About
Hi! I'm Simon, a 22-year-old computer engineering graduate, having just completed my 4th year at Imperial College London for an MEng in Electronic and Information Engineering. Within my degree, I specialised in software engineering, with a focus on low-level C++ for highly performant or embedded applications, but with interests spanning across fields like machine learning and network security. My passion for helping others and sharing my love for STEM has led to over 5 years of experience in tutoring mathematics and programming at both grade school and university level. I also worked as the departmental representative for my degree programme, in which I implemented numerous improvements to the course, and was responsible for raising student issues to the faculty and discussing solutions.
I consider myself a very international person, having lived in 10 different countries across 4 continents. This has given me a broad cultural appreciation, as well as a passion for exploration and the outdoors. I summited Mount Kinabalu at 14 and Kilimanjaro at 18, which further developed my key character strengths of perseverance and determination. Currently, my main hobbies include bouldering, going to the gym and spending time with my friends and loved ones.
Software Engineer
Having just completed my studies at the end of June 2023, I'll be spending the next 4 months travelling in Iceland with my family, as well as South-East Asia with my girlfriend before returning to work at Optiver Amsterdam in November 2023.
- Birthday: 27 April 2001
- Website: You're here 😄
- Phone: +44 7464 101 976
- City: London, UK
- Age: 22
- Degree: Masters in Computer Engineering
- Email: simonstaal10@gmail.com
- Status: Enjoying a well-deserved break!
I am a fast learner, effective communicator and strive to always write code with a focus on readability and maintainability. My affinity for technology leads me to have a thirst for learning; I'm always looking to broaden or deepen my technical knowledge, or find better ways of doing things.
Skills
Resume
Education
Master of Engineering in Electronic and Information Engineering
September 2019 - July 2023
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Achieved First Class Honours in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year, averaging 84% overall. 4th year results currently pending.
- Obtained the 2021 Head of Department Prize for top academic performance and on the 2021 and 2022 Dean's Lists for academic excellence.
- Modules of interest:
- Programming for Engineers (94%)
- Algorithms and Complexity (100%)
- Introduction to Machine Learning (91%)
- Advanced Computer Architecture (86%)
International Baccalaureate
August 2014 - November 2018
St. Peter's College, Adelaide, Australia
- Placed in the top 10 graduates of my year with a 41/45 score.
- Academic Awards:
- Australian Institute of Physics SA Bragg Certificate (2019)
- Charles Gillham Memorial Prize for Physics (2018)
- Australian Mathematics Competition Senior Division Distinction (2018)
- Da Costa Scholarship for Best Academic Performance (2017)
- SA/NT Public Speaking Rostrum Voice of Youth Semi-Finalist (2017)
Volunteering
Department Representative
October 2021 - July 2023
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Represented my cohort as the 3rd Year Wellbeing Representative, as well as the entire course as the Departmental Academic Representative.
- Gathered data on student issues through surveys and one-on-one discussions and co-ordinated with other representatives to raise these problems to the department.
- Overhauled the module feedback system for 3rd and 4th Year modules to provide future students better resources to select modules, and future representatives a more maintainable system.
- Awarded CGCU half colours in 2022 and Union colours in 2023 in recognition of my contributions to student welfare.
Mentoring
September 2020 - Present
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Collaborated with Imperial's Electrical Engineering Society to provide advice to 1st Year students.
- This developed into one-on-one mentoring regarding academics, internship applications, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Professional Experience
Software Engineer (Industrial Placement)
April 2022 - September 2022
Optiver, Amsterdam, NL
- Scaled out Optibook, a simulated exchange used for competitions and recruitment, to run events across multiple AWS servers, allowing larger events to be supported.
- Participated in trading and technology trading courses, developing an understanding of market making in various financial instruments.
- Involved in the re-design of Optiver's Instrument Download Pipeline, which is responsible for processing and storing the hundreds of thousands of instrument definitions that are traded. Implemented numerous changes and improvements which were successfully deployed to production.
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
November 2020 - July 2023
Imperial College London, London, UK
- Worked with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to provide learning support in the following modules:
- Programming for Engineers (1st Year)
- Computer Architecture (1st Year)
- Mathematics: Principles and Engineering Applications (1st Year)
- Compilers (2nd Year)
- High Level Programming (3rd Year)
First Ascent International
May 2022
Bending Spoons, Milan, Italy
- Selected as one of the top 20 computer science and engineering students in Europe to participate in a 4-day skills and team-building event.
- Attended talks on computer vision for image enhancement, real-time monitoring and mobile application design, and participated in various coding and problem-solving challenges.
Reliability Maintenance Engineering Internship
July 2021 - September 2021
Amazon, Luton, UK
- Joined Amazon's Robotic Programs team to work on a UK/EU-wide project to update the design of their robotics stations.
- Collaborated with teams spanning different business sectors, developing my data gathering, analysis and presentation techniques.
Academic Tutoring
November 2018 - June 2022
Various, Remote
- Provided teaching support part-time for students in primary, middle and high school in STEM topics.
- Focused on Mathematics, teaching GCSE, IB and A-level curriculums.
Projects
Here are some of the projects I've worked on at university or in my personal time.
- All
- C++
- Python
- F#
- Networks
Testimonials
Contact
Please feel free to reach out to me however you prefer about work opportunities (or anything else I might be interested in)! I'll do my best to get back to you within a few business days 😄
Location:
London, United Kingdom (soon to be Amsterdam)
Email:
simonstaal10@gmail.com
Call:
+44 7464 101 976