Niall O'Callaghan 🇮🇪
Web Developer
Structural Engineer
Problem Solver
I taught myself to solve 11 x 11 Rubik's Cubes - more on this later...
Career so far...
Structural Engineer
2008 - 2016
ViewPro App CTO & Co-founder
2013 - Present
🎓 Web Development Immersive at G.A.
2016
Web Developer
2016 - loading
Skills
Core Web Development Skills
JavaScript NodeJS
Ruby Ruby on Rails
PostgreSQL MongoDB
HTML5 CSS3
Git BitBucket GitHub
Bootstrap jQuery Angular
More Useful Skills
AWS EC2 / Route53 / VPC / S3
Heroku SSH Linux
Windows OSX
WordPress PHP
Trello
Other technology exposure...
Backbone React
MySQL Apache Tomcat 6/7
Gulp Sourcetree Python
Image Editing Video Editing
Photography
Interests & Achievements
Interests
Formula 1
Piano / Guitar
Cycling
🎾 Some Tennis
Coding Meetups
Achievements
Founded a startup company / app
Meetup Host / Organiser
A 2100km lap of Ireland ☘
And...
I solve Rubik's cubes...
Solving Rubik's Cubes is very much a form of coding. There are certain patterns to recognise as you solve the cube, and then you apply some 'algorithms' to move the pieces to where you need.
A very high concentration level is needed in order to focus on every single piece in the puzzle. One slip up can literally set you back hours. I get as much enjoyment from 'cubing' as I do from coding.
This is my 11 x 11 Rubik's Cube. A regular cube is a 3 x 3 grid.
People often ask me if the 11 x 11 cube really works. It sure does!
This photo shows the cube in its completed state, but with each layer slightly skewed to show how it moves.
'cubing' == coding
I learned how to solve the original 1980's 3 x 3 Rubik's cube back in 2006. Once I had mastered that, I was determined to go bigger and conquer the 4 x 4... then I taught myself the 5 x 5, 7 x 7 and 11 x 11.
Solving the 11 x 11 is one of my favourite achievements to date. It took years of self-learning, practice and determination. It now takes me only 2-3 hours to solve from a completely scrambled state.
If you were to manufacture a single 3 x 3 Rubik's cube for every combination that exists, then stack one on top of the other, the stack would extend for 261 light years!
There are 4.53 x 10^810 combinations for the 11 x 11 cube, so its stack would stretch to 5.5 x 10^793 light years... wow!
I created a Construction Productivity App.
With a good friend from University, I founded a startup called ViewPro. It's a Construction Productivity App that helps solve many producitivty problems on modern construction sites.
Reasons we built ViewPro
● Daily construction reports are very rare
● Construction is difficult to analyse
● Often too late to react to delays/issues
● It's time consuming to build good reports
● Report quality/content very inconsistent
● Tradespeople/Workers on the frontline never know their live production rates
Our solution
● Uniform Reporting
● Live Project Information
● Simple way to track progress
● Fast on 2G network (rural construction)
● Know your inefficiencies/strengths
● Digital site diary
Tech Stack
● Java Web App
● MySQL
● RESTful
● Hibernate / Struts
Graphs & Charts
Reports
Logging
Help Centre (WordPress)
Multiple clients across Australia
Web Development Immersive
After 7 years of Structural Engineering, and after having experienced the excitement of creating my own software startup (ViewPro), I decided to dive deeper into the world of apps and websites.
Tinkering with the ViewPro marketing website, AWS servers or the online 'Help & Learning Centre' was really fun.
I decided that taking part in Web Development Immersive at General Assembly would be the best avenue to launch me into a career as a Web Developer. I traversed from fundamental programming basics, to collaborative group projects, to building full-stack web apps.
With the knowledge and skills I have gained, I can't wait to see where the next chapter of my career takes me.
800+ hours of...
Coding
Learning
Growing
Networking
Sharing Knowledge
Notable Projects
Cantabo Live Lyrics App
My Toy Rbt Test
A Restaurant & Cafe Waitlist App
PTV API Encrypted Request App
Tic Tac Toe using B1tw1se 0perat0rs
More information here:
github.com/noccer
Cantabo Live Lyrics
Main Project at
Web Development Immersive
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
I host piano karaoke nights
Why build an app?
1. I struggle to remember lyrics.
2. Some other people struggle too.
3. People attending my events spend time Googling the lyrics...
...instead of enjoying the song.
Previously I used a Trello board to store lyrics.
What does the app do?
The app displays the lyrics of the song I'm currently playing.
User Experience was at the forefront of my design. It's really easy to use!
Tech Stack
Ruby on Rails
PostgreSQL
HTML5
CSS3
jQuery
Heroku
In just 14 days
I did the following:
Preparation
● Wireframing
● Prototyping with InvisionApp
Programming backend logic
● Data cleansing Trello lyrics
● Created gigantic seed file (15,000+ lines!)
● Designing the Database
● Building out the Models, Views & Controllers
Designing the Frontend
● Created my own CSS style
● Sought advice from UX friends
● Surveyed people who used the app
● Utilised Google Analytics
The App
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
https://cantabo.herokuapp.com
Launch Night!
Happy Users...
Celebrations...
Good times!
Some Google Analytics
More Google Analytics
And I surveyed people too
More survey results
Future Development
● Source songs from an external Lyrics API
● Develop a RESTful API
● Re-write frontend in
Angular or
React
● Deploy a native version of the
app using
Atom Electron
● Commercialise the app and
implement a payment system
Cantabo
(v, Latin) - Will sing
