Nicholas Bentley
Full-stack Developer
& HCI/UX Researcher
nic@vaud.uk
About
Hi, I'm Nic. I enjoy building robust, feature-complete programs and websites to fit user needs. UX oriented with a passion for performant and accessible software. Always tinkering with something.
Work Experience
2022 - 2024
Teaching Assistant
University of Birmingham
Alongside my PhD, I have been involved in the planning, organisation, teaching, and marking of two final year and masters level university modules - Human-Computer Interaction and Research Topics in HCI.
Teaching ⬢ Logistics ⬢ Feedback
2018 - 2022
Software Developer
MiTek
I worked on multiple projects on worldwide teams and wore many hats at MiTek. Highlights include a full-stack 3D CAD webapp, a legacy CAD desktop app, a web-based logistics/fulfillment platform, and integration between them all. I took lead on a number of features, and also ran workshops to get colleagues up to speed with new technologies.
C# ⬢ Angular ⬢ HTML5/TS/CSS ⬢ Docker ⬢ Azure ⬢ SQL ⬢ Full-stack
2016
Penetration Testing Internship
Xiphos Research Ltd.
Hands on experience with penetration testing gave me a good understanding of common vulnerabilities, where they come from, and how to prevent them. Getting a look into the guts of a number of systems was invaluable.
Security ⬢ Performance Profiling ⬢ Network Analysis
Education
2022 - present
PhD Study
University of Birmingham
I am currently pursuing a Human-Computer Interaction PhD. My thesis investigates extending digital fabrication techniques to allow a greater breadth of design space for physical interfaces.
Papers published:
HCI ⬢ Interactivity ⬢ Digital Fabrication
2014 - 2018
MSci Computer Science
University of Birmingham
Covered a wide variety of topics, specialising in Human-Computer Interaction. My thesis involved the planning, creation, and running of a full-stack testing platform for a study on the interplay between physical and on-screen interfaces.
Fundamentals ⬢ HCI ⬢ UI/UX ⬢ Interface Research
Side Projects
2024 - Ongoing
Beloved Beasties ↗
A dog walking and pet care company operated by my lovely partner Serin. I manage and host the website on a local server, as well as communications software.
NuxtJS ⬢ Cloudflare ⬢ Server Hosting ⬢ Docker ⬢ GSuite
Ongoing
This website
I've had this site for a while, and enjoy tinkering with it and hosting little projects on subdomains every now and then. Having a local server lets me spin things up and down as much as I feel like it.
NuxtJS ⬢ Cloudflare ⬢ Server Hosting ⬢ Docker