James Heslin

Introduction

I'm a senior software developer from Limerick, Ireland but living in Dublin. I love playing games, programming, and many things in between.

Art

I have been slow to upload art to the internet in the age of LLM scraping but I have a great love for simple 3D modelling and rendering, using tools like MagicaVoxel and Blender.

MagicaVoxel renders

Music

I've been making music on and off for some years now, including a two-year period of making a new track every week. You can find it all at Bandcamp. Embedded below is the most 'album-like' release of mine, Fugue State from 2022.

Games

For a bit over five years I participated in One Game A Month, and many of these games made it to my itch.io page. Since then it has been the site of occasional gamejams only, unfortunately.

Amateur Radio

I developed a bit of an interest in Morse Code in early 2025 and started seriously studying to become a licensed radio amateur in April. In August I passed the Morse code test at 5wpm to qualify for a Class 1 licence in Ireland. In November I passed the HAREC exam and applied for my licence. I was assigned the callsign EI6LJ.

I am a member of the Irish Radio Transmitters Society and the National Shortwave Listeners Club

I have a Yaesu FT-DX3000 and a couple of cheap VHF/UHF handhelds, but have not got a proper antenna setup for the big transceiver yet so I have not made any official contacts. I hope to do a good amount of that in future.

In December 2025 I gave a presentation at A4 Sounds about the experience of getting a radio licence and my (limited!) understanding of what the hobby is and why others might be interested in it. You can find that presentation here.

Work

You can find my CV here if you need it.

Current Work

At present I am working for Scopely on the Star Trek: Fleet Command game.

Work History

Electricity Exchange

Python JavaScript AWS

During my final year of university I began working with Electricity Exchange (now VIOTAS) to build a monitoring and control solution for large electric loads and generators. This turned into a full-time job after completing the course, and I remained there until 2015. Putting together a service like this to meet strict regulatory demands of the Demand Side Unit programme was challenging and interesting. In addition to meeting the requirements, we also built a robust monitoring platform for users to draw insights from their electricity data.

Demonware

Python Django Infrastructure Build Pipelines Docker JavaScript React Kubernetes AWS

In 2015 I moved to Dublin and began work at Demonware (part of Activision Blizzard). I became a key part of their internal tooling team, helping producers and game developers to administer live games and debug issues.

DIGIT/Scopely

Python JavaScript Vue Qt Infrastructure Build Pipelines AWS

In 2022, I moved from Demonware to DIGIT Game Studios (part of Scopely) to work on their internal game tools. This has been a very varied job with a number of plates (tools) spinning at any one time, but there is always something new to learn and a new problem to solve.

Work Philosophy

I enjoy supporting people to do their jobs better. Given any workflow, I want to improve it for the user, and if possible improve the output as well. I am always asking questions and trying potential solutions with users to iterate towards what they need to do their best work with the least friction.

Website info

This is my new and improved (in fact, downsized) website.

It contains no JavaScript at all! Only HTML and CSS, and I tried to keep that compatible as far back as is reasonable. Worst case, it should still display all the content even if it can't do the fancy stuff.

Hopefully, now secured with HTTPS using Let's Encrypt!

Now using OpenDyslexic for improved accessibility. Hopefully the high-ish contrast between background and text is also satisfactory for reading. Feedback on either is welcomed: jameswebsite (AT symbol) hesl (DOT) in.