DENNIS SLADE JR. 208 West 140th Street #3 New York, NY 10030 USA Mobile: +1/917-553-2812 E-mail: DennisSladeJr@gmail.com URL: http://DennisSlade.com/hire-me OBJECTIVE --------- Contract or permanent position as a Consultant (programming or systems analysis & design) or Team Lead/Manager (programming or technical support). ** Travel ok, no relocation ** PROFESSIONAL PROFILE -------------------- - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science backed with 16+ years experience implementing and supporting critical web and desktop business systems - 7+ years hands-on experience with open source (LAMP) web development projects - 9+ years experience in international software support - 4+ years experience in international banking technology - Worked in multilingual work environments with project teams distributed across different countries and continents - Experience troubleshooting and resolving technical issues in complex enterprise software systems - Developed wide range of web-based products using object-oriented, multi-tiered client/server technologies EDUCATION --------- Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, Vassar College, NY, USA RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS -------------------------------------------- FREEVERSE SOFTWARE Consultant New York, NY, USA [October 2009 to present] * Worked directly with C-Level executives on various Customer Service/Support, System Administration and Database issues. Compiled job descriptions for spring semester internships based on input from department heads. * Solved database lock-out issue which brought the MySQL server down for hours and inconvenienced thousands of customers. The solution involved tweaking the MySQL server's configuration file, switching tables from MyISAM to InnoDB, and redesigning the queries being invoked by an iPhone app. Money-Media, A Financial Times Company Senior PHP Developer New York, NY, USA [November 2007 to October 2009] * As Senior PHP Developer, developed and maintained code for front-end sites and back office applications. Worked directly with all departments in the company (C-Level, Editorial, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, IT), analyzing business requirements and delivering subsequent systems implementations. (The internal CMS and customer fulfillment systems are used daily by 60+ employees in the US and the UK. The front office publication sites are accessed daily by 50K+ customers - total customer login base: 150K-200K - worldwide.) * As interim Director of Application Development, provided the CTO with periodic reports on team members' progress, and worked with him to determine their next projects. Helped determine code release schedule for the CMS, customer fulfillment system, job advertising system, and live publication sites (Ignites.com, Fundfire.com, AgendaWeek.com, BoardIQ.com, and IgnitesEurope.com). * Performed a full analysis of how a legacy application authorized payments, comparing it with PayPal's new requirements for payment authorization. Under a strict deadline, determined the changes necessary to bring the legacy application in line with the new requirements, and directed a junior member on how to implement those changes. The upgrades to payment authorization were coded, tested, and successfully released to production ahead of schedule. * Designed and implemented the Remote Mailing Scheduler, a queuing system serving as the main interface between the editorial staff and the remote mailing system. Final implementation included classes for SOAP-based communication with Lyris, HTML/AJAX interface additions to the CMS, a separate batch script run from cron, detailed logging and a MySQL-based audit trail. Real customer emails as well as test emails were generated through this system. * Redesigned the classes which generate critical, customer-facing ad server (Lyris) HTML/JavaScript code. Used UML diagramming to plan new classes and their relations to one another, then implemented it all in a PHP PEAR package with a full unit/integration test suite using PHPUnit. * Managed huge object-oriented code base of 16,000+ source files and hundreds of code packages covering 3 daily publications, 2 weekly publications, and 3 main web applications. ASCENTIVE LLC Senior Web Developer Philadelphia, PA, USA [February 2006 to August 2007] * Developed and maintained code for all front and back office systems. Worked directly with the CEO and all departments in the company, analyzing business requirements and delivering subsequent systems implementations. * Increased company revenues through the design and implementation of several systems: - Daily, automated renewal notifications. Customers are emailed reminders at database-specified times depending