Thomas Syms

Background

About Thomas Syms

I am a computer enthusiast graduating from the Nova Scotia Community College’s two-year IT Programming course. This program has given me a broad survey of computer languages and techniques including high level languages like Python, Java, and.NET and lower-level technologies like C, C++, and the TCP/IP stack. During this time, I have found a love for languages like C++ and JavaScript, where small changes in code can result in significant gains in performance. But before I was a community college student, I was a geek. At 14, I built my own computer from parts and was rooting Android phones with third party images. My high school computer course project featured a voice recognition engine. As well as my interest in computers, I was a Cadet at the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 1 Nelson for 6 years until I aged out in 2021. During that time, I held several posts including Ship's Writer (admin cadet), Training Chief and Quartermaster. While at cadets, I wrote an application to track and rank fitness test results that removed the need for manual calculations and lookup tables. In the summer of 2019, I applied to work at the CFB Halifax Dockyards in Clothing Stores, where I helped manage and issue inventory Armed Forces personnel. At DND, I built a Microsoft Excel worksheet to streamline data entry of tailoring appointments. The system allowed several months of backlog entry to be processed in a single day. As a programmer my goal is that my work makes a positive impact. This is not to say that I need my work to be enjoyed by thousands or even hundreds of people- just that someone, somewhere saves a bit of time or effort because of something I’ve developed.