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You can email me at: team@remoteupskill.comLatest project: https://dailytechjobs.comLatest blogs: https://medium.com/@remoteupskillMost read blog post: The Best Way To Fetch Data in Next.jsA Gritty Javascript Developer
Hi, I am Alec.
I like working on increasingly complex projects.
I am currently building something new in the Job Search space (Tech Jobs).
This is me at a glance:
- Built a distributed web scraping system for my latest job board project
- Built a highly scalable distributed search feature for my latest job board project.
- Extensive experience building and launching SaaS products
- Strong technical knowledge in JavaScript and Web Development
- Designing and building APIs at scale
- Passionate about building complex systems efficiently
- Passionate about automation
- Passionate about data and ethical use of data
- Track record in completing projects and getting things done
- Strong collaborative mindset
- I thrive in an early stage startup environment where flexibility and speed are key
- Skilled with numerous full stack software development techniques
- Experience across multiple industry verticals including education, financial services and taxation
- Software is fun if you know what you are doing.
I am very hands-on. Someone who likes to dive head first into the codebase as soon as possible.
As I need to work on most of the projects myself, I try to automate everything from the get-go.
Infrastructure Automation is the area I am currently most passionate about and spend the most time on. This is also the reason why I have started studying toawards my AWS Solutions Architect Exams.
I look forward to diving deeper into my tech journey with you.
My skills at a glance:
Full Stack Web Dev:
- React.js / Next.js / Node.js / React Native
- CSS3 / HTML
- MongoDB / Redis / AWS S3 / AWS DynamoDB
- Bash Scripting
- Firebase Authentication
- Firebase Real-time integrations
- Firebase Admin SDK integrations
- Stripe integrations e.g. monthly subscription payment system
- Algorithms with Javascript
- Test Automation with Puppeteer.js
AWS Cloud Computing:
- AWS Cloud Computing in general
- AWS Cloudformation
- AWS SAM
- AWS Lamda
- AWS Security
- AWS EC2 and ECS
- AWS Load Balancing and Auto Scailing
- AWS API Gateway
- CI/CD with AWS in general
- AWS CodeSuite
- AWS CodeCommit
- AWS CodeBuild
- AWS CodeDeploy
- AWS CodePipeline
- Serverless infrastructures with AWS Lamda and Mongo Atlas
TLDR; More About My Background
For more details, see My Timeline.
I started out my career in Accounting and Finance but later fell in love with technology during my time as an Educator.
I grew up in the UK in a small city called Nottingham.
I graduated from Nottingham Business School in BA Accounting & Finance (4 Year Sandwich Degree) with honors.
After graduating, I joined a Top 14 UK accountancy firm, where I worked for over 2 years and completed my professional taxation exams and qualified as a member of The Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT).
I made the transition into Software Development in late 2019.
I have always been fascinated with computers, computer games (Starcraft, AOE) and technology in general but was hesitant to pursue a career in it.
I had put some savings aside so it was easier for me to take time off to make the transition into tech.
Looking back, I am glad I made the transition because I have learnt so much that it has pushed the envelope of my logical thinking skills and imagination.
Now I always remind myself to think carefully about edge cases for a particular problem and that there is usually more than 1 way to solve a problem.
You can email me at: team@remoteupskill.com
I plan to write a mix of educational and motivational content in the coming year through through my Medium blog.
Here are some of my more popular blogs on Medium:
My Timeline ⏳
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You can email me at: team@remoteupskill.comWhat's New 🌅
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Tech Job Board (Latest Project)
The Planning Phase
My main goal is to keep this project as simple as possible in the beginning. I will be using Next.js to deploy the site.To keep things simple and cost as low as possible, I have made the following decisions in the planning stage:
- Build the frontend using Next.js as this is the frontend framework I am most proficient in so this will allow me to iterate changes quickly.
- Deploy to Vercel, as they offer a free tier which means your website can live on the web practically for free in the beginning.
- To keep costs as low as possile in the beginning, I will be deploying most of the backend on AWS Lamda's infrastructure (Serverless).
- The new AWS Lamda@Edge also allows you to serve your content via Cloudfront which enhances the User Experience.
System Design
To be consistent with keeping the project as simple as possible, I will be using the MERN (MongoDB Express.js React.js Node.js) Stack, which I am most familiar with. To make the project easy to maintain, I have chosen the following for the Tech Stack:
- React.js and Next.js for the frontend as I have built many resuable React components in the past which can be utilised in this latest project.
- Deploy the application to Vercel for its simplicity in setting up a custom domain and initial free tier.
- Another reason for deploying on Vercel is that it works seamlessly with Next.js.
- Another significant reason why I am using Next.js for this job board application is for SEO enhancement purposes through the use of getStaticProps and getServerSideProps and their built-in feature called Incremental Static Regeneration for Data Fetching.
- Firebase for authentication as it is my go-to Authentication Stack, providing smooth integration for social platforms like Facebook and Github
- Github authentication will be important for this project as it's a tech job board.
- To minimise the need to run a server 24/7 in the cloud for sending emails, I have chosen to deploy a Node.js Email Sender Application on Firebase Cron. This helps me to send out emails at set intervals easily.
- For sending out emails, I will be using the SendInBlue Email Service.
- For caching, I will utilise a mix of browser caching (via the Cache-Control header) and AWS API Gateway's built-in caching mechanism.
- As the job listing on the landing page must be kept up-to-date on a daily basis, browser caching will be set to a max-age of 24 hours only.
- For updating the job listing on the landing page, I will be using AWS API Gateway in front of a AWS S3 bucket.
- A separate AWS Lamda in Node.js to update the job list on the landing page on a daily basis.
- To update the job list, I will run a cron job from an EC2 server to update the JSON file in S3 holding the job listing data located on the landing page.
AWS Certification (AWS Solutions Architect 2023)
Study Goals
- Curently, studying towards obtaining my AWS Solutions Architect Certificate
- My ultimate goal is to obtain the knowledge and skills to build more scalable and efficient systems in the Cloud.
My Projects 💻
Bitesize Math
Remote Upskill
My Philosophy
A product is only as good as the people who build it.
My goal is to maximize my potential as well as my team’s so that we can consistently do our best work and push out great features and products
I do not like staying within my comfort zone and I have challenged myself to build larger and more complex projects one after another.
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." ~Socrates.
I appreciate what others have put down in writing and I love returning the favour by keeping a blog about my learnings at https://medium.com/@remoteupskill
Here are some of my more popular blogs on Medium:
Skillset
Github portfolio to come.Contact Me !
Reach out to me at team@remoteupskill.com.
