Sean Hayes, Developer in Naperville, IL, United States
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Sean Hayes

Verified Expert  in Engineering

WordPress Plugins Developer

Location
Naperville, IL, United States
Toptal Member Since
September 20, 2019

Sean has 25 years of technology experience, technical leadership, and software application development expertise. He is an experienced developer and is passionate about delivering scalable, extensible, and optimal solutions using WordPress. Over the past 13 years of meeting client needs, he has a proven track record working with individuals, agencies, and enterprise organizations to deliver business-efficient services with WordPress.

WordPress PluginsWordPressWordPress ThemesCSSPHPjQueryReactGitLinuxLaravelMySQLDockerNode.jsAgileMacOS

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

iTerm2, Git, PhpStorm, MacOS

The most amazing...

...project was a live website re-skin that I completed in two weeks from delivery of assets.

Work Experience

Senior WordPress Engineer

2020 - 2020
Globally Recognized Sports Organization
  • Developed a React-based game selection tool that allowed the content editor to search by date games schedules from a remote API and with one-click create the content in the CMS, pulling in pertinent game-related data to the CMS.
  • Created dynamic linking code that would allow content editors to have players, teams, and games linked to their public-facing URLs—something that would save time when reviewing editorial content for relevant links.
  • Wrote unit tests for specific components of the CMS code, such as internal CMS permalinks and remote API permalinks.
  • Participated in pair programming with multiple members of the CMS team and reported and contributed to daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and project increment planning.
  • Onboarded new members to the team, acclimatizing them to the code base, the protocols of the team, and ideas behind how we built the CMS WordPress theme.
  • Developed a React-based tool that prevented content from being published until configurable conditions were met: primary category setting, excerpt creation, featured image set, and post title entrance.
Technologies: Node.js, React, JavaScript, PHP

Director of Technology

2019 - 2020
Gate39 Media
  • Provided technical leadership and software application development.
  • Managed and mentored development team promoting best practices.
  • Performed code quality checks and reviewed code with developers.
  • Managed client projects and requirements. Planned developers' tasks.
  • Architected software solutions to solve business problems.
Technologies: JavaScript, Linux, .NET, WordPress

Lead Developer

2014 - 2019
Chicago Sun-Times
  • Implemented paywall software, support scripts, and create basic subscriber experiences.
  • Improved editorial workflow by creating a homepage and section front customizer tools.
  • Site migration for Chicago Sun-Times using WP CLI and remote data acquisition through legacy WordPress based JSON API.
  • Led development efforts to deliver re-skinned and improved layout and functionality of https://chicago.suntimes.com/ - this included working with 3rd party brand and marketing firm and other business stakeholders.
  • Increased information transfer within newsroom by connecting WordPress and paywall software to email service and Slack channels.
Technologies: JavaScript, WP-CLI, WordPress

WordPress Developer

2010 - 2018
creGROW
  • Developed custom real estate WordPress plugin used by many commercial real estate firms.
  • Developed Google Maps plugin to work with the real estate plugin and display property information and link to property pages.
  • Created WordPress themes custom and configurable commercial real estate from design PDFs.
Technologies: WordPress Plugins, Plugins, PHP, WordPress

WordPress Developer

2014 - 2014
Culture 22
  • Developed custom real estate solution for listings and transactions.
  • Developed an internal professional services corporation team profile website.
Technologies: JavaScript, WordPress

WordPress Developer

2013 - 2013
Apartments.com
  • Maintained advertising and corporate WordPress websites.
  • Led weekly meetings with stakeholders to determine priorities and plan the workweek.
  • Worked within an agile environment.
  • Integrated and configured third-party analytic tools to track click and other interactive events and clicks for statistical reporting.
  • Documented work projects, deployment processes, and provided feedback and reporting on projects.
Technologies: JavaScript, WordPress

WordPress Developer

2011 - 2012
Gate39Media
  • Architected and developed multi-site WordPress conference theme for international Futures industry conference - one theme, two sites, custom service provider directory, and functionality.
  • Researched and documented data backups and site recovery process.
  • Provided guidance, process curation, and direction for junior developers/designers.
  • Designed a landing page, and developed a microsite.
  • Designed and managed a US $1,500+/month PPC Adwords campaign.
Technologies: JavaScript, WordPress

IT Director

2006 - 2011
RE/MAX
  • Oversaw the technology management of 3 real estate offices.
  • Created and supported residential real estate websites.
  • Created and managed Adwords accounts.
  • Designed, managed, and supported office network and telephony services, managing vendor relationships.
Technologies: Web Technologies

Featured Image Admin Thumb WordPress Plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/featured-image-admin-thumb-fiat/
This free, open-source, plugin adds a column to the All Posts/All Pages and, where supported, the All Custom Post Type admin views. This column, Thumb, will display a thumbnail of the featured image or post thumbnail so you can easily determine the content that is missing an image.

Practical Guide to Schema

https://www.slideshare.net/seanchayes/schema-150614729
I describe how Schema can add value to your website, the types of schema available and the many ways to apply that schema to your WordPress website.

Why You Should be Using Version Control for Development

https://www.slideshare.net/seanchayes/version-control-108421267
An overview of version control, types of version control software, how to use it in your development workflow, and how it can be helpful for individuals as well as teams.

Platforms

WordPress VIP, WordPress, MacOS, Docker, Linux

Other

WordPress Plugins, WordPress Multisite, WordPress Themes, Content Management Systems (CMS), Web Technologies, Plugins, iTerm2

Languages

HTML, CSS, SCSS, PHP, JavaScript

Libraries/APIs

jQuery, React, Node.js

Frameworks

.NET, Laravel

Tools

PhpStorm, Git, WP-CLI

Paradigms

Agile

Storage

MySQL