Hello! I'm Saul.

I'm a developer first, so it goes without saying that programming is what I'm all about. Ideal code is elegant, expressive, clear and concise. I try to write as close to this as I can.

Experience in Industry

I have experience working across the industry as part of development teams of various sizes and as a self-organised and self-motivated freelancer before that. During my time as a software developer and technical leader I have:

• Performed bespoke PHP web development work for clients during my time at a web development agency as well as in a freelance capacity.
• Designed and built C# code for handling flight and hotel bookings in a new online travel product, integrating legacy and modern systems.
• Worked with numerous businesses to integrate products with their APIs, allowing me the opportunity to become proficient at both reading and writing technical documentation.
• Lead teams in architecting, building and deploying entire software stacks to cloud infrasturcute, with most of my experience on AWS and DigitalOcean.

See my LinkedIn for more information.

Open Source

I am an active user of GitHub and contribute regularly to various open-source projects through that platform.

I particularly enjoy collaborating on research and writing with some of the incredibly talented people I'm lucky enough to know.

Formal Methods

My main research area is formal methods and software reliability. In particular, I am interested in developing techniques that allow users from outside the field to develop password security software that is secure and correct by construction using intuitive tools that handle the verification aspect automatically. See my ResearchGate for more information on my academic publications.

Infosec

I'm also interested in information security, particularly encryption, peer-to-peer and distributed computing and blockchain-based applications. I occasionally deliver talks and develop tools aimed at training non-technical users to recognise online threats (phishing, for example).

I find teaching and training others enormously rewarding; an opportunity for both teacher and learner to grow their expertise.

Experience in Academia

I am a fully qualified University lecturer, having designed and delivered tutorials and lectures in Algorithms and Data Structures, Network Scripting and Artificial Intelligence Programming. I'm an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Learning Materials Design

I have developed several modules from the ground up, including Software Reliabililty (final year undergrad), Introduction to Programming and Mathematics for Computing (first year undergrad), leading the design of all material and developing assessment plans to assess learning outcomes.

During my time at Teesside University, I ran a workshop for first year undergraduate cybersecurity students called 'Hack This!' in which we go through some very basic website vulnerabilities and how they are exploited. We cover SQL injection, XSS and session hijacking attacks on a deliberately vulnerable web application that I make freely available on GitHub.

Whether it's an emerging technology, an established standard or even something legacy, there's always something else to discover. This is what draws me to tech.

Current Learning Endeavors

I'm currently actively seeking to develop my skills in several areas. These include Haskell programming, development of verified software using Coq, development using the Idris programming language, blockchain technology and penetration testing.

Qualifications

I hold a BSc. in Computer Science (with first-class honours) from Teesside University (graduated 2012). I'm currently on a Ph.D. programme from which I will graduate in mid-2023.

I deliver talks to all kinds of audiences, from academics and computing professionals to people from outside the field entirely.

Slides and Papers

My talks targeted at academics and professionals can be found at the bottom of the page, while I tend to keep track of my non-tech infosec presentations in write-ups on my blog.

Organising an Event?

If you’d like me to speak at an event you’re organising, please feel free to get in touch. Areas I have presented on in the past include symbolic AI, practical software verification and information security, particularly web application and password security.

I enjoy writing whenever I can about infosec, formal methods, music and language on my my blog. This is an area I’m really keen on developing, so any feedback on my writing is always welcome.

Non-Tech Infosec

I have a series of blog posts under the ‘non-tech infosec’ tag that are written to be intuitive to people from outside the field of computing, particularly small business owners and employees of larger businesses without much technical background.