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Experience

Brad Touesnard

Brad Touesnard

Freelance Web Developer, Web Designer, and Entrepreneur

Halifax, Canada Area

Current
  • Freelance at bradt.ca
Past

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8 more...

Education
  • University of New Brunswick
Connections
89 connections
Industry
Information Technology and Services
Websites

Summary

I started out as a web contractor in 1999 and have grown to be a strong frontend web developer with a keen eye for user experience design. I'm a firm believer in open source software and contribute plugins to the Wordpress project. I blog my thoughts and experiences related to web development at http://bradt.ca/.

Specialties:

Expertise and passion for:

  • XHTML 1.0, HTML 5, CSS 2/3
  • Javascript (DOM Scripting, Ajax, jQuery, Prototype)
  • Web Services (XML-RPC, REST, JSON)
  • LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl)
  • User Experience Design
  • Wordpress customization
  • PHP Frameworks (CakePHP, CodeIgniter)
  • Adobe Photoshop

Strong knowledge and experience:

  • Web Standards, Semantic Web, Microformats
  • CVS, Subversion
  • MS SQL Server
  • ASP (.NET/C#/VB6)

Limited experience:

  • Java, C, Python

Experience

  • Freelance

    bradt.ca

    (Information Technology and Services industry)

    January 2009 — Present (1 year 3 months)

    I am currently self-employed working on contract-to-contract basis. My recent work includes:

    SitePoint
    http://www.sitepoint.com/
    Designed a fun, usable interface for a new startup to be launched in June.

    All In Richmond
    http://www.allinrichmond.com/
    A tourism site for Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. I was handed a PSD and was responsible for all of the coding including Wordpress integration.

    Vancouver Digital Week
    http://www.vancouverdigitalweek.com/
    A web site to showcase the Vancouver Digital Week event. I was given a PSD and handled all of the coding including Wordpress customization.

    For a full listing of my work, visit http://bradt.ca/portfolio/.

  • Frontend Web Developer

    Fjord Interactive

    (Public Company; Marketing and Advertising industry)

    January 2008 — December 2008 (1 year )

    Vancouver, Canada

    • Specialized in frontend web development and Wordpress customization
    • Implemented the creative team's new design for Ronald McDonald House Charities global web site (XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, Silverstripe CMS) - http://www.rmhc.org/
    • Developed a custom Wordpress theme and plugins from Photoshop comps under a tight deadline for the BC Government's "Best Place on Earth" web site - http://www.bestplaceonearth.ca/
    • Implemented the creative team's new design for Allstream Small Business' web site (XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP) - http://www.allstream.com/smallbusiness/
    • Developed a custom Wordpress theme and plugins using the creative team's new design for the BC Cancer Society's awareness web site - http://gohave1.com/
    • Helped maintain McDonald's employee community site - http://www.stationm.com/
    • Developed Typo3 templates for a BC Careers in Education web site - http://www.makeafuture.ca/

  • Consultant

    Zenutech

    (Internet industry)

    August 2007 — December 2007 (5 months)

    Remotely from Vancouver, Canada
    http://www.zenutech.ca/

    • Redesigned web site (Photoshop & Illustrator), wrote all new copy, and recoded using XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and Smarty templates.
    • Designed and developed a custom Wordpress theme for the knowledge base: http://www.zenutech.ca/kb/
    • Designed and developed an E-mail Setup Wizard, decreasing email support calls from new customers by 75% (XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL).
    • Rebranded, designed, and developed a new web site for Zenutech client Wheels Driver Training Inc.: http://www.learntodrive.com/

  • Senior Web Developer

    ActiveState

    (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

    October 2005 — July 2007 (1 year 10 months)

    Vancouver, Canada
    http://www.activestate.com/

    • Senior member of the small Web Operations team (5) responsible for maintaining and developing activestate.com (CMS/e-commerce/licensing), sales processing systems, and reports. Other responsibilities include management of the public FTP, ASPN community web site, bug tracking system, blog, and web server software.
    • Responsible for interviewing, choosing, training, and leading a team of web developers to maintain the online properties, add functionality, and setup new ones
    • Develop and maintain new e-commerce/product licensing system in ASP .NET (C#) and MS SQL Server
    • Develop and maintain corporate web site using Perl with HTML-Template, XHTML, CSS, and DOM scripting enforcing standards compliance and semantic markup
    • Increased visitor-to-trial ratio by over 50% through statistical analysis, user experience design principles, and critical thinking

  • Web Designer

    Future Shop / Best Buy Canada

    (Public Company; BBY; Retail industry)

    June 2005 — October 2005 (5 months)

