Alain Schlesser
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
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
Experience
- Object-oriented Programming (OOP) - 17 years
- WordPress - 10 years
- PHP - 10 years
- Composer - 4 years
- Doctrine - 2 years
- Vue - 1 year
Availability
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
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.
Maintainer
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.
Owner
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.
Software Architect
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.
WordPress Core Contributor
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.
CTO
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.
Administrator
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.
Experience
Daniels Trading
https://www.danielstrading.com/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/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/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/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/Also, I launched major initiatives, like:
• Fatal error protection handler
• PHP minimum requirements management infrastructure
• Notifications subsystem
Certifications
Google Developers Expert in Web Technologies
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Doctrine 2, Vue, Doctrine, Node.js, REST APIs, React, Laravel Elixir
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++
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
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)
Industry Expertise
Photography
Storage
MySQL, Oracle SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQLite, PL/SQL, Azure Active Directory, Oracle 11g, Oracle PL/SQL
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
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