Ashley Sykes

Ashley Sykes. I am a passionate software developer and agile enthusiast. I am a father of 2 beautiful girls and a loving husband. During my professional career I have developed a number of technical skills focused around both front and backend development. I have a detailed understanding of developing Single Page Applications (SPA’s) using a multitude of JavaScript frameworks (such as BackboneJS, KnockoutJS and AngularJS). My main area of expertise is as a senior .NET developer. I also have experience in other development languages (mainly Java and Python). In the latter part of my career I have been asked to manage several software development teams. To do this I have been utilising a variety of agile techniques and methodologies. These practices have developed organically over a number of years through a variety of sources (such as online resources, conferences, observing Scrum teams etc.). However, I recently decided it would be beneficial for both me and my team that I verify my knowledge and practices by becoming a Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP). I graduated from the University of Leeds with a 1:1 class honours degree in Computing. After graduating in 2010 I joined a small development organisation: X-Lab. X-Lab specialise in providing software as a service solution for managing sample referrals between laboratories. Beyond this platform X-Lab provide development expertise for a variety of NHS projects. For example, developing a software as a service questionnaire tool for managing clinical trials, a diagnostic modelling and simulation platform and many others. During my time at X-Lab I transitioned through several roles within the company starting as a Technical Support Analyst (providing first and second line support, business analyst and junior developer), Developer, Senior Developer and finally becoming part of the Management Team. My time at X-Lab had many highlights but two in particular stand out as memorable achievements. Firstly, I am extremely proud of growing the customer base of the pathology lab referral system from 10 pilot sites to being used in over 70% of NHS laboratories throughout the United Kingdom. Secondly, my last project at X-Lab was to replace Microsoft BizTalk with a bespoke system providing equivalent functionality (of the BizTalk features we utilised).This was an extremely large and difficult project that we managed to deliver on time and transition into live with minimal disruption to service. After leaving X-Lab in November 2015 I joined Asda as part of the Mobile Development Team. My main responsibilities during my time at Asda have been as ScrumMaster and Mobile Development Manager (senior developer). My role at Asda has been both interesting and challenging as Asda look to transition from Waterfall to Scrum projects. The Mobility team (as well as a few other teams) have been tasked with trying out Scrum with a view to providing lessons learnt if Asda decide to transition to agile project management. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, playing football for my local team and I am also an Android enthusiast who enjoys building custom ROM’s.