on when their individual subscriptions are set to expire. - System monitor which, when coupled with a third-party URL checking service, significantly decreased outage times of the online store. - An email opt-out application, which greatly reduced customer disputes and legal complaints. * Facilitated company-wide PCI compliance, guaranteeing delivery of automated emails to customers. Created specifications for data exchange with partners and third-party vendors. Internationalized web-based customer tools. * Designed and implemented various tracking systems such as: consolidated analytics/statistical reports, campaign expense tracking, and a human resources center (to manage employees' time-off requests and timesheet entries). * Created team standards for class design, object use, and coding/commenting styles. Installed third-party applications to improve team efficiency, including open-source wiki (PmWiki) and bug tracking (Mantis) systems. Wrote 50-page application development guide as both Word and wiki-based documents. * Trained and supervised offshore team members. Managed offshore development through weekly code reviews, and biweekly emails and IM chats. Integrated submodules completed offshore into the in-house source code repository. FREEVERSE SOFTWARE Technical Support Lead & Web Programmer/Analyst New York, NY, USA [February 2002 to October 2005] * Responsible for all aspects of technical support. Supported multiple versions of over 40 distinct products, for a worldwide installed base of over 80,000 customers. Turned around negative public image of how the company handled technical support. Standardized processes for responding to support issues. Handled busy telephone support hotline, including providing comprehensive 1-on-1 phone support. Managed an employee helper and several student interns. * Transformed static HTML order form into the PHP/MySQL-based Freeverse Web Store, a dynamic ordering system with real-time credit card authorization. Analyzed security issues and made recommendations for HTTPS/SSL setup, firewall port protections, and customer data security. (https://store.freeverse.com/) * Designed and implemented PHP/MySQL-based Back Office System with order lookup & history, address label generation (PDF), detailed sales/accounting reporting, event calendar and wiki knowledgebase. PROSEARCH Vice President (Web/CS/PR) Oakland, CA, USA [October 2001 to November 2002] * As Managing Director of the Web Department, managed 15-person team of web developers, graphic artists, project managers, and content editors. Guided each team memberŐs educational development, assigned them projects, tracked their progress, and assisted them in initial project roll-outs and documentation. Worked with Creative/Technical Director on developing web applications using PHP/MySQL, and establishing site development standards and procedures. SUN MICROSYSTEMS/FORTE SOFTWARE Technical Support Engineer Oakland, CA, USA [October 1998 to June 2001] * As member of the Forte for Java Enterprise Edition (FFJ-EE) Customer Technical Escalations team, provided backline support for the FFJ-EE IDE. Supported FFJ-EE IDE's and Forte TOOL IDE's use with application servers, web servers, web technologies (XML, XSLT, JSP), relational databases, and 3GL languages. Formed and chaired 6-person "Knowledge Team" which met weekly to discuss web-technology-related cases, bugs, and white papers. CITIBANK (SWITZERLAND) PRIVATE BANKING GROUP Applications Programmer/Analyst Zurich, Switzerland [June 1993 to May 1997] * Implemented application module roll-outs, installations, on-site training and remote support for 8 European locations and 2 Asian locations. Provided full support of a graphical financial presentation system for worldwide base of 50-100 marketing users. Maintained the system and distributed quarterly application updates to system's users in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND -------------------- Operating Systems - Unix: Linux (Fedora), FreeBSD (Mac OSX) - Windows: XP, Vista Software/Technologies - Languages: PHP 5, C/C++, SQL, JavaScript, AJAX, HTML/CSS, XML/XSLT, Perl, Smarty, Objective-C - Databases: MySQL 5, ETL techniques - Web Servers: Apache 2, IIS (minimal) - Tools: Eclipse IDE, Zend 6, Subversion 1.6, CVS, PEAR Package Management (PackageFileManager2), MySQL GUI tools, phpMyAdmin, Google Search Appliance/Mini, Lyris (GUI & API), FogBugz, Mantis, Redmine, MS Project, StarUML, Cygwin, TortoiseSVN, Putty, XCode - Unix Tools: cron, grep, regex, PCRE, bash, shell scripting - Others: Zend Framework 1.9.2, PEAR, PHPUnit, REST, SOAP, SOA, Atlas (ad server), MVC ACTIVITIES/INTERESTS -------------------- Tennis, volleyball, German language, international travel, digital photography, AIESEC