Oran Blackwell

Full CV / Resume

Summary
A senior/lead developer with over seven years’ relevant experience developing complete front-end and back-end systems in large and small commercial companies. Excellent analytical, design and problem solving skills. Worked in technical architect role and acted as a mentor to junior developers. Experienced in full feature application life cycle: Requirements analysis, architecture design, development, deployment and maintenance planning. Experience in managing multiple projects while adhering to strict deadlines. Experience with software development methodologies (Agile, RAD, Scrum, Waterfall) and programming techniques (Procedural, Object Orientated Design, Dependency Injection).

Technical Skill Set

Front End Technologies
HTML(5)
CSS (& Preprocessors)
AJAX/XML/JSON
JavaScript/jQuery (+Mobile)
AngularJS/Ember

Back End Technologies
Linux & Apache
Window Server & IIS
PHP
MySQL
Twig template engine

Delivery
Git version control
SEO Techniques
Sass/Compass
Composer
Jira/Assembla

Other
Google Analytics/master Tools
Adobe Photoshop
WordPress plugin/theme development
Cross browser compatibility
Responsive design techniques

Employment History
ebow — PHP Developer - Contractor March 2014 to June 2014

O2 Ireland (efonica) — Lead Developer/Programmer June 2012 to Dec 2013
O2 is one of Ireland’s largest broadband and ecommunications providers. Its site has almost nine million page views per month with approximay seven million unique page views and 800,000 unique visitors per month.
I was employed to build new, maintain and improve existing, and migrate and retire legacy systems. Many projects involved developing universal solutions to allow for the interconnection of complex and diverse systems.
My responsibilities included:
Developing new functionality, refining and improving existing functionality within the O2 portal.
Project/Development Lead on major customer facing projects/priority 1 campaigns.
Implementation of new designs and development for business critical sections of the portal working with various teams including Online Sales, Business, Legal, O2 Money, Customer Support, Priority Moments and third parties.
Identifying and consulting on best practices relating to SEO optimization and reducing page-load times.
Management of multiple load-balanced servers.
Achievements:
Global site navigation redesign including designing, developing and implementing a universal solution to supplying all separate systems and third party sites with minimal budgetary allowance.
Development of the O2 mobile site. ()
Development of a security layer on O2’s online text system which has successfully prevented 99% of all SMiShing (SMS phishing) attacks on the O2 network.
Design and development of full catalogue management system for new online retail platform.
Completed a major rationalisation and cleansing of the code base of our two primary load-balanced servers implementing and training developers on a rigorous version control process based on Git.
Optimum Results — Senior Developer and IT infrastructure consultant Jan 2012 to June 2012
Optimum Results is a leading training and consultancy businesses with a specialist e-learning division.
I was employed to develop client-driven bespoke solutions based around an in-house developed Learner Management System (LMS). I also acted as the de facto technical architect in the company, with responsibility for IT infrastructure for all systems, both back-office and client systems.
My responsibilities included:
Working with designers and developers to ensure that client requirements and deadlines were met or exceeded.
Development of additional functionality and refining and improving existing functionality within the LMS.
Working with clients and the Sales Team to identify client requirements and create functional specification documents to reflect these requirements.
Complete management of cloud based server.
Introduction of Git revision control and software patching to allow earlier iterations of the LMS to be updated with the latest bug fixes and functional improvements.
Managing of the office and Exchange server and implementation of previously non-existent backups.
Achievements:
During my time in Optimum Results I worked on more than 10 different corporate projects.
Implemented a central knowledgebase of information, to provide essential structure and formality - the previous approach relied on undocumented knowledge held by various individuals.
Identified several major issues with internal systems that had created a significant risk to core systems. I diagnosed the problems and resolved them, averting a potentially critical systems failure.
Full planning and implementation of a centralisation project to overhaul the technical architecture of systems across the company. This involved reviewing all aspects of the existing infrastructure of the sites (hosting, DNS, billing details, registered s etc.); diagnosing numerous problems, including errors and inefficiencies; and implementing a revised and streamlined structure that eliminated the problems and saved on cost and resources required to maintain the sites.
Benchmark Automotive — Senior PHP Developer July 2007 to Dec 2011
Ireland’s leading supplier of automotive data services to the insurance industry, motor trade and related sectors.
Hired directly from university, I was first employed as a Junior Programmer working mainly on internal administrative systems, but quickly progressed to Senior Programmer for new and existing clients. I also remained an active developer on most internal projects.
My responsibilities included:
Implementation and planning of new and on-going development projects.
Providing client APIs for their own front and back-office applications.
Building dynamic, user-friendly and professional sites for individual corporate clients.
Taking business requirements from clients and developed sites to their exact specifications.
Supporting and maintaining existing projects.
Management of dedicated, VPS and shared servers as well as all associated databases.
Achievements:
Over the course of my time in Benchmark I worked on more than 20 sites.
I was promoted from Junior to Lead Programmer in two months on the job due to my ability to deliver technical projects and develop strong client relationships, particularly with Merlin Motor Group.
Education
2006-2007 Institute of Art, Design and Technology:
Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computing in Multimedia Systems — awarded
2003-2006 Institute of Art, Design and Technology:
Bachelor of Science in Computing in Multimedia Programming
2000-2003 Institute of Technology, Tallaght:
Computing and Information Systems