CV - Oliver Paul Davies (opdavies)

Technical skills

  • Languages: PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bash
  • CMSes and Frameworks: Drupal (6-9), Symfony (2-5), Silex, Sculpin, Tailwind CSS, Vue.js
  • Tools: Git, PHPUnit, PHPStan, Behat, Jest, Docker, Ansible, Puppet, Apache, Nginx, MySQL, Jenkins, GitHub Actions
  • Platforms: Acquia, Platform.sh, Pantheon, Netlify, Amazon AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode

Projects

Inviqa websites

  • Co-developed the Drupal 8 version of the Inviqa UK and Germany websites, including a number of custom modules.
  • Improved the editorial experience using Drupal's Layout Builder with a number of re-usable static and dynamic blocks.
  • Wrote custom migrations to migrate existing data from the legacy site.
  • Led the ongoing development following completion of the first phase.
  • Technologies used: Drupal 8, Vue.js, Behat, PHPUnit, PHPCS.
  • Links: https://www.inviqa.com, https://www.inviqa.de

OutdoorLads website (Microserve)

  • Architected and co-developed a Drupal 8 and Drupal Commerce based events and membership website and management system.
  • Introduced automated testing and test-driven development, resulting in over 100 tests being added.
  • Contributed to the custom migration of data from the legacy system, including users, event (product), and attendance (order) information.
  • Contributed various modules and patches to Drupal.org.
  • Technologies used: Drupal 8, Drupal Commerce 2, PHPUnit, Tailwind CSS.
  • Link: https://www.outdoorlads.com

Drupal.org websites and infrastructure (Drupal Association)

  • Improved Drupal.org by adding new features and fixing bugs, improving the user experience for new Drupal.org users and Drupal contributors and maintainers.
  • Improved Austin and Latin America DrupalCon themes.
  • Resolved payment gateway issues on events.drupal.org prior to DrupalCon Barcelona registrations, allowing attendees to successfully purchase tickets.
  • Performed a functional and security review of jobs.drupal.org prior to its public release.
  • Tested and contributed to the responsive version of Bluecheese (the Drupal.org theme) which was launched in December 2014.
  • Assisted in the upgrade of localize.drupal.org to Drupal 7 with high-profile community members.
  • Improved the Election module used on assoc.drupal.org for community-at-large elections, making it simpler for community members to vote.
  • Links: https://www.drupal.org, https://events.drupal.org, https://jobs.drupal.org

Intranet for Admiral Insurance (Precedent)

  • Completed a Drupal development project, working closely and often on-site with Admiral's staff Developers.
  • After completion, multiple instances of the site were rolled out to different companies and departments within the Admiral group.
  • Improved security and user experience by configuring a single sign-on between Drupal and the corporate network using LDAP and NTLM.
  • Provided technical documentation and training to the Admiral team for future development and maintenance of the application.
  • Technologies used: Drupal 7, Git, Linux, Apache, MySQL.

Insurance group websites (freelance)

  • Developed and maintained a collection of business-to-consumer and business-to-business websites, selling insurance policies for electronic gadgets.
