Nathan Smith

Current

• UX Developer at Fellowship Technologies
• Freelancer at SonSpring (Sole Proprietorship)

Past

• Book Author at O'Reilly & Associates
• Senior Front-End Developer at Viewzi
• Information Architect at EMC

• Book Author at Friends of ED
• User Interface Developer at Albertsons Inc.
• Web Developer at Asbury Theological Seminary

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Education

• Asbury Theological Seminary
• Washington State University

Recommended

8 people have recommended Nathan

Connections

451 connections

Industry

Internet

Nathan Smith’s Summary

In Business: I seek to work alongside members of a team in which everyone has something to bring to the table. I would prefer to work in a tight-knit group in which open communication is encouraged and creativity is valued. My biggest strengths are in design aesthetics and writing efficient client-side code.

In Ministry: I seek to glorify the name of Jesus Christ through the use of the gifts and talents that God has given me. I want to work alongside others that share a similar vision, and are living their lives for the sake of the gospel. I would prefer an area of ministry that involves the use of technology.

Nathan Smith’s Specialties:

I have experience in managing large websites, with thousands of pages. I have also developed over thirty smaller sites through my freelancing business, mainly for ministries and non-profits. I enjoy hand-coding HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I prefer Adobe Fireworks for graphics.

Nathan Smith’s Experience

• UX Developer

  Fellowship Technologies

  (Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

  December 2008 — Present (1 year )

  Integral part of a self-managed development team, using the scrum software project methodology. Helped to redesign various web applications and ensured front-end code quality (HTML, CSS, JS – Prototype & jQuery). Did some programming in C# using .NET MVC. Also wrote modules in PHP to integrate our RESTful API with various 3rd party products, such as the ExpressionEngine CMS. Spoke at our annual Dynamic Church Conference, and other venues representing FT to the web-dev community.
  
  Indirectly related, I created the 960 Grid System (www.960.gs) in 2008, as an effort to streamline IA sketching, designing and coding of grid based page layouts. It arose from my own personal need to have a solid starting point when doing freelance and professional work. Realizing it might benefit others too, I released it for free usage, and it has since been used by numerous web developers in their own projects.

• Freelancer

  SonSpring (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Internet industry)

  September 2003 — Present (6 years 3 months)

  SonSpring is a small, Christian web design and graphics studio that specializes in creating sites for churches and non-profit organizations. The mission statement and fervent prayer is that the utmost would be done to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ through use of website development.

• Book Author

  O'Reilly & Associates

  (Privately Held; Publishing industry)

  November 2008 — July 2009 (9 months)

  Was one of several authors who co-wrote jQuery Cookbook (ISBN: 0596159773), part of the acclaimed O'Reilly cookbook series. Book proceeds donated to the jQuery Foundation, a non-profit that drives development and evangelism of jQuery. Currently, the jQuery JavaScript library is used by companies such as: CBS, Dell, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, NBC, and Netflix - to name a few. It was an honor to be included amongst such a talented group of developers.

• Senior Front-End Developer

  Viewzi

  (Internet industry)

  April 2008 — December 2008 (9 months)

  I was responsible for much of the front-end work, including writing XHTML, CSS and JavaScript (using YUI). I also occasionally wrote PHP for templating and did visual mockups as needed. I helped to plan and build new DHTML search result views, as well as maintain and enhance existing views and the core platform. I built rapid prototypes of ideas around possible extensions of Viewzi for client implementations. I wrote our internal code standards documentation for front-end development, which included guidelines for contractors and in-house team members.

• Information Architect

  EMC

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; EMC; Internet industry)

  December 2006 — April 2008 (1 year 5 months)

  I worked with EMC client Amerisource Bergen Specialty Group. I was part of an integrated team, focused on rebuilding their e-commerce site. We worked in an iterative process using the scrum project management methodology. I handled IA tasks and coded HTML, CSS + JavaScript.
  
