Colin Howard image
Colin Howard

Hey, I'm Colin!

I am a Software Developer with a background in finance management. I enjoy creating responsive applications using JavaScript and TypeScript as well as technologies such as React, Node.js and RESTful APIs.

My experience as a Finance Manager has cultivated strong problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills, making me a versatile asset in software development.

I love music, attending as many gigs and festivals as I can. I also enjoy theatre, particularly musicals, and I am an avid Bolton Wanderers supporter (hence the colour scheme!).

My Skills

JavaScript
TypeScript
HTML/CSS
TailwindCSS
jQuery
React
Next.js
Git
Node.js
Express
SQL
MongoDB
RESTful APIs
GraphQL
Cypress
Jest

Projects

Rec'd

Rec'd is an app for tracking recommendations you receive for movies, music, TV shows, books and games. Receive recommendations from your friends, rate them and Rec'd will suggest what to watch, read, listen to or play next so you can find your next favourite thing faster!

Check out the website or the code on Github

JavaScript
React
Node.js
Express
RESTful APIs
Auth0
MongoDB
Responsive
Accessible

Predict'd

Predict'd is an app for predicting football matches against your friends.

Check out the website or the code on Github

TypeScript
React
Node.js
Express
RESTful APIs
MongoDB
Responsive
Accessible

Prep'd

Prep'd is an app to help you prepare for job interviews with our video chatbot, get feedback on your interview answers, get your programming skills up to scratch with our coding challenges and build yourself the perfect cover letter.

Check out the website or the code on Github

TypeScript
React
Node.js
Express
RESTful APIs
MongoDB

Walky Doggy

Walky Doggy is an app which connects dog owners and walkers.

Check out the code on Github

TypeScript
Next.js
Node.js
Express
MongoDB
Responsive
Accessible

Photo of mopey teenage Colin

Baby Colin!

My first foray into coding was as a mopey teenager (pictured), creating GeoCities websites about football - not much has changed to be honest! I also spent a lot of sunny days indoors writing scripts for MSN Chat bots to play trivia and other games with complete strangers. Great times!

Photo of mopey teenage Colin

WorldSkills UK logo

Accounting (boo!)

After school I did an apprenticeship in Business Administration before falling into accounting by chance. In 2013, I joined WorldSkills UK, an education charity that aims to raise the standards in apprenticeships and technical education. I was there for almost 10 years, from Finance Officer to Finance Manager, despite not being qualified, but after being offered the Head of Finance role I realised accounting was no longer what I wanted to do, so went back to find my love of coding!

Coding (yay!)

So I grew a beard (they say you should dress for the job you want) and applied for Codeworks, an intensive software engineering bootcamp, ranked one of the best in the world. One of their taglines is taking you from 20-100 rather than 0-60 and I had to relearn HTML and CSS, as well as JavaScript and jQuery in order to submit an app as part of the admissions process. Thankfully, I was accepted! I later found out only 3.5% of applicants are successful! The course covered data structures, algorithms, complexity analysis, networking, back-end frameworks (Node, Express, Koa, GraphQL), databases (SQL, MongoDB, Redis), front-end frameworks (Angular, React), TypeScript, testing, etc. etc. as well as creating full-stack applications.

Get In Touch