    Burnaby, Canada
    http://www.futureshop.ca/
    http://www.bestbuy.ca/

    • Valued member of the GUI team and the small team assigned to the futureshop.ca redesign project
    • Successfully interpreted and adhered to new branding guidelines for futureshop.ca
    • Attended cross-department redesign meetings on behalf of the GUI team
    • Consolidated duplicated code with ASP functions improving manageability and the site update processes
    • Helped fellow GUI team members with ASP and Javascript programing challenges
    • Chief designer charged with weekly updates to bestbuy.ca web site
    • Development Tools: ASP Classic, XHTML, CSS, Javascript

  • Founder

    Zenutech

    (Internet industry)

    June 2002 — May 2005 (3 years )

    Fredericton, Canada
    http://www.zenutech.com

    • Established this web hosting company while attending University in the summer of 2002 with fellow entrepreneur and BCS Major, Pierre Grandmaison.
    • Design and develop the public web site, e-commerce system, web hosting control panel, sales processing system, billing/invoicing systems, etc.
    • Handle customer support requests 24x7 via e-mail and telephone.
    • Development Tools: PHP, Perl, Python, MySQL, XML-RPC, Javascript (w/ Ajax)

  • Software Developer

    Canadian Forestry Service, NRCan

    (Environmental Services industry)

    January 2004 — August 2004 (8 months)

    Fredericton, Canada

    • Developed VB6 applications using COM and ArcGIS (ESRI)
    • Enhanced project management by setting up source code control (CVS), issue tracking software (Flyspray), and training developers.

  • Web Developer

    Institute for Research in Construction, NRC

    (Construction industry)

    May 2003 — August 2003 (4 months)

    Ottawa, Canada
    http://www.nationalcodes.ca/

    • Developed and maintained web sites for the Codes and Evaluations group and its partner organizations.
    • Adhered to the Government of Canada’s strict "Common Look and Feel" requirements.
    • Improved web site manageability by replacing duplicated markup with includes. Complex regular expressions were written to execute the find and replace across hundreds of pages.
    • Development Tools: Perl, PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Regular Expressions

  • Research Assistant

    Institute for Information Technology, NRC

    (Information Technology and Services industry)

    September 2002 — December 2002 (4 months)

    Fredericton, Canada
    http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/

    • Responsible for researching VoiceXML and related voice technologies.
    • Conducted a usability study with 20 student subjects.
    • Development Tools: Java Servlets, MS Access, HostVoice

  • Web Developer

    SmartForce (now SkillSoft)

    (Public Company; SMTF; E-Learning industry)

    January 2002 — April 2002 (4 months)

    Fredericton, Canada
    http://www.skillsoft.com/

    • Valued member of the Customizations team responsible for developing learning management system (LMS) customizations for large contract customers (Discover, Lloyd's of London, etc)
    • Development Tools: ASP Classic, Oracle, SQL Server

  • Consultant

    Independant Consultant

    (Information Technology and Services industry)

    1997 — 2002 (5 years )

    • Built a PHP TreeView product based on ASP TreeView, conducted online marketing, and sold over two dozen commercial licenses
    • Designed and developed an online community system for the student residence Neville House - volunteer project - still live at www.nevillehouse.com
    • Designed and developed a web site for St. Peter's District High - paid customer
    • Designed and developed a web site for Marlene Boyd's NSTU presidential campaign
    • Designed and developed an online publication system (a basic version of a modern blogging system) for a friend's web site Uncultured.com - volunteer project
    • Conceived, designed, and developed an e-greeting card web site called AlternativeGreetings.net
    • Conceived, designed, and developed a trivia web site for the television show The Simpsons - still live at www.thesimpsonstrivia.com
    • Conceived, designed, and developed a social networking system called MrMatchmaker.com - beta only
    • Development Tools: HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Perl, PHP, MySQL

  • Web Developer

    SmartForce (now SkillSoft)

    (Public Company; SMTF; E-Learning industry)

    May 2001 — August 2001 (4 months)

    Fredericton, Canada
    http://www.skillsoft.com/

    • Developed and debugged a large-scale learning management system (LMS) web application.
    • Development Tools: ASP Classic, Oracle, SQL Server

Education

  • University of New Brunswick

    Bachelor , Computer Science , 2000 — 2005

    2001 – 2004 Co-op Work Experience Program
    2003 – 2004 Dean’s List Student

    Activities and Societies:
    Member of Ultimate Frisbee Club
    Intramural Hockey
    Faculty of Computer Science Peer Mentor
    Treasurer Elect of Neville House Student Residence
    Student Member of Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)

Additional Information

Websites:

Interests:

technology, software, web development, web design, usability, hockey, ultimate frisbee, cycling, volleyball, tennis

Groups:

* Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)
* Blackfish Competitive Ultimate Frisbee Club
* Ultimate Players Association (UPA) Member
* Adult Safe Hockey League (ASHL), 8 Rinks, Burnaby, BC

  •    WSG
  •    Web Developer & Graphic Designer
  •    WordPress

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