Martin Burford - Freelance Front-End Developer
Email:
Portfolio: http://www.martinburford.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinburford/
GitHub: https://github.com/martinburford
ABOUT MEI started coding professionally in 1999, and have a deep passion for beautifully crafted web interfaces.My approach to work is always the same. I am driven by working with nice, smart people. I’m incredibly passionate about how the mechanics and visuals of a website work together in harmony, resulting in a stunning user experience. Yes, I code HTML, JavaScript, ES6, Node, SASS etc in every contract, but my true passion is in building the very best UI a website can have, with whatever technologies are required to do the job. Couple this with an obsessive side to my personality where I continually strive for the cleanest, most extendable and robust code possible. I work hard to ensure I only ever leave companies with code that I myself would be happy to inherit.
I am currently taking some time out of work, to spend some time with my recently born son, along with taking the opportunity to spend some time looking at some web technologies I haven't had time to look at over the last year or so (eg: Babel, React, Redux, Webpack) and technologies I've used, but would like to know more about (eg: Browserify, ES6, Gulp, Node). Whilst I'm studying, I am also happy to look at the possibility of starting a new Front-End development contract position. So please get in touch if you have anything which you think may be of interest.
EXPERIENCESenior Front-End Developer: Bond & Coyne
August 2017 - November 2017, London, UK
· Built a greenfield single page website.
· Fully responsive across 5 breakpoints, mobile-first adoption.
· Site included a fully responsive Data Visualization feature representing approximately 175 million records.
· I had to write a number of NodeJS scripts in order to extract and format the data into extremely bespoke formats prior to attaching the data to the SVH graphing components within the site.
· Project was delivered on time, on budget, and the client were delighted with the end result.
Technologies used: Babel, Browserify, CSS3, ES6, Grunt, HTML5, icoMoon, JSON, Native JavaScript, Node, NPM, OO JavaScript, Responsive front-end, SASS
Recommendations
Martin Coyne - Creative Director / Owner
Martin has been an invaluable member of our extended team helping to deliver an elegant solution on time and on budget but more importantly one that has exceeded our client expectation. Having worked with many developers I can honestly say that I have never work with one as methodically as Martin. This installed a great level of confidence in the studio and enabled him to become quickly embedded as part of our team. I would not hesitate to recommend Martin and hope to work with him again soon. Highly recommend.
Jason Hancock - Digital Director
Martins extensive knowledge of front-end development and process made sure that we weren’t restricted when it came to design or creative within a tight timeline. He doesn’t just know one way of doing things, he knows many and will happily share the options, the impact and accurate timelines for each. This allowed us to clearly communicate with the client and manage expectations throughout an ever changing project that concluded in us delivering a solid build above client expectations, on time and on budget.We can recommend Martin without hesitation and will hopefully get to work with him again in future on further development of this project or any other challenging builds that need that higher level of expertise Martin offers.
Nick Yorke - Recruiter
Martin recently completed a 3 month project for a client of mine, which has been a very smooth process with excellent results. Martins organisation, communication and overall technical delivery has been brilliant, providing daily updates on progress as well as forecasted plans has given the client and myself absolute clarity, proving to be assuring for all parties involved. Moreover, Martins timekeeping and punctuality is second to, and his collaborative and personable approach has allowed for a very successful project in which he has worked closely with both internal and external stakeholders. I highly recommend Martin and look forward to working with him again.
Career break: Parental leave
March 2017 - July 2017
· I took 5 months off from work to spend some time with my son who was born in March 2017.
Lead Web Developer: Mansion House Consulting
January 2017 - February 2017, London, UK
· Wrote the initial templates for a comprehensive internal prototype.
· Fully dynamic interface, via communication with a vast array of APIs.
· Fully responsive across 3 breakpoints, mobile-first adoption.
· Handed over the code to an internal development team for the longer-term integration, once the prototype was complete, and had been welcomed very favourably by the relevant business units.
