My Technical Skills - WordPress Web Developer

Technical Skills and Experience

For those that are interested, here’s some of the detail of my technical work, skills and experience.

My technical skills are wide-ranging and include experience of:

  • web development – primarily using WordPress as a content management system;
  • server and database administration across both Windows and Unix/Linux platforms;
  • software development in a wide variety of languages, but now specialising in PHP and JavaScript;
  • specific applications, specifically in the IT Operations and Network Management Systems area.

Web Development Skills

I have strong web development skills, mainly using WordPress for content management and Laravel and Vue.js for web application development. I’m an all rounder with both front-end and back-end development skills. My work has been primarily focussed on:

  • Web application development with a combination of:
    • HTML
    • CSS and SASS
    • Bootstrap, Bulma and Tailwind front-end frameworks
    • PHP
    • MySQL AND Microsoft SQL
    • JavaScript
  • Website deployment using open-source content management systems such as WordPress.
  • Web application development using the Laravel framework and Vue.js

I’m a WordPress expert and have developed sites using advanced WordPress functionality, including:

  • multiple post types and taxonomies
  • lots of custom templates
  • custom loops and widgets
  • AJAX and jQuery
  • custom meta and options
  • admin tweaks
  • and more.

I’ve also worked with:

  • BuddyPress
  • SMS integration
  • custom API’s
  • complex forms
  • maps and geocoding
  • custom email digests
  • and WordPress networks/multisite.

I use Subversion or Git for source control and have used a variety of IDEs and advanced editors.

Hosting and Networking

With a background in a large corporate and government server hosting department, I have advanced server administration and networking knowledge and skills.

I provide hosting services and advice, domain and DNS management, scripting and website migration.

Internet and Communication Skills

I have a strong interest in the Internet and how people use it. I was on Twitter before it was mainstream and have been blogging for years.

I have developed communications and social-media strategies, built community websites, and introduced teams of people to useful collaboration tools.

Software Engineering Skills

My original training was as a software engineer. I view the process and techniques of creating software to be more important than the tools you do it with.

I have used the following methods and techniques (specific languages and tools are listed later):

  • Procedural Languages
  • Declarative and Functional Languages
  • Logic-based languages
  • Object-oriented design
  • Formal methods and static analysis
  • Real-time languages

My ability to learn new languages and adapt to new programming paradigms is demonstrated by the different languages and tools that I have used over the years:

  • C
  • Ada (and the SPARK subset of Ada)
  • PERL
  • Unix Shell Scripting
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • BMC’s Patrol Scripting Language (PSL)
  • Scheme and LISP
  • Pascal
  • Modula-2
  • Assembler
  • Basic and Visual Basic
  • Logo
  • Miranda
  • Prolog
  • SmallTalk
  • B and Z (Formal methods and their associated analysis tools)

General IT Skills

Aside from software development I have skills in the following areas:

  • Unix administration
  • Windows administration
  • Network administration
  • Relational database design and administration
  • General application skills (Microsoft Office, Google Apps/G-Suite, etc)
  • Fault diagnosis and repair
  • Hardware build, upgrade and repair

Network Management Systems

I worked in the Network Management Systems team of a large hosting company for 8 years. This role gave me in-depth experience of the following specific tools:

  • BMC Software’s Performance Manager (aka “Patrol”) suite of Network Monitoring and Management products
  • BMC Remedy
  • IBM Tivoli NetCool
  • HP Openview
  • HP Systems Insight Manager
  • VMWare Virtual Center
  • AlarmPoint
  • EMC SMARTS
  • Symantec NetBackup

Software and Safety Engineering Experience

My previous job was as a software and safety engineer for Praxis Critical Systems Limited (now Praxis High Integrity Systems)in Bath.

I worked there for four years and was involved in the following:

  • Software Engineering of safety-critical and safety-related systems
  • Verification and validation of safety-critical and safety-related system software
  • Development, promotion and customer service for the SPARK Examiner: a tool for performing static analysis on the SPARK subset of the Ada language
  • Developing and running both technical and non-technical training courses
  • Safety analysis of safety-critical and safety-related systems (both software and hardware)
  • Development of the Yellow Book Rail website.
  • Development from scratch of a new technology for presenting Safety Cases in electronic form