Curriculum Vitae
Microformat friendly
19 April 2011
A microformat friendly CV is available at xaviesteve.com/webcv
Name: Xavi Esteve
Job Title: Front End Developer and UI Designer
Website: xaviesteve.com
Portfolio: be.net/xaviesteve
E-mail: xavi@xaviesteve.com
Phone: +44 (0)79 7710 9394
Date of Birth: 18th July 1986
Address: North West London (Jubilee line)
Clean code, Usability, Accessibility, organic SEO, understanding and application of progressive enhancement and graceful degradation, Information Architecture.
XHTML, CSS (including Blueprint, 1KB grid, other CSS frameworks and Zen Coding),
Up to date with the latest HTML5 and CSS3, XML/RSS and old table-based HTML for emails.
Raw JavaScript and jQuery framework, AJAX and several Web Service Protocols (SOAP, JSON…), microformats.
Exposure to high-traffic websites and scalability.
Software: Panic Coda, Adobe Dreamweaver, Notepad++, Firebug...
Wireframing, designing and prototyping of user interfaces and interactive website design for high scaled complex systems while focusing on usability, clearness and intuitivity. Complete understanding on user behaviour and User Experience backed with real testings.
Table-less cross-browser hand-coded 100% valid CSS2-3/XHTML (following W3C standards) to ensure the best formatting and the fastest code possible in IE6-9, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome and iPhone. Theme design for several CMS and blogs (Wordpress). Multivariate/split testing.
Software: Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash.
PHP4 and PHP5 (MVC, OOP programming) including several CMS, Wordpress and Flourish framework (a bit of CodeIgniter); elemental ASP.
Database management (MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL, Access), cPanel.
Apache (including cURL, mod_rewrite and other modules), IIS server administration/setup and knowledge of several public Web Services (APIs) interaction and protocols (REST, SOAP, etc.) for the most popular services (Twitter, Google Maps, Amazon, OpenID, Facebook/FBML/FBJS…).
Code optimization, scalability and debugging. Web security (SQL Injection, XSS...).
Software: Panic Coda, Adobe Dreamweaver and FirePHP.
Organic SEO expert in both white, grey and black hat techniques. Internet based marketing campaign setup, management, monitoring and optimization (Google Adwords and Facebook Ads). Deployed several online campaigns for companies with an increased lead conversion between 150% and 500%. Detailed regular reporting, analysis tracking and training on how to improve, understand and effectively manage online advertisement.
Both Digital and Printed formats. Design of posters, flyers, vouchers, leaflets and templates following branding specifications, typography, structure, balance, colour theory and an eye for design.
Software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXpress and Macromedia Freehand.
Sound recording, mixing and edition. Video recording and edition. Passion for photography.
Software: Adobe Premiere, Cubase, Traktor and Audacity.
Unix (HP UX) and GNU/Linux distributions console (Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu, etc...).
Mac OSX, Windows XP/Vista, Windows Server, iOS (all at administration level).
SSH and FTP. SVN (console mode).
Agile software development (SCRUM). Advanced Microsoft Excel, Word and Powerpoint.
Professional translation from English to Spanish and vice versa. Specialized in Technology and Design.
Visual Basic 6, VBS, RegEx, Hardware maintenance and basic Cisco networking.
Familiar with documentation, reporting and time-tracking.
Software: PuTTY, WinSCP, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Premiere, Cubase, Reason and Audacity.
Proficient: English, Spanish and Catalan.
Elemental: Italian and French.
Feb 2011 - Present
Web Designer/Developer and Online Marketing Manager HelloPlan London (remote)
HelloPlan is a website specialised in local deals, goods and getaways for the city of Barcelona. Recently launched, it is one of the most fascinating retail businesses due to their unique purchasing system. An e-commerce site was a complex project since the User Interface and the User Experience needed to be perfect to succeed. For the User Interface I decided for a very intuitive and warm look, having just the necessary elements and positioning every element in a way that would flow the user into his/her objective without creating any barriers, keeping their frustration level to zero. Our usability tests showed a very high user acceptance and very low frustration ratios. The design of the site was done in Adobe Fireworks CS5 and took less than a month. The website design was delivered with a Branding Document which specified every characteristic in the design (spacings, colour palettes, typography, styles, positioning, boxes, imagery, etc.) so that newer projects at the company would keep the same look and feel, consistency and professionalism. I choose to use blue so that it contrasted with the logo. Upon delivery I also got the role to develop the design into functional HTML/CSS using HTML5 and CSS3 functionalities where possible adapting a Progressive Degradation methodology. The client wanted the website to load in older browsers such as IE7 and IE8 so I developed the website for these browsers too. HelloPlan's loads great on mobile devices too and a Responsive Design will be coming soon in the next few months. Although the website was built in Wordpress which is quite easy to do, the company wanted an independent login system for the users so I developed a proprietary Wordpress plugin that registered users into a parallel database and could also allow the profile to be flexible, allowing them to add and remove user fields and customize textboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons and more. Another part of the back-end development was developing the whole system and integrating it with a Virtual Payment Gateway. To do this I developed another Wordpress plugin with a proprietary API that would connect through several methods (cURL, JSON, AJAX) to the Banking System.
