John Grimsey

Symfony/jQuery Developer

London, United Kingdom

Past

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Education
  • University of Teesside
Recommended
John has 5 recommendations 5 people have recommended John
Connections
73 connections
Industry
Internet
Websites

John Grimsey’s Summary

I have been building websites for eleven years. I have extensive experience with standards-compliant and accessibile front-ends, object-oriented server code and databases. In my spare time I keep up-to-date the latest acronyms, and absolutely *hate* poorly designed user-interfaces and badly thought-out sites.

I love to work in technical roles that also require an element of creative input and am capable of working as a front-end or server-side developer. I am also a capable designer who is very much at home with Photoshop (design) and OmniGraffle (information architecture). When left to my own devices, I will never create a website amateur in appearance or rough around the edges.

Nearly all projects I work on involve LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP). Much of my recent work has been working with Symfony (backend) and jQuery (Javascript) for the likes of Sony and Hewlett Packard. I run my own Debian and Ubuntu servers locally and remotely so have a fairly useful amount of Linux admin knowledge though I'm certainly no guru.

I have done many Flash/database integration projects in my time using XML and LAMP, these days we all prefer JSON though.

I have also done several jobs that have not required any internet-related skills but rather audio production, using Logic Pro to produce soundtracks to animatics and interactive videos, working on projects for the likes of the BBC and Disney, but you're probably not too interested in that.

I have three years of full-time top ten agency experience and have been a London-based freelancer for almost six years. I'm a good team player who has high standards of coding and attention to creative detail. Independently minded and a good motivator. I have an outgoing personality and the determination to succeed. Used to working towards strict deadlines.

I am a good communicator and enjoy explaining painfully technical details to those whose eyes are on the project timeline.

John Grimsey’s Specialties:

Symfony, OOP PHP5 (design patterns), Propel/Doctrine, MySQL, HTML/CSS, Javascript/AJAX (jQuery/Prototype/Scriptaculous), JSON, XML, Apache1.3/2.x, Linux (Debian/Ubuntu), Mac, Windows, Photoshop, OmniGraffle, Logic Pro.

Exposure to:

PostgreSQL, Facebook Platform, SOAP, Python, Django, Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, Visual Studio (but on the whole, no to Microsoft thanks very much).

John Grimsey’s Experience

  • Lead Developer (freelance)

    Applied Works

    (Partnership; Graphic Design industry)

    April 2009 — June 2009 (3 months)

    Building 'Food Glorious Food', a children's website for The National Trust. I chose to implement using Symfony. Many features including user registration, profile, jQuery powered AHAH message inbox, email alerts, REST API written for DB integration with Flash, complete backend application and loads more.

  • Symfony Developer

    Gyro International

    (Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

    January 2009 — January 2009 (1 month)

    Extending functionality of a B2B website for managing sales materials for a multi-national corporation. Doing server and client-side development (PHP/Symfony, HTML/CSS and jQuery).

  • Lead Developer (freelance)

    pod1

    (Internet industry)

    September 2008 — January 2009 (5 months)

    Planning and coding of Symfony-based project.

  • Freelance LAMP (Symfony) Developer

    Holler Digital

    (Public Company; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry)

    July 2008 — August 2008 (2 months)

  • Developer

    IPC Media

    (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; TWX; Publishing industry)

    March 2008 — July 2008 (5 months)

    Improvements to NME.com codebase and in-house CMS application used to administer NME, Wallpaper, Loaded and Nuts magazine websites.

  • Server-side/client-side Developer (freelance)

    Spook Media

    (Privately Held; Internet industry)

    February 2008 — March 2008 (2 months)

    Putting together a CMS driven website for Seiko Watches. Server-side and client-side development. Customising the in-house CMS tool with a new module. Custom ORM layer written (OOP PHP5), AJAX frontend powered by lots of unobstrusive jQuery (including multiple custom jQuery plugins).

  • Developer (freelance)

    Haymarket Media Group

    (Publishing industry)

    January 2008 — February 2008 (2 months)

    Working on the website of the football magazine FourFourTwo. Mainly client-side development.

  • Lead Developer (freelance)

    Exposure

    (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

    November 2007 — December 2007 (2 months)

    Development of multi-lingual site for Sony, allowing customers and Sony staff to register for attendance of ISE 2008. PHP5 (inc Symfony), XML, XSD, LAMP, Photoshop used to artwork original creative.

  • Client & Server-side Developer

    IPC Media

    (Public Company; Publishing industry)

    June 2007 — October 2007 (5 months)

    PHP (Symfony Framework) and MySQL server-side development. Design and coding of front end features, HTML, CSS, AJAX. Mainly adding features to the in-house CMS system that powers many magazine websites.

  • Freelance Developer

    Harvest Digital

    (Internet industry)

    May 2007 — May 2007 (1 month)

    Briefed to develop a system to cache content fetched from Google Adwords using the API, both improving performance and reducing cost.

  • Lead Developer

    Chinwag Jobs (Self-employed)

    (Self-Employed; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    September 2005 — April 2007 (1 year 8 months)

    PHP5/MySQL development of custom MVC framework
    AJAX/SOAP functionality
    Credit card payments
    Subversion/trac
    Client-side development (HTML/CSS/Javascript)

  • Web Developer

    Freelance

    (Internet industry)

    January 2005 — September 2005 (9 months)

    Worked on projects for companies including Great Ormond Street Hospital (web development), Buena Vista International and Disney (both audio projects).

  • Technical Manager

    Grand Union

    (Partnership; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

    October 2002 — December 2004 (2 years 3 months)

    Front-end and server-side development. Flash/database integration projects (ASP/PHP/MySQL), larger community-based sites, client-facing, advising on technical projects and planning. Internal network and IT support.

  • Web Developer

    Freelance

    (Internet industry)

    March 2002 — October 2002 (8 months)

    Freelance development on Cake PR website and CMS system and also large intranet system "projektMonitor" for Stink Films. Please See my portfolio website for more details.

  • Client-Side Developer

    Blue Dog Interactive

    (Internet industry)

    September 2000 — November 2001 (1 year 3 months)

    HTML/CSS/DHTML (Javascript) builds for clients such as Visa Europe and GlaxoSmithKline.

John Grimsey’s Education

  • University of Teesside

    2:1 B.Sc (Hons) , Computer Graphics & Animation , 1996 — 2000

    Learning to code OpenGL for 3D applications started my interest in programming. I later moved to coding for the web which I have stayed with for many years now. I also gained a lot of exposure to techniques used in computer graphics and animation on the course.

Additional Information

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