Alex Gemmell Email & Phone Number

Marina Del Rey, Ca, Us

Los Angeles, California, Us

Corona Del Mar, California, Us

San Mateo, Ca, Us

As the Lead Senior Software Engineer my responsibilities encompassed the entire codebase and engineering team. I was solely responsible for creating two of the most critical systems for the company: * The engine and core business process that sends all payments to help tackle the $1.3 Trillion student debt crisis. * A completely customizable state machine and automated workflow based upon Amazon’s Step Functions. Allowing absolutely any process to be automated while leveraging AWS infrastructure reliability.In addition to the software I produced, other responsibilities included: * System Architecture * Design Reviews, and Code Reviews for all team members. * Mentoring mid-level and junior engineers, including presenting at "Lunch & Learns" * Code style and testing practices * Release manager (a rotating team role) * Release sign-off

Worked with the CEO and Founder to update and improve the legacy codebase, helping to add several new products to their online offering using DRY techniques.

Working out of the Los Angeles office, my main role is as the Senior Backend Developer and I design and develop all server-side related services such as CMSs and APIs in order to support a wide range of client requirements from business logic and message queues to caching and databases. I also fulfill a DevOps role by managing the development, staging and production servers, and providing Virtual Machine environments to a team of frontend developers. On a daily basis I create and maintain VMs (Vagrant + Puppet), assemble them into various configurations (Nodejs, PHP, Nginx/Apache, MySQL/Percona, Memcached/Redis, Varnish, etc). I deploy to a wide range of Cloud platforms including AWS, Rackspace and Google App Engine. I monitor production servers with real-time system health monitoring systems and look to proactively prevent any potential issues.Google Adblitz 2013https://www.youtube.com/user/adblitz AirBnB: Hollywood & Vineshttp://www.hollywoodandvines.com/http://creativity-online.com/work/airbnb-hollywood--vines-short-film/32613http://www.thefwa.com/fwawebtv/80294800Google Maps - Pegman Live!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-wCIlvg7sEPrudential – Map My Retirementhttp://www.bringyourchallenges.com/map-my-retirementGeoVegashttp://geovegas.lasvegas.com

I began consulting out of my own company in 2007. I mainly contract for digital media agencies as a team leader (SCRUM Master), frontend and backend developer.

London, Gb

Part of an agile (SCRUM) team employing TDD and Paired Programming. A Python (Django) backend with the website built via the Zend Framework (PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript).

London, London, Gb

I built a client-facing web interface for a CCTV alert system. Built on Symfony2 using Doctrine2 and heavy use of custom Javascript and jQuery. The interface displays video captured images, streams video over VPN and updates with new alerts in real-time.

London, England, Gb

I helped with the backend development on a flash-based platform game for a well known charity. The code base was custom built in conjunction with AMFPHP, Doctrine 2.1, and MongoDB.

Portland, Or, Us

I was asked by Wieden + Kennedy London to implement their new website design. For this job I chose to use ExpressionEngine2 which is a CMS based on the CodeIgniter framework.Wieden + Kennedy London: http://wklondon.com

London, London, Gb

At Glue I was put to work on building a Facebook app for Birds Eye’s new food product range called Rice Fusions. The Facebook app required that the user should “Like” the Birds Eye Facebook page and therefore be eligible to claim a coupon for one free Rice Fusion product. The app was simple enough to be completed in just a few days.Birds Eye Rice Fusions: http://www.facebook.com/birdseye

London, Gb

I returned to Pirata to help update the McLaren website for the 2011 season. A short contract where I helped Pirata's new lead developer expand on the extensive work done in 2010 based on the Zend Framework. We added more live telemetry data kindly supplied by McLaren’s technicians and improved the look and feel of both the public frontend and the private CMS-like backend.Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 (2011): http://www.mclaren.com/formula1

