Phill Sparks

Climbing Experience

In 2009 I started to help with climbing and crate stacking sessions at my local Scout campsite and since then have worked hard to become a qualified climbing instructor and coach. I am now the NICAS Course Director at The Tower Climbing Centre where I continue to develop my instructor training and client coaching skills.

Qualifications

Course Director at The Tower Climbing Centre 2018–Present

Along with assisting with the general running of the centre, I also oversee NICAS and NIBAS here, including inducting staff, teaching courses and coaching candidates.

Chief Instructor at The Climbing Station 2017–2018

Coordinating instructed sessions and being responsible for running NIBAS and NICAS within the Gibbon and Academy groups.
Helping to ensure that the centre has adequate staff cover to run efficiently and that instructor lead sessions have the appropriate instructor ratios.
Ensuring that instructing staff receive the appropriate training to do their job efficiently and that they adhere to the centre’s policies and procedures.
Working with the directors and other staff to ensure the centre continues to develop both in reputation and enhanced turnover.
Greeting customers, making bookings, and other general duties.

Freelance Climbing Instructor in the Midlands 2012–Present

I lead sessions at various venues around Leicestershire and the Midlands including:

Beaudesert Activity Centre (2017 onwards)

Delivering have-a-go climbing and abseiling sessions to young people in school groups and organised youth groups.

Beaumanor Hall (2017 onwards)

Working with groups of young people (mostly Primary School age) to deliver team building, problem solving and challenge experiences in an outdoor setting. Activities include Climbing, Abseiling, High Ropes, Shelter Building, and Pioneering.

The Climbing Station (2012 onwards)

Leading sessions of bouldering and top-rope climbing with groups of children, young people and adults. Between 2012 and 2016 I regularly led the kids clubs, teaching NICAS 1–3 and coaching bouldering. Until becoming Chief Instructor, I continued to supervise climbing parties, inductions, and other crash courses as needed.

Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre (2017 onwards)

Working with groups of any age to deliver challenge experiences including Climbing, Abseiling and High Ropes from no experience to regular centre users.

The Tower Climbing Centre (2013 onwards)

Instructing groups and parties of varying ages and abilities as required, including 4 week introductory courses, 4 week learn to lead climb courses and NICAS levels 1–4. Also responsible for greeting customers, conducting competency tests for new members and maintaining health and safety standards within the facility.

Volunteer Climbing Assessor at Leicestershire Scouts 2016–Present

I assess candidates for artificial climbing and abseiling permits.

Volunteer Climbing Manager at Fox Coverts Campsite 2012–Present

I manage the climbing team at Fox Coverts Scout Campsite, where I run climbing and abseiling sessions for groups, and train new instructors from any experience up to Scout/Guide qualified level.

Volunteer Climbing Instructor at Leicestershire Scouts 2009–Present

I lead and supervise groups climbing and abseiling on artificial walls & towers, and on natural rock.

Volunteering & Youth Experience

Queen's Scout Award Coordinator at Leicestershire Scouts 2015–Present

I support the administration of the Queen’s Scout Award for Leicestershire Scouts. Advising members, leaders and commissioners about the award and helping to ensure that candidates meet the strict standards.

County Scout Network Commissioner at Leicestershire Scouts 2012–2016

After 18 months as a Network Leader, I took the step up to Commissioner where I managed the other Network Leaders and supported the Network Chairman. I attended County Scout Executive meetings and worked to grow and develop Scout Network in the county by creating new opportunities for young people to engage with Scout Network.

County Scout Network Leader at Hinckley Unit 2011–2012

I set up the Network in Hinckley Area, forming links with local groups and Explorer units.

Assistant & Scout Leader at 1st Sapcote Scouts 2009–2012

During my time as a Leader with 1st Sapcote Scouts, I completed my leader training and achieved the Wood Badge. I helped to grow the section from a minimum of 2 scouts up to 9 scouts at the start of 2012. The section continues to grow under new leadership.

Assistant Youth Work Leader at Leicestershire Youth Service 2005–2011

I supported Youth Councils with both administrative tasks (taking notes, circulating papers, etc.) and supported the Youth Workers in facilitating meetings and activities. I worked closely with the young people to enable them to maintain their sections on The Jitty website by training them to use the content management tools.

Senior Sessional Support Worker at Connexions Leicester Shire 2004–2006

A part-time job where I supported and led groups of young people to carry out various activities including attending meetings.

Youth Democracy in Leicestershire 2001–2011

From 2001 through 2011 I was heavily involved in Youth Democracy in Leicestershire through volunteering with the County Youth Council for Leicestershire (CYCLe) and Connexions Leicester Shire’s Youth Executive, which later became part-time paid work.

Programming Experience

I have been involved in web development since arriving at university in 2003, I have worked with several programming languages and I have a working knowledge of Unix systems. I have most recently worked with Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL and Nginx. Before that I was working with PHP (Laravel Framework) and MySQL. I prefer to plan and build back end systems, allowing others to design and craft the front end.

Technical Skills

RESTful API Design
Test Driven Development
PHP & Laravel Framework
Ruby on Rails
PostgreSQL & MySQL
Nginx, Apache & Lighttpd
Linux (CentOS & Debian)
Ansible
Mac OS X
Sidekiq (Workers)
JavaScript
Git (GitHub & Bitbucket)

API Engineer & Tech Team Lead at CrowdLab 2013 & 2014–2016

Initially migrating the CrowdLab API from CodeIgniter (PHP) & MySQL to Ruby on Rails & PostgreSQL; designing and implementing new features from the API / Database point of view, while also considering the wider reaching effects of elements. I facilitated the implementation and continued use of Scrum within CrowdLab. I became an interface between the Market Research and the Technical teams.

My responsibilities gradually expanded from leading (in 2014) to managing (from late 2015) the development team at CrowdLab. This change in role resulted in me managing the team’s overall workload and ensuring that deadlines were met, conducting interviews with prospective team members, reviewing staff performance and recommending salary changes to the Managing Director.

Programmer at Bulb Studios 2012–2013

I developed APIs and back-end systems to support mobile applications and client facing websites. I worked with front end developers, mobile developers and designers to ensure a joined-up approach to project work. I liaised with external companies regarding hardware requirements and managed a varying number of servers hosting the company’s projects.

Graduate Developer at Cuttlefish 2005–2012

I worked on a range of projects including implementing designs, building page structures, creating databases, writing APIs, and working with a wide variety of data sources. I helped Cuttlefish to develop their in-house CMSs and Frameworks, adding new and extending existing features, with a focus on enabling new ways of reading data in and sharing data out. I supported the projects I had developed after launch and regularly recommended improvements.

Developer at Churchhill Systems Ltd Summer 2005

A summer job where I developed and maintained a few internal MS Access databases, and some improvements to their website.