Curriculum Vitae
My CV is designed to be printed.
Interests
- Computer programming
- computer language design
- applications development
- app development
- web design and development
- Graphics and video editing
- Socialising
- Playing computer games
- Photography
- Cycling
Key Skills
- Software engineering and system design
- Programming language and runtime development
- Full-stack web application development
- Problem solving and analytical thinking
- Technical leadership and communication
- Research, planning and coordination
Digital Skills
Awards
My company and I were entered into the awards by my clients after giving me good feedback. I had no idea I had been nominated until about a month prior.
The award was given to one of thousands of companies and developers.
The highest award given to any undergraduate at Heriot-Watt University
An award given to the most deserving student in a 4th year Computer Science programme
An award given to the most deserving student in a 2nd year Computer Science programme
An award given students with a 70% or above average in a 1st year Computer Science programme
- Merit Award received in Computer Science course
- One of two awards given for the best project in the class of 20+
- Received for programming section and team leadership
Education
Research Project Focus: "Improving education through Digital Means"
Dissertation Focus: "ClickIt: A web-based application to aid the learning of web development in an educational environment"
Final Award: BSc with Honours of the First Class
Passes for both the Computer Science and the Physics and Engineering courses.
Achieved:
- 4× Highers (BBBC)
- 1× Advanced Higher (C)
Whilst at Ross High School I also did in-class support, I taught lessons to S1 Computing pupils, I was the Technical Manager in our Young Enterprise group and did paired reading
References
.elcschool.org.uk mdonnelly@musselburghgrammarschool.
elcschool.org.uk
t.berg@hw.ac.uk http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~greg/
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~greg/ +44 131 451 3422
Mr Jamie Balfour
Curriculum Vitae
Summary
Software engineer with a First Class Honours degree in Computer Science from Heriot-Watt University, specialising in programming languages, runtime environments, full-stack web systems, and platform architecture. Experience spans software development, system design, infrastructure, and technical leadership, with a particular interest in how complex systems are structured, executed, and maintained.
Alongside commercial and independent software development, JB Digital Services (formerly Jambour Digital Ltd.) has provided extensive experience designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining custom software platforms, client websites, and web-based systems. This includes full-stack development, server administration, CMS architecture, and high-performance web application design.
Work combines deep technical understanding with practical implementation, including interpreter and transpiler design, developer tooling, MVC application architecture, and long-term platform development. Professional experience also includes Computing education and technical leadership roles, involving the development of digital systems and tools used within educational environments.
Teaching Experience
- Taught Computing
- Taught Computing
- Started and led the Digital Literacy for Staff course to improve staff digital skills
- Managed the Positive Behaviour Praise Card and the Hot Chocolate Friday systems
- Developed digital tools:
- Interactive slideshow engine
- Embedded online polling platform
- Online tracking and monitoring system
- Extended DragonDocs Engine for interactive worksheets
- Developed the school's internal reporting system, a data extractor to put data in the correct format for the exam board, and a positive praise system using C#
- Developed an AI marking program
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- School named Scotland's First Centre for Digital Excellence
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Developed digital tools:
- Slideshow engine with engaging features
- Interactive worksheets for pupils
- Lead the school's digital programme as the Digital Leader in the school
- Setup the Digital Champions programme to empower young people
- Developed own Tutoring Portal in 2019
- Continued tutoring remotely and in person
- My Portal was vital during COVID years and continued as valuable resource post-COVID
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- Became newly qualified teacher in August 2019 after PGDE
- Successfully completed 'Scotland's Mental Health First Aid' course (SMHFA)
- Developed a prototype online reporting system
- Course at Heriot-Watt University involved visiting school to work with secondary teachers in Computing
- Prepared and taught my own lessons within three consecutive Wednesdays, focusing on web development
- Assisted students with programming across all year groups
- Gained valuable understanding of classroom dynamics
- January 2011: Tutored pupil in SQA 'Intermediate 2 Computing' course
- Pupil achieved A grade
- September 2011: Tutored individual in SQA 'Higher Computing'
- Pupil passed with a C
- For both sessions, I prepared helpful revision materials for the pupil
Academic Experience
- Elected class representative for the third time and had been seen as the group leader for my subject
- Responsibilities include advocating for students' needs
- Attended meetings and addressed raised concerns
- Provided support to a student lacking initial assistance
- Recognised for interest in teaching as well as receiving the highest grade in this module the year before
- Module involved using the D3 JavaScript library
- Accepted offer and began working with student in October 2016
- Second-time lab assistant well-prepared for duties
- Took up two courses; the Praxis course that involved assisting with writing tips, IT help, and student professional development and the Web Programming course allowed application of web programming knowledge
- Spent two hours per week in this role
- Considered pursuing a PhD to extend academic achievements
- Accepted offer and recognized as 'outstanding candidate'
- Research focused on concerns of carers of children with autism regarding online safety
- Left PhD program in February 2017 due to financial constraints related to purchasing own house at the time
- Assisted first-year Computer Science students in the Web Design and Databases course
