Lead Web Developer / Project Manager
Athabasca University | July 2007 - present
Major projects: Learning Management Cloud, e-portfolio, Canadian Film Online, e-Lab, Landing
This position was created to better facilitate communication between the institution’s technical services department and faculty and involves facilitating communication and project management between these two groups. In this position, I’ve managed projects ranging from small-scale individual research proposals (< $50,000) to multi-year institutional efforts involving multiple stakeholder groups (> $500,000). I have hired and managed interdisciplinary teams (5-10) of IT, creative, faculty, and contract staff, and built a reputation as being a reliable, collaborative bridge between technical and non-technical staff.
I have managed and advised several large-scale projects that have researched, evaluated, and implemented new technology for the institution, including the Learning Management Cloud, a collaborative effort among Alberta universities to provide a cloud-based Moodle infrastructure for reducing the administrative and provisioning costs of online learning; an e-portfolio system for students that allows them to create and share displays of learning and reduces cost for prior learning assessment at the university; Canadian Film Online, an interactive database of Canadian film and film policy that saw a partnership with Library and Archives Canada and the Toronto International Film Festival; the e-Lab, a multidisciplinary resource for students that explores new techniques for learning; and the Landing, an internal social networking system that connects Athabasca’s diverse population. I have built project documentation, managed budgets, supervised staff and contractors, worked with government agencies, contributed to product development, and facilitated collaborative efforts between researchers and technical staff.
Help Developer Lead
GE Fanuc | June 2003 – July 2007
Major projects: iHistorian, Proficy, XML-based authoring model
This position was responsible for creating and maintaining application and online help files for GE Fanuc’s industrial software solutions. I was assigned to write technical documentation for the iHistorian and Proficy products, but quickly expanded my role to provide infrastructure support for their help systems as a whole.
As part of the Help Development team, I reduced maintenance requirements for existing documentation models through automation and scripting. I also improved team documentation practices and communication through an ad-hoc intranet and wiki system.
In 2006, I led the transition from a closed multi-format authoring model to a single-source, XML-based authoring model that could output to several formats, including online and print. This allowed for more efficient maintenance of existing content and portability among formats and created potential for new models of technical documentation, including simple content reuse.
Web developer (contract)
Sandcastle Inc | April 2003 – June 2003
I was contracted by Sandcastle (formerly CDMG) to help develop a site for AADAC. While there, I expanded my ASP knowledge, and created a fully functional administration portal for the site. This portal handled the maintenance of the site’s content, including news, polls, data storage for Flash games, inter-site messaging and membership.
Concurrently, I developed a time management system in PHP, which helped track project hours and clients.
Principal (Freelance)
static·red light industries | 2003 – 2012
I designed and developed websites for several nonprofit and small business clients, including UBC Faculty of Education’s Digital Literacy Centre and Homeless Connect.
Webmaster
Matrikon | May 2002 – January 2003
Matrikon was a multi-faceted position, covering web development and implementation, technical copy writing and graphic design. Working closely within a team of three (myself, a graphic artist, and a copy writer), we worked to service a company of over 400 employees and their marketing demands.
In my tenure at Matrikon, I expanded my web development skills, adding SQL, ASP and PHP knowledge and worked through a site rebrand and redesign.
Creative Director
Merilus Inc | March 2000 – March 2002
I worked with marketing, sales, and development teams to create common design language among marketing materials, online presence, and user interface.
Technical Writer, Webmaster
Worldgate Inc | August, 1999 – March, 2000
I collaborated with support staff and founders to build print and online marketing materials, including support material and maintenance of the company website.
Technical Writer
NetMaster | 1998 - 1999
I authored technical documentation for the core product, a software-based firewalling system.