Proficient Full Stack developer with over 15 years of experience designing and implementing web application, and 6+ years focusing on Ruby on Rails applications, including in the banking industry, industrial design, eCommerce, and content management systems. Colin puts a lot of emphasis on usability and speed for end-users when building high-standard applications, being highly experienced working in agile environments with a test-driven approach.
Whilst working on client projects, led the transition from the legacy email system over to managed Exchange at Rackspace, and from an internal NAS drive to Dropbox, ensuring a seamless transition for the whole company.
Worked on the development of full-service digital solutions for multiple industries, including life sciences, finance, education, and technology.
Provided a mentor role to junior developers, assisting them with training needs, and general queries.
Worked on the development of the ServiceDesk product, allowing MSPs (Managed Service Providers) to manage interaction with their clients.
Redeveloped the user interface and much of the back-end code, whilst maintaining compatibility with the older version.
Worked on adding new features to the product, including Twitter integration, and fine-grained roles and permissions, based on product features and end customers.
Directly involved in both back and front-end web development, as well as server management for clients that spanned Arts, Culture, Education, Tourism & Leisure.
Created a system for managing software updates of ~50 (and counting) WordPress installations semiautomatically. This involved ensuring all were in version control, and based on a standardised installation.
Managed transition of client sites on various hosting solutions onto a set of dedicated LAMP servers; two production, and one staging. Managed the configuration of these servers using Chef.
Acted as Technical Lead on the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe site. Worked with various technologies including a third party ticketing system, as well as Solr (for search), OpenX (for advertising) and Magento (for eCommerce).
Worked on the development of other Edinburgh Festival sites, including the Film Festival, the Book Festival, and the Science Festival.
Used the Symfony PHP framework, as well as a legacy internal framework/CMS for projects that varied from smaller sites which were primarily financial & tourism based, to some much larger sites.
Co-developed their eCommerce solution, Aurora, that now powers many online stores, including high street retailers Moss Bros., Officers Club, Select Fashion, and Quiz Clothing.
Achievements include basket abandonment rates as low as 11.5% and checkout completion rates of up to 88% (internet average at the time was under 40%).
Oversaw server setup and maintenance for all client servers, including Apache, PHP & MySQL configuration and optimisation.
Created this SAAS app providing staff leave management for SMEs. The application automates the staff leave management process, enabling companies to go paperless. Using the staff leave planner view, you can view your whole company, or filter by team. Managers receive notifications of staff leave requests, and users get the results, all instantly. Also developed Slack integration for the service, letting employers know which staff is on leave. Technologies used in the project: Ruby, Rails, React.js, SASS.
Worked on delivering front-end features in an Agile environment for the bank's loans application system, connecting to a number of Java micro-services. Developed a high-level application using React, Redux, SCSS, TDD. Handled various bugs occuring in the production environment, also participating in code reviews and quality assurance.
The Centre provides a commercial digital fabric printing and textile design service, consulting to large and small manufacturers as well as to individuals. The speed of this technology enables businesses to respond rapidly to new and changing markets and creates cost efficient opportunities for niche marketing. Digital textile printing technology allows designs and images to be printed straight from the computer screen onto fabric creating exciting opportunities for customised design and allowing photographic quality reproduction onto natural fibres, such as silk, wool, linen and cotton. Worked as a full stack developer for the project, developing the application that creates custom fabric prints with a backend managing print jobs. Technologies used in the project: Ruby, Rails, React.js.
