Chris Stevens

For nearly six years, I have been a key member of Croydon Council’s Croydon Digital Service (CDS) department, where my role has evolved across a variety of projects. Initially, I helped develop a new PHP-based Drupal 8 website on an Azure DevOps platform - a system that has since been upgraded to Drupal 10. Later, I divided my time between maintaining the Croydon site and collaborating on the development of a white-label version, known as LocalGov, for distribution to other councils. This initiative has been a resounding success, with numerous councils adopting the codebase. As the sole front-end development and accessibility specialist within a multi-disciplinary Agile team working in two-week sprints, I have also partnered with the Shaw Trust to meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. In addition, I manage a WordPress site designed to engage digital businesses across the Croydon area.

I collaborated with the University of Southampton to support the rollout of a newly designed website for the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research). My role involved creating component-based assets and integrating them into a CMS platform called SiteKit. Key responsibilities included building cross-browser, multi-device, and WCAG 2.1-compliant accessible webpages from Photoshop designs. I utilized a diverse skillset, including HTML5, native JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap 4, CSS3, Photoshop, InVision, CSS animations (including GSAP), Git, Bitbucket, and Sublime Text, while adhering to mobile-first and responsive design principles. Working within a collaborative team environment, I liaised closely with designers and developers to ensure seamless project execution and delivery.

Gallagher Communications is a global communications agency based in Liphook, Hampshire, serving high-profile clients such as Husqvarna, Nike, BMW, Newfield, Lifepoint, Penske, and AXA to manage their employee communications and benefits. My role involved delivering a variety of services, including the development of standalone React and Bootstrap 4 websites, Angular JS-based 'Benefit Brochure' sites using their proprietary ‘Core’ platform, and HTML email campaigns. I built cross-browser, multi-device, and accessible websites from designs provided in Photoshop, Sketch, and InVision formats. Additionally, I produced HTML emails using Mailchimp and tested them in Litmus. My technical skillset included HTML, CSS, SASS, JavaScript, React, Angular JS, GRUNT, NPM, Bower, Git, Bitbucket, Sublime Text, CSS animations, Greensock GSAP, and ScrollMagic. Working within a Scrum team environment, I collaborated closely with designers and backend developers to ensure high-quality deliverables.

Jaywing is a full-service agency based in Newbury, Berkshire. I worked with them on a new website build for the University of Portsmouth. The website was developed on the Microsoft Sitecore platform, utilizing Jaywing's bespoke front-end framework called 'Atomic,' which is loosely based on 'Foundation'. My responsibilities included component integration and customisation within Sitecore's Experience Editor, as well as working with tools such as MS Visual Studio 2017, MS Visual Studio Code (VSCode), Git, Yarn Package Manager, Node, Nunjucks, Webpack, Babel, SASS, and JS Lint. I ensured WCAG accessibility compliance and employed a mobile-first, responsive grid approach using CSS3 (SASS) and the Atomic framework. The project involved modular vanilla JavaScript (similar to Require.js with some ES6) and component-based HTML5 templating via Nunjucks. I worked from designs provided in Adobe XD CC and managed tasks using Jira tickets within an Agile Scrum environment, participating in daily standups and iterative development cycles.

21Six is a full service agency based in Fair Oak, Hampshire. Due to rapid growth, 21Six needed an experienced FE dev who could ‘hit the ground running’ to handle some urgent web development work. The brief was to take the current website for the 'Aviator' hotel in Farnborough and port it from 'Cobalt CMS' to 'Wordpress' whilst retaining the existing design and content and making that design fully responsive. I achieved this by creating a series of Wordpress templates that used Boostrap 4 as a front end framework and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) to allow users to edit the pages.

Haymarket media are a large media company who operate over 70 magazine and web based brands. The role primarily involved the creation of new UI modules for their online magazines such as STUFF, Classic and Sports Car, Four Four Two and What Hi-Fi?. I worked as part of a team in an Agile Kanban Scrum environment via Jira with a Drupal 7/8 CMS. Each site differed slightly in its approach so i had to call on my wide ranging experience with a variety of skills in, Sublime 3, Vanilla Javascript/JQuery, Sass, NPM, Compass, GRUNT/GULP, Bourbon, Neat, Bootstrap 4, Git, SSH, Putty, Bitbucket, Twig PHP, InVision for designs, virtual machines via Virtual box, Vagrant and Docker.

I worked with Proventeq and Tata Consulting as the sole Accessibility Specialist on a large-scale promotional offer system for Walgreens Boots Alliance (Boots.com). Working remotely with a UK/India team, I ensured WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for this Java (JSP)/Liferay portal (Azure DevOps) by performing ongoing accessibility reviews (using Siteimprove, AXE, NVDA, Voiceover, and manual testing) and delivering compliance reports. My role also included front-end development, focusing on complex JavaScript/TypeScript form interactions and single-page applications based on Figma designs. I participated in daily standups, ticket management, and other team activities.

At 3Chillies, a Microsoft-focused agency specializing in Umbraco and Sitecore for the finance sector, I developed front-end HTML templates for a new website for Odgers Berndtson (odgersberndtson.com). Working from third-party Figma designs and wireframes, I collaborated with designers and Sitecore developers to create pixel-perfect, responsive pages and components using HTML, CSS3, SASS, JavaScript, and jQuery. Using Azure DevOps, I participated in daily standups and managed my assigned tickets.

Veolia are a large waste management services company. They brought me on board for a short term project due to my Drupal Front End experience. I worked with a Drupal back end dev and a UX designer to implement complex new screens into their Customer Hub system that is used for setting up delivery and facilities tracking.