Johnny Morrison-Howe

BSc (Hons) Computer Science University of Portsmouth

Java Developer Novatech

Hello, World!

Born in Lewisham, raised in Deal, and coming to a city near you! (as long as you're in Portsmouth)
I'm a Software Engineer currently working as a Junior Java Developer for Novatech. In 2023 I completed my BSc (Hons) at the University of Portsmouth, achieving a 2:1.

Previous to Novatech, I did a 14-month industrial placement for IBM UK Labs in Hursley. In my four years programming, I've worked with Java, Swing, Spring, Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, MSSQL/PostgreSQL, JavaScript, IBM CICS TS, React, HTML/CSS, Dart, Flutter, Python, Bash, Docker and Kubernetes.

When I'm not glued to a keyboard, you can occasionally find me riding trails and taking photos.

Things I've made

For Novatech

Consolidating various Java Swing applications into one for improved consistency and security on the backend Java EE server, as well as making general improvements and feature additions to the application as feedback and requests come in throughout the company

Took part in architecting and implementing an asset tagging and tracking system for Novatech's Managed IT Services. Implemented as part of 3 different applications in a Swing/WildFly/MSSQL stack, it allows for a client's assets to be tracked as they move throughout our building, out to an end-user, and back in again.

For IBM UK Labs Hursley

Designed and built the React.js UI, Express.js API and mongodb database for a timer tracking startups for IBM Liberty. Includes graphing capabilities, statistical analysis and detailed run times

Created a Java/Spring based web frontend for CICS Banking Sample Application, demonstrating the use of z/OS Connect EE

Configured and deployed an instance of ReportPortal on an internal Kubernetes cluster

Participated in the two-day overnight IBM LabHack 2022; With my team, created part of an application written to improve the booking flow at the Hursley House. Along with a presentation of concept features, we came second place out of the 6 teams!
(medal pictured on hover)

Final Year Project - Podcast Scrobbler

PodcastScrobbler - an Android podcast client written in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose. It had the aim of parsing tracklists out of descriptions in music podcasts, approximating the currently playing track, and showing displaying it to the user. Although I was not able to complete it in time for the dissertation deadline, the end goal is for metadata to be sent to the music tracking service, Last.fm.

The dissertation for the project
(I earned a first!)

Personal Projects

Mostly created in 2020

Redesigned emily.gg, a friend's portfolio

Wordcounter (stubbornly not using regex, I hadn't learned it yet)

Upgraded another friend's portfolio as my first paid project. The site is since deprecated, but preserved without images

X Mobile, the result of using an existing mobile phone shop's website as a springboard to write a website for a hypothetical phone shop

Overflow Watchface A Wear OS Watchface that takes advantage of Inter's variable font. The numbers overflow off the edge of a round screen, and font weight animates when exiting ambient mode

Maccies timetable - a small Dart script for scraping the (now old) timetable page and generating an ICS file ready for a calendar app