Technologies used: CSS3, HTML5, icoMoon, NPM, JSON, Namespacing, Native JavaScript, OO JavaScript, Responsive front-end.
Recommendations
Ritu Arora - Java/Ruby Automation Test Analyst
Martin is the complete package for any front-end development work. He knows his job inside out and is happy to work with multiple different technologies. He goes the extra mile in order to deliver top class solutions within project time frames. When you work with him, it's impossible to not notice his vast experience in the industry and the reputation he has gained over many years. He has an unstoppable source of energy and passion towards the success of the program he works on. I have seen him spend time to analyse the work and requirements at hand, before jumping straight to a solution or implementation. He is a team player and a fun loving guy to work with. I would have no hesitation in recommending him to any employer who are seeking a top notch front-end developer. Undoubtedly, he would be a great asset to any team.
Sebastien Rousseau - Senior Product Manager
Martin is an exceptional lead web developer, very passionate, extremely focused in his approach to his work with a remarkable attention to detail. He was able to jump in on a very complex project, communicated efficiently technical blockers and delivered creative solutions. He gave excellent feedback to the UX/Design team, took active interest in the overall development process and wrote clean, well documented and highly maintainable code with an end-result that always has been better than we had imagined. I was glad to work with him and would be happy to do so again. Highly recommended.
Senior Front-End Developer: Trinity Mirror
August 2015 - November 2016, London, UK
· Repeat contract.
· Helped lead the re-architecture and building of a brand new (from the ground up) digital platform to support 60+ sites with monthly traffic levels in the tens of millions.
· Single-handedly built white-labelling capabilities into the platform, to allow the easy creation of sites now and in the future as more publications come online over time.
· Created elegant front-end solutions to seamlessly work in collaboration with dozens of back-end restful APIs.
· Fully responsive across 5 breakpoints, mobile-first adoption.
· Wrote supporting test scripts to enable continuous integration to be possible, thus streamlining the automated deployment procedure.
Technologies used: Chai, CSS3, eScenic, Express, Grunt, HTML5 , icoMoon, Jade templating, Karma, Node, NPM (private and public), JSON, Multi-branding, Namespacing, Native JavaScript, OO JavaScript, PhantomJS, Responsive front-end, SASS, Sinon.
Recommendations
Daniel Landes - Product Manager, Advertising & Data
Martin joined my team to help us out with a particularly tricky ad issue we needed to resolve before our new sites could launch. He worked autonomously, building a really clever bespoke solution which answered complex requirements and is now being sold by commercial teams across the business. Martin has a real understanding of good UX, and with his significant technical experience and thorough documentation, he has been a great help to the team.
Huan Zhang - Front-End Developer
As someone who has almost more years of JavaScript experience than my age, Martin is surprisingly down to earth and easy to work with. I still remember him helping me with an array map problem during my first week at Trinity Mirror and he has always been happy to help, happy to explain the reasons behind decisions and in general happy to pass on all his years of experience onto anyone willing to learn. I have definitely learnt a lot from working with Martin and he is certainly one of my favourite people in the office.
Bogdan Chebac - Senior Front-End Developer
Few people get the rare opportunity to work with an incredible developer such as Martin. I had the pleasure to work with him throughout the beginning of 2016 and I have never seen a developer deliver code as fast as he did with the utmost attention to detail and clean code standards, I was always in awe of his capabilities. Martin was able to juggle several tasks at once all while being a mentor figure to yours truly, offering both challenge and support when the task at hand required it. Not to mention it made a dramatic difference in the team's productivity level. No matter what kind of a meeting/stand-up/planning it was, Martin always provided helpful feedback and solutions even for the most challenging of issues. As a team member or a leader, Martin earns my highest recommendation.
Lead UI Developer: Barclays
August 2014 - August 2015, London, UK
· Responsible for leading the core Barclays front-end development team to build a fully featured HTML component library, comprising of components and templates in the multiple hundreds.
