Martin Bridgman

MS Access

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I have over 20 years experience using MS Access with a high level of expertise. I have used MS Access to manage government housing and planning data. I can set up macros and queries to output files which export Excel spreadsheets ready formatted for importing into mapping software via excel spreadsheets. I am an expert at building databases with Access in the absence of having the resource to develop on-line databases.

MS Excel

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MS Excel has been an essential tool used throughout my career in the civil service in a variety of ways. I used Excel as a tool to analyse statistical data on housing and planning, To validate data, to track expenditure in multi-million pound budgets, produce charts for presentations and reporting on performance targets and to prepare data for mapping software. I occasionally facilitated training sessions for colleagues so they could maximise use of Excel.

Microsoft Excel VBA programming

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I have taken courses up to advanced levels in VBA programming in Excel. There has not appeared to be a practical use for this skill in the workplace environment. Even though Excel was used extensively and for a wide variety of uses, the standard features of Excel proved more than adequate to meet any business need.

MS Powerpoint

I am able to create all I need with Powerpoint. I am very competent in producing presentations for colleagues. I am able to produce animations and set up a presentation with musical backing. There are features I am unfamiliar with but I would be confident I would be able to find out how to use them if needed.

MS Word

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As with Powerpoint, there are features in Word that I am unfamiliar with, but I am confident I could find out how to use them if I a had need to.

MS SQL Server

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I learnt and used MS SQL Server in the last two years before my retirement. I am competent at basic features.

ArcGis/ArcMap Online/QGIS

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I had a great deal of expertise with ArcGIS until the Department I was working for decided not to maintain the licence. There were limited licences available. Most were shared but because I provided mapping to colleagues and on occasions other departments, I was granted exclusive use of a full licence. QGIS is very similar to ArcGIS and had the advantage of being open-source. This enabled me to train colleagues to produce their own maps. I was also able to produce applications which allowed colleagues to add layers or remove layers and build their own maps. I consider myself an expert on both applications.

ArcGIS Online

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Although I am able to produce work of a similar quality to desktop applications it requires more effort. The version I have used is much more limited in options for the production of maps and the user interface is much less intuitive.

Affinity designer

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I mostly use Affinity Designer in a recreational capacity. I would consider myself at an intermediate level of knowledge of how to use the application but consider I am well practiced and proficient at what I can do. In addition to recreational use I have used Affinity Designer to produce logos for applications I have built in other courses and hero banners for my website. My digital drawings using Affinity Designer are available in the gallery section of my website.

HTML5

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I am fully up-to date with everything I consider I need to know in HTML. I follow best practice by using modern semantic mark up. This has provided me with a solid foundation to ensure applications I build incorporating other languages are well built.

CSS3(including SaSS and Bootstrap)

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I have improved my skills in formatting and laying out webpages using CSS quite drastically in the last year. Before that I found it difficult to structure pages with consistent margins and maintain content within elements. Much of my improvement is due to mastering Flexbox and grids. Learning SaSS in recent months has also been beneficial. I now have a healthy degree of confidence.

JavaScript (including JQuery)

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I am familiar which all of the key concepts of JavaScript. Data structures (objects and arrays), functions, conditional statements, traversing the DOM and event listeners. I have successfully completed a number of projects using Javascript. These projects have produced games, quote generators, animated features, video players, drum players, a page that displays NASA's image of the day and much more> I have loaded many of projects on a project page on my web-site.

PHP

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PHP is perhaps unfashionable and a declining language. Nonetheless it is my favourite language and one I feel I particularly excel at. This is perhaps because it allows for sql database queries to be embedded within it's files. I am comfortable that it can be inserted within HTML files. Other developers prefer a separation of concerns.Using PHP I have been able to build my ambitious applications. These include a Content Management Site (CMS), a ECommerce shop, A Spotify clone, and a Social Network based on Facebook. I have also built a YouTube clone but it includes feature that are not supported by my host provider.

Python

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I have not fully consolidated my previous learning in Python. I may have reached intermediate level and built some good game applications including a pong game, Snake game and Turtle crossing game. I did not struggle with the mechanics of the Python language at all challenge but did struggle with some of the data structures. I would consider my level as back to beginner now. Iam currently taking a training course in Python.

React

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I am at beginner level with React. I started two training courses earlier this year. I felt I needed to revisit some JavaScript concepts before proceeding. I expect to re-commence training before the end of the year.

MySQL/PostGresQL

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I have built up a lot of experience using MySQL as a back-end database to my large scale projects. MySQL was the database used for the projects listed in the PHP paragraph. I consider the main challenge in building a database is designing the table structure and relationships.I haven't used PostgreSQL often but it is very similar in its interface to MySQL. When I have used PostGreSQL I have adapted to it with ease.The database application.