creative
Drone videography & photography
I fly a drone for landscape video and photography — planning shots, flying them cleanly, and editing the results. There’s a surprising overlap with engineering: preparation, constraints, and patience.
About / Feras Harah
The person behind the projects.
I’m Feras — curious by default, practical by habit. I speak three languages (Arabic, English, and Turkish), and I got hooked on software at school, when a revision quiz I wrote in C# ended up being used by GCSE students preparing for their exams. Making something that other people actually used changed how I saw programming, and I’ve been chasing that feeling since.
Working principle
Keep learning, build things properly, and make them count.
Background
A foundation in engineering—and room to experiment.
I’m studying Software Engineering with placement at Queen’s University Belfast, graduating in 2028. In two years I’ve shipped a database-driven text-adventure game with a six-person team, built a climate-change board game in C++, and started building a real online store for a local business. Alongside study I’ve delivered for Amazon Flex and worked weekend shifts in a busy restaurant — work that taught me plenty about showing up and dealing with people.
I don’t pretend to know everything. What I can promise is that I ask good questions, take feedback seriously, and the things I build get noticeably better each time.
Current perspective
Confidence should come from doing the work, being honest about the gaps, and improving with each iteration.
Values
Principles that shape how I want to work.
These are simple on purpose. The challenge is practising them consistently.
01
Learn with intention
Understand why an approach works instead of stopping at the first answer that runs.
02
Stay consistent
Small, steady progress beats bursts of motivation. Improvement is built, not found.
03
Make room for creativity
Explore odd ideas — then keep whatever actually makes the result clearer or more useful.
04
Help where I can
Skills matter most when they solve someone else’s problem, not just my own.
05
Build useful things
Start from a real need, and leave things more helpful than I found them.
Journey
The chapter so far.
The route so far — school projects that found real users, two years of team engineering at Queen’s, and a placement year on the horizon.
- 012022–24
Found software at St Patrick’s College, Dungannon
A levels in Software Systems Development, Digital Technology, Maths, and Arabic. Built a C# revision quiz that GCSE students at my school actually used, then a hotel booking system with C# and SQL — bookings, unique IDs, and a billing engine.
- 022024
Insight programme at Kainos
Spent time with Kainos in Belfast learning how a large software company actually runs — how teams are structured, how software gets delivered, and what a career in tech looks like from the inside.
- 03Sept 2024
Started BSc Software Engineering with Placement at Queen’s
Modules across programming, data-driven systems, cyber security, and maths for computing — plus the Robotics Club on the side.
- 042024–25
Shipped ReignFall with a six-person team
A database-driven text-adventure web game: player accounts with hashed passwords, save systems that restore full game state, inventory mechanics, analytics, and accessibility features.
- 052025–26
Built Greenopoly in second year
A fully functional, database-backed Monopoly variant in C++ that teaches climate change — built with a team of six for our Software Engineering project.
- 06Now
Building Basha Pantry & applying for placements
Bringing a local grocery business online with a professional Shopify store, and looking for a 2026–27 industrial placement where I can contribute to a real engineering team.
- 07Next
Placement year, final year, graduate in 2028
A year in industry, then back to Queen’s to finish the degree — shipping and sharing useful work the whole way.
Skills
A skills picture that stays honest.
Honest labels instead of made-up percentages: comfortable means I can build and discuss it in an interview, learning means I use it and I’m levelling up, exploring means early days.
Programming
Languages I’ve used in coursework and shipped projects.
- JavaMy main university language across two years of modules.Comfortable
- C++Greenopoly — a database-backed board game built with a team of six.Comfortable
- C#Two shipped A-level projects: a revision quiz and a hotel booking system.Learning
- JavaScript / TypeScriptReignFall’s game front-end, and this site.Learning
- PythonLearning
Web development
Building for the browser, from storefronts to hand-rolled sites.
- HTML & CSSEvery project ends up here eventually.Comfortable
- Next.js & ReactThis site is the live evidence.Learning
- Node.jsLearning
- ShopifyBuilding Basha Pantry, a real store for a real shop.Learning
Databases
Modelling, querying, and keeping application state sane.
- SQLGame saves, booking systems, museum catalogue — SQL runs through most of my projects.Comfortable
- MySQL & PostgreSQLLearning
- MongoDBExploring
Tools
The everyday kit.
- Git & GitHubVersion control on every team and solo project.Comfortable
- Visual Studio, VS Code & EclipseComfortable
- LinuxLearning
- Arduino & Raspberry PiRobotics Club tinkering and hardware builds.Exploring
Software engineering practice
Practices I can back up with project examples.
- Team developmentTwo year-long projects in six-person teams, from planning to presentation.Comfortable
- Secure coding basicsSalted & hashed passwords, session expiry, and SQL-injection testing in ReignFall.Learning
- TestingComfortable
Currently learning
What I’m actively getting better at right now.
- Data structures & algorithmsCore second-year module — and interview prep.Learning
- AI-assisted developmentUsing AI tools deliberately — as a multiplier, not a substitute for understanding.Exploring
Beyond code
The personal parts belong here too.
Software is only one part of the picture. This is the rest of it — the things that keep me curious away from the keyboard.
learning
Three languages, still counting
I grew up speaking Arabic, English, and Turkish, and I keep working at all three. Switching between them daily is probably why picking up new programming languages doesn’t scare me.
technology
Robotics & hardware
Member of the Queen’s Robotics Club. I’ve built PCs, and I like projects that reach outside the screen — Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and whatever needs wiring next.
learning
Chess
Chess punishes lazy thinking and rewards patience — the same muscles debugging uses. I play to keep both sharp.
technology
Gaming
Games are part of why I code. ReignFall and Greenopoly exist because building a game turned out to be even more fun than playing one.
technology
AI & new technology
I follow AI and new tools closely and actually use them — carefully — in my own workflow. The interesting question is never the demo; it’s what the tool changes about how you work.
sport
Playing football
Five-a-side or full pitch, I’m in. Football is where I switch off — and a good reminder that a team that talks beats a team of individuals, on grass or in a codebase.
sport
Swimming
My reset button. A stubborn bug has quietly solved itself more than once somewhere around length twenty.
Community
Making space for work that helps people.
Useful skills should leave the building. These are the places my work has helped someone other than me.
small business
Bringing a local grocery shop online
WoodHouse Groceries had a shop full of international products and no way to sell them online. I’m fixing that.
I’m building Basha Pantry, their Shopify store, end to end — product catalogue, categories, photos, and storefront. For a small business, a professional online presence isn’t a luxury; it’s the difference between being found and being invisible.
helping people
A revision tool my school actually used
At A level I built a C# geography quiz for GCSE students revising for their exams.
It wasn’t fancy, but it was real: students at St Patrick’s College used it to prepare for their geography GCSE. It was the first time something I built had users — and the moment I understood that software is for people, not for portfolios.
See the work
The next part of the story is what gets built.
Projects are published carefully, with honest context about their status, challenges, and lessons.