John Griffiths
Front-end Developer
Toronto, Canada, EST / EDT
About
Senior Front-end developer with 15 years in the field. First-rate problem solver and analytical thinker. Excels at tackling difficult problems, determining what needs to be done and swiftly resolving.
While predominantly focusing on front-end, has extensive back-end experience and has worked internationally for both large and small clients.
Skill Breakdown
Front-end Skills
- HTML5 / CSS3, Flex, Grid systems, BEM, OOCSS, Atomic Design
- SASS including Variables & custom Mixins
- LESS, Stylus with JEET, Rupture, NIB
- Frameworks: Bootstrap & Foundation, plus custom framework.
- Grunt, Gulp, Webpack, Yarn, 3 years
- React, Flux, ES6
- Previous experience of Angular 1
- Backbone, 2 years
- jQuery, Animate.js animation, D3.js charts
- Markup Pre-processors: HAML, SLIM, JADE, LATEX
- Wordpress & Perch CMS theming
Back-end Skills
- NGINX / Apache
- MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL
- GIT, TIG and VIM
- Node & Express, 3 years
- Swift, 2 years, both iOS and OSX apps for intranet use
- Rails, 3 years
Design
- Sketch, 2 years
- Research, Planning, Wire-Framing and High-Fidelity Designs
- Mobile App Design
Workflow
- Agile, 5 years (Zoocasa, Redington)
- Kanban, 3 years (Moveme, HomeSav)
Work Experience
UXGent Limited
Co-founder and Lead Developer
December 2012 - Present
Notable works include:
- React-based accounting system similar to QuickBooks utilizing Flux and ES6 with backend supplied by Express and MongoDB, tailored to property management for UK Client.
- Multi-media slideshow presentation using Video & Animation with Animate.js, powered by HTML/CSS, for DHX Media’s Annual Report customized for iPad.
- Web-based ‘ViewBook’ for Humber College, using the Foundation front-end framework with Jekyll & Grunt, efficient use of CSS and Atomic Design to maximize component reusability.
- Asian market online-ticketing system comparable to Fandango, made with Bootstrap, SASS, Rails and Postgres.
- iOS & OSX apps for UK client to manage investment portfolio, built with Swift and Parse providing the backend API.
- Cara Foods branding websites for Montana’s, Wordpress & CMS styling and on-site support.
- Canada’s Ballet Jörgan, Wordpress customization, styling & content creation.
Loblaw Digital
Senior Front-end Developer
Aug 2015 – Nov 2015
- Large scale e-commerce site loblaws.ca active within the front-end team.
- Duties involved bug-fixing, styling, SASS & vanilla Javascript. R&D, creating React components to replace original architecture.
Zoocasa, Brokerage
Senior Front-end Developer
Apr 2013 – Jun 2015
Online service that fits prospective homeowners with the right real estate agent.
- Lead the front-end development team coming on-board for it’s first major launch. Following this we crafted a whole-new user experience, utilizing a fully-responsive front-end with SASS, Mixins, Variables etc. and applying BEM and Atomic Design to give the site a consistent feel across the board.
- Styled Property Search, customizing Google Maps and Street View to follow branding and to be accessible on mobile & desktop.
- Restyled the salesforce internal site using Grunt and SASS to provide a theme for the Real Estate agents, making it responsive and easily accessible on their mobile devices.
- Jasmine for testing, custom font design & integration, device testing, cross-browser / device testing.
- Facebook portals, ad marketing, E-mail styling with Litmus for email testing.
BabySimplify.com
Co-founder
May 2011 – Jan 2015
Online startup to help new parents save money when buying baby items.
- A/B testing and conducted user interviews to build out the requirements. Styled in SASS, Bootstrap with Rails & MongoDB. Integrated with Facebook.
- Finalist at Montreal International Startup Festival, silver at Startup Toronto.
Homesav
Lead Developer
Sep 2011 – Nov 2012
- Lead a team of 3 developers in the design, planning and implementation of the e-commerce and micro-blogging service.
- Overhauled front-end to create a richer customer experience with a more fluid consistent feel. Using Bootstrap, Backbone and Ember. Replaced the complex payment process with a more reliable system.
