Curriculum Vitae
My CV is designed to be printed.
Awards
My company and I were entered into the awards by my clients after giving me good feedback. I had no idea I had been nominated until about a month prior.
The award was given to one of thousands of companies and developers.
The highest award given to any undergraduate at Heriot-Watt University
An award given to the most deserving student in a 4th year Computer Science programme
An award given to the most deserving student in a 2nd year Computer Science programme
An award given students with a 70% or above average in a 1st year Computer Science programme
- Merit Award received in Computer Science course
- One of two awards given for the best project in the class of 20+
- Received for programming section and team leadership
Education
Research Project Focus: "Improving education through Digital Means"
Dissertation Focus: "ClickIt: A web-based application to aid the learning of web development in an educational environment"
Final Award: BSc with Honours of the First Class
Passes for both the Computer Science and the Physics and Engineering courses.
Achieved:
- 4× Highers (BBBC)
- 1× Advanced Higher (C)
Whilst at Ross High School I also did in-class support, I taught lessons to S1 Computing pupils, I was the Technical Manager in our Young Enterprise group and did paired reading
References
.elcschool.org.uk mdonnelly@musselburghgrammarschool.
elcschool.org.uk
t.berg@hw.ac.uk http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~greg/
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~greg/ +44 131 451 3422
Mr Jamie Balfour
Teacher with 8 years of educational experience, years of industrial experience and exceptional knowledge of computer science.
Summary
Computing educator and software engineer with a First-Class Honours degree in Computer Science from Heriot-Watt University and a PGDE, combining extensive teaching experience with commercial and independent software development. Technical expertise spans software engineering, programming languages and runtime environments, full-stack web systems, Linux and server infrastructure, databases, networking technologies and platform architecture.
Through JB Digital Services (formerly Jambour Digital Ltd.) and other professional roles, I have extensive experience designing, developing, deploying and maintaining custom software platforms, client websites and web-based systems. This includes full-stack development, server administration, CMS architecture and high-performance application design, alongside practical experience in interpreter and transpiler design, developer tooling and MVC application architecture.
Alongside software development, I have substantial experience in Computing education, including university-level teaching and assessment and secondary education. I have designed curricula and learning resources, assessed learner work, supported learners across a range of abilities and developed digital systems and tools for educational environments. This combination of education and industry experience allows me to communicate complex technical concepts clearly while maintaining current, practical knowledge of software development and computing technologies.
Teaching Experience
- Taught Computing
- Started and led the Digital Literacy for Staff course to improve staff digital skills
- Managed the Positive Behaviour Praise Card and the Hot Chocolate Friday systems
- Developed digital tools:
- Interactive slideshow engine
- Embedded online polling platform
- Online tracking and monitoring system
- Extended DragonDocs Engine for interactive worksheets
- Developed the school's internal reporting system, a data extractor to put data in the correct format for the exam board, and a positive praise system using C#
- Developed an AI marking program
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- School named Scotland's First Centre for Digital Excellence
-
Developed digital tools:
- Slideshow engine with engaging features
- Interactive worksheets for pupils
- Lead the school's digital programme as the Digital Leader in the school
- Setup the Digital Champions programme to empower young people
- Developed own Tutoring Portal in 2019
- Continued tutoring remotely and in person
- My Portal was vital during COVID years and continued as valuable resource post-COVID
- Taught Computing and Digital Literacy
- Became newly qualified teacher in August 2019 after PGDE
- Successfully completed 'Scotland's Mental Health First Aid' course (SMHFA)
- Developed a prototype online reporting system
- Course at Heriot-Watt University involved visiting school to work with secondary teachers in Computing
- Prepared and taught my own lessons within three consecutive Wednesdays, focusing on web development
- Assisted students with programming across all year groups
- Gained valuable understanding of classroom dynamics
- January 2011: Tutored pupil in SQA 'Intermediate 2 Computing' course
- Pupil achieved A grade
- September 2011: Tutored individual in SQA 'Higher Computing'
- Pupil passed with a C
- For both sessions, I prepared helpful revision materials for the pupil
Academic Experience
- Elected class representative for the third time and had been seen as the group leader for my subject
- Responsibilities include advocating for students' needs
- Attended meetings and addressed raised concerns
- Provided support to a student lacking initial assistance
- Recognised for interest in teaching as well as receiving the highest grade in this module the year before
- Module involved using the D3 JavaScript library
- Accepted offer and began working with student in October 2016
- Second-time lab assistant well-prepared for duties
- Took up two courses; the Praxis course that involved assisting with writing tips, IT help, and student professional development and the Web Programming course allowed application of web programming knowledge
- Spent two hours per week in this role
- Assisted first-year Computer Science students in the Web Design and Databases course
- Assessed students' work and provided feedback
- Contributions to course deemed valuable by lecturer and students
- Provided assistance to students and the lecturer with fresh knowledge
- Utilised HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL for course requirements
Industrial Experience
- I have developed all websites hosted by Jambour Digital
- The idea of my own company was built on my talent for developing websites freelance
- Company focuses on web development, graphics, and consultancy, and I do all areas of development from JS (React, jQuery) to the backend (PHP, Java, C#)
- I built the Jambour Portal - a CRM - from scratch, which allows clients to create support tickets, view purchases and more
- I used New Relic for monitoring before moving to my own monitoring system that my clients could visit
- In early 2026, I decided to run my company as a sole trader
Voluntary & Other Work
- I ran the Code Club at the local library offering kids under 16 an opportunity to learn to code
- Volunteered on Saturday mornings from 10 am to about 11:30 am
- I received lots of good feedback about how helpful I was and that the kids were loving the hour of code they got every Saturday
- Became a STEM Ambassador and responded to request at Knox Academy
- Acted as classroom assistant in Computing department
- Assisted students from S1 to S6 in various levels of ICT and Computer Science
- I trialed out my ClickIt application with pupils whilst at this school
- Teachers found assistance valuable and helpful
Projects
In October 2015 I began to work on my BSc Honours year project. As part of this, I developed an application to aid new web developers with web development called ClickIt. The main purpose of this was to help school children and new web developers learn HTML using a drag-and-drop system.
