ABOUT
I make awesome. Squeeze every minute, of every day, trying to make, or learn, as much as possible. Wish I could compress time to do more. I mainly program these days. HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Node are my current work horses. I also do artsy type stuff, both 2D drawings/sketches and 3D models/animations, in Photoshop and Blender3D.
WORK EXPERIENCE
SEO Web Developer, Holiday Extras
April 2018 - September 2018
HolidayExtras is a business structured around the extras of a travel holiday, such as airport hotels and parking. The stack consisted of React, some vanilla Javascript, Metalsmith and LESS; with some occasional work done on Smarty PHP and vanilla CSS. The 2 stacks were for new and legacy systems, where I modified and added components and features. I also learned about HTML AMP and how it benefits load times (and SEO ranking, as a result) and briefly worked with it.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Worked on a complex React/Metalsmith hybrid system
- Worked in a legacy PHP (Smarty) system
- Spent time focusing on updating look and feel to keep it consistent with new branding
- Learned the basics of HTML AMP
- Updated high traffic and income pages
Developer, Time off
February 2017 - April 2018
Took some time off to learn new frameworks, tools and technologies. Most projects I describe here are available for viewing on my website. Re-wrote portfolio website from the ground up using Metalsmith(including Handlebars) and hosting it on AWS S3 buckets. Gained a working knowledge of several AWS services, including S3, Lambda and CloudWatch, as well as the CLI. Built a webapp using Angular 2 and web audio that loops through a set of tonal nodes, playing them back in sequence, with independent volume sliders, section looping and section duplicating. Built an app with 2 working parts, which I update semi-regularly: one written in NodeJS, running daily through AWS CloudWatch on an AWS Lambda instance, which pulls, parses and turns a webpage into workable JSON; the other runs VueJS, on an AWS bucket, that interacts with the data generated formerly and allows users to search and filter through the data. Built a small crafting system(for games) in React that depletes resources(which can currently be edited in the UI) as items are queued for construction, the items take time to be built, run on independent timers and can be claimed when finished, adding them to your inventory. Did some brief experimentation between Lambdas and DynamoDB to create a dynamic system of interacting parts, where appropriate parts would update on of them being accessed, before delivering a response, to avoid needing a server always running and checking for updates. Also learned, which I now personally prefer, how to use NPM scripts as a build tool, rather than using something like Grunt or Gulp, as well as a deployment tool (to AWS, through the CLI).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Re-wrote website from the ground up, using and learning Metalsmith(Handlebars)
- Learned to use and work with many AWS services, including the CLI
- Added to Angular 2 experience with a web audio project
- Learned VueJS and used it in conjunction with AWS knowledge to create an app that is still being updated
- Added to React experience by building a crafting system based on timers
- Experimented with DynamoDB and coupling it with Lambdas(serverless) to create a dynamically updating system
- Learned to use NPM as a build tool
Lead Developer, Autto
April 2016 - January 2017
Autto is a service that simplifies document generation and processing for businesses through drag&drop interfaces to create document forms and logic to integrate the information gathered with business document systems. Stack was flexible, as we built several prototypes, but consistently used Grunt, Auth0, Mocha, Chai, Sinon, Bootstrap and CodeShip. We used NodeJS, Hapi, Gulp, Sinon and Chai for the backend. The 3 working prototypes were built in React, Angular2 and, finally, Angular1.5. Was a co-founder of the company, being part of the 2 man development team, spearheading the front-end and taking charge of choosing our framework and tools. Influenced the direction of the product and created various smaller tools that helped speed up the progress. Wrote some logic on the backend for filling in, on the fly, pre-written PDF documents with the information we gathered from the forms. Was a fully remote team having short standups at least 3 times a week and a longer meeting once a week, communicating over Slack and using kanban tools such as Waffle and Trello to establish work.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Spearheaded front-end development
- Used many unfamiliar web technologies and had to adapt quickly
- Co-founder of the company
- Built several working prototypes in various frameworks
- Added to full-stack experience
- Created tools that helped speed up progress
- Worked fully remote
Junior Developer, Affio
January 2015 - March 2016
Affio is a simple, automated, will writing service where a customer gives their details through simple forms and interfaces, with which the backend generates a legal will that they can then download and sign. Stack was Grunt, SASS, Angular 1.5, Bootstrap, Mocha, Chai, Sinon, Babel, JSPM, CodeShip. Wrote integration tests for the pre-existing backend(NodeJS) functions. Worked in a co-working space as well as remotely, using JIRA and Slack to communicate with the fully distributed team and establish work to be done. Had daily standups, to discuss work done, progress and any new/pertinent issues. Initially worked alongside the lead developer, gaining many underpinnings for professional web development such as NPM, frameworks, build tools and development cycles and methodologies. Was soon working independently and choosing my own tasks, coming up with solutions to problems and suggesting improvements to the product and workflow. Utilized JSBin to quickly mock up suggestions/improvements to see if they worked and/or were worthwhile.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Gained underpinnings for professional web development
- Got a little full-stack experience
- Worked in a co-working space as well as remotely
- Had 10-15 minutes daily standups every morning
- Transitioned from junior dev to an important contributor, to the front-end development, quickly
- Created various proof of concepts for new features and fixes on JSBin
Sound Engineer Assistant, Keystone Productions
May 2010 - June 2010
Worked at the Brazilian Media Center in Johannesburg, South Africa during the FIFA World Cup 2010. Responsibilities included: setting up and testing all the equipment in the morning, ready for the TV crews once they arrived; connecting the various crews' gear to the soundboard and adjusting volume levels; taking down all the equipment once the day was done and coming up with solutions as issues arose during interviews.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Helped set up equipment in the mornings and strike in the afternoon/evening
- Translated between Portuguese to English and vice versa, between camera crews and sound engineer
- Helped solve technical issues as they arose
VOLUNTEER WORK
Volunteer, Picnic Games
August 2014 - August 2014
Spent the time collecting data and creating visualizations of it. Visualizations
were mostly graphs of the data collected from several external products
and then compared to data collected from one of their own products. Also
helped brain storm ideas for features of another product, in on-on-one
sessions with one of the lead developers.
http://www.picnicgames.co.uk/
HIGHLIGHTS
- Created data visualizations
- Helped brain storm ideas