Maria Szubski
Verified Expert in Engineering
Front-end Developer
Cincinnati, United States
Toptal member since August 25, 2022
Maria is a front-end developer specializing in React and GraphQL. She has five years of experience building B2C and B2B sites and three years mentoring junior developers through local tech workshops. She has also contributed as a solo/lead developer and as part of large dev teams across various technologies. Maria's UX design background helps her quickly translate mockups into responsive UIs, delivering best practices in accessibility, user experience, and maintainable code standards.
Portfolio
Experience
- CSS - 15 years
- Git - 7 years
- JavaScript - 7 years
- Accessibility - 5 years
- React - 5 years
- Jamstack - 5 years
- Gatsby - 4 years
- GraphQL - 3 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
MacOS, React, Git, Accessibility, Netlify, GraphQL, JavaScript, ESLint, SCSS, Storybook
The most amazing...
...tool I've built is a React-based site generator for a Fortune 500 company to quickly create brand sites with customizable web components and low hosting costs.
Work Experience
Front-end Web Developer
Self-employed
- Collaborated with clients to strategize and build web applications, focusing on single-page application architecture and accessibility.
- Translated designs into user-friendly responsive web interfaces with React, Gatsby, Vue, and Ruby on Rails.
- Developed data models in headless CMS, such as Contentful, Dato, and Strapi, and hooked these models up to the front end with GraphQL.
- Built, tested, and documented flexible React component systems in Storybook.
- Set up automatic static site deployment with GitHub and Netlify.
- Produced CSS keyframe animations and interactive SVGs.
- Created a drag-and-drop, React-based static site generator with reusable web components.
Chapter Leader | Event Organizer | Instructor
Girl Develop It
- Led and supported instructors, volunteers, and students at local tech meetups for Girl Develop It's Cincinnati chapter.
- Planned the quarterly course schedule, promoted events, fostered community partnerships, grew the chapter, awarded scholarships, and ran day-to-day operations.
- Conducted multi-session workshops on HTML and CSS and provided mentoring for classes of 10-15 students.
- Oversaw the training of meetup organizers and instructors and guided the new curriculum.
UI Designer
Nielsen
- Governed Nielsen's collection of big data applications to establish brand cohesion, consistency, and ease of use.
- Built and maintained the application standards documentation website to communicate the department's UX guidelines.
- Designed interfaces across multiple frameworks, including AngularJS, Sencha, MicroStrategy, and D3.
- Created mobile applications that adhered to iOS and Material Design standards.
- Participated in the employee engagement team to organize the company's intranet and drive new initiatives within the organization.
- Increased product adoption and improved the panelists' experience by simplifying the Nielsen Panelist web portal.
- Wrote the white paper: Quantifying the Business Value of User Experience and presented this to over 150 employees. This presentation led to the UX team being repositioned in the company, giving us more authority over the brand's suite of products.
Digital Product Design Intern
Moment Design
- Designed the first ESPN ScoreCenter iPad app with data-heavy live game statistics and breaking news coverage. Each layout was customizable based on the user's favorite sports and teams.
- Created The Power of IX virtual mosaic for ESPN W's celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Users could upload photos of female athletes and browse the interactive mosaic by athlete name or sport.
- Consulted on new rapid prototyping tools to expand the company's capabilities and improve workflow efficiency.
Interactive Design Intern
The Ant Farm
- Created multi-asset marketing strategies for the upcoming movie and video game releases, including social media themes, custom websites, viral campaigns, and banner ads.
- Built websites and sizzle reels for consideration in The Ant Farm's industry award nominations. These microsites focused on a subset of the company's capabilities, highlighting how work is done through case studies.
- Redesigned the Careers website for a major entertainment company to give it a modern feel, highlight their major properties, and increase interest in employment opportunities.
Digital Design Intern – IT Innovations
JCPenney
- Designed applications for FindMore, a series of large-format touch screen kiosks inside JCPenney stores, which promoted seasonal marketing campaigns and provided customers with product guides to enhance their in-store experience.
