Alain Schlesser, Developer in Olzheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
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Alain Schlesser

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Olzheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Toptal Member Since
October 7, 2016

Alain is a freelance software engineer, WordPress consultant, and Google developers expert (GDE) for web technologies, specializing in enterprise-level WordPress development, planning scalable architectures, and refactoring legacy code to make it fit for the next decade. His more than 25 years of development work span numerous languages and platforms with certifications for Oracle SQL and SharePoint, among others. Alain currently focuses on modern object-oriented PHP and domain-driven design.

Portfolio

XWP
JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, Analytics, Privacy, Data Privacy...
WP-CLI
Shell, WordPress, PHP, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), MySQL, Linux...
Bright Nucleus
Laravel, Symfony, Node.js, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress...

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Ubuntu Linux, Linux Subsystem, Terminal, Docker, GitHub, PhpStorm, Windows 11, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

The most amazing...

...thing I've built so far is a centralized architecture wrapping an entire network of diverse WP sites, giving them access to DI, central logs, and a bus system.

Work Experience

Director, Technology & Innovation

2023 - PRESENT
XWP
  • Developed a line of business around data privacy and the specific requirements of the Privacy Sandbox initiative.
  • Consulted with existing clients to assess data privacy needs and come up with solutions.
  • Partnered with Google to educate on the Privacy Sandbox initiative through marketing content, event participation, and custom software.
Technologies: JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, Analytics, Privacy, Data Privacy, International Data Privacy Regulations, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Differential Privacy, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Firebase, WordPress Plugins

Maintainer

2017 - PRESENT
WP-CLI
  • Maintained and improved the WP-CLI framework and its bundled commands as well as all the websites and infrastructure that are part of the project.
  • Built and maintained scalable, automated management and DevOps processes in GitHub Actions to streamline maintainership.
  • Ran and led internal and third-party events to increase the number and quality of contributions.
Technologies: Shell, WordPress, PHP, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), MySQL, Linux, Back-end, WordPress Plugins, Behavior-driven Development (BDD)

Owner

2014 - PRESENT
Bright Nucleus
  • Developed a reusable framework for quickly creating scalable and extensible web applications.
  • Wrote automated boilerplate scripts to quickly generate packages, plugins, themes, and command-line tools.
  • Designed and implemented a WordPress plugin architecture that has been used by companies like Google on complex projects.
Technologies: Laravel, Symfony, Node.js, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), REST APIs, Back-end, WordPress Plugins

Software Architect

2019 - 2022
XWP/Google
  • Worked on the AMP for WordPress plugin to improve the overall architecture and add new back-end features.
  • Built and maintained the open-source PHP implementation of the AMP Optimizer, which server-side renders the AMP for a massive performance boost.
  • Consulted on architectural and strategic decisions to help shape the AMP roadmap within the PHP ecosystem.
Technologies: Web Components, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Website Performance, HTML DOM, WordPress, PHP, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), Object-oriented Programming (OOP), MySQL, REST APIs, Linux, Back-end, Data Structures, WordPress Plugins, Behavior-driven Development (BDD)

WordPress Core Contributor

2017 - 2018
Yoast BV
  • Contributed to the WordPress core by planning and executing on substantial improvements to the Core software.
  • Co-maintained the WordPress Bootstrap/load component.
  • Pushed for more modern practices and an improvement in the technical stack and its dependencies.
Technologies: JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), MySQL, REST APIs, Back-end, WordPress Plugins, Behavior-driven Development (BDD)

CTO

2015 - 2016
WP Developers Club
  • Developed the codebase that served as a reference for teaching.
  • Managed the multisite infrastructure, including the e-learning systems.
  • Supported an intranet for internal processes and communication based on Bitrix.
  • Mentored, led, and managed the technical team to run technical operations.
Technologies: Sass, HTML, Node.js, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), MySQL, Linux, Back-end, Data Structures, WordPress Plugins

Administrator

2003 - 2014
Ministry of Justice - CPL
  • Planned and executed a SharePoint intranet over several facilities.
  • Architected and built an HR planning and time-tracking system developed in .NET.
  • Developed and managed a salary system for inmates, integrated into the MS Office suite.
  • Collaborated on an integrated inmate management system, including sentences, accounting, and scheduling, all running on JBoss.
  • Planned and developed a system for managing technical maintenance integrated into automated AutoCAD plans.
Technologies: Windows PowerShell, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), AutoCAD, XSL, XML, JBoss, Oracle SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, .NET, SharePoint

Daniels Trading

https://www.danielstrading.com/
Built the architecture following domain-driven design (DDD) principles around existing WordPress infrastructure to consolidate and improve several different legacy web properties into a coherent and modern whole.

