Specialist Motor Finance

Specialist Motor Finance are a car finance company. One of their critical systems used extremely out-of-date approaches and technology, with php5, old versions of jQuery and so on. While it was due to be sunset, the system had multiple security issues as well as multiple long-running bugs. As the software was business critical, this contract was to ensure that the software could safely be used for at least a year.

Furthermore, the company were unsure of a release process or how to move forward. I developed a release process alongside the IT department, as well as implementing many industry standard systems and approaches. This resulted in an improved testing regime, localised development, updated GIT based version control as well as other more management friendly techniques, such as leveraging JIRA to manage software development cycles and patches.

I implemented the required security upgrades, including multiple code and version upgrades. Following these successful upgrades I was extended to further improve the code, fixing and improving many long-running issues within the software to ensure that the company would be able to run efficiently until the software was sunset.

Temper

Temper are a short term work/recruitment agency from the Netherlands. They were launching into the UK market and needed lead developer cover as part of this project while they found a permanent lead developer.

The Temper system is a microservices driven architecture with many complex requirements. It is mainly based in Laravel, and uses many parts of software architecture. It offers features for matching users to clients, reporting for providers, multi-language support across multiple sites, and many other challenging technical solutions. This requires skills from all elements of a microservices environment, from queuing through to advanced database querying and reporting.

I also piloted several new approaches within the development team. I coached and assisted the Junior developers in my team, ensuring that best practices were adhered to and applied. The UK launch went successfully, and I handed over in early 2023.

Made for trade

Made for trade are a manufacturing company delivering Bifold Doors and Lantern windows. They needed a complete rework of an existing quote system with extended functionality. This was as part of a company move to a more digital approach with software team.

I designed and worked on a complete quote system. This a greenfield project initially built in Laravel but was extended to be a microservices installation that offered numerous features. Customer management, reporting, an API were all created. A front end that included 3D rendering and customer wizards was developed. While based on PHP and Laravel, it also included major work with MySQL, SQL Server, as well as in JSON API access and front-end 3D modelling using BabylonJS. All of this had to be built in a best-practice way that allowed to hand over the work for the planned new IT team. I developed the whole system from scratch, using an AGILE approach and Continuous Integration (via Travis), as well as documenting, handing over and training the new staff allowing a smooth transition.