Hi, my name is

Drew Bowden

Junior Software Developer

Six years building business-critical internal systems at a leading UK insurance company. Also independently built and launched two personal projects - including a live AI-powered web app with real users and payments.

About Me

Who I am

I'm a Junior Software Developer at Adrian Flux Insurance Services, where I've spent six years building and maintaining business-critical internal tools - from recruitment systems to high-traffic intranet pages used across the business every day.

I started out in customer service and taught myself to code in my own time, earning an internal move into the dev team. Outside of work I've independently built and launched a full-stack AI-powered web application with real users and Stripe payments - built entirely from scratch.

I'm currently completing a part-time BSc in Computing & IT at the Open University, and always working on something new.

Skills

Tech I work with

PerlJavaScriptMySQLHTMLCSSBootstrapNext.jsNode.jsPython (learning)Git

Projects

Things I've built

Live project ↗

Dungeon for One

Full-stack AI-powered solo RPG — users pick a class and scenario then chat with an AI dungeon master. Built with HTML/CSS/JS, serverless Vercel backend, MySQL, Discord OAuth, email auth, and Stripe payments (£4.99/month). Freemium model with 25 free messages.

JavaScriptMySQLStripeClaude AIVercelOAuth

Weather App

A live weather tool built with Next.js and the OpenWeatherMap API. Search any city to get current temperature, humidity, wind speed, and conditions. Built as a personal side project to learn API integration and Next.js routing.

Next.jsTypeScriptAPI

Recruitment Management System

Full end-to-end applicant tracking system built from scratch. Ingests JSON application data and gives recruitment staff a complete workflow — from application through to onboarding. Handles interview scheduling with live calendar integration, automatically adjusts availability based on staff bookings and holidays, and sends automated emails and texts to candidates. Replaced a previously paper-based process entirely.

PerlJavaScriptMySQLHTMLCSS

Internal Helpdesk Ticketing System

Built from scratch — users can raise tickets, attach files, hold threaded conversations with technicians, with automated replies throughout.

PerlJavaScriptMySQL

Automated Reporting Pipelines

Perl and MySQL pipelines delivering daily, weekly, and monthly dashboards to stakeholders — fully automated, no manual effort required.

PerlMySQL

Intranet Page Migration

Led a database migration project, authoring Perl scripts to migrate, validate, and test hundreds of intranet pages ahead of a full system transition.

PerlMySQL

VDU Assessment Rebuild

Rebuilt VDU assessment pages for office, home, and hybrid workers — migrating from Bootstrap 3 and legacy code to Bootstrap 5.3 with a modernised UI.

BootstrapJavaScriptHTMLCSS

Contact

Get in touch

Open to new opportunities, collaborations, or just a chat about tech. Feel free to reach out.

Say Hello