Ruby on Rails, JRuby, JSP, DB2

Developed a Map-based social web application (dripplet.com) using Ruby on Rails. Produced markup, automated accessibility tests, and Oracle Web Portal compatible CSS themes (inail.it) using Ruby (HAML, SASS, Cucumber). Ported an Italian book catalog from PHP to Ruby on Rails (galileoalby.com) and added a version of the site optimized for the iphone (IUI library).

I managed the software engineers for Excite Italia and doubled as an engineer myself. While liaising with larger companies (Tiscali, Ask UK, Ask.com) I helped the company’s engineering keep lean and flexible as business objectives shifted from growth to innovation to integration. I also kept an active hand in the programming of all aspects, from backend (DB design, query tuning and analysis, stored procedures) to middleware (XML-RPC, SOAP, REST) to frontend (PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS). I worked with a wide range of other groups: systems, design, marketing, business development, editorial content and product, translating their needs into engineering requirements and likewise rendering the engineering group’s technical issues and opportunities accessible to non-technical groups. As Excite Italia acquired the rights to the remaining Excite Europe properties, I managed the development and integration of sites in English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Dutch and Polish.

I was one of two Americans sent to launch the Excite Italia startup. I helped import and apply technologies developed in Redwood City, California to the emerging market for web portals in Rome, Italy. I designed and developed the content production infrastructure, the use of source control (CVS), channel structure, community products, the development environment, release and rollback procedures, feed handlers, personalization, registration, and search results pages. I was responsible for the internationalization and localization of Excite@Home web applications as well as the development of new applications specifically for Excite Italia. I developed the frontend for what was at that time the first and only online personals service in Italy (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.excite.it/annunci).