  I worked as an IA for EMC client Hotels.com as part of their User Experience team, improving interaction in their iterative redesign. I built rapid prototypes for user testing using JavaScript. To lighten the load on their developers, I occasionally coded XHTML and CSS for production.
  
  Designed visual concepts and wireframes for various clients: Nokia, AAFES, Turner Construction, Puget Sound Energy and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Met with clients during pre-sales discussions, to help facilitate project scoping. For example: Dickies, Horizon Health and Rodman Companies.
  
  Coded the Geniant blog – XHTML, CSS and Textpattern configuration. It was architected by Garrett Dimon and designed by Jared Christensen.

• Book Author

  Friends of ED

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Publishing industry)

  June 2006 — May 2007 (1 year )

  I had the privilege of co-authoring Textpattern Solutions (ISBN: 1590598326), a book on the elegant content management system Textpattern. This versatile CMS is what I use to power serveral of my sites. It was published by Friends of ED, a subsidiary of Apress.

• User Interface Developer

  Albertsons Inc.

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ABS; Internet industry)

  September 2005 — December 2006 (1 year 4 months)

  I did web user interface design for our internal website, used by roughly 20,000 employees nationwide. I was supportive in the company's adoption of web-standards. I was originally hired on primarily as a designer, but after proving myself proficient at writing code, was given a slight lateral promotion to the position of developer. In this position, I was afforded the opportunity to not only design interfaces but also have control over how the code was handled. I did CSS, XHTML and occasionally JavaScript.

• Web Developer

  Asbury Theological Seminary

  (Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Internet industry)

  September 2002 — August 2005 (3 years )

  I helped code and maintain several redesigns of our school website, as well as developed micro-sites for online curriculum. Also handled some of the graphic design, within our established branding. Was also a teaching assistant for the IT605 Technology in Ministry graduate class.

Nathan Smith’s Education

• Asbury Theological Seminary

  MDiv , Master of Divinity , 2002 — 2009

  Junior Class Vice President 2002-03, Communications Director 2003-04, Middler Class President 2004-05, Responsible for identity / branding of the Student Leadership Team.

• Washington State University

  BA , Social Sciences , 1997 — 2002

  Involved in Campus Christian Fellowship, Co-led a campus Bible study for two dorms, Served as an evangelism intern training other students in peer outreach, Also did IT troubleshooting and web updates for a local insurance agency.

Additional Information

Nathan Smith’s Interests:

Adobe Fireworks, Apple / Mac, Christianity, content management (Drupal / Textpattern), CSS, design, HTML, JavaScript, Scrum, speaking, theology, usability, writing.

Nathan Smith’s Groups:

•    Alumni of Washington State University
•    Godbit
•    Web Standards Design + Development
•    jQuery
•    Ministry 2
•    Geniant Alumni
•    Dallas Drupal

Nathan Smith’s Honors:

My work has been spotted at:

- 9rules.com
- Adobe.com
- AIGAaustin.org
- ArtyPapers.com
- BestWebGallery.com
- Buzz.Typo3.org
- CssBeauty.com
- CssBloom.com
- CssDrive.com
- CssElite.com
- CssGlobe.com
- CssMania.com
- CssReboot.com
- CssRemix.com
- CssVault.com
- Design.Acquia.com
- DesignMeltDown.com
- DesignShack.co.uk
- Digital-Web.com
- DigitalFlicker.com
- Drexel.edu
- House.gov
- HTML.it
- IBM.com
- Massassi.net
- MaxDesign.com.au
- NetMag.co.uk
- NetTuts.com
- PathF.com
- PHPmagazine.net
- PixelGangster.de
- QuirksMode.org
- RealSoftwareDevelopment.com
- SitePoint.com
- SmashingMagazine.com
- Stylegala.com
- Textpattern.com
- TheBlogStudio.com
- TreeHouseMagazine.com
- TutorialBlog.org
- TxpMag.com
- UMN.edu
- USGS.gov
- WeLoveTXP.com
- Wired.com
- WooThemes.com

Nathan Smith’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch