Guillaume Liard

liard.guillaume@gmail.com

Who I am

I have been a pastry chef, and a restaurant chef for the past 10 years. As much as I have loved working in kitchens, it had started to become an unfulfilling routine, with little challenge to offer.

I started getting into coding in October 2018 on holidays, with Python, and it became my new obsession.

I have been learning on my own, with various tutorials, official documentation and YouTube videos. I then decided to join Makers in June 2019, and make that leap of changing careers, from which I graduated in October. I'm now honing my skills on some personal projects and Looking for my first role as a software developer.

What I can do

Besides everything I have learnt at Makers Academy, most of my skills were developed during my experience as a chef in a high pressure environment:

• Adapt:

  Tickets coming up, head-chef shouting orders, or a soup starting to stick to the pan: a kitchen demands that you adapt. I'm not afraid of challenging my own assumptions, or get out of my comfort-zone to achieve my goals. I also learned to see an ever-changing environment as an opportunity, rather than a threat. That's why during projects at Makers, having an update on the requirements, or having a team member off sick never felt like overwhelming obstacles to overcome.

• Solve problems:

  I have become very creative in finding either emergency quick fixes or more long term solutions to problems I encounter. I am curious and I want to know how and why something works (or doesn't...). So whether it's an emulsion that doesn't look quite right or a stack trace that begs to be combed through, I never miss a chance to have a try at fixing it!

• Work with people:

  In a brigade, you depend on your colleagues. I have mentored and trained people since my first role as a pastry chef in 2011. In 2014, when I took over as Paul's head pastry chef, these skills were crucial in my ability to make my kitchen an engaging and productive workplace. I recruited and taught chefs from various backgrounds and skill levels, sometimes with no experience, and realised how much I ended up learning myself.

  I thrive when I work with others, either making the best out of their knowledge to grow, or sharing mine and see them become better everyday. I believe empathy should be a priority. I believe synergy in a group is the key to success. Working and succeeding as a cohesive team is one of the best experiences life has to offer.

• Work under pressure:

  The common idea of kitchens being a stressful place has some truth in it. It IS fast-paced and physically taxing. But the feeling of achievement one gets once it's all done is hard to describe. Making 1300 heart-shaped cakes in a day on Valentine's Day on top of the usual production, that definitely teaches you to go above and beyond!

  I've started to learn over the years how to turn frustration, stress or anger into something actually productive and meaningful. I used to overlook how important emotional awareness can be, but Makers taught me it could save me invaluable time and energy.

Where I have studied

• Makers Academy (July '19 - October '19):

  • OOP, TDD, MVC
  • Agile/XP
  • Ruby, Rails, JavaScript
  • RSpec, Jasmine
  • CI, CD, Version Control

• Pastry School - Toulouse, France. (2009 - 2011)

• University, Communication degree - Toulouse, France (2007 - 2009)

What I want to do

• Learn new things
• Make something awesome and have fun.
• Figure out why it doesn't work...
• Make it work! (and gloat about it)
• Repeat.

What I've done

• Programming:

  • Icicle :

    The most fun and challenging program I have written with Javascript so far. It is a testing framework, similar to Jasmine in its use, that runs in the browser.

  • Syne:

    Our final project at Makers, this is an audio visualizer, in the spirit of old Windows Media Player, all in a Single Page App. Deployed at https://syne.herokuapp.com (works best in Firefox, still working on Chrome support with the Web Audio API)

  • Firefighter game: A personal project I started before Makers. It's a simple 2D game made with pygame, where you play as a firefighter trying to extinguish fires which are rapidly appearing around you. Still very much a prototype that I am currently using as a refactoring challenge, as well as a way to dive back into Python and learn more about pipenv.

• Before that (last 10 years):

  • Pastry chef apprentice in France between 2009 and 2011
  • Came to London in 2011, worked as a pastry chef.
  • Became Head Pastry Chef at Paul at 24, in 2014, and managed the production for 36 shops in the UK, organising and training a team of 12 chefs.
  • Started learning hot kitchen skills in a gastro-pub in 2017, worked as a chef since then.

Anything else?

- Founded an American football club in my small hometown of Castres in France when I was 16.
- I tend to binge-watch conferences on YouTube, on subject ranging from functional programming to quantum mechanics or even game design.
- Reached Champion 2 rank in Rocket League
- Love a good table tennis game, despite my obvious lack of skill.