- Customer migration from MailChimp to SailThru which coupled with responsive emails tailored to user’s trends resulted in 70% increased customer reactivation.
RSpec & Travis for testing to green-light new builds.
- Worked closely with marketing & design to consistently improve the site and increase customer retention.
BNotions
Front-end Developer
Jun 2011 – Sep 2011
- Styled FutureShop’s “Get Tapped In” Facebook campaign, a web app rewarding users for completing activities featured in signage and local media. Responsibilities included all front-end duties for this project, liaising with two developers to link the api to the client, CSS / HTML, Bootstrap. Incorporating both English and French content.
- Styled Medical Mapper using CoffeeScript & SASS with Rails.
- AroundThis, geo-location application using Backbone, Node.js & MongoDB. Mobile-ready this was presented at Startup Vancouver.
Redington Ltd, UK
Associate
Dec 2009 – Apr 2011
- Lead front-end development for startup MallowStreet, a social network for pension actuaries. Wire-framing, testing (Selenium) and development with a team of 5 developers.
- Crafted custom CSS framework & Grid system for Mallowstreet, influenced by BootStrap and similar frameworks. Device & cross-browser testing.
Duties also included crafting the blog/newsletter platform, along with styling the corporate WordPress site.
- Presented at in-house lunch & learns. Agile workflow using Kanban.
- Winner of Life & Pensions “Most Innovative Product” award 2010.
IO Global, UK
UI Developer
Jul 2009 – Nov 2009
- Worked with a small team of developers on the front-end platform, creating object-oriented JavaScript, reusable libraries & plugins.
- Geo-coding with Google Maps & Street View, this service provided an easy way to plan events across the UK.
The Working Group
Developer
May 2009 – May 2009
- Short-term contract position to support the development team.
Duties involved API work for postageapp.com, a home-grown SaaS for delivering emails similar to MailChimp.
- Agoracom.com, a client rails app for managing small investment portfolios.
- SASS, HTML, JavaScript, jQuery.
KeepThinking, UK
Contractor
Jan 2009 – Apr 2009
Contract role for small media agency in London.
- Duties involved front-end work for the Horniman Museum Intranet in PHP.
- Image Processor for the Wedgwood Collection (Ruby, WxRuby).
- Press campaign for National Galleries of Scotland's 'Artist Room' events.
Moveme.com, UK
User Interface Developer
Sep 2007 – Dec 2008
Responsible for the look and feel of this innovative moving-home service, from the web-based planner to the calendar moving tools.
- CSS, HTML & JavaScript, MooTools with pages built under ASP.NET.
- Provided training & mentorship to new juniors in the team, along with advice & R&D to help improve the user’s experience.
- Winner of multiple awards including Yahoo’s Peoples Choice Award 2008 & Best Website BIMA Award 2007.
WSP Group PLC, UK
Lead Developer
Jun 2000 – Sep 2007
Leading a small team to develop software products and services for internal & external clients.
- Built discussion forum service for internal staff to support meetings and note taking.
- Searchable CMS for housing product documentation.
- JAVA extensions for GIS mapping with the Ordnance Survey team.
- Integrated the SalesLogix SAGE-CRM system with our Oracle infrastructure, working with the Data team to make sure this went smoothly.
- Proposed and lead replacement of the corporate IIS search system with a Google Mini appliance. Along with customization and maintenance in the company’s co-location facility.
- Designed & developed PRIMO, an online service to book and purchase resources of any kind at any office world-wide (meeting rooms, laptops, etc).
- Maintained and designed the business’s internal & external web presence.
- JavaScript, CSS, HTML, ASP.NET, SQL Server, Oracle.
- Provided on-site training to office in England & Sweden.
Education
BSc with Honours, Information Systems Development
Anglia University
1994 – 1998
Training
- React Web Development (HackerYou)
- User Experience (BrainStation)
- User Experience (HackerYou)
- User Interface Design (HackerYou)
- iOS Development (BrainStation)
- Maker Educator (SteamLabs Toronto)
Published Works
- 8 Faces, Typography Magazine
- Air Canada, Photography
- Daily Mail, Photography
Other Skills
- AutoCAD Fusion 360
- 3D Printing & Digital Fabrication
- Electronics & CNC
Outside Work
- Works on creating new products and solving every day problems with 3D Design, electronics and CNC fabrication.