Visit helloplan.com
Aug 2010 - Present
Senior Front-End Web Developer and UI Designer Freelance London
I have worked for a wide variety of companies in London and clients worldwide for a huge variety of projects. From designing, developing and promoting a Real Estate SMB website increasing their lead generation by 300% to developing the main website for the biggest online brokers company in Canary Wharf. After several usability studies, planning and wireframing I built one of the biggest websites in the UK Financial Services sector for a company based in Canary Wharf.
From initial project planning to full functioning complex websites, I ensure my client's projects get cutting edge results, a strong online presence and above their competition with long lasting results. From excellent Web Design & Development, clear User Interface Design to organic SEO and Online Marketing Campaigns to increasing traffic and sales. Some other clients include Web Design agencies, Intranet systems, an Architectural archive, a complete scientific CRM software for a diamond laboratory, an image search tool or a code snippet collector amongst others.
Other projects have been an online multiplayer game heavily linked to the Twitter API, a custom suite of advanced SEO tools and several other website wireframing, design, development and promotion.
I've also been involved very actively in the Open Source community developing Wordpress and jQuery plugins as well as mobile/tablet front-end frameworks released to the public domain or with BSD or Creative Commons licenses.
Visit touchfinancial.co.uk, akauk.com, yousellquick.co.uk, sfpgroup.com, leadcover.com, venturewars.com
Jul 2010 - Aug 2010
Mid-Weight Front-End Web Developer LOVEFiLM London
One of the biggest entertainment companies in the UK and other Europe countries. A challenging environment on a large scale multinational with multi-branded websites. Working to demanding deadlines as a member for the BAU team in a rewarding opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment with many challenges and rewards. Working on projects of all sizes and under constant development ensuring to deliver a fantastic customer experience and actively contributing to the team knowledge and skills through shared understanding of technology.
Visit lovefilm.com, lovefilm.de
Oct 2009 - Jul 2010
Lead Front-End Web Developer Net Media Planet London
Complete front end website development solutions in XHTML/CSS, PHP5, MySQL, jQuery/JavaScript and AJAX/JSON. Usability improvements, SEO and theme designs. Providing ideas and feedback on how to improve current and future projects. Weekly knowledge sharing with other members of the team. Some of the websites I created where netmediaplanet.com and pc-site.co.uk as well as improving and maintaining others.
Visit netmediaplanet.com, pc-site.co.uk, pc-site.com
Mar 2007 - Jul 2009
Web Developer and Designer Agilent Technologies Barcelona
A Fortune 500 company. Developed, designed and improved several internal and external web sites for the company (main site had 20,000+ unique visits per month). Usability testings with clients from different nationalities. Created automated scripts to enhance and speed the sourcing process of recruiters worldwide. Launched and analysed monthly online surveys to more than 500 candidates and created data mining tools to convert PDF resumes to Access databases and XML files.
Visit agilent.com, jobs.agilent.com
Nov 2005 - Feb 2007
Front & Back-End Web Developer Rola Visons Barcelona
Jan 2005 - Present
Self Taught Web Development and Graphic Design
Reading books, articles, tweets, news, tutorials and web seminars to keep myself in the loop of the latest market trends and technology resources as well as following closely the best web references (Jacob Nielsen, TechCrunch, Google Code, Dirson, Smashing Magazine, I Love Typography, jQuery Blog, TED, A list apart, Web Design Ledger and over 200+ more).
Sep 2006 - Jun 2009
Computer Systems Administration Stucom Barcelona
Web Development (XHTML, CSS, PHP, ASP), Database management (MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL, Access), Graphic Design (Photoshop, Fireworks, InDesign), CCNA Networking, Cisco Wireless Technologies, GNU/Linux, Windows Server, C, C++, Visual C#.
Final qualification: 7 out of 10.
Essay qualification: 10 out of 10 (a web 2.0 collaborative calendar).
Nov 2008 - Feb 2009
Marketing Course EADA
Final qualification: 8 out of 10.
Mar 2009
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT)
Qualification: 112 out of 120.
Aug 2005
Advanced Certificate in English Basil Paterson Scotland
Jan 2005 - Present
Online courses
PHP5 (OOP programming), AJAX & jQuery, Usability, Accessibility, W3C Standards, PHP & Web Security, Google Analytics, Regular Expressions.
Feb 2002
First Certificate in English Cambridge University
Visit xaviesteve.com to see my personal website and blog.
Check my most up-to-date portfolio at the Behance Network (www.be.net/xaviesteve).
Connect with me on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/xaviesteve) or get in touch to read my professional references and recommendations.