Stephen Marx, Developer in London, United Kingdom
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Stephen Marx

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Front-end Developer

Location
London, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
September 25, 2018

Stephen has 14 years' experience developing for the web. Having started in the days before JavaScript frameworks and CSS pre-processors were popular gave him a solid understanding of the technologies underlying modern web development. Recently he enjoys building responsive and highly performant single page applications with React, Redux and Redux Saga. He is an excellent communicator and is experienced working both alone and in teams of any size.

Portfolio

Mail Online UK
JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Git, Node.js, TypeScript, Babel, Sass, PostCSS, Webpack...
ProcurementPal
JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Sass, SignalR, Babel, Gulp, Angular
DigitasLBi
JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Sass, jQuery, Underscore.js, Marionette.js, Backbone.js

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), MacOS

The most amazing...

...project I've worked on to date was a single page application used to moderate tens of thousands of comments per day on one of the most popular news websites.

Work Experience

Senior Developer

2017 - PRESENT
Mail Online UK
  • Worked as part of the front-end team building web applications for internal business needs and adding new features for the public facing website.
  • Worked with remote team members.
  • Brought legacy code up to current standards. For example, removing ExtJS and jQuery dependencies from legacy code, replaced with vanilla JavaScript for the purpose of reducing page weight.
  • Developed a Facebook Messenger Bot using Node.js.
  • Created a development workflow including peer reviews via pull requests on GitHub.
  • Configured new projects using WebPack to prepare production-ready code.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Git, Node.js, TypeScript, Babel, Sass, PostCSS, Webpack, Redux-Saga, Redux, React

Founder and Lead Interface Developer

2016 - PRESENT
ProcurementPal
  • Started the company with two other founders. I have sole responsibility for the development of the UI.
  • Configured build process using Gulp, Babel, UglifyJS, Sass, and Autoprefixer.
  • Involved in recruiting business development manager.
  • Liaised with remote design to develop designs for the site that helped establish the brand guidelines and met with approval of all stakeholders.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Sass, SignalR, Babel, Gulp, Angular

Senior Interface Developer

2013 - 2017
DigitasLBi
  • Developed sites for Avis, Nissan, and Renault in addition to work on internal web applications. Work included single page applications built with Backbone.js and Marionette.js.
  • Wrote code using the test-driven development process with tests written in Jasmine.
  • Contributed to car configurator for Infiniti/Nissan/Renault sites using Three.js.
  • Managed projects using agile methodologies with three-week sprints, daily stand-ups, and sprint retrospectives.
  • Mentored junior developers.
  • Performed extensive reviews of other developers code during pull requests.
  • Developed projects with geographically dispersed teams and required collaboration across timezones utilizing online communication tools.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Sass, jQuery, Underscore.js, Marionette.js, Backbone.js

Front-end Developer

2013 - 2013
Which?
  • Migrated 3rd party scripts to internal codebase.
  • Tracked user interactions and sent these interactions to Google Analytics.
  • Wrote unit tests based on the client required for all functionality to have unit tests. These tests were written with 100% code coverage and implemented with the Jasmine testing framework.
  • Developed the solution using an object-oriented style, utilizing AMD and RequireJS.
  • Managed dependencies using Bower package management system.
Technologies: Git, Jasmine, JavaScript, Google Analytics

Front-end Developer

2013 - 2013
Condé Nast Digital Britain
  • Developed an enquiry form for a luxury and boutique hotel site.
  • Built the form using KnockoutJS.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Sass, Knockout (Knockout.js)

Lead Developer

2012 - 2013
Condé Nast Digital Britain
  • Provided maintenance and updates to the company's websites, including the lead role in front-end development of Vogue rebuild. Implemented new responsive header on Wired. Implementation of gallery on GQ articles. See http://condenast.co.uk/ for a full list of sites.
  • Introduced SASS and Compass to the development workflow.
  • Mentored junior team members.
  • Assessed and advised on development viability of designs and concepts.
  • Developed sites with Umbraco content management system.
Technologies: T-SQL (Transact-SQL), SQL Server 2008, jQuery, JavaScript, CSS2, CSS3, HTML5, XHTML, ADO.NET, C#, ASP.NET

.Net Developer

2007 - 2011
Condé Nast Digital Britain
  • Maintained and updated the company's websites. See http://condenast.co.uk/ for a full list.
  • Developed sites using TeamSite and Umbraco content management systems.
  • Implemented the UI from designs produced in Photoshop.
  • Developed scripts to enable migration of content from TeamSite to Umbraco content management systems.
  • Developed responsive image component to ensure highest quality image source would be used for the available dimensions and pixel density.
Technologies: T-SQL (Transact-SQL), SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2005, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ADO.NET, C#, ASP.NET

.NET Developer

2006 - 2007
EMI Music
  • Provided sole responsibility for maintenance and enhancements to the codebase for one of EMI's Intranet applications.
  • Prepared the application for deployment to multiple territories, this included adding individual user logins, user roles, authorization, and authentication.
  • Worked with internal stakeholders to ensure implementation matched requirements.
Technologies: SQL Server 2000, ASP.NET

Developer

2005 - 2006
The Condé Nast Publications
  • Maintained and updated the company's websites. See http://condenast.co.uk/ for a list.
  • Developed standalone commercial sites and advertorials on the company's websites.
  • Gained experience using TeamSite Content Management System.
Technologies: T-SQL (Transact-SQL), SQL Server 2000, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, XHTML, ADO.NET, C#, ASP.NET

Software Developer

2004 - 2005
Digital Stream
  • Provided full-stack development encompassing the entire software development lifecycle for multiple Digital Stream clients.
  • Contributed to maintenance work on and a full re-write of Digital Stream's bespoke content management system.
  • Designed and implemented database schemas using SQL Server 2000.
  • Visited clients on-site to facilitate capture of project requirements.
  • Completed some DevOps work including server configuration and security investigations.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SQL Server 2000, ASP.NET, Active Server Pages (ASP)

Premium Bonds Winners

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1637084/Premium-Bonds-winning-numbers.html
This is a small React application used to display the monthly winners of the UK's Premium Bonds prizes. Users can navigate between the results of the previous twelve months, select between prize sizes (big or small) and filter the list by location, all within the confines of the application without causing any page reloads.

There is a small backend service written using Node.js and Express. This service determines what months the data is available for and generates the initial markup for the application.

Matrix-style Visuals

I was playing around on CodePen and decided to try to replicate the visuals seen in the movie The Matrix. It's just a pretty simple thing really, but I think it looks cool.
2001 - 2003

Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology

Waikato Institute of Technology - Hamilton, New Zealand

Libraries/APIs

Underscore.js, Backbone.js, Marionette.js, jQuery, Preact, React, SignalR, Redux-Saga, Node.js

Tools

PostCSS, Chrome Developer Tools, Git, Google Analytics, Gulp, Babel, Webpack

Frameworks

Vanilla JS, Redux, Angular, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, Jasmine, AngularJS, Knockout (Knockout.js)

Languages

HTML, HTML5, JavaScript, HTML4, Sass, CSS, Active Server Pages (ASP), C#, XHTML, T-SQL (Transact-SQL), CSS3, CSS2, TypeScript

Platforms

MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Firebase

Storage

JSON, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008

Paradigms

Promise

Other

Front-end, PSD to HTML, Fetch API

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