Ben Dodson

Current

PHP Developer / Web Consultant at BenDodson.com

Past

Senior Developer at Pod1
Development Manager at Spring Digital
Web Designer at Freelance (Self-employed)

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Education

University of Exeter
King William's College

Recommended

3 people have recommended Ben

Connections

84 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Ben Dodson’s Summary

I am a London based freelance PHP developer and web consultant with several years commercial experience in top London agencies. I have a keen interest in web standards and accessibility guidelines as well as emerging technologies such as HTML5, microformats, and social media mashups.

I worked for several years at Spring Digital rising from Developer to Senior Developer to Development Manager incredibly quickly. It was there that I focused on my management technique picked up from service in the RAF and from various books on the subject that I had picked up. One of my key skills is people management and my work at Spring Digital exemplified that skill.

I then moved on to Pod1 - I went in as a Senior Developer due to a lack of experience with large clients (e.g. average project price at Spring Digital was £20k whereas at Pod1 it was around £200k). However, I soon learnt that the problems I had in a small development company such as Spring Digital were actually mimicked in a larger company and thus could be approached in the same way. I spent most of my time in a Lead Developer role managing the largest project that the studio had ever won to a successful conclusion. As well as co-ordinating meetings, scoping requirements with the client, and helping make internal recruitment decisions, I also did a large portion of both front end and back end development work.

In May 2009, I am moving on from Pod1 to work for myself as a freelance web developer and consultant. I am available for hire to do either front end (XHTML, CSS, jQuery) or back end development work (exclusively PHP) and also as a consultant on issues such as social media, accessibility standards, and emerging web issues. Find out more on my website at http://bendodson.com/

Strengths Finder Results:

1) Competition
2) Futuristic
3) Focus
4) Intellection
5) Significance

Ben Dodson’s Specialties:

Social Media, Consulting, Team Leadership, Reorganisation, PHP, MySQL, jQuery, Javascript, XHTML, CSS, Web 2.0, W3C Standards, Accessibility Standards, Section 501, WCAG 2.0, Microformats, API integration, Firefox Extensions, XML, RSS, Design QA, Functionality Testing, Server Management,

Ben Dodson’s Experience

PHP Developer / Web Consultant

BenDodson.com

(Internet industry)

May 2009 — Present (3 months)

I'm a London-based freelance PHP developer and web consultant with experience in top London web agencies and social media. I decided to go freelance in order to brush up on both my technical and client-facing skills and also because I am now able to sustain a large amount of work thanks to high rankings on Google for the terms "php developer" and "web consultant".

At present, my work includes such things as converting designs to standards compliant XHTML, building complex database structures, working with existing fully Object Oriented PHP 5 code, advising clients on accessibility and usability issues, and consulting on social media.

I am also being hired by a number of non-web companies in order to help them recruit in-house developers to work on their intranets or corporate websites. This has the benefit to the client of being able to have someone with a proven track record in both developing and management (including hiring and firing) to get the very best person for them whilst being able to do it for the fraction of the cost of a recruitment agency.

If you are interested to learn more about what I do or how I may be able to help you, please visit http://bendodson.com/
Senior Developer

Pod1

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

October 2008 — April 2009 (7 months)

Working as a Senior Developer, I spent a lot of time working with the in-house CMS and performing managerial duties such as interviewing prospective employees and dealing with team management issues when the Development Manager was away. I played a key role in front end javascript development using jQuery and performed a Lead Developer role on the largest project that Pod1 had ever had - this involved planning, scheduling work amongst the team of 6 developers, liaising with key members on the client side, and actually building functionality both on the front and back end.
Development Manager

Spring Digital

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Design industry)

November 2006 — October 2008 (2 years)

I manage a team of 6 PHP developers day-to-day as well as speaking with clients, QA'ing designs, approving contracts and briefs, and reporting to Senior Management. I build highly bespoke internal systems in order to boost efficiency as well as working on clients websites. Due to efficiencies gained from new internal systems, templates, and a hands on approach to scheduling, I tripled the development departments "completed tasks" figures within 3 months.
Web Designer
Freelance (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Internet industry)

July 2006 — November 2006 (5 months)

Ben Dodson’s Education

University of Exeter

BA , Politics , 2003 — 2006

Activities and Societies:

Xpression FM (Presenter / Webmaster), Gilbert and Sullivan Society (Director of 'Iolanthe' show, 2005), Nightline (Listener / Webmaster)
King William's College

1997 — 2003

Activities and Societies:

Combined Cadet Force (Head of RAF Section - Sergeant), Chapel Choir (Head Bass), Schola Cantorum (Bass), Sons of Mannanan (Bass)

Additional Information

Ben Dodson’s Websites:

Ben Dodson’s Interests:

social media, web development, php, jquery, xhtml, css, mashups, apis, progressive enhancement, graceful degradation, doctor who, video games, writing, piano, socialising