Shay Patel
Computer Science Undergraduate
Experience
Software Engineer
Jul 2025 - May 2026
Next plc.
Completed a 10-month placement in the Finance Technology team at Next plc (FTSE 100), maintaining internal applications for partners and suppliers while developing core professional skills through Agile workflows, daily stand-ups, and sprint planning.
Delivered tangible technical impact by optimising an API through caching and batch queries to achieve a ~6x performance improvement, and building a Python automation script that eliminated over 30 hours of repetitive manual work from recurring processes.
Gained valuable cross-functional experience collaborating with QA, business, and technical teams, translating loosely defined requirements into well-tested solutions, reinforcing that soft skills like communication and initiative are just as critical as technical ability.
Teaching Assistant
Oct 2024 - Dec 2024
University of Birmingham
Led weekly tutorials and drop-in sessions for classes of 30-40 students at the University of Birmingham, breaking down complex topics in logic systems, linear algebra, and formal reasoning into clear, accessible explanations across a range of learning styles.
Collaborated with the module lead and fellow teaching assistants to design effective tutorial materials, while also providing tailored one-on-one feedback to help students strengthen their understanding and improve their performance.
Built strong communication, presentation, and mentoring skills through guiding structured discussions and making abstract theoretical concepts approachable, reinforcing the ability to adapt technical explanations to different audiences.
Technical Lead
Jan 2023 - Aug 2024
Jayna Dance Academy
Built a custom, content-rich website from the ground up, implementing SEO best practices and integrating Google Analytics to track performance and user engagement, driving steady growth to ~250 monthly visitors.
Integrated Stripe payment flows (payment links, checkout) to streamline the customer journey, enabling seamless booking of classes, workshops and events directly through the site and improving overall conversion rates.
Projects
- A command-line orderbook simulator, written in Rust for type-safety and fast response times.
- Implements industry-standard orderbook strategies using various standard library data structures to model and evaluate orders efficiently.
- Designed an intuitive and user-friendly interface for users to easily shorten URLs and track analytics.
- Developed a full-stack URL shortening web application powered by a Java Spring Boot RESTful API.
- Implemented RESTful API endpoints for creating, retrieving, and managing existing shortlinks.
- Used Spring Boot Data JPA to interact with a PostgreSQL database for persistent storage of link mappings and metadata.
- Developed a blockchain-powered consensus protocol and ticket booking platform for a 48-hour hackathon.
- Deployed core system logic on smart contracts for security, transferability, and fault-tolerance.
- Built a responsive front-end in React and Next.js for browsing events and booking tickets.
- Achieved 3rd place through effective collaboration using Git, Trello, and Notion.
- Developed a web-based support ticket system using Flask and Python.
- Implemented JWT-based authentication for secure user sessions.
- Integrated with an SQLite database for persistent storage of user accounts and tickets.
BananoPlanet
- A cryptocurrency distribution service and functional mining pool from late 2021 to mid 2024.
- Over 200 thousand payouts to hundreds of daily active users.
- Utilised cron jobs for automated payouts and a public HTTP API for seamless integration into other apps.
- Implemented data operations through a MongoDB NoSQL cluster.