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Please download a concise copy of my CV here:
Experience
TouchLocal
www.touchlocal.com
www.wefinda.co.uk
I assumed the role of freelance front-end developer in the upcoming redesign of the TouchLocal
business directory website.
• I was responsible for the HTML, CSS, cross-browser support and accessibility of the new
templates.
• I also worked on the wefinda.co.uk project, which used HAML for its template mech
Oxford University Press
Head London
Following the success of the previous work I had done on the Hubbub launch, I was tasked by
Head London to work on a classroom presentation tool for interactive whiteboards commissioned
by Oxford University Press.
• I instigated a user-story agile development process using story cards, a points system and
burn-down charts, which is now in use for all new Head London projects.
• Amongst a team of four developers, I developed a XUL-supported HTML/CSS application
that is dynamically generated from a RoR content management system.
• The project was comprehensive in the technology used, from MVC Javascript, to CD-ROM
ISO generation on the Linux platform. Throughout a test-driven approach was used based
on Cucmber, Selenium and Shoulda with 100% coverage and 2:1 test to code ratio.
• I continue to support and add features to this project on a freelance basis
Hubbub
http://www.hubbubdeliveries.co.uk
Head London
August 2009 – Dec 2009 I joined the Hubbub project after the requirements phase had been completed and development had begun, and saw it through until launch.
• Amongst a team of 3-4 developers, I developed using a test-driven approach using
Cucumber, Selenium, Shoulda unit tests and RCov.
• I debugged and verified the payment gateway integration with the SecureTrading network.
• I continue to support and add features to this project on a freelance basis.
See my blog post here
Delete
Ruby on Rails Developer
May 2009 – June 2009 I worked on a large Ruby on Rails project for a major retail client, developing front-end features on an existing codebase.
- I worked with the Teamsite CMS system, integrating XML data into Rails views.
- I developed a moderated comments system and associated administrative screens, using AJAX.
- I developed using a test-driven approach, with the RSpec framework.
Vibey Subscriptions
http://www.vibeysubscriptions.com
Director, Web Developer
I am a founder of a music community and subscription service. I developed a music streaming, subscription and social network using Ruby on Rails and other open-source software.
- I developed an on-line radio delivering streamed content taken from a dynamic, database-driven playlist in XML format.
- I developed the ability for musicians to upload music and video files and have them encoded into files ready for streaming.
- I am responsible for all technical aspects of the website, including assembling a web server and installing and configuring Linux / Apache.
Titan Entertainment Group
http://www.titanbooks.co.uk
http://www.forbiddenplanet.com
http://www.dwscifi.com
Lead Web Developer
April 2005 to October 2008
- I was responsible for the maintenance and development of all the websites in the Titan Entertainment Group. I was the webmaster for www.forbiddenplanet.com, http://www.titanbooks.co.uk and www.titanmagazines.com, as well as several microsites.
- I created the forbiddenplanet.com on-line megastore application. The website is the shop front for Forbidden Planet, the UK’s leading entertainment retail company, promoting over 20,000 products, visited by over 50,000 people a month and taking several hundred orders a week. The site accesses an in-house legacy database and parses XML data to load product information into a web database. This database is then interrogated by a sophisticated Tapestry / Spring / Hibernate web application.
- I delivered a Java / Tapestry project to deliver a database-driven web application for the magazines division. The website displays dynamic content based on the user’s territory and an internal production schedule. The site’s content is provided via a content management system that automatically updates the main website. The website receives 1500-2000 visitors daily, and drives over 90% of our US sales.
- I developed a Java web service to integrate the mail order department’s Filemaker system into the website, allowing payments to be taken online and eliminate the use of PDQ machines. This resulted in significant time saving benefits for the mail order department. Due to the tight integration with the web, I developed methods that would update customer’s online account screens automatically. This system now handles all of forbidden planet’s online revenue.
- I rapidly developed a Ruby on Rails news website, dwscifi.com, in under two weeks in order to exploit an unforseen business opportunity. In a short amount of time, I created a news website that allows the editors to edit content in-line with the rest of the site, rapidly building an archive of news content.
- I turned around an interim website for the Forbidden Planet retail division in little under three weeks just in time for the Christmas rush. The site had previously been unable to sell on-line, but upon completion offered customers a shopping-basket and database-driven list of new products. The project was accomplished on a budget of under £600, in little under three weeks and has took tens of thousands of pounds in sales.
- I was responsible for the production web servers that host all of the websites. I obtained a budget to acquire new server hardware, and I installed and configured these servers, including Apache webserver, Tomcat (including clustering) and MySQL. I was responsible for domain-name management and renewal.