London, Gb

I worked on two websites for Tribal’s client Volkswagen. The first project I helped develop was the backend to the VW Ultimate Family Heroes campaign website. This was a custom build based on the Code Igniter MVC framework. The website was designed to switch between “phases” during a competition spanning many months. The phases meant the site’s functionality would entirely change (pre-launch, launch, entry collection, competition closed, winner selection, winner announced). The project incorporated Flash assets, Facebook/Twitter integration, mass emailing functionality, and PGP encryption.The second website was for VW’s See Film Differently campaign focusing on independent cinema and movie locations. The site was described as a “brilliant resource for interesting articles inspired by Location, as well as an interactive map that will be continuously updated over the coming months, and information on a screening of An American Werewolf in London at London Zoo.” The project incorporated Google Maps with custom overlays and Facebook/Twitter integration.Ultimate Family Hero- Info: http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/volkswagen-world/news/247/volkswagen's-holding-out-for-a-hero...- Campaign site: http://www.ultimatefamilyhero.co.ukSee Film Differently- http://www.seefilmdifferently.com

London, Gb

At Pirata I was the sole backend developer working with one other (frontend) developer. We developed a ground-breaking website for Formula 1. McLaren wanted to build a new website for their F1 team that reflected their love for raw data and simple design. They offered us the unique chance to use the telemetry that gets broadcasted from their cars live during practices, qualifying and the race along with webcam images from inside the garages and live commentary via a bespoke admin system. Many technical challenges were overcome with the use of Unix daemons, NGINX server and AJAX to provide the most exciting F1 website in 2010. The F1 community loved what we had done for McLaren and even the BBC commentated about how impressed they were with the site during the race causing a large wave of visitors.Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1: http://www.mclaren.com/formula12010 One Show Interactive Gold Pencil Award Winnerhttp://www.oneclub.org/theoneshow/os/?v=122772010 One Show Interactive Merit Award Winnerhttp://www.oneclub.org/theoneshow/os/?v=12421Brief and demo film:http://cargocollective.com/Awards/#316860/McLAREN-THE-RACE-1-0b

San Francisco, Ca, Us

I joined AKQA to work on a true world first, flash-based game for Warner Brothers’ upcoming Christmas blockbuster movie Sherlock Holmes called “221b”. I was one of three PHP developers providing the backend game logic for the game, supporting the flash developers’ frontend game logic. This was an incredibly tight deadline with an enormous amount of work to do in which culminated in a brilliant movie-game tie-in that had several world firsts such as Flash, Silverlight and JavaScript working together and AI chat bots.Game site: http://www.221b.sh2010 One Show Interactive Bronze Pencil Award Winnerhttp://www.oneclub.org/theoneshow/os/?v=12239AKQA’s talk at MIX10 in Las Vegas: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS11 (skip to 29m40s for 221b)

I returned to Hyper Happen to help on several more client projects. Nokia Video Hub:Assessing the client's requirements, proposing a solution and implementing it (AJAX and effects with JQuery, XML based data source, custom built Flash player interaction) Email templates for Cadbury and Huggies:A quick job of converting designs in Photoshop into HTML templates for email campaigns. It's important to note that HTML templates for emails are made differently to a normal website due to the fact many email clients (such as Outlook) render HTML in unusual ways. Huggies WordPress site:I took over from another developer who had moved on from this project so I had to hit the ground running. I added features such as Clustering of markers on their Google Map and improving their search functionality to include more terms and display the results in a better fashion (www.enjoytheride.co.uk)

Sole backend developer building the backend system to a Flash frontend on a LAMP stack. Created the web services required by the Flash frontend communicating with it via XML. This was an “Earth Hour” project for Nokia.Responsible for arranging a hosting account with Rackspace and the subsequent setting up and maintenance of the website and database. Also took Photoshop designs and built the HTML&CSS for the HTML version of the site.