Work Done:
• Created new architecture using auto-wiring dependency injection, config management, centralized logging and AOP mechanisms to consolidate several legacy web properties.
• Rebuilt several areas from the ground up.
• Integrated the external mailing list server and proprietary CRM.
• Developed and deployed workflow optimizations.

Institut International d'Hypnose Spirituelle

https://institut-iihs.com/
Completely developed and managed the infrastructure a network of several sites.

Work Done:
• Created a member management system with event registrations and invoicing.
• Built an educational content platform.
• Developed an eCommerce site selling digital goods.

The University of Sydney - Recovery Assessment Scale - Domains and Stages

https://www.sydney.edu.au/
Developed back-end functionality for an automated assessment tool.

Work Done:
• Converted a back-end charting generation into SVG format.
• Exported charts and reports into PDFs.
• Sent PDF reports via email.

Metroplex Health System - Minisite: "Creating Better Health"

http://creatingbetterhealth.com/
Developed the back end to pull in data from two sources and display them appropriately in the front end.

Work Done:
• Pulled content service through asynchronous API requests.
• Pulled in events from mplex.org calendar through a custom Excel import.
• Designed both data sources to generate custom post types that can easily be reused in the theme.

WordPress Core Contributor

https://wordpress.org/
I contributed to WordPress Core as an ongoing maintainer. I was a component maintainer of the Bootstrap/Load and the HTTP components.
Also, I launched major initiatives, like:
• Fatal error protection handler
• PHP minimum requirements management infrastructure
• Notifications subsystem

Languages

PHP, PHP 7, Bash, JavaScript, Sass, CSS, HTML, XML, XSL, Pascal, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Visual Basic 6 (VB6), C++, C

Frameworks

Laravel, ZURB Foundation, Bootstrap, Symfony, .NET, Windows PowerShell, Laravel Spark, Laravel 5, Symfony 3, Bulma, Symfony 4

Tools

Sublime Text, PhpStorm, Composer, Git, Shell, Photoshop CC, Adobe Photoshop, PostCSS, Grunt, Gulp, Vagrant, NPM, AutoCAD, Terminal, Microsoft Access, Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB), Oracle Reports, Oracle Forms, Browserify, Bitbucket, GitHub, GitLab, Turbo Pascal, C++Builder, Microsoft Visual C++

Paradigms

Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Design Patterns, Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Object-oriented Design (OOD), PHP Standards Recommendations (PSR), REST, Domain-driven Development, Test-driven Development (TDD), Unit Testing, Aspect-oriented Programming, HTML DOM, Functional Programming

Platforms

WordPress, WordPress Theme Design, Linux, MacOS, JBoss, Docker, Linux Subsystem, Ubuntu Linux, SharePoint, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Firebase, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

Other

Unix Shell Scripting, WordPress Plugins, PHPDoc, Back-end, Data Structures, SSH, Domain-driven Design (DDD), WordPress Rescue, WordPress Multisite, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), Website Performance, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Web Components, Windows 10, LDAP, PSD to WordPress, Analytics, Privacy, Data Privacy, International Data Privacy Regulations, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Differential Privacy, Windows 11

Libraries/APIs

Doctrine 2, Vue, Doctrine, Node.js, REST APIs, React, Laravel Elixir

Industry Expertise

Photography

Storage

MySQL, Oracle SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite, PL/SQL, Azure Active Directory, Oracle 11g, Oracle PL/SQL

JUNE 2019 - PRESENT

Google Developers Expert in Web Technologies

Google

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