INTRODUCTION

Hi, I'm Dan.

I'm a 16 year old from Ballymena, Northern Ireland 🇬🇧 🇮🇪.

I'm currently in my GCSE stage of British secondary education, where I'm taking exam classes in Business & Communication Systems, Digital Technology, Double-Award Science, English Literature, Further Mathematics and Geography, alongside the compulsory Mathematics (M4+M8), English Language and Religious Studies.

In the near future I hope to continue my education journey through a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Computing / Software Engineering (or A-levels), and studying at university in Finland - where I'm planning to immigrate to (as soon as possible) when I become an adult. I'm interested in both software development and cyber-security, and I'm considering a job in either one of these fields.

Since creating my first basic HTML website at age 7, I've been dedicated to improving my skills with developing websites, apps, APIs and pretty much anything that interests me - nothing is too big of a challenge to even try!

INTERESTS

Languages, Kielet, Språk.

At age 10 in 2015, I began to learn my first non-English language: Icelandic 🇮🇸.

Since then, especially leading into 2019, I've attempted to learn many languages from countries all around the world, especially the Nordic region and western Europe.

As of August 2021, I'm primarily focusing on Finnish 🇫🇮 [A2], but I'm also conversational [B2] in Norwegian 🇳🇴 (meaning I can understand mutally intelligable Swedish 🇸🇪 and Danish 🇩🇰), although I hope to begin learning Swedish on its own soon.

I'm also planning on learning Estonian 🇪🇪, Faroese 🇫🇴, Greenlandic 🇬🇱, Japanese 🇯🇵, Russian 🇷🇺 and Ukranian 🇺🇦 (when I have the time – I already have the textbooks!)

My childhood spent playing Minecraft or Roblox online with strangers from across the globe has hugely contributed to my love and great interest in many cultures, countries, and their languages.

INTERESTS

Videography & photography.

Ever since 2014, I've been creating and editing YouTube videos for my channel.

This love of directing, editing and scriptwriting for videos and productions has stuck with me to this day. Throughout the years, I've been tasked with the production of many professional videography projects; each of these winning a total of almost £1000 through competitions.

With the implementation of very high quality point-and-shoot cameras in iPhones, I've been able to really improve my photography skillset and take some phenomenal photos - something that just wouldn't have been possible a few years ago.

INTERESTS

Programming.

Ever since my mum told me that websites are made with code, in the car on the way home from school in 2012, I've been hooked.

Throughout the last 9 years, I've been making different random applications and websites, most of which serve no great purpose – but at least it's something!

I code in a variety of different languages and frameworks; different projects have different specifications and requirements, so I just learn whatever it needs and move on.

In recent months I've also been working on commisioned projects for people, or working on projects with friends (either through TS or Git), which has taught me how to work on coding projects in a team, as hard as it may be.

TEAMS + ALLIES

CloudCraft SMP.

7 years ago I sat down with an online friend and created a Minecraft server.

Over these years, I've worked with hundreds of other people, managed a large team of staff and developed custom server software - from the start, CloudCraft has been a team project. I also recently oversaw the production of our anniversary ceremony, which was premiered in November 2020.

This Minecraft server has given me the chance to build a community from the ground up, connecting people from many countries and making friends for life, while also improving my leadership skills by having to deal with problems when something goes wrong.

TEAMS + ALLIES

Helsinki Cruises.

Getting accepted into HC's crew was one of my highlights of 2020.

In December 2019, I wrote an application for one of Finland's largest Roblox cruise-ferry groups (which recieved feedback such as "this is the best application ever"!). Almost a year later, I've progressed through the staff ranks - from standard crew, to developer, to my last role as a manager!

Helsinki Cruises is a ~1500 member group and, since joining there I've quickly made myself part of the HC family, and began helping passengers with many sorts of queries and issues.

