Bill Fisher
Web Developer, Front End Engineer, Web Application Programmer
Quick Links
Objectives
- To work with superlative engineers, designers and executives.
- To improve my skills continually by learning from peers and mentors.
- To work for the greater good and to have fun doing it.
- To develop web applications that are extremely fast, that leverage the power of the mashable web, and that lead the web forward toward increased interoperability, real-time data, and effective, meaningful communication.
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Skills
- HTML/XHTML/XML
- Clean, semantic markup. Comfortable with HTML5.
- CSS
- Cross-browser compatibility. Table-less layouts. Image sprites. Comfortable translating design files into valid code.
- JavaScript
- Ajax and JSON. Object-oriented. jQuery, Prototype and other frameworks. Raphaël. Google APIs.
- Ruby on Rails
- Comfortable with Rails views and configurations. Some experience with Rails models, controllers and testing.
- PHP
- Object-oriented. MVC frameworks. cURL. CMS customization (WordPress, Expression Engine, Joomla!).
- MySQL
- Normalizaton. Full-Text search.
- Apache
- .htaccess and pretty URLs. gzip.
- UNIX / Linux
- Shell scripting. Cron jobs. Comfortable at the command line.
- Mobile Web Development
- Extreme optimization. Graceful degradation. Device, browser, screen and object detection.
- Optimization
- YSlow and other tools, Image sprites, gzipping, code refactoring and minification, CDNs, Base64 image encoding.
- Comet
- Experimental research with Node.js and Socket.IO for full-duplex, real-time web applications.
- CouchDB
- Experimental research with CouchDB and Sammy.js for RESTful, document-based web applications with little to no server-side code.
- Java/J2EE/JSP
- Experience in an academic setting only.
- Communication
- Excellent written and verbal communication. Comfortable speaking in public.
- Attitude
- Positive. Can-do.
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Experience
- Empower Interactive, 2010
- Worked in a small team using Agile Development methodology to build an Ajax-driven, Ruby on Rails web application. I also developed the company website.
http://empower-interactive.com
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- White Lotus Design, 2008-Present
- Completed over ten projects ranging from small website revisions, to complete website creations, to a major Google Maps project with a custom, map-based administrative interface. Content management systems included Wordpress, Joomla!, Radiant (for Ruby on Rails), and small, custom systems based on PHP/MySQL.
http://whitelotusdesign.com
http://maps.npaihb.org
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- eCert Systems, 2010
- Worked to improve the UI in eCert's Rails-based, email validity reporting application.
http://www.ecertsystems.com/
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- San Francisco Symphony, 2010
- I developed a mobile website for the Symphony's Black and White Ball without the ability to use any server-side code due to project constraints.
http://www.sfsymphony.org/bwbmobile
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- Conscious Creative, 2010
- Created a devlopment subdomain that exactly mirrored the production environment for Concious Creative's work on http://www.norcalhostels.org/. Discovered problems and assisted in strategies for upgrading and improving the site.
http://www.consciouscreative.com/
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- Zap Squeak Design, 2010
- I worked with Gabe Scelta of Zap Squeak Design to repair a booking widget on an adventure travel website. I used PHP, SOAP and Ajax as part of this project.
http://www.zapsqueak.com
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- Flow Funding, 2010
- Flow Funding hired me to revise their database, their administrative interface, and the presentation of data on their website. This project used the Smarty templating system.
http://flowfunding.org
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- Web-Fu Design, 2010
- Developed Web-Fu's company site in Wordpress. Created a custom, Ajax-based portfolio presentation for the home page.
http://www.webfu-design.com/
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- Zoey Setiawan, 2010
- Zoey hired me to build a simple WordPress site for an accounting firm.
http://zoeychloe.com
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- BARTeye, 2009
- Built a web application, optimized for smartphones, that gets the real-time ETA feed from Bay Area Rapid Transit and visually presents the data. I did this for fun in my spare time.
http://barteye.com
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- Yoga Bliss, 2009
- A Wordpress site for a small business. I hired a freelance designer and managed the project.
http://yogabliss.com
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- UC Berkeley, 2000-2004
- In my first professional job with computers, I was an IT help desk technician. I did a wide variety of tasks, including some work with SQL.
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- fisherwebdev, 2009-Present
- I also continually experiment on my own website to explore programming issues or to try new ideas.
http://fisherwebdev.com/experiments
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Interests
- Interoperability
- Mash-ups, APIs, Semantic Web.
- Data Visualization
- Maps, dashboards, business intelligence, SVG and the canvas tag.
- Mobile
- Geolocation, real-time web.
- Open Source / Transparency
- Open systems will win.
- What I want to learn in the next 12 months
- NoSQL databases. Memcached. Flash/Actionscript. More Comet. More Ruby. More UNIX. More design patterns.
- Music and Audio
- I also play music, make recordings, and occasionally get hired to be an audio engineer.
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Education
- UC Santa Cruz, 1993-1995
- Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, minor in Literature
- San Francisco State University, 1999-2000
- Single subject teaching credential and over 20 units of post-baccalaureate studies in English, 2000
- Diablo Valley College, 2006-2007
- 20 units of study in Computer Science
- City College of San Francisco, 2007-2008
- 18 units of study in Computer Science
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