Work and Experience - AaronHenderson.ovh

Spreite Ltd - Web Developer, Application Designer & Company Founder

Octoer 2019 to present

Working on my own whilst facing struggles with housing I developed a geospatial framework from scratch that remains agnostic using the Haversine formula to equate distance between longitudes and latitudes.

What I did:

Wrote lots of agnostic code that makes Spreite uniquely portable to almost any PHP framework
Wrote unit tests and database migration scripts to prove concept as well as development with ease

What I learned:

Not all words are in the dictionary or even easily read from the dictionary but directorship is tough when the red cross of constantine is all people know these days. NB: Bonafide excalibur

Trip IQ Systems Ltd - PHP / Web Application Developer

July 2019 to December 2019

Working both remotely and on site as part of an agile team consuming API’s and further developing an all new car sharing SaaS platform from the ground up. My role here mainly involved crafting Object Orientated PHP code that complies with FIG standards and integrates smoothly within the Laravel ecosystem. Taking a TDD approach to development with PHPUnit as part of a Gitlab CI pipeline to ensure only solutions are deployed live.

What I did:

Crafted clean, testable code with supporting unit tests deployed as part of a continuous integration process.
Extended as well as introduced new API functionality as part of a SaaS platform.
Delivered a fluid cross browser compatible front end user experience using Bootstrap with Webpack and AngularJS.

What I learned:

Modern PHP practices as well as how to apply them within the Laravel ecosystem.
The efficiencies and processes involved with continuous integration / Gitlab CI.
How telematics work for a variety of operators within the car leasing industry.

Spark Etail Ltd - PHP / Website Application Developer

Octoer 2014 to July 2019

Working as part of a small team responsible for operating several of the UK’s leading online ethical retailers. My role here involved delivering solutions and improvements to the infrastructure that underpins these user centric e-commerce services whilst maintaining an edge over competitors. This involved implementing seasonal design changes and optimizations of all kinds to improve profitability, marketing and promotional opportunities as well as accessibility across the various channels operated.

What I did:

Worked closely with in house designers to replace several “desktop” websites with fully responsive cross browser compatible websites.
Tamed several osCommerce flavoured websites into one manageable codebase.
Improved site search conversion rate by using a combination of AI and Elasticsearch.
Developed a GDPR compliant AI system to profile customers and generate personalised product recommendations for use on the web and via email.
Built a system to reliably A/B test existing and new functionality to understand how we might deliver a more optimised service.
Reliably delivered many improvements of varying complexity over a significant period of time with minimal disruption to service.
Improved office morale with the invention of “Fact Friday” and “Terrible Joke Tuesday”.

What I learned:

How to understand and improve complex logic that can be attributed to long term and rapid growth in a corporate environment without wreaking havoc.
Optimization techniques and best practices essential to running a successful omnichannel e-commerce business.
How to reliably record and analyse custom dimensions and metrics within Google Analytics as well as how to present them in Google’s DataStudio.
The importance of a healthy work life balance and how that can be managed to improve quality and efficiency across the board.
How to make conscious decisions around ethical consumerism as well as empowering others to do the same.

Palringo - Website Developer

April 2014 to October 2014

Working as part of an international team responsible for providing a service to several million users whilst collaborating between offices and each other over confluence and Jira. My role here involved delivering improvements to both front and back end applications applying a mixture of Agile and Waterfall methodologies to my workflow. Producing work using a mixture of PHP, MySQL, HTML, Javascript and CSS whilst ensuring mark-up to be cross browser compatible and in conformance with W3C standards.

What I did:

Developed features to better manage application and user data across the service.
Improved account security by enforcing a higher level of entropy with passwords and placing restrictions over the ability to change staff account details.
Worked alongside the in-house designer on re-branding the front end website and improving the user experience.
Re-skinned the admin site to simplify tasks ran by the support team using bootstrap 3 to minimise the development of proven concepts.

What I learned:

How to develop responsive bi-directinal multilingual layouts.
The process of being “Agile” and how to apply this to my workflow in a complimentary way.
Micro-optimizations necessary for operating a service relied upon by millions of users.

Quindo AB - Website Developer

September 2013 to January 2014

Regularly reporting to the CEO and collaborating with colleagues over Asana, Hipchat and Skype. I was first tasked with working alongside our designer and hand coding the front end website using HTML5, CSS3 and PHP5. Our target audience being mobile users it was critically important for mark-up to be speed optimised, mobile friendly and responsive throughout.

What I did:

Hand coded a responsive W3C compliant website using Laravel 4 and Bootstrap with mark-up optimised for SEO, SERP and SMO.
Integrated the front end content management system with the back end system
Automated various repetitive tasks through good use of cron.

What I learned:

How to develop a bi-lingual website in a user friendly way.
The benefits of utilising third party API’s as well as how to reliably consume & integrate them.
Best practices from an award winning designer.

Broadcasthe.net - Website Developer, System Admin & Website Designer

March 2009 to late 2010/11

Working from home as part of multinational team; i was the tenth user invited to the site and responsible for the whole front end aspect / design of the torrent site we established using a popular p2p framework. I brought unique aspects of gamification to the whole citadel and watched the site grow from a hundred or so users to at its time, 45,000 active, subscribed and registered users without any reliance on social media or google. Site was and still is strictly an invitation only community fostering over a million dormant account and around 29,000 active monthly users in all kind of jurisdiction.

What I did:

Wrote compliant PHP that extended upon an eloquent mysql wrapper and leveraged the memcached extension appropriately to allow the site to run smoothly without tables locking.
Crafted two w3c compliant stylesheets that gave users option over the theme / template in which they access the website with.
Exercised appropriate discretion with regards to safeguarding the identities of operatives that made this site and others possible in the P2P network.
Retired from post after adequate work had been completed and appropriate doors opened for me to migrate beyond just being a house bound disabled joe.

What I learned:

How to protect as well as respect the privacy of others and the import of community at scale.
Limitations of CSS2 / Web 2.0 back then and the need to be compliant with a wide array of requirements browsers old an modern enforce even to the present day.
How to cache data in memory, filestorage, manage sessions, cyber security and a whole lot more.
The laws on piracy and the legal requirements of operating in the seychelles as a not for profit entity / business.

Whilst it may be difficult to transcribe over a decade of experience doing something I enjoy and care about without overloading the reader, it is hoped that I have provided a good overview to the last ten years whilst leaving scope for further discussions of which I am often most keen to engage in.

Homepage - Employment History