Albert Albala, Developer in Montreal, QC, Canada
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Albert Albala

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Drupal Developer

Location
Montreal, QC, Canada
Toptal Member Since
September 27, 2016

An active member of the Drupal community since 2006, Albert specializes in automated testing and continuous integration for Drupal projects and has worked with various teams including at the Linux Foundation and CGI. He was also a lead Drupal developer on the award-winning site, Stm.info/fr. You can find more about Albert at his site, Albertalbala.com/en.html.

Drupal 7DockerDrupal 8PHPMySQLAgileGitPHPUnitJenkinsJavaScriptJekyllSoftware DevelopmentLinux

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Jekyll, Drupal 8, Drupal 7, Docker, Git

The most amazing...

...project I've worked on is the site Stm.info/, a Drupal website which is visited by 1 million+ daily visitors.

Work Experience

Drupal 8 CMS Developer

2016 - 2017
ParsonsTKO (via Toptal)
  • Migrated about 10,000 nodes from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8.
  • Set up a continuous integration with Circle CI.
  • Set up automated tests using PHPUnit.
  • Developed a Drupal 8 module.
  • Helped the team use the Agile development approach using two-week sprints.
Technologies: Drupal 8

Senior Drupal Developer

2015 - 2016
The Linux Foundation
  • Introduced continuous integration and automated testing to the Drupal development process.
  • Maintained the core websites: Training.linuxfoundation.org and Events.linuxfoundation.org.
  • Maintained the link between Drupal sites and CRM instance via web services.
  • Improved and maintained the tools for local development.
  • Worked as part of a multidisciplinary team to introduce improvements to the continuous integration platform.
Technologies: PHPUnit, Drupal 8, Drupal 7

Senior Drupal Developer

2014 - 2014
CGI
  • Worked as the lead developer on the Drupal 7 website, 24htremblant.com.
  • Introduced Jenkins' continuous integration to the Drupal team.
  • Introduced automated testing to the Drupal team.
  • Worked as part of the team that introduced an Agile workflow to previously waterfall projects.
  • Trained team members on Drupal best practices including automated testing and continuous integration.
Technologies: Jenkins, Drupal 7

Lead Drupal Developer

2013 - 2013
TP1
  • Delivered successfully the site (Stm.info) on time and on budget in an Agile workflow.
  • Implemented REST communication between Drupal and middleware combining several legacy systems.
  • Implemented Behat automated testing on a Jenkins continuous integration server.
  • Trained junior developers on the proper use of automated testing and code review.
  • Performed architectural analysis based on client needs, within Agile sprints.
Technologies: Jenkins, Drupal

Realistic Dummy Content

This module allows Drupal developers to use realistic dummy content during the development phase before real content is available; it also is good for client demos before the real content is available.

Simpletest Turbo

This makes Drupal automated testing up to 66% faster when using Simpletest on complex sites.

STM.info

http://stm.info/fr
I worked as a team member, a lead Drupal developer, and was responsible for the automated testing on the project to redesign and re-engineer the main portal to the Montreal transit authority.

STM.info was the winner in 2014 of the "Acquia Partner Site of the Year - Transit Category" announced at DrupalCon Austin.

24h Tremblant

http://www.24htremblant.com
I worked as the lead developer and was responsible for the automated testing and continuous integration on the 24h Tremblant portal, a fundraising portal at the prestigious Tremblant Ski Resort.

Modifying Legacy Code the Right Way (Hint: Do Not Add If Statements)

This site shows one of my speaking engagements about the best ways to deal with legacy Drupal code without inserting too much complexity.

Automated Testing with SimpleTest in the Definitive Guide to Drupal 7

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5300917.Albert_Albala
I am the author of the chapter "Automated Testing with SimpleTest" in the Definitive Guide to Drupal 7 (published by Apress).

Platforms

Drupal, Docker, Drupal 8, Drupal 7, Linux

Other

Software Development

Languages

PHP, JavaScript

Frameworks

PHPUnit

Tools

Jenkins, Git, Jekyll

Paradigms

Agile

Storage

MySQL

1997 - 2001

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Linguistics

McGill University - Montreal, Québec, Canada

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