Russell Fair, Developer in Atlanta, GA, United States
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Russell Fair

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Atlanta, GA, United States
Toptal Member Since
August 22, 2016

Russell has 15+ years of web development experience, including 10 years with WordPress. He characterizes himself as a full-stack engineer, and he specializes in enterprise architecture and custom plugin development. Russell also teaches computer science and his strongest programming languages are PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, Java, and C++.

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Sublime Text, PhpStorm, Vagrant, Linux, MacOS

The most amazing...

...thing I've worked on is creating STEM and other computer science programs in local schools.

Work Experience

Director of Technology

2015 - 2016
The Friends School of Atlanta
  • Created a STEM lab that included 3D printing, robotics programming, and STEM challenges.
  • Created a Scratch Computer Programming club.
  • Redesigned the school network infrastructure including WiFi access points, switches, and firewall.
  • Rebuilt the school website using WordPress, including SSO and classroom blogs.
  • Configured the Google Apps for Education as a replacement for the Windows Active Directory and File Sharing.
Technologies: CSS, HTML, C++, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP

Senior Developer

2014 - 2015
University of Missouri
  • Migrated a large website (1 million+ post IDs) from an Expression Engine to WordPress.
  • Developed a custom WordPress plugin to create curated content via a MailChimp API.
  • Refactored a custom WordPress theme to support responsive design.
  • Created an automated deployment process using Capistrano and Git.
Technologies: PHP, ExpressionEngine, WordPress

Lead Developer

2013 - 2014
Cheri Media Group
  • Created custom WordPress plugins to create a specialized music news website information architecture.
  • Developed a custom WordPress theme framework and child themes for popular music news websites.
  • Designed a high performance hosting infrastructure that routinely served 2 million+ page views per day.
  • Built a custom analytics plugin that tracked engagement and provided rich data about user behavior.
  • Developed a custom display advertising plugin that integrated with Google's DoubleClick for a Publishers API.
Technologies: WordPress, JavaScript, PHP

Freelance Web Developer

2007 - 2013
Q21.CO
  • Developed multiple client websites using WordPress and Drupal.
  • Created custom WordPress plugins and themes for clients.
Technologies: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress

100% Test-driven Development (TDD) Plugin Example

https://github.com/rfair404/DIY-time-and-materials
I was involved in developing a small project that required PHP 5.3 compatibility. I adhered to the WordPress and WordPress VIP coding standards, achieving a compliance rate of 100%, including a suite of PHP unit tests, which provided a test coverage of 99%.

Donation "Sliders" Plugin for Direct Relief

https://www.directrelief.org/give/
Direct Relief hired me to create a custom WordPress plugin aimed at increasing transparency and to increase donations. Once live, they saw an increase in donations over previous years and received tremendous feedback from users.

The project was even featured in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/your-money/a-charity-offers-donors-more-control-over-where-their-funds-go.html?_r=0

Undark.org Home Page Redux

http://undark.org
Undark magazine hired me to recode their home page, incorporating new responsive UI components and a more simplified querying structure for a curated content section.

Languages

Sass, JavaScript, Less, CSS, HTML, PHP, Bash, CoffeeScript, Ruby, C, Python, C++

Libraries/APIs

Backbone.js, Google Apps, Stripe, Braintree API

Tools

Mailchimp, Git, Grunt, Vagrant, Google Analytics, Gulp, Varnish, PhpStorm, Sublime Text, Braintree SDK, Behat

Platforms

WordPress, WooCommerce, Rackspace, MacOS, Linux, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Raspbian, WordPress VIP

Other

WordPress Plugins, Growth Hacking, Software Development, Google, Front-end Development, PayPal, Load Balancers, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), ExpressionEngine, BrainTree, TCP/IP, Ethical Hacking, IEEE 802.11

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Test-driven Development (TDD)

Storage

MySQL, Memcached, MongoDB, Amazon S3 (AWS S3)

Frameworks

Bootstrap, AngularJS, Bootstrap 3+

2003 - 2004

Incomplete Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts

Webster University - Webster Groves, Missouri (USA)

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