- Mentored at Ladies Learning Code and SteamLabs maker space.
- Mentored at Makers Making Change, a small Vancouver-based startup helping. people with ALS & Spinal damage live a more fuller life.
- Enjoy writing, volunteering in the community and spending time with my family.
Contact Details
E-mail: john@johnantoni.com
Github https://github.com/johnantoni
References
Takuya Yoshimoto (Zoocasa)
Experienced Product Manager with UI/UX Focus
John is a brilliant UI developer. He always goes above and beyond with his top-rated talent and an incredible depth of technical knowledge. John is a reliable and hardworking professional who's always willing to help out. It's truly been a pleasure working with him.
Seif Khemaissia (HomeSav)
Business Science
John's breadth of knowledge in the technology space is astounding. He is very intelligent at providing the right solutions for web development and online advertising tracking/reporting. Working with John, you learn something new every day. He follows all the trends and applies innovative practices to his work that save time and drive results. John is going to achieve big things in his career.
Jacqueline McAndrew (HomeSav)
Content Strategist at Facebook
John was senior to Jacqueline but didn’t manage directly
John is a highly skilled developer who is passionate about his work and about the success of the companies he's worked with. His drive, commitment, and responsibility make him a valuable team member, and his clear-headed, organized, and efficient problem-solving abilities and leadership skills make him an ideal development manager.
As a marketing professional, I appreciate the rare combination of finely-honed technical expertise with marketplace knowledge and insights. John embodies both of these qualities. As the CTO of HomeSav, John was tasked with some unique challenges: prepping our servers for ever-increasing volumes of traffic, an easy-to-use backend capable of handling a huge number of products and vendors, intelligent and informed on-page tracking to provide customer insights, and bespoke features and applications on an innovative e-commerce platform. John rose to the occasion time and again, and we were left with a clean, appealing, and lightning-fast website that was tailored to our needs and provided value both to HomeSav and to its customers. As the social media marketing manager, John's knowledge and enthusiastic approach towards marketing efforts was refreshing and invaluable.
John is a true and exceptional talent. I'm incredibly thankful for the time we got to spend together as co-workers - it was educational and inspirational. I would consider myself lucky for the opportunity to work with John again, and I enthusiastically recommend him to any company that is fortunate enough to work with him in the future.
Dawid Konotey-Ahulu (Redington)
Founder and Board Director
John is a first class developer. He is very reliable and delivers what you ask of him. And he's a great guy with it. We were sorry to lose him to Toronto!
Stuart Dillon (Redington)
Programme Manager
John was a key member of the mallowstreet delivery team. He is one of those individuals you can throw a technical problem at and he will rise to the challenge, delivering time and time again. John has a great insight to social media space through his active participation in both off and online networks. John is a really likeable, honest and committed guy. He would be a valuable additional to any development team.
Mat Ryer (IO Global)
Programmer
During his time at IO Global John has proven to be a very talented & insightful UI developer. Through his passion and willingness to help others he has shown himself to be a valued member of our team and a highly dependable and hard working individual. Highly recommended.
Andy Skipper (MoveMe)
Chief Technology Officer
John was employed in our office from September 2007 to December 2008. He was an asset to our organization during his employment here, and has excellent written and verbal communication skills, is extremely organized, can work independently and in close collaboration and is able to follow through to ensure that the job gets done.
During his tenure with moveme.com , John was responsible for developing the user interface part of the website using Javascript/Ajax, and was instrumental in the development of our multi-award winning Move Planner.
He is a very capable Javascript developer indeed, and has mentored other developers within the organization to assist them in their learning.
Lynn Smyth (WSP Group)
Customer Success / Business Transformation Leader
John is a highly motivated, structured senior developer. I worked with John for over 5 years and relied on him as my technical expert in delivering solutions to WSP and their clients. With strong technical and problem solving skills I would highly recommend John in a senior technical architect position. On a personal side John is a top guy and works very well in a team environment. Set him loose and lap up the rewards!