- Implemented an approachable and intuitive FindMore storefront and checkout process that was accessible at eye-level for both standing and wheelchair users.
- Built an iPad app to increase sales on JCPenney's extended collection of fine jewelry for use in-store by sales associates. This included an Engagement Ring Builder, which showed previews of possible ring customizations.
Web Intern
Evenflo
- Maintained the custom CMS for internal and consumer-facing sites, adhering to strict web standards and accessibility principles.
- Filmed and edited instructional product demos in Flash to train customers in safely operating baby products and car seats.
- Created promotional materials, including posters and pamphlets, to reach new customers and vendors at B2B conferences.
Experience
Johnson & Johnson's Zarbee's | Website Redesign and BodilessJS Testing
https://www.zarbees.com/I consulted with Johnson & Johnson to provide feedback on the BodilessJS developer experience and contributed new components to the shared library. I worked with multiple teams and stakeholders to establish the project's scope and timeline to create the best possible experience for the client.
For the Zarbee's website, a brand acquired by Johnson & Johnson, I created page templates and extended the BodilessJS library to align with brand requirements. I also mentored team members on best practices for React and Tailwind CSS.
Aster | Redesign of Eight Brand Sites Using the Gatsby Theme
https://www.rosettahardscapes.comI was the lead front-end developer on this site, creating the library of shared components, then customizing the styles to fit each site's branding. The client provided only desktop design mockups, which I turned into responsive layouts.
The following Aster sites were all built using the same underlying Gatsby theme and Strapi CMS set up: www.truemontmaterials.com, www.redi-rock.com, www.rosettahardscapes.com, www.polebase.com, www.redi-scapes.com, manufacture.redi-rock.com, www.makepolebase.com, and www.makerosetta.com.
Mike Albert Fleet Solutions | Website Redesign
https://www.mikealbert.com/I built front-end components and reusable templates in Gatsby on React and Storybook. The design overhauled the company's content organization and marketing strategy to reach a new customer base and highlight the company as an industry thought leader.
Mike Albert Fleet Solutions | Website Design of Fleet Studies Lab
https://www.mikealbert.com/fleet-studies-labI was the lead front-end developer on this project, creating a library of components and templates for the classes, course categories, and main landing page. This website is being used to train and collaborate with other up-and-coming experts in the industry.
Kroger | Front-end Development of Kitchen 1883
https://www.kitchen1883.com/I built the front end of this site with Gatsby on React. I used Storybook to build, test, and document components. The site is fully responsive and accessible and can be navigated with a keyboard or screen reader.
Kroger | Front-end Development of On The Rhine Eatery
https://www.ontherhineeatery.com/I built the front end with Gatsby on React and the Styled Components. I used Storybook to build, test, and document these components to ensure they were flexible and met accessibility standards. The site can be browsed entirely with a keyboard or screen reader.
An Intro to Static Site Generators Workshop for the Jamstack Cincinnati Meetup
https://github.com/MariaSzubski/1906-getting-started-with-static-sitesThe workshop covered: the React project structure and routing; pre-fetching with Gatsby Link; the Gatsby Image; React building blocks such as function components, props, hooks, and state; the Styled Components and Web Font Loader plugins; and Netlify deployment.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Digital Design
University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Vue, React Router
Tools
Git, GitHub, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, JSX, Asana, Trello, NPM, InVision, Flash, Yarn Workspaces, Bitbucket
Languages
JavaScript, SCSS, HTML, CSS, GraphQL, TypeScript, HTML5
Paradigms
Jamstack, Mobile App Design, Scrum, Management
Platforms
MacOS, Netlify, Contentful, DatoCMS, Shopify
Frameworks
Bootstrap, Yarn, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Other
Accessibility, Storybook, Web Development, Gatsby, Responsive UI, ESLint, Styled-components, Content Management Systems (CMS), Instruction & Coaching, Prototyping, App Design, Mentorship, Event Planning, Workshops, DSLR Photography, Digital Product Design, Debugging, Responsive Web Apps, Social Media Campaigns, Advertising, Documentation, Static Hosting, Code Generators, Strapi, API Integration, Front-end
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