- I maintained the development environment used by the entire web team at Titan. I have setup Apache webserver, Tomcat, Cruise Control and Subversion and was responsible for their administration.
- I regularly used Java, HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT and Ruby on Rails as part of the on-line development.
Gamcom Solutions
I.T. Consultant / Developer
September 2004 – March 2005
- I worked as a developer on contract to the Nationwide Building Society, to develop their Mortgage Point-Of-Sale (MPOS) system. My responsibilities were to liaise with computer analysts to arrive at a software specification for software components for MPOS. I would implement and unit test these components.
- MPOS is built using Process Author, a proprietary language for describing business processes as finite state machines. It is built on Visual Basic 6 and ASP. I was required to learn this new environment and language, and swiftly adjusted to this methodology. MPOS has evolved over several years and is comprised of several sub-systems and has many external interfaces. Consequently, it has a vast and complex systems architecture, which I needed to learn. As a result of my swift learning, I was deemed capable of writing new functionality within a month of joining.
- I made a significant contribution to the implementation of recent mortgage regulatory functionality, working to a strict legal deadline. As a result of the team’s efforts, the Nationwide was one of only two mortgage lenders in the UK capable of accepting new on-line business from the date the regulations were imposed. I have gained invaluable experience unique to working on large software projects; MPOS has around fifty dedicated staff. I am adjusted to handling the necessary communication and cooperation required for such a team to function, and how to manage the human factors that influence the outcome of large software projects.
- I was entrusted to produce new documentation for the Process Author language. The document was aimed at internal developers for reference purposes and also new recruits to give a concise overview of Process Author. It is one of my strengths to present detailed technical information in a readable format for any given audience.
Mathias and Sons
Project Leader
July 2003 – February 2004
- Through analysis of existing workplace systems, I identified a requirement for a new Internet based ordering system. I outlined the various solutions to the management via a written report and a presentation.
- I conceived, designed and implemented an Internet-based ordering system that interfaced with existing Sage accounting software using Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic, HTML, SQL and Access databases.
- I collaborated with staff to identify where automation was possible, in order to refine manual processes. I designed the ordering system to allow shop floor staff to pick orders. This required interviewing skills and effective management of information.
- I collaborated with customers to establish individual requirements, and designed the ordering system to provide real-time management information to assist budgeting. This required viewing the project from both the customer and the employer’s perspective. I eliminated man-hours spent processing orders, saving £15,000 a year. Since the launch, Mathias and Sons have secured two lucrative tenders partly on the basis on on-line ordering capability.
- I accomplished these tasks on a budget of £450. I was required to negotiate with subcontractors to keep budget. The latter stages of the project were completed whilst working on my university course, making time management essential.
Flightdirectors.com
http://www.flightdirectors.com
Web Developer
July 2000-October 2000
- I implemented a web interface to the sales department’s Paradox database. It dynamically displays a list of available air charter capacity based on the database and user input from the website. This created another avenue of business for the company that would be used by employees on a regular basis. This involved working closely with sales staff to establish their needs.
- I was responsible to their systems administrator to setup the necessary web server settings in Windows NT Terminal Server I implemented the site using Visual Basic, Active Server Pages (ASP), SQL and Paradox databases.
Garland Aviation
Systems Administrator
1996 to present
- I provide assistance to Garland Aviation, a sole-trader business in the aviation sector. I have provided a wide range of administration services, from IMAP server administration to LAN networking.
- I am responsible for ensuring that the business’ data is backed up.
- I performed advanced Windows and Linux administration.
- These services provide enhanced professionalism for the business and allow advanced features such as remote file transfers and IMAP email. As far as possible these tasks have been completed on a small budget; using open-source software where appropriate. This has led to considerable cost-savings for the business.
Education
2:1 BSc Computer Science, University of Bristol, 2001-2004
- I attained an Upper Second-Class Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bristol; consistently within the top computer science departments in the UK.
- I led a group of five students working on a group project to design a software front-end and device driver for a digital MP3 player written in C. In addition to programming, I was responsible for time management and milestone setting, task allocation, administration of the group website and version control.
- I wrote a thesis as a proof of concept for networking middleware in computer games. It was an individual project to design a client / server network application that explored advances in next-generation market trends such as grid computing. Used Java and X3D, a cutting-edge graphics standard for the Internet.
Third-year Units
I have studied the following units during my final year. Please follow the links to read the course descriptions:
- Databases- SQL, Database design, relational databases, distributed databases, O-O databases, web databases, database security, database administration. As part of my coursework I developed a Java servlet that provided a web-interface that could log into an Oracle database, and run SQL commands on the database.