- Assessed students' work and provided feedback
- Contributions to course deemed valuable by lecturer and students
- Provided assistance to students and the lecturer with fresh knowledge
- Utilised HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL for course requirements
- Elected class representative for third and fourth years
- Third-year from September 2014 to April 2015
- Fourth-year from September 2015 to April 2016
- Responsible for raising students' concerns at meetings and actioning what I could from meetings
- Given additional leadership roles such as relaying information back and supporting students
- Represented university in front of BCS panel to help the university reaffirm their recognition
Industrial Experience
- I have developed all websites hosted by Jambour Digital
- The idea of my own company was built on my talent for developing websites freelance
- Company focuses on web development, graphics, and consultancy and I do all areas of development
- Developed websites for car salvage companies
- Created XML phonebook system for Grandstream SIP phones using PHP and database
- Developed database-driven server monitoring application using PHP
- Re-developed websites hosted by DH Systems
- Left job to start my own company
- Worked at Maglabs in a fast-paced environment
- Generated reports on database data and fixed bugs
- Added small features to PHP-based web application service
- Honed skills in PHP, MySQL, and shell scripting
- Learned React.js and Symfony during employment
- Freelance web development involved creating websites on demand
- Utilised modern technologies such as PHP7, HTML5, and CSS3
- Transitioned from freelance work to laying the foundations for my limited company in February 2017
Other Experience
I worked as a kitchen assistant at Bissets Hotel in Gullane as my summer job for two hours a week whilst I was at school.
This job was an important step for me in becoming confident with individual clients as well as working within a team.
This job saw me working with another member of staff tidying and cleaning the bedrooms for a week and doing various other chores around the premises. It required me to get up at 6 am every morning to be at work by around 8 am to ensure that I would get there on time. It showed that I had determination and efficiency as well as the ability to work well as part of a team.
Voluntary & Other Work
- I ran the Code Club at the local library offering kids under 16 an opportunity to learn to code
- Volunteered on Saturday mornings from 10 am to about 11:30 am
- I received lots of good feedback about how helpful I was and that the kids were loving the hour of code they got every Saturday
- Became a STEM Ambassador and responded to request at Knox Academy
- Acted as classroom assistant in Computing department
- Assisted students from S1 to S6 in various levels of ICT and Computer Science
- I trialed out my ClickIt application with pupils whilst at this school
- Teachers found assistance valuable and helpful
With this unpaid voluntary work, I was a member of a political party for a few months helping out with duties such as delivering flyers and leaflets. My role was crucial in delivering to certain areas that had been difficult to cover by the party before, due to a lack of members in the area.
I was a key member of our Young Enterprise Scotland team in charge of the IT side of the products as well as being one of the front members of the sales team. Our team managed to sell the majority of our products that were for sale and were one of the more liked teams by the public.
Projects
In 2020, I began improving my website by integrating my own scripting engine, ZPE.
While working on this, I was struck by how complex Apache’s module system is. This led me to consider how the process could be simplified. I decided to separate the server component from ZPE and develop it as its own project. From this idea, Velocity Web Server (VWS) was created.
VWS is both powerful and fast. In many cases, PHP running on VWS performs faster than PHP running on Apache.
A great deal of work went into making the system both high-performance and intuitive to use.
BlackRabbit Script (2011–2015)
Designed and developed a custom scripting language and execution engine in C#, built from first principles. The system included a mathematical expression parser, a logical evaluation engine, Python, PHP and Lua transpilers, and a compilation layer targeting C#, enabling flexible and extensible script execution.
Re-architected the engine in 2015 to improve performance and scalability, this time in Java, delivering a robust core within a short development cycle. The platform was designed for reuse by other developers, with early adoption by peers who created applications using the language.
As part of my own website development and moving away from using third party plugins, I decided to invent my own plugins that can easily be reused. I call this group of plugins my Web Independently Styled Project (WISP) and it consists of a slideshow, responsive navigation bar, PHP comment system, a content management system and much more.
DASH is a custom MVC-based content management platform developed and maintained from the ground up using PHP and MySQL. Originally created in 2014 and fully re-architected in 2017, the system is designed to integrate seamlessly with custom websites while remaining flexible, performant, and easy to manage. DASH powers both my own web platforms and client websites, providing dynamic content management, reusable components, and a streamlined publishing workflow. The platform continues to evolve through ongoing development and feature expansion.
My personal website is one of my biggest achievements. In April 2010 I had an idea that it would be good to share what I know with the world. Because of this, I decided to open a website dedicated to both professional work and my personal life. My website went through a major refurbishment in June 2013. My website is built with my skills in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP and MySQL.
My SED command generator page is the most popular in any search engine.
I took up a programming hobby due to my interest. I have developed products such as an imaging/graphics application, a web browser and an easy-to-use programming language. Nowadays, I develop several large personal projects, but I also help others by writing programs to automate things for them.