· Delivered a universal templating engine, re-usable by all branches of the Barclays digital arm, irrespective of location, the configuration of which was controlled via JSON.
· I led the development of the re-writing of existing build scripts, responsible for creating, compiling, and distributing custom website build packages to Barclays digital teams, all around the world, requesting site assets.
· Fully responsive, across 7 breakpoints, mobile-first adoption.
· Significant levels of accessibility written into all front-end code, to align with Barclays incredibly high requirements.
Technologies used: CSS3, Grunt, HTML5 , OO JavaScript, jQuery, JSON, Lo-dash, Namespacing, Responsive front-end, SASS.
Recommendations
Mark Pickering - Lead Web UI Designer/Developer
I worked on a project with Martin at Barclays. Not only is he a friendly, professional person to work with but he really knows his trade. The quality of his work is so high that it inspires others to raise their game and he is always happy to share his knowledge, bounce ideas and adapt solutions to address evolving requirements. He will be missed.
Giles McCartney - UI Consultant
Martin is an exceptionally talented, seasoned developer and is a pleasure to work with. Unusually, given his seniority, Martin is also flexible in his approach and will work in whatever way a project demands. Martin is highly self-motivated and left alone he will burn through work at a terrific rate. In fact you will need a small team to create enough work for him! If you have a world-class project then you need a world-class developer like Martin. I very much look forward to working with him again soon.
Raj Tarat - Recruiter
Barclays had asked for a senior developer who they could trust to lead one of the largest, most complex programs at the bank. Martin deservedly has a reputation in the industry as an excellent front end developer and from our first conversation, it was clear that he was more than capable of delivering. He continually impressed from interview through to his last day working there and I've received excellent feedback for him. I'd highly recommend him!
Other contracts
Besides my most recent 4 contracts, as above, I have worked in many other companies, on a contract basis:
Company / Role / From / ToVML / Senior Interactive Developer / Mar 2013 / Jul 2013
Profero / Senior Front-End Developer / Dec 2012 / Mar 2013
Jam @ Engine Group / Senior Front-End Developer / Oct 2012 / Nov 2012
Ogilvy / Senior Front-End Developer / Sep 2012 / Oct 2012
New Brand Vision / Senior Front-End Developer / Sep 2012 / Sep 2012
Fox Parrack Singapour / Senior JavaScript Developer / Aug 2012 / Aug 2012
The Mill / Front-End Technical Lead / May 2012 / Jul 2012
Stink Digital / Senior Front-End Developer / Apr 2012 / May 2012
LBi / Lead Internet Engineer / Dec 2011 / Mar 2012
AKQA / Senior Web Developer / Oct 2011 / Dec 2011
Timeout / Lead Front-End Engineer / Jul 2011 / Oct 2011
Publicis Modem / Senior JavaScript Engineer / Jun 2011 / Jul 2011
Tribal DDB / Senior JavaScript Engineer / May 2011 / Jun 2011
Publicis Modem / Senior JavaScript Engineer / Jan 2011 / May 2011
Wunderman / Senior JavaScript Engineer / Dec 2010 / Jan 2011
R/GA / Senior Developer / Oct 2010 / Dec 2010
Digitas / Senior JavaScript Engineer / Aug 2010 / Sep 2010
LBi / Lead Internet Engineer / Jul 2010 / Aug 2010
Digitas / Senior JavaScript Engineer / Jun 2010 / Jul 2010
Sapient Nitro / Senior Interactive Developer / May 2010 / Jun 2010
LBi / Lead Internet Engineer / Dec 2009 / May 2010
Good Technology / Senior Interactive Developer / Nov 2009 / Dec 2009
Autoquake / Lead Client-Side Developer / Aug 2009 / Nov 2009
Clash-Media / Lead Developer / Apr 2009 / Jun 2009
Euro RSCG 4D Digital / Chief Technical Architect / Feb 2009 / Apr 2009
FutureBrand / PHP Developer / Jan 2009 / Feb 2009
Permanent positions