- Computer Graphics- Model Design, Maya, Advanced rendering, Light-mapping, bump-mapping, textures, NURBS. A sample of my Maya work can be viewed below:
Computer Bug, Maya sample
- Advanced Language Engineering- compilation, design of programming languages, semantic analysis, static analysis, automatic program generation. As part of this unit I developed a compiler that converted Haskell into C code; I modified this compiler to generate machine code for the software emulator that I wrote as part of the systems integration unit.
- Introduction to Cryptography- Historical ciphers, complexity theory, RSA encryption, security evaluation, DES, public key cryptography. As part of this unit I broke a number of historical ciphers including the enigma machine and gained an appreciation for information security.
- Software Design – UML, Design Patterns, The Unified Process, SSADM, Safety in software. This unit covered the fundamental principles of software design, including such patterns as composite, factory, adapter and façade.
- Systems Integration- Systems design, hardware: processors, memory, DMA, hard discs, multiprocessing, OS. As part of the coursework, I developed a hardware emulator that simulates the operation of an entire computer system. I used my compiler to run Haskell code on this simulator.
- Thesis project – In the final year, undergraduates are required to produce a thesis document that addresses an open-ended computer science problem of their choosing.
Second-year Units
- Software Product Engineering – Group programming, Project planning, Project management, Marketing, Software development tools, Intellectual property and copyright. For our group project we created a music player that interfaced with a portable MP3 jukebox, written in C.
- Software Engineering- Object-orientated design, extreme programming, version control, testing, complexity, advanced data structures, XML, Logic, Design patterns
- Multimedia – Audio and Video signals, line algorithms, geometry, matrices, image processing, DSP processing, OpenGL
- Concurrency and Communications – Networking, Concurrent programming, encoding, frames, protocols, compressions, security
- Language Engineering – Grammar, parsers, program analysis, low-level instructions, compilers
First-year Units
- Programming Project- C Programming, software design, C tools, software distribution. I wrote a project that generated postscript drawings of electronic circuits, given an input of logical gates.
- Introduction to Software Engineering- Imperative and Declarative techniques, software engineering techniques, abstract data types, algorithms, complexity, software production
- Introduction to Computer Architecture- Electronics, Memory, Data, Arithmetic operations, Fetch-Execute cycles, Instruction Sets, Interfaces and Performance
- High-Tech Enterprise – I.T. in today’s market, Intellectual property, entrepreneurship, business plan writing. My coursework for this unit was completed alongside the promotion of my airworld-online venture, which was entered into the Bristol Enterprise Centre’s business plan competition.
- Mathematics for Computer Scientists – Logic, Set Theory, Relations, Functions, Modular Arithmetic, Probability, Algebra
3 A-Levels, Beacon Community College, Crowborough, East Sussex, 1999-2001
- A-Level Computer Science: A – This course introduced me to programming; I began learning C and Visual Basic at this stage. The topics covered fundamental computing techniques; basic data structures and algorithms. This grounding gave me a rounded appreciation for computing problems and programming.
- A-Level Mathematics: B – This course covered advanced mathematics; algebra, mechanics, discrete maths and statistics.
- A-Level Business Studies: A – This course covers a broad area of business knowledge. I learnt basic accounting, balance sheets, cash-flow, business plan writing, cost / benefit analysis, break-even diagrams, macro-economics.
- During my time as a sixth-former, I campaigned for and helped start a sixth-form council, which held regular meetings with staff to raise issues of concerns to students. I would listen to ideas and concerns of my fellow sixth-formers and raise these at meetings. This council is still in place today.
- Along with another student, I developed a website to represent the sixth-form and post news relevant to students.
- I joined with other students to produce a one-off sixth-form magazine, which required collating a wide range of material, editing, design and budget management.
GCSEs, St. Gregory’s Comprehensive School 1994-1999
I have attained 10 GCSE qualifications:
- Information Technology: A*
- Mathematics : A
- English : A
- History : A
- Biology : A
- English Literature : B
- French : B
- Physics : B
- Chemistry : B
- Electronic Products : C
Interests
- I play piano, keyboards and synths, and enjoy composing my own songs. I am working with several musicians on original projects and have spent many months working with a top record producer on song-writing and session playing. I am currently studying for grade 8 piano, after winning the Sheila Mossman Award for the highest mark in the country for Grade 6 piano, 2008.
- I enjoy reading and updating my blogs: dangarland.co.uk for technical musings, and my music / creative blog dangarland.me.uk, which I wrote in Ruby on Rails.
- I enjoy writing. I regularly write content for the Brighton Argus blog section and will soon be published in Brighton SOURCE magazine.
- I like being creative with computers. I am interested in 3D graphics and virtual reality and creating social networks with open-source software.
August 4, 2009 at 12:08 am
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