhigh.net/

    A Level, GCSE

    Grade: A* A* A* (A Level), 6A*, 4A, 2D* (GCSE)

    Courses

    • A* Physics

    • A* Mathematics

    • A* Further Mathematics

    • (GCSE) A* Mathematics, A English

    • (GCSE) + 5A*, 3A, 2 Dist*

Skills

Data Analysis
Python Statistics Jupyter
Web Development
HTML CSS JavaScript Vue
Git/Project Management
Pull requests Git issues Open source maintainer GitHub Actions
Great development practises
Test-Driven Development API Design Reliable documentation
DevOps
Docker Git Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment

Interests

Electronics
PC building Arduino (microcontroller and circuit boards)
Open-source
Contributing to open-source projects

References

[... W]e were very impressed with [Alfie]'s outstanding contribution to our business in a relatively short period. He demonstrated extremely high intelligence, organisation, good technical communication skills, work ethic, and a positive attitude. [Available on request.]


"This is very neat thank you for this contribution."


"Thanks @strib and. @alifeee - very good team work!!!!"


[Available on request.]


[Available on request.]