Details

Name: Tadhg O’Higgins
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Email: tadhg(the at symbol)tadhg(the dot symbol)com
Sex: Male

Work Experience

I have worked in the internet/web development field for more than twelve years, with experience ranging from freelance web development to information architecture, managing web development departments, and back-end software engineering.

May 2007–February 2009
Senior Web Application Developer/Software Engineer, Metaweb Technologies
Developing freebase.com, Metaweb’s free structured data repository, with particular emphasis on JavaScript, Python, and AJAX. Primary responsibilities included working with the interface between Metaweb’s graph database and the front-end code, moving JavaScript functionality to server-side Python, and developing freebase.com’s discussion functionality.

January 2006–May 2007
Web Application Developer/Software Engineer, Nimblefish Technologies
Duties include developing the Nimblefish platform, with particular emphasis on Java, JSP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and AJAX development. Web standards compliance, utilizing JavaScript to enable smoother workflows, browser compatibility, and backend-to-HTML integration using JSP are core areas of responsibility.

January 2005–January 2006
Web Development Manager, Nimblefish Technologies
Duties included managing and mentoring the web development team, developing JSP frameworks for form and offer handling, overseeing Flash development, moving sites to the newest version of the Nimblefish platform, training the web development team on the new platform, collaborating with backend engineers to develop solutions on the new platform, and all of the duties of the Senior Web Technologist role (see below).

December 2002–January 2005
Senior Web Technologist, Nimblefish Technologies
Duties included development of personalized websites using Nimblefish’s JSP-based PURL platform, providing enhancements to PURL-related technologies including JSP and database structures, guiding production processes, managing freelancers, creating standards for PURL coding and PURL QA, and developing JavaScript/CSS/HTML techniques for PURL development.

September 2002–December 2002
Web Developer, Nimblefish Technologies (Freelance)
Duties included development of personalized websites using Nimblefish’s JSP-based PURL platform, including creation and utilization of backend database structures

March 2002–June 2002
Information Architecture Expert, AKQA San Francisco (Freelance)
Duties included development of Information Architecture for a section of the Texas Instruments website, creation of strategy for that section, conducting user research, and adapting the ti.com standard user interface to suit the strategy and IA.

July 2000–November 2001
Lead Technologist, AKQA San Francisco
Duties included managing coding teams, acting as usability advocate in design decisions, leading development on web projects, web user interface development, Information Architecture, JavaScript/DHTML development, responsibility for client and New Business extranets, creating/maintaining coding knowledge base, scheduling projects, allocating resources, introducing CVS to the work environment, writing documentation, writing project Technical Specifications / Requirements, management of the UNIX-based office web servers, and primary responsibility for troubleshooting and bug fixing.

April 2000–July 2000
Senior Technologist, ClientNet
Duties included usability decisions, development of the company website, primary responsibility for JavaScript and DHTML coding, scheduling projects, Information Architecture, and leading development on Interactive projects.

November 1999–April 2000
Web Developer/Information Architect, ClientNet
Duties included extensive development work on Interactive projects, Information Architecture, and troubleshooting.

December 1998–October 1999
Web Developer/Designer, Trinity College Dublin International Student Affairs
Duties included budget and schedule determination, Graphic and User Interface Design, Information Architecture, and acting as Lead Developer.

Education

M.Sc., Multimedia Systems
Trinity College Dublin, 1999.

M.A., American Literature
University College Dublin, 1998.

B.A., English and Philosophy
University College Dublin, 1995.

Skills

I am extremely experienced with a wide range of web development skills, from HTML and CSS to PHP and Python, SQL to JavaScript. I am committed to using web standards, to developing accessible and usable web applications and sites, and I have a passionate interest in the field, counting it as one of my major hobbies.

I am highly experienced in the following areas:

(X)HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, XML, DHTML, CSS, Python, PHP, JSP, Unix shell scripting, and Apache, combined with a deep understanding of how they work together.
Information Architecture and User Interface design and development for the web.
Graphic Design for the web, primarily using Adobe Photoshop, ImageReady and Illustrator.
Project Management for web and web-related projects, in terms of leading development, leading projects overall, and dealing with version control, usability, web standards, and quality assurance issues.
I also have experience with Java, MySQL, CVS, Subversion, Perl and ASP.

I currently maintain an OpenBSD server running several websites including a personal site/weblog and a database-driven game statistics site, and running a variety of services including Apache, PHP, MySQL, Subversion, SSH, IRC, Postfix, IMAP, and SquirrelMail.

I have excellent organizational and knowledge management skills—Metaweb’s core mission involves the organization of knowledge; I created and maintained internal knowledge bases at Nimblefish, AKQA and ClientNet; and in college, I helped found the UCD Internet Society (to provide undergraduate students with Internet access) and ran the UCD English Literary Society.

I have excellent reading, proofreading, editing, and compositional skills.

I am familiar with a wide range of computer operating systems and user interfaces, including UNIX, X-Windows, Windows 3.x – XP, MacOS Classic, and MacOS X.

Achievements

M.Sc. course project was one of seven course projects displayed at Dublin’s Douglas Hyde Gallery, an exhibition that attracted 4500 visitors in 9 days in 1999.

Wrote How to Cheat in the Leaving Certificate, a full-length feature film that went on commercial release in Ireland in April 1998, with Graham Jones (the director).

Founder Member, UCD Internet Society, 1995.

Auditor, UCD English Literary Society, 1993-1994.

References

Available upon request.