resumé
12.05.07
Contact information
Nathan Youngman
nyoungman at gmail dot com
Career background
Ten years ago I began my career in web development with content-oriented web design firms and progressing towards database-driven applications involving searching algorithms, mass mailings, high-volume e-commerce, and the like.
Beyond writing code, my experience includes collaborating with team members and partner organizations, and writing technical specifications and documentation.
Prior to finding my niche in web development, I worked at my Dad’s desktop publishing business, as well as developing and selling a typing application to school divisions.
Right now I am pushing towards better techniques for web development. Taking object-oriented approaches, adopting unit testing, and learning new tools and frameworks.
Technical expertise
Proficiency with web development languages, databases and related tools:
- Recent projects with Ruby on Rails and Django under Python.
- Zend Certified Engineer with PHP 5, having used PHP since 2000.
- Six years of work experience with Adobe ColdFusion (from 3.x to MX 7).
- Plenty of experience with XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I take an interest in layout (alignment, repetition, etc.), CSS designs, and digital photography.
- Extensive experience with Microsoft SQL Server 2000, including advanced indexing and query optimization, and good working knowledge of T-SQL.
- Worked with MySQL for ColdFusion, PHP and Ruby projects.
- Mac OS X user since 2001; Microsoft Windows user for many more years.
- Seven years under source control with Visual Source Safe, CVS, and now Subversion.
- The usual array of tools: TextMate, BBEdit, Photoshop Elements, IIS, Apache, etc.
Work experience
- May 2007 — present
Power to Change Ministries, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada
Human Resources needed to process job applications online. Working primarily on my own for a 10 month contract, we now have a system in place where HR can create forms with a web-based interface, and the infrastructure for applicants and references to complete those forms for review by HR.- Jan — May 2007
Freelance
Developed multiple projects using Ruby on Rails, which I began learning in January 2006. These include “web 2.0” features for a more responsive and dynamic experience.Core technologies: Ruby, Rails, MySQL, Javascript/Prototype, HTML/CSS
- Sep — Oct 2006
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Wycliffe Canada is a non-profit organization that is working to translate the Bible into the languages of forgotten people groups around the world.
http://www.wycliffe.caI volunteered in the Calgary, Alberta office for two months. During this time I evaluated and selected the appropriate tools, learned Python and Django, and worked closely with others to design and deploy two internal web-based projects.
The first was a simple data browser with searching capability. The other, a job database tool with revision history and PDF generation for selected job postings. Both projects were secured via an internal LDAP directory.
Core technologies: Python, Django, PostgreSQL, LDAP, reportlab (for PDFs)
- Dec 2002 — May 2006
Vintacom Media Group Inc.
Vintacom specializes in the online dating industry, serving 2 million free users and approximately 60,000 subscribers through the Relationship Exchange network.
http://www.vintacom.comJoining a small team of web developers for an extensive existing system, I quickly established trust as the primary keeper of the purchase system. This included adding new gateway support (VeriSign, PaymenTech, JetPay, etc.) as well as enhancing fraud controls (AVS, CVV2, IP blocking), and improving and extending the rebilling system, which processed literally tens of thousands of dollars each day.
I took a major role in implementing the Userplane instant messaging system, which involved managing online presence of users and searching for them in realtime. In 2005 I was promoted to a project manager role, and was welcomed back in 2006 after leaving for a 4 month sabbatical to Tauernhof, a Bible school in Austria.
Core technologies: Adobe ColdFusion, Microsoft SQL Server, JavaScript, HTML.
- Jun 1999 — Dec 2002
Sagebrush Corporation
Sagebrush provides library automation software and other products/services to the K-12 market. They have since been purchased by competitor Follet Software.
http://www.sagebrushcorp.comWorking directly with one other developer, and the U.S.-based marketing department, I was responsible for developing and maintaining a corporate web site for a newly merged group of companies. This included an online book catalog and persistent shopping cart for librarians to order large quantities of rebound books, complete with barcode labels.
We also developed a portal site for educators and an administrative site with our own task list system.
Core technologies: Adobe ColdFusion, MS SQL Server, IIS, JavaScript, HTML/CSS.
- Nov 1997 — Jun 1999
Canadiana Group Inc.
Canadian Group was a web design firm, servicing a large assortment of clients. (Canadiana was acquired by Pangaea Systems, and subsequently swallowed up by CGI).While building web sites at Canadiana, I worked with graphics designers using Adobe Photoshop to “slice” graphics for the web. It is here I became exposed to Allaire ColdFusion for web development.
Core technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and some ColdFusion.
- Jun 1997 — Nov 1997
Pathways Data Systems Inc.
HTML author/web developer on a part-time basis; continuing with off-site contract projects into 2001.
Education & courses
- Jan 2007
Zend Certified Engineer (PHP 5)
- Jun — Aug 2006
Canadian Institute of Linguistics (summer course)
- Jan — Apr 2006
Hebrew for Beginners (12 hours of class time)
- Sep — Dec 2005
Tauernhof Bible School (Capernwray Torchbearers) in Austria.
- Nov 2001
Macromedia Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer Certified Professional.
- Jun 1995
Advanced Diploma from Grand Trunk High School.
- May 1994
Achieved Highest Honours and received a College Diploma from NRI's (McGraw Hill) correspondence course in Computer Programming. (yes, while in High School)