Rao is available for hire

Rao Abid Ali

Verified Expert in Engineering

Software Developer

Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Toptal member since August 27, 2021

Expertise

CMS WordPress Development CSS jQuery JavaScript PHP Git REST API Trello Development JSON

Bio

Rao has been focused on WordPress for more than seven years and developed a number of custom WordPress plugins to add custom functionality for client sites. He also designed and developed many sites ranging from corporate and business to WooCommerce stores and multi-lingual sites. Aside from that, he develops premium plugins for marketplaces, contributes to open source projects, and teaches WordPress plugin development on Udemy.

Portfolio

Try WP

PHP, WordPress, APIs, REST, Ajax, jQuery, WordPress Multisite, WooCommerce

ATAKI Solutions

Website CMS, WordPress, WordPress Plugins, WordPress API, Website Optimization...

BooSpot

WordPress, WordPress Plugins, User Experience (UX), APIs, Ajax, Business Logic...

Experience

WordPress - 8 years
APIs - 7 years
PHP - 7 years
WooCommerce - 7 years
JavaScript - 7 years
WordPress Plugins - 6 years
Git - 5 years
Website Optimization - 4 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, Trello, PhpStorm, WordPress, WordPress API, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, APIs, React

The most amazing...

...custom plugin I've built for an online smoothie store enables customers to cherry-pick from the range of smoothies and subscribe for weekly or monthly orders.

Work Experience

Lead Developer and Co-founder

2021 - PRESENT

Try WP

Developed a system that is used to automatically create pre-populated and pre-configured sites in a WordPress Multisite installation.
Created an Ajax-powered form that can communicate with the back-end server to create an instance of the multisite.
Refactored the code of the back-end server that resulted in reducing the request processing time from 30 seconds to under 11 seconds.

Technologies: PHP, WordPress, APIs, REST, Ajax, jQuery, WordPress Multisite, WooCommerce

Co-founder and Team Lead

2014 - PRESENT

ATAKI Solutions

Designed and developed 600+ websites using the latest and renowned WordPress tools, including ACF, Elementor, Gutenberg, Oxygen, Meta Box, Yoast, and cache plugins.
Focused on client satisfaction with a result-oriented approach to bring in repeat clients and business.
Collaborated with the client's teams on various aspects like developing full-fledged websites, fixing broken sites, optimizing speed, troubleshooting, custom solutions to specific needs, and advising on fixing SEO-related issues.
Created a custom licensing system with REST API endpoints. It creates and transmits the license automatically when a digital WooCommere product is purchased. The system can also push automatic updates for custom WordPress plugins or themes.

Technologies: Website CMS, WordPress, WordPress Plugins, WordPress API, Website Optimization, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, WooCommerce, jQuery, Git, Web Project Management, Gutenberg Editor, HubSpot, MySQL, Web UX, XD to HTML, REST APIs

Senior WordPress Developer

2016 - 2021

BooSpot

Developed and maintained the commercial WordPress plugins offered by the agency.
Trained a team of junior developers and helped them hone their JavaScript, PHP, and WordPress development skills.
Managed the launch process of two WordPress plugins on marketplaces and ensured these plugins meet the coding standard requirements of the marketplaces.
Participated in the launch of a lifetime deal (LTD) for the WordPress plugin offered over a renowned LTD site.

Technologies: WordPress, WordPress Plugins, User Experience (UX), APIs, Ajax, Business Logic, WooCommerce, PSD to HTML

Manager of Export Processing Hub

2006 - 2013

Albaraka Bank

Contributed my opinions and experience during the implementation of MySis, the proposed banking software for Albaraka Bank, and took an active part in providing business logic for the modules related to the trade finance department.
Managed a sizable volume of foreign trade export business at the central processing hub entailing 56 branches of the north and central regions.
Liaised with top management and the processing hub staff to make sure the team is performing to the fullest and all underlying SOPs are followed in letter and spirit.

Technologies: Communication, Client Success, Business Logic

Experience

Custom WooCommerce Smoothie Box

Developed a custom plugin for an online smoothie store. The functionality was to give visitors the option to build their own smoothie box. The visitors could cherry-pick from the available range of smoothies to fill up their selected box size. Additionally, WooCommerce Subscription plugin was integrated so that the visitors could subscribe to get this custom box delivered weekly or monthly.

WordPress Plugin for Structured Data Schema

https://uschema.io/

uSchema is a simple yet powerful plugin to help WordPress users and developers easily integrate advanced metadata and structured data to a WordPress website. Adding the structured data automatically helps a WordPress site look better on the search results page and increases the traffic to the website.

Video Course on WordPress Plugin Development

I love WordPress and want to help others to learn this amazing CMS as well. This course is aimed at teaching the core techniques required to build a professional WordPress plugin. It includes all the technical guidance to deal with various APIs including Options API, Shortcode API, Widgets API, Settings API, and Plugin API. I also discussed how to deal with custom post type, loop, single template, archive template, permalinks, taxonomies, translation files, and meta boxes. Sanitization, escaping, and other best practices for developing secure plugins were also discussed.

Open-source Framework for WordPress Developers

https://github.com/JoeSz/Exopite-Simple-Options-Framework

I am the co-author of Exopite-Simple-Options-Framework. This is a lightweight, easy-to-use Options Framework for WordPress plugins and themes and a Metabox Framework for post-type meta boxes. It can help create meta boxes and options settings by passing some configuration arrays, making it easier to deal with standard WordPress Options API.

Colle Capital — Early-stage Technology Venture Fund

https://colle.vc/

Colle Capital Partners is a global, opportunistic, early-stage technology venture fund. They approached me to redesign their site and create custom modules for portfolio, news, and team showcase.

I created showcases for their portfolio, team and news as per their requirement and design preference.

Education

2007 - 2009

Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)

Haliey College of Banking and Finance - Lahore, Pakistan

2004 - 2006

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration

The University of The Punjab - Lahore, Pakistan

Skills

Libraries/APIs

WordPress API, jQuery, REST APIs, React

Tools

Git, Trello, Gutenberg Editor, PhpStorm

Languages

JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS

Paradigms

REST, Object-oriented Programming (OOP)

Platforms

WordPress, WooCommerce, HubSpot

Storage

JSON, MySQL

Other

WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, APIs, Website CMS, Website Optimization, PSD to HTML, Business Logic, Communication, Web Project Management, Development, Web UX, XD to HTML, Business Cases, Portfolio Management, Financial Services, Client Success, Frameworks, Business Law, Business, Economics, Finance, Statistics, Ajax, WordPress Multisite, User Experience (UX)

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