Nathan Finch
Verified Expert in Engineering
WordPress Plugins Developer
Madison, WI, United States
Toptal member since October 25, 2016
Nate's been building websites since 2011. He loves development—it's the perfect mix of problem-solving, building, and lifelong learning. He's a full-stack developer specializing in custom JavaScript, React, Node.js, PHP, WordPress, Laravel, and AWS web, serverless, and cloud applications.
Portfolio
Experience
- PHP - 11 years
- WordPress - 11 years
- WordPress Plugins - 10 years
- JavaScript - 9 years
- APIs - 8 years
- React - 3 years
- Laravel - 3 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 3 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
MacOS, WordPress, Terminal, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), React, Laravel, PHP, JavaScript, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
The most amazing...
...work I've done was for Strattic, building out serverless integrations on AWS for static and headless WordPress sites.
Work Experience
Full Stack Engineer | Consultant
Finch Professional Services
- Built custom and customized plugins, websites, and web applications with WordPress, Laravel, React, Amazon Web Services, and other technologies.
- Studied and kept up to date with emerging tools and trends in web development, especially around WordPress and the front end.
- Consulted with small and medium-sized businesses, non-profits, government organizations, and others about their online needs.
- Managed teams of contractors for larger projects and interfaced with clients to manage expectations and relationships.
Full-stack Developer
Elementor.com
- Maintained a legacy eCommerce sales platform which handles tens of millions of dollars annually.
- Expanded platform features to include new products that result in increased sales revenue.
- Created unit tests to bring the codebase up to an acceptable percentage of coverage.
- Led research on temporal testing strategies to ensure consistent time-based functionality.
- Started development and data migration to a new custom eCommerce platform with React and Node.js.
Senior WordPress Engineer
Strattic.com
- Developed a scalable, secure, and speedy platform that delivers static WordPress websites on AWS.
- Used my knowledge of AWS, WordPress, PHP, and Node.js to build custom, serverless functionality.
- Integrated 3rd party plugins and APIs into Strattic via serverless solutions like Lambda and DynamoDB.
- Created documentation and education for developers using Strattic and serverless services.
VP of Development
The Digital Ring
- Led, mentored, and grow the development team via 1-on-1s, teaching, interviewing, and hiring new developers.
- Gave direction to the development department, decided on goals, and influenced accepted projects.
- Introduced modern development workflows such as Git version control, CI/CD, AWS, and other services.
- Developed custom web applications and sites with Laravel, WordPress, React, and Node.js.
- Built and integrated custom API solutions across a variety of platforms.
- Maintained legacy applications, ran updates, and set up version control.
Web Engineer
10up
- Built completely custom experiences using WordPress, PHP, and JavaScript.
- Integrated services like Elasticsearch and the WordPress REST API.
- Worked on a team of more senior level devs.
- Performed code reviews and worked with Gitflow.
- Worked in a fully remote/distributed environment.
Experience
Custom Website Design and Functionality Including a Migration to WordPress
http://jungsik.krGitHub: https://github.com/n8finch/jungsik-theme, https://github.com/n8finch/jungsik-theme-seoul
• This site has neat grids, Sass and Grunt for styling; jQuery/JavaScript for some interactivity. The website is not my design, but I built the code for it. It is a custom child theme on the Genesis Framework, built from the ground up with my Genesis starter theme. ACF was used to build in a customized experience for loading menu Items (lunch and dinner), bar menu items, bios, and press releases.
• The previous site had the same front-end design but was all PHP—so there was no way for the client to change anything without FTP. After moving this to WordPress and training them on how to use the CMS, they breathed a sigh of relief: “Oh, this is MUCH easier!” they said.
It’s a multisite, as the New York and Seoul restaurants are slightly different with different needs. I developed it as a local site, pushed it to a development site, then migrated it to production, so single and multisite migrations are not a problem for me.
WordPress Quick Draft or Post WordPress REST API Plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-quick-post-or-draft/Please note: this plugin currently requires the WordPress REST API (Version 2) plugin (which you can download here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/rest-api/).
The idea of this plugin is that it is quick to post from the front end and only gives you three fields to fill out: post title, post content, and category. From there, you can save it as a draft, or post it immediately. The plugin uses the WP REST API to post the data.
Please refer to installation and screenshots to see how to install, how to set this plugin up, and how to use it.
Instructions for use:
1. Click on the blue slide out button to pull up the popup.
2. Fill out the Title, Content, and Category (though you don't need a category filled out).
3. Click on the button to save as a draft or immediately post.
4. Upon successful posting, you'll see a confirmation box, then you can close the popup or it will close in five seconds.
Yet Another Social Share Plugin
Support for the following social networks is required: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Whatsapp (for mobile browsers only).
The plugin options page include the following configurable items:
• There is a choice to display on posts, pages, and other registered custom post types.
• Options to activate or deactivate the buttons for different social networks.
• Three different button sizes to choose from small, medium, and large.
• The choice to display the icons in their original colors (default) or all in a selected color.
• An option to determine in which order the icons will appear (e.g., FB, TW, G+, or more).
• Opportunities to place the social share bar (one or more of these can be selected):
a) Below the post title.
b) Floating on the left side.
c) After the post content.
d) Inside the featured image.
The plugin also enables a shortcode to include a sharing bar inside a post.
Custom Author/Book Websites
Work Done:
• Migrated the site to the Genesis Framework.
• Built a custom widgetized homepage.
• Performed social media integration.
• Developed a layer slider.
• Installed SSL.
• Implemented a Gumroad Integration.
Artisan Kraft Genesis Child Theme and Customizations
This project was a redesign of the AKGoods website. They wanted to move to the Genesis Framework, and after heavily customizing the Jessica theme, including added extra functionality, wrapped this project up.
Notes:
• Built responsive multiple page layouts on the site.
• Developed custom categories, single product, and multi-column pages.
• Developed single product pages including custom features: accordion, pair with a query (you can also like a query), a custom cart, wishlist, and search layouts.
• Wrote custom Contact Form 7 layouts and actions.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Business, International Business, Finance
North Park University - Chicago, IL, USA
Certifications
Front End Web Developer (Nanodegree)
Udacity
Skills
Libraries/APIs
jQuery UI, jQuery, WordPress API, React, Node.js, jQuery Plugins, GitHub API, Vue
Tools
Grunt, GitHub, Git, Gulp, WP-CLI, Terminal
Languages
PHP, JavaScript, CSS, CSS3, HTML, Sass, HTML5, PHP 7
Frameworks
Genesis Framework, Laravel, PHPUnit
Platforms
WordPress, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), MacOS, WooCommerce
Paradigms
Lambda Architecture, Agile, Unit Testing
Storage
MySQL, Amazon DynamoDB
Other
WordPress Rescue, WordPress Themes, WordPress Plugins, Full-stack, Custom Themes, Theme Customization, Headless Software, WordPress Multisite, APIs, Integration, Mobile First, Technical Leadership, Lambda Functions, eCommerce, Business Administration, International Trade, Finance
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