Bernadine Dao

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locationMelbourne, VIC

Professional Summary

Software Engineer with experience building robust, cloud-native software at enterprise scale.

Former medical doctor bringing strong analytical thinking, clear communication, and collaboration skills to modern software development.

Skills

  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • SQL
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • React
  • Node.js
  • Express.js
  • Next.js
  • Tailwind
  • Trello
  • Figma
  • Vite
  • Miro
  • Python
  • Flask
  • C
  • Java
  • Spring Boot
  • AWS (SAA-CO3)
  • Azure
  • REST APIs
  • GraphQL
  • Kubernetes
  • Kafka
  • Splunk
  • OpenSearch
  • Harness CI/CD
  • Jenkins
  • PostgreSQL
  • MongoDB
  • Git
  • Docker / Rancher
  • JUnit

Certifications

  • AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-CO3) | Feb 2025
  • AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-CO2) | Dec 2024
  • FINSIA Professional Banking Fundamentals | Apr 2025
  • Azure (AZ-900) Udemy Course | Sep 2025
  • AWS AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) Udemy Course | Nov 2025

Experience

Software Engineer Graduate

National Australia Bank (NAB) | Melbourne, VIC | Feb 2025 – Present
  • Improved reliability of Java-based microservices by analysing production issues with Splunk, developing automated JUnit tests, and deploying stable fixes through Harness CI/CD — restoring service uptime and reducing incident recurrence.
  • Enhanced security and access control in backend systems by implementing AWS IAM authentication, configuring least-privilege access, and managing deployments through change-controlled CI/CD pipelines.

Software Engineer Intern

National Australia Bank (NAB) | Melbourne, VIC | Nov 2024 – Feb 2025
  • Built an AWS-hosted recruiting platform integrating NAB leadership principles assessment, using React, TypeScript, GraphQL APIs, and a PostgreSQL database.
  • Presented the MVP to the CTO and led sprint-end demos for cross-functional stakeholders, demonstrating communication, collaboration, and delivery ownership.

Medical Doctor

Multiple Hospitals | Melbourne, VIC | Jan 2020 – Nov 2024
  • Applied diagnostic rigour, teamwork, and clear communication — skills now leveraged to manage high-stakes production incidents and complex engineering challenges.

Education

Software Engineering Course

General Assembly | Apr 2024 - Jul 2024

CS50

Harvard University | Nov 2023 - Feb 2024

Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons)

Monash University & Oxford University (UK) | Mar 2017 - Nov 2017

Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (Hons)

Monash University | Mar 2014 - Nov 2019

Leadership

  • One of two graduates featured in NAB’s StarCamp Internship promotional video (LinkedIn) and NAB website article showcasing software engineering success stories.
  • Mentor to software engineering interns, offering guidance on cloud-native development and professional growth.

Projects

Fridge to Fork

  • Created a full-stack single page application for finding recipes by ingredients / cuisine / diet, integrating an external API and an internal REST API.
Technologies

Node | Express | React | React-Router | Vite | PostgreSQL | HTML | CSS | JavaScript | Material UI | Render | Figma | Miro | AWS - S3, CloudFront, RDS, Lambda, API Gateway, EC2

GitHub

https://github.com/berternie9/fridge_to_fork

YouTube Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNn7ii5Z-A4

ScribeSpace

  • A project that I built as part of the General Assembly Software Engineering course.
  • Developed an online reading companion and implemented CRUD features (e.g. adding new books, notes, reviews and vocabulary).
  • Ensured industry benchmark features for user authentication, sessions, and routing conventions using a REST API.
Technologies

Node | Express | PostgreSQL | HTML | CSS | Javascript | Render

GitHub
https://github.com/berternie9/scribespace
YouTube Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bojNAP3_Igs

Garden Planner

  • Originally my Final Project for the CS50 course.
  • Developed an online yearly garden planner, with CRUD functionality for custom plants and gardens.
  • Integrated a weather API, which can display the weather at user-inputted coordinates.
  • Incorporated a robust SQLite database to track plant and garden information, which I converted to PostgreSQL for deployment on Render.
Technologies

Python | Flask | PostgreSQL | HTML | CSS | Javascript | Render

GitHub
https://github.com/berternie9/garden-planner
YouTube Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROhMB_EX68

Tic Tac Toe

  • A project that I built as part of the General Assembly Software Engineering course.
  • Built a web application for playing tic tac toe; either 2-player, or against a bot.
  • Incorporated 'finite state machine' and 'expert system AI' concepts into bot logic.
Technologies

HTML | CSS | Javascript | GitHub Pages

GitHub

https://github.com/berternie9/tic-tac-toe

Deployed on GitHub Pages

https://berternie9.github.io/tic-tac-toe/

Screenshot
tic tac toe screenshot

Epsilon Servo

  • Collaborated with other software developers to build a full-stack single page application (SPA) for finding petrol stations, with a model view controller (MVC) framework.
  • Leveraged version control (Git & GitHub), and maintained clear and concise communication across the group to coordinate pull requests and merges.
  • Implemented multiple external and internal APIs, incl. Google Maps, Open Meteo, Geocoding & Reverse Geocoding.
Technologies

Node | Express | PostgreSQL | HTML | CSS | JavaScript | AJAX | Git | JSON | Trello | Figma

GitHub

https://github.com/berternie9/epsilon_servo

Screenshot
epsilon servo screenshot