CS Chris Smith
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Chris Smith

Senior Front End Developer and Team Lead

chris22smith@gmail.com | 07526 110676 | he/him/his

Chris Smith in summer 2023

Summary

Senior front end developer with 20+ years of experience designing and building websites, complex components, user interfaces and design systems. Passionate about UI design, user experience and accessibility. A team lead, helping developers and testers to improve themselves and engineering working processes. Always learning, always teaching.

Technical Skills

Area Details
Programming JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, jQuery, .NET C#, SQL
Web HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Markdown, Sass, Typescript, SVG, HTML email
Frameworks React, Stencil.js, Angular, Eleventy, WordPress, jQuery, Knockout.js, Shoelace, Bootstrap
IDE VS Code, Visual Studio
Server IIS, Azure DevOps, Netlify
Utilities git, GitHub, npm
Monitoring Google Analytics, Azure Application Insights, Lighthouse
UX Intercom, UserVoice, Axure, Adobe XD
Testing Lighthouse, Jest, Playwright
Libraries Google Maps, Google Charts, Chartist.js, moment.js
Languages French, Italian

Senior Developer Skills

  • Managing developers and testers
  • Working in an Agile way
  • Building reusable components
  • Ensuring technical feasibility of designs
  • Optimising for speed and scalability
  • Prioritising accessibility
  • Ensuring user input is validated
  • Implementing design systems
  • Writing technical documentation
  • Managing technical debt

Education & Training

eMarketing Award (Distinction) | 2008
Chartered Institute of Marketing

2 NVQs Level 3 | 1998
Institute of Export, University of Wales Swansea

BA (Hons) French Studies & Italian (2ii) | 1993 - 1997
University of Birmingham

3 A levels, 2 AO levels, 11 GCSEs | 1986 - 1993
Monmouth School

Experience

Development Team Lead | 2012 - present
TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods (UK) Ltd (formerly Muddy Boots Software Ltd)

Designing and building design systems, components and applications. Notable achievements include implementing a set of technical standards for front end development and rebranding multiple applications.

The company makes software for the food and agriculture industries, making food safe and sustainable. Lots of big name customers including Unilever, Morrisons, Waitrose, Aldi and M&S.


Web Developer | 2019 - 2020
Fantasy Football Scout Ltd

Helped design and build some new features and improve some older parts of the site in my spare time. I leant my front end and design skills to this site which has articles and stats for fantasy football games.


Website Development Officer | 2005 - 2012
Coleg Powys (now part of Neath Port Talbot Group of Colleges)

Created and maintained a bilingual website (WordPress), online course catalogue (custom .NET app) and intranet (SharePoint) for this further education college. Managed digital marketing campaigns. In 2008 I achieved a distinction in the Chartered Institute of Marketing's eMarketing Award.


Web Developer (Self-employed) | 2004 - 2008
Chris Smith Web Development

Worked freelance for a while, making websites for small businesses and hobbyists as well as collaborating with other developers at local web design companies. My largest project was building a new website for the Forest Stewardship Council (UK), which was part WordPress, part custom .NET app.


Sales & Marketing Support | 1999 - 2004
Cavendish Hospitality (now AOK Cavendish)

Designed and maintained marketing assets and sales material including the company website for this corporate hospitality company. Projects included 2 Rugby World Cups, the Commonwealth Games as well as a full calendar of national sporting and cultural events.


Customer Service | 1998 - 1999
Viskase (UK) Ltd

Processing telephone orders in a busy international sales office using my language skills. Built a sample requesting service for sales reps in Lotus Notes. Company made sausage casings and packaging for meat and cheese products.

Community

I play an active role in the web dev community, experimenting and sharing ideas and opinions.

Website
https://chrissmith.xyz
My own personal blog about web development, which has posts dating back to 2008, originally self-hosted on WordPress, now built with Eleventy and Markdown.

CodePen
https://codepen.io/chris22smith
I’ve been using this front end playground for experimenting and showcasing my front end skills since 2013. In 2022 I chatted to co-founder Chris Coyier on the podcast.
https://blog.codepen.io/2022/05/25/369-with-chris-smith/

Social Media
https://twitter.com/chris22smith | https://home.social/@chris22smith
Joined X (formerly twitter) in 2009, mostly talking about web dev. At its height I had 3,000 followers. Most high profile devs have now migrated to Mastodon so I’ve joined them.

Interests

Football
I’m a big football fan. I like watching games and playing fantasy football. I also play 5-a-side every week.

Running
I go running, just for fitness now but have done several half-marathons in the past.

Music
I play guitar and bass, learning drums.