About Andrew Watkins
Coder, Software Engineer, Full Stack Web Development
- Full stack - Full Lifecycle
- Create and Grow Agile Software Development Teams
- Implement continuous delivery
- Lift software quality
- Understand user requirements & design appropriate solutions
- Design and Structure Information Systems
- Implementation and coding.
I can help you build your next software system.
I have a track record as a customer focussed, innovative, solutions designer and product development manager taking ideas from conception through implementation and delivery and into operation through a full life cycle, managing teams using agile methodologies, leading edge tools and technologies.
I have over 30 years writing code, software development, product management, systems design and team leadership across a range of industries including science, technology, engineering, health, automotive, transport, mobile phone, and travel. I have a strong balance of technical and management skills.
I have run my own company and led a start-up mobile phone company software team through a high growth period. I have created and developed multiple agile cross functional teams, including a major open source project, managed DevOps processes, CI/CD and modernised IT platforms including deployment to cloud services.
Coder.
I've been writing code since my first Sinclair ZX80. I've made a career of building great products both physical and virtual across a range of industries and technologies. If the IT industry re-invents its tools, processes and technology every 5 years then I've adapted 7 times and I'm ready to do it again.
I have built embedded systems, dataloggers, network device, automotive systems, plant control systems, wearable health devices, Mobile phones - actual phones not just apps, web applications, windows apps, databases, analysis and visualisation tools, APIs, SOAs, Servers and Clients. Using Forth, Assembler, C/C++, Java, Python, PHP, Javascript, SQL, HTML, XML you get the idea.
If you are looking for someone who can be both deeply nerdy about software, but also has a great breadth of experience, someone who can listen to customers and really understand what they are looking for, who can design a great UI/UX and lead a team to build that product then we should be talking.
Leader and Team builder.
Take a look at the recommendations on my LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewwatkinsnz/ to see how people feel about working in my teams. I have proven vision, strategy, and leadership skills.
I've created and led multiple Agile/Scrum teams, introduced CI/CD tools, made technology product selections such as JS Clients and Angular, mentored developers and hands on coded and debugged applications. My goal has always been to build a team that is more effective next year than this year - no burn out, no technical debt.
Designer and Product developer.
My driving principle in software design is that every product has to deliver measurable benefits to the user, it has to meet their needs, be transparent to use, be aesthetically pleasing and a joy to interact with.
Under the hood it also has to be sustainable - that is we have to be able to build it effectively and maintain that quality through the whole life cycle of the product. We have to think about security, operation, support and maintenance - not just time to benefits.
I have fundamental skill in being able to listen to people, understand what they want and perhaps what they really need. I can translate that into technical solutions and designs, and see through the result beyond delivery. If you want a good philosophical discussion - ask me what 'Done' means. My primary tool is a marker pen, my most recent office had 8 sqr metres of writable surface area.