CV
Education
HND (June 2006)
- Software Engineering - Merit
National Diploma (June 2005)
- Software Engineering - Merit
A Level (June 2003)
- Computing - C
- (Micro) Electronics - C
Experience
All my roles so far have included visiting customers at their own offices to aid in understanding the job they required me to perform and I was involved in giving customer support during the lifetime of the project and after completion to aid the customer in using the software/website that had been created. All MySQL/PHP roles where preformed using a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) environment, while using WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) as a testing environment. I am currently learning new technologies such as Flash 10 (using action script 3/AS3) by creating small applications such as a XML driven slideshow control, and a movie player. I am also learning ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.0 using C#, along with MSSQL and Access in an IIS7 (Windows Server 2008) environment.
Web Developer/IT Technician (Feb 09 - Current)
Bolton Blinds Ltd. (Wigan Road, Bolton)
Bolton Blinds Ltd is the largest manufacturer of window blinds and shutters in the north west of England and needed to increase their web presence and have somebody create the new website for the company, and websites for the other subsidiaries of the business. With this I had to create several designs and create the code for each one and make sure that they all conformed to XHTML1.0 standards and CSS2.1 standards. I was also required to manage the companies online advertising, which was mainly driven via Google Adwords campaigns and proved to be quite successful. The final aspect of my job involved general IT management such as running the Skype business accounts and computer and program maintenance.
Lead Website Developer (Jun 08 - Jan 09)
Mediachain Ltd. (Hewitt House, Winstanley Road, Wigan)
Mediachain Ltd are an internet marketing and web design company and my responsibilities while there included creating all the web based software, such as bespoke Ecommerce websites and CMS systems using a PHP/MySQL environment and also converting older ASP/MSSQL (classic ASP) sites to PHP/MySQL sites as an upgrade/security measure, and to consolidate the companies server base. My other responsibilities included managing the dedicated servers that the company owned, running such tasks as PHP, MySQL and Apache version updates.
Lead Website Developer (Jan 08 - Jun 08)
EMS Internet (Patten House, Moulders Lane, Warrington)
While at EMS Internet, my main duties included the same responsibilities as at AAA Web Design, plus the following: I was in charge of managing the internet connection (URL and domain filtering by list and by category) and internal mail server (Microsoft exchange server). I was also in charge of managing the fax server which took a list of fax numbers and batch sent a specified fax to all the numbers, for which I wrote the control software. The software was required to take a fax document and a large list of fax numbers (stored in a database) and send the fax to each number within the database using 30 telephone lines (so 30 faxes can be sent at any one time), the software would also have to record global statistics based on how many faxes had been sent (the average being over 25,000 a day over the 30 lines), and individual number statistics to find out if numbers no longer existed as a fax line. I also wrote a customer management system for the company which is used to store all information held on the customer, along with their invoicing information. This included several tools which allowed the company to be mostly online and automated and removed much of the need to have any sort of paper based or phone based communications.
Lead Website Developer (Nov 06 - Jan 08)
AAA Web Design (Rodney House, King Street, Wigan)
At AAA Web Design, my responsibilities included creating databases (structure design and data formatting) within MySQL and creating the PHP code that accesses the database and outputs pages in either HTML. XHTML or XML, based on the data within the database. I also have to create a management interface for each separate database which is simple to allow non-computer-literate users to be able to use it while at the same time allowing all aspects of the database to be used to their full potential. Other responsibilities included managing work for other developers, while teaching them certain aspects of programming PHP and JavaScript, and the Web (XHTML and CSS), that they require for their current project.
Custom Interface Developer (Dec 02 - Aug 06)
Petrol Designs (Los Angeles, U.S.A.)
While at Petrol Designs, my main responsibilities included creating custom interfaces (modern interactive skins for Winamp3 and Winamp5) which involved taking multi-layer Photoshop PSD files, and exporting to multiple PNG files (one file per layer), and writing the XML code to create a working interface from the images, to create interactive designs, I used a proprietary scripting language called MAKI which allowed much greater control over what happened with the interface. Customers I worked for while at petrol where high profile corporations requiring nothing but the best and most professional designs and programming, such as: Time/Warner, America Online, Disney, Verizon, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Warner Brothers and The Coca-Cola Company.
Skills
- My programming skills include (but are not limited to):
- PHP
- C/C++
- MySQL (3.x, 4.x and 5.x)
- JavaScript (Basic, AJAX, Prototype/Scriptalicious, YUI)
- C# (.NET 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0, Desktop Only)
These are the languages I am most competent at programming in, though I am a quick learner of new languages and I am always willing to learn if needed.
- My web skills include (but are not limited to):
- HTML (4.01)
- XHTML (1.0 - 2.0) Strict/Transitional
- XML (all formats, including RSS 0.9 - 2.0 and ATOM 0.3+)
- CSS (1.0/2.0/2.1)
I am up to date on all major website mark-up languages (such as HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.1 and XML), I always strive to create my code to be fully w3c standards and accessibility compliant (creating only structure and content in (X)HTML, leaving all design to be created with CSS). I have an understanding of most major WYSIWYG applications used to create web pages (such as Dreamweaver and Expression Web), although I prefer creating my code manually in notepad rather than relying on a GUI editor. One of my main drives while creating websites is to make sure they work as they should, on the latest version of all the major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox and WebKit (Safari/Chrome)), my second major drive is that the websites are clean, simple to use and accessible to the end user as I would like all websites (and any software) I create to be used and when a piece of software or a website is complicated to use, end users will simply go elsewhere. I also have an understanding of Adobe Photoshop (7 - CS4) and have basic web design skills though I am quite versed in the manipulation of existing designs and can alter and slice designs myself as required or requested for use within a website.