My experience here has taught me how to deal with working with / helping people that I don't get along well with, while still getting high customer satisfaction - many people have told me that they always remembered me after cruises (for all the good reasons!).

TEAMS + ALLIES

MK Cruises.

Working at MK Cruises really tested my patience.

With the COVID-19 pandemic leading the majority of the world into lockdown, MK Cruises came along just at the right time. Making friends with the CEO of the company, shortly aftering joining the group, I became a manager, and shortly thereafter one of MK's executive officers.

Between handing out free samples of Goat Cheese Salad, having such a senior role at this group developed my leadership skills - dealing with the team of staff, relaying important information to group members, and helped to resolve internal altercations.

TEAMS + ALLIES

Vedemo Studios.

Vedemo was my first experience with game development.

In early 2020, I teamed up with a Finnish friend of mine to create Vedemo Studios, a computer-game development company/group.

During my time at Vedemo, we both experimented with multiple game development engines, such as Unity, UE4 and Roblox Studio. Shortly after making the group, we began to develop multiple space-related games, the first one being known as "Spacelab".

Even though my experience with Vedemo Studios didn't last long, it was a very interesting few months - I made myself familiar with game development, completed server administration tasks to host APIs and our website at the time, and also worked on building a loyal playerbase and gathering interest for our games.

TEAMS + ALLIES

CringeSquad RP.

My introduction to scriptwriting and screenplay.

Shortly after my beginning to secondary school in 2017, I met a group of people who were looking for a place to record their Minecraft roleplay series - by letting them use my Minecraft server to film, I got myself into one of the biggest projects I've ever been involved in.

Throughout the years CSRP existed, I worked in our small team of 6 people to write scripts for each episode of the series, and worked on filming, editing and producing the videos, audio and voiceovers which were required for each episode to be successful.

GROUPS

CoderDojo Ballymena.

From 2013 (P3) until 2019 (Y9), I attended CoderDojo in the Ballymena Library every other Saturday.

Here, I was able to get help with projects that I was working on, improve my skills, as well as getting inspiration from others in the club.

I also volunteered at the club when I was a bit older, and helped out the younger kids attending to get inspired to code and spark their creativity, as well as helping debug any problems that came up.

I also helped work on some group projects, such as a (private) free alternative to CodeCombat, using C#.NET and the Turtle libraries in Javascript.

GROUPS

3rd Ballymena Scouts.

I started going to Scouts at the very start of Primary School with Squirrels, and levelled up through Beavers, Cubs and made my way to Scouts in early-2018, before leaving in 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Through various group activities, and camps, I developed teamworking skills and various other life skills such as time management, leadership, initiative, and commitment.

During my time there, I also competed in competitions and took part in events to represent my pack/troop. I became a Sixer in Cubs, and an Assistant Patrol Leader in Scouts.

In 2017, I got the chance to attend NI Jam, where I had the opportunity to make friends with other Scouts from across the UK and Ireland, but also Canada, Iceland, Germany and the Netherlands. It was a great experience, and I made friends there that I still talk to five years later.

GROUPS

Ballymena Amateur Swimming Club.

From around P3 until Y9, I was part of the BASC - swimming in galas for both the Aquasprint and PTL squad.

Being part of the team was a great experience which taught a lot of valuable lessons and made a lot of memories – supporting the rest of the team, not just in gathering up points or PBs, but also by cheering on the rest of the rest of the swimmers during their heats; along with the chants at the start of each gala, there was a great community spirit.

I also competed in Schools Galas, swimming both for my Primary and Secondary schools.

CONTACT

See you soon :)

If you'd like to contact me, there's a lot of ways you can.

For less professional purposes, add me on Discord at dandabs#2088, and I'll be more than happy to talk!

For more professional purposes, you can contact me via email at [email protected].

For educational purposes, and contact within Northern Ireland's education system network, my C2K username is dadams479, and I'm in form group 12AC.

© 2021 • All rights reserved to Daniel Adams.