London, Greater London, Gb

Implementing a redesign of the Orange RockCorps websitePoke is one of London's leading digital media agencies. One of their clients is the telecommunications company Orange who have a site called RockCorps about teenagers volunteering their time for worthwhile projects and in return they receive a ticket to a music event organised by Orange. My job was to implement the design changes and add new features to Poke's custom built Content Management System. Initially a 3 week contract my experience with MVC frameworks allowed me to complete the work in just one week!http://www.orangerockcorps.co.uk/

London, London, Gb

New build of a budget planner and spending diarySole developer building a new site from scratch to provide the client's customers with a way to record their budgeting and current spending, improving on their previous offer of a spreadsheet to download. The client's spreadsheet and main website receive a very high amount of traffic, about 7 million unique visitors (65 million page loads) per month. One of the main requirements was to make sure that the application I built would be as resource efficient as possible and perform well under high traffic. As a result I chose Code Igniter as the MVC framework to go with as I am very familiar with it and out of all the PHP MVC frameworks it is very lightweight.Other technology: I integrated Doctrine (a PHP ORM) into the framework and used JQuery for frontend effects and AJAX calls.

London, Gb

Legacy system maintenance and new client system development.I spent 3 months at 7city helping fix bugs and update code in their legacy systems whilst also working on new features.

London, Gb

Backend, database and web application development.Using the MVC framework "Code Igniter" I built the backend (database and several applications) to the Flash-based interactive stands for Ford's "Mustang" model at the L.A. Auto Show. I was the sole backend developer and designed everything myself. I used SimpleTest to build a unit test suite (Test Driven Development) to ensure solid programming and reduce bugs. Built in just 3 weeks it receives data from the Flash interactive applications and stores the data which supplies a website (which I also built) for visitors of the Show to visit and download photos, screensavers and other items designed to "extend the lifetime" of the Show.http://www.fordautoshowsouvenirs.com (accessible for a limited time after the 2008 LA Auto Show) Video of the interactive Flash applications can be seen at the Detroit Show 2009 - skip to about half way through to see someone take a webcam photo of their face and appear on "postcard pictures" next to the Mustang cars! http://www.imagination.com/work/casestudy/detroit_autoshow/

Gb

Fingal, part of the John Brown Group, is a digital media agency with many high profile clients such as Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Red Bull,Rolls-Royce, NatWest, The British Heart Foundation and many more. I joined the development team on a short contract to work on their custom built CMSs for Jaguar and Land Rover. I have since helped lead and shape the new development team on new projects such as Sunseeker and Red Bull. I pushed for more standardized processes and introduced the use of Symfony (an excellent PHP framework) and the SCRUM methodology for team management. On a daily basis I worked closely with account managers, project managers, designers and Flash developers to deliver our projects on time and under budget. Projects I worked on: http://www.sunseeker.comhttp://www.redbullf1.comhttp://www.redbulletin.comhttp://www.scuderiatororosso.comhttp://uk.mediajaguar.comhttp://uk.medialandrover.com

London, England, Gb

I joined the startup company Woyano and began developing a social networking site. We built a bespoke Content Management System to allow user to add and manage their content on Woyano.com. We worked on everything from server setup to page design and applied the underlying Woyano framework to our sister company Knexus, the development of which I managed entirely.http://www.knexusgroup.com

London, Uk, Gb

I was a contract PHP developer working on Reed Elsevier's Online Medical Encyclopedia. We maintained and developed new functionality for the online medical encyclopaedia "First Consult". The team practiced the Agile methodology called SCRUM, Paired Programming and Unit Testing.http://www.firstconsult.com

Saunders 1865 is an Executive Relocation firm in Kensington, London. In addition to my core development role I oversaw all IT related tasks such as developing and managing IT projects, and was responsible for supervising and training the Junior Developer. I liaised directly with the Managing Director but also worked with the IT Director to plan any future systems and maintain all company systems. My most significant project was to redesign and rebuild the company's outdated database system. I built a browser-based system in OO PHP and completely redesigned the SQL Server database for flexibility allowing future modifications to be bolted on more easily.

London, England, Gb

During my Computer Science degree I successfully applied and was accepted for an 15 month placement at Lloyds TSB in their Web Systems department helping with their intranet and public website.

Diploma Of Higher Education (Diphe), Computer Science

Biomedical Material Science

Education record