Gabriel Lancaster-West

Software Engineer | Second Year Student

me@gabelw.net
github.com/gxnda
linkedin.com/in/gabelw

Second-Year Computer Science & Maths student with a focus on backend systems, experienced in Rust, Python, and distributed systems development.

Experience

Software Engineering Intern

Neontribe (Alexandra Rose Charity Project) Oct 2023: 1-week intensive internship
  • Using Laravel and PHP, successfully developed an admin dashboard for small businesses to process voucher redemptions and payments.
  • Enhanced data security by adapting an existing encryption module to protect voucher transaction logs.
  • Designed intuitive UI for business owners, prioritizing usability for non-technical users, leading to quicker adoption, and reducing support queries.
View Project on GitHub

Projects

In-Memory Datastore & Performance Analysis (Redis Protocol)

RustTokioNetworkingPerformance
  • Protocol & Systems design: Engineered a networked, asynchronous key-value store compliant with the Redis Serialisation Protocol (RESP).
  • Performant: Achieved an average of ~295k requests per second, outperforming a stock Redis server (v8.2.1) running under identical conditions by approx. 8%.
  • Persistence: Implemented configurable persistence layers with append-only file (AOF) and snapshot (RDB) logging.
  • Memory efficient: Optimized memory efficiency using zero-copy deserialization and the 'Bytes' crate to minimize allocations.
View Project on GitHub

Distributed P2P File Sharing System (Kademlia Protocol)

PythonAsyncioDistributed SystemsP2P
  • Designed and implemented a distributed hash table (DHT) backend implementing the Kademlia protocol, including XOR-based routing, k-buckets, and TCP RPC for node discovery and key-value propagation.
  • Efficient: Lookups find a node in O(Log(n)) time across the decentralised network (of size n).
  • Problems faced: Switched I/O bound operations from threading to async, leading to a 65% performance boost in bootstrapping.
View Project on GitHub

Flatmate Matching Web-app

Next.jsFlaskMySQLRedisTeam Project
  • Backend Lead Engineer on an 8-person team in developing a full-stack social web app with real-time matching and messaging.
  • Architected backend: Designed RESTful APIs with Flask/SQLAlchemy; modeled relational MySQL schemas for user profiles, preferences, and matches.
  • Implemented core features: Engineered matching algorithm and real-time chat using Redis Pub/Sub.
  • Integrated auth: Secured login via integrating the University of Manchester student login system and session management.
  • Optimized collaboration: Used Git feature branching, Gantt Charts and Agile Sprints to deliver the MVP in 7 weeks.

Technical Skills

Languages

RustPythonJavaScript/TypeScriptJavaPHPSQL

Frameworks & Libraries

TokioAsyncioReactNext.jsFlaskLaravel

Databases & Tools

MySQLRedisSQLAlchemy

Tools & Platforms

GitDockerLinuxVercel

Education

University of Manchester

Computer Science and Mathematics (BSc)
September 2024 - Present
First-Year Average: 70% (On track for First Class Honours)
Relevant Modules: Probability I (84%), Mathematical Foundations & Analysis (74%), First Year Team Project (81%)

City of Norwich School

September 2022 - June 2024
A-Levels: Further Mathematics (A*), Mathematics (A*), Computer Science (A), Physics (A)