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Karen Alicia Lopez

Software developer

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.aboutMe()

Welcome to my corner of the web

I'm a highly self motivated software developer driven to deliver value through technology, by creating sustainable, scalable, user-friendly solutions. As a life-long learner, I believe that all hard skills can be learnt through focused effort and consistent practice.

I bring with me 10 years of professional experience in academia, as a science educator, mentor, chemistry tutor and lab facilitator. Keeping this personal philosophy at the forefront of every professional experience and learning challenge, is what has lead me to where I am today.

My unique blend of technical, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, coupled with a talent for simplifying complex concepts, allows me to work comfortably within diverse teams and build strong rapport with all manner of clients.

I maintain a keen interest in more than just coding languages, welcoming any opportunity to practice my portuguese and spanish, and enjoy giving back to my community through mentoring and participation in other volunteer initiatives. In the wild, you may find me indulging in a stategy-based boardgame, playing my piano or trying weird new foods.

.myProjects()

Legacy Portfolio

The second iteration of my professional portfolio

Stack

My portfolio will be an ever-evolving project, as I continue to learn and grow as a developer. This website you are currently on is the third and latest iteration. The major differences between this version and all those preceding it are a cleaner aesthetic and improved responsivity. It was through the many iterations of my portfolio that I learnt to appreciate the importance of mobile-first design.

v2 Repo v3 Repo

Buybuddy

The comparison shopping list app for the indecisive, yet financially savvy consumer

Stack

I worked with a team of 4 other developers to build this comparison shopping list app, in 3 weeks from a client brief. Agile methodologies and a collaborative git workflow were implemented to manage the successful completion of this project. My role in this project was to design the app's architecture, and to implement the back-end using Django Rest Framework.

Project Presentation Front-end Repo Back-end Repo

She Codes XMas Ed.

The most mouthwatering edition of She Codes News there ever was, prepare to salivate!

Stack

This django project was my first exposure to using frameworks, architecting an applications' functional design and leveraging the power of Django's ORM. Users were able to create and edit their profiles, submit new recipes, edit their recipes, comment on other users' submitted recipes and view recipes by user. Needless to say, I was somewhat distracted by the images when working on this project! A stretch goal is to implement categories and a search filter for the recipe categories.

Project Repo

Python Weather Project

Weather data processing

Stack

In this project, I used Python to convert unreadable weather data into a human readable format, I ensured all my solutions passed testing.

Repo

EducAid

A non-for-profit crowdfunding platform aimed at making quality courses/learning more accessible to those in need

Stack

I designed, implemented and deployed this app, which targets those who are experiencing cycles of financial hardship a platform to seek financial aid, make career changes and improve their personal situation, or study for the first time and turn their lives around. I thoroughly enjoyed building the back end functionality using DRF, and the challenges that came with that. The site is currently being updated to make it responsive on small devices.

Project Back-end Repo Front-end Repo

F•R•I•E•N•D•S

A simple quote guesser based on the popular TV show 'Friends'

Stack

My first webpage, and the first time I used JavaScript. The user is presented with a random quote from the TV show 'Friends' and is required to match the quote to the correct character. The user is given 3 chances to guess correctly, and is given feedback on their answer.

Project Repo

Sci-fi Fandom Wiki!

This one's for the sci-fi lovers!

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This is a passion project for fellow sci-fi lovers, using django to create a wiki of the greatest sci-fi works there ever were (books, tv shows, films). The user can view, edit, comment on and create new entries, under the suitable categories, and vote on entries. After hearing about HTMX at the Python WA meetup, doing further reading and discovering this delightful rant about how back-end engineers who use htmx make garbage UIs, I decided to experiment with it for this project to form my own opinions.

Project Repo

Freelance website

Stack

I'm currently building the website of a local dance group here in Perth. The website is in the early stages of design. I am currently considering whether I will use tailwind with react to build the site.

Project Repo

.contactMe()

Please get in touch if you'd like to collaborate or ask me any questions about my work!