A Few Places I've Worked Back to Top

• Stanley Gibbons US, Inc. (née Bidstart.com)

  UI Developer

  Durham (RTP), NC

  September 2013 to present

  I came in as one of the more senior UI team members, with a heavy focus on JavaScript development on the front end. It wasn't too long before I found myself in mobile/responsive optimization mode, helping to (almost single-handedly) implement the responsive skin to our existing BidStart platform and engineering and implementing the mobile disambiguation/splash page for the Stanley Gibbons umbrella. In the latter case, I reengineered our previous content slider with mobile clients in mind, shaving response times down to milliseconds and reducing the page weight for non-desktop devices by up to 80%. Along the way, to simplify my job, I pitched, developed, and released a custom micro-CMS for internal users to manage splash page assets.

  At SG, I tackled both large legacy and ambitious new projects, in a range of formats from frameworkless JavaScript in Hybris on IIS to PHP in Zend Framework (1/2) and Symfony on Ubuntu Linux. We worked with a wealth of technologies, from Angular to Node to MongoDB, all in an Agile to Semi-Agile process with (at times) heavy input from stakeholders. It was exhilarating and a lot of fun, full of experimentation and growth, and I was able to work with a truly world-class team in a fantastic environment.

• Clarity Connect, Inc.

  Web Developer/Technology Analyst

  Holly Springs, NC

  February 2010 to September 2013

  I took the position at Clarity Connect as a part-time SEO consultant, but on my first day, upon discovering I could translate Photoshop mockups into valid, semantic HTML (without tables! and in less than a day!), I was promoted to junior developer. Having never written a single line of ColdFusion prior to the job, I was up and running semi-fluently within a few weeks.

  I was responsible for converting Photoshop designs into valid, cross-browser compatible ecommerce websites, integrating these sites with our custom CMS, updating and maintaining the front- and back-end code for our sites and CMS, creating new CMS components and plugins, administering our file, database, FTP, and backup servers, integrating with payment processors, integrating public shipping, payment, and other APIs into our CMS, normalizing customer data and creating custom database structures for ordering and inventory systems (as well as the systems themselves).

  In a nutshell, I did everything but the bookkeeping at some point, specializing as the company's troubleshooter and problem solver, all the while maintaining my personal mission to modernize, streamline, and secure our aging framework. Thanks to my efforts, we converted much of our codebase to cleaner, standards-compliant code, boosted our sites' performance, and dramatically reduced our bug list.

• Blackmjck Designs (freelance)

  Web Designer/Developer

  Anywhere

  January 2008 to present

  I started officially freelancing full time while still in college, but I had been coding before that for as long as I can remember. Instead of the Game Boy I wanted in 2nd grade, my parents decided on a VTech PreComputer 1000 to keep me occupied while flying around the world. Thus instead of Mario Bros, I had introductory BASIC, which seemed much cooler at the time. I began developing in earnest for the web in high school, learning Flash and Javascript around the same time, and picking up valid coding practices along the way.

  As a freelancer, I provided graphic and web design to a small clientele, managing product photography, WordPress templating, and LAMP server administration at the same time. My focus was on clean, accessible designs, primarily using WordPress as a CMS, though I designed and implemented a few standalone sites as well. A large amount of my time was (and still is) spent on studying web standards and learning new technologies to keep my skillset fresh.