A bit about me

Amanda Wee

I am from the little red dot on the map known as Singapore. I was born in Singapore and grew up there, but in February 2017 I moved to Auckland in New Zealand to work on a Master of Health Informatics degree.

My interest in programming arose when I was 15. I had been introduced to an online game, and in that game they had forums in which the developer was not too careful, allowing users to fool around with the HTML. I was amazed that such a thing could happen, and went on the path to web development, and software development in general.

I love reading, and one of my favourite novels is A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin. This novel is a coming of age story that is perhaps one of the earliest to feature a school for wizards, and has strong themes concerning naming and identity. It starts off with this excerpt:

Only in silence the word,
Only in dark the light,
Only in dying life:
Bright the hawk's flight
On the empty sky.
— The Creation of Ea

Personal Details

Name:
Amanda Wee
Born:
January
Nationality:
Singaporean
Eye colour:
Dark brown

Interests

Obviously, I have an interest in developing software, especially in web development, and I love both chess and all things shakuhachi. I also like:

  • Reading fantasy and science fiction.
  • Sharing and learning about programming on online forums.
  • Munching on delicious food, in moderation.

Tools of the trade

Every developer has tools that they prefer, and I am no exception.

  • Geany is my general purpose text editor
  • Ubuntu is the Linux distribution that I normally use
  • Python is one of my favourite general purpose programming languages

My services

My services: I'm pretty good at…

Back-End Development

Although I have some skill at front-end development, I specialise in back-end development, particularly with Python and the Django web framework, though I am also familiar with PHP, having worked on custom PHP projects as well as Wordpress and other content management systems and frameworks.

Ecommerce Solutions

I worked on two custom ecommerce platforms early in my career, and have written my own ecommerce systems for clients wanting custom solutions. I am no stranger to data collection and analysis for the optimisation of ecommerce, including techniques like A/B testing.

Payment Gateway Integration

I have done payment gateway integration with:

  1. Paypal
  2. Nera i2pay
  3. Worldpay

Fun facts and books

Random facts about me

  • I wanted to be a nuclear physicist
    Then I realised that it would not work out in Singapore
  • I love rural Japan
    At least as a traveller
  • I enjoy owning and writing with fountain pens
    It can be quite an expensive hobby, and I still need to improve my handwriting

Favourite Books

  • A Wizard of Earthsea
    by Ursula le Guin
  • The Goblin Emperor
    by Katherine Addison
  • Dragonriders of Pern (series)
    by Anne McCaffrey
  • Tales of the Lifesong (series)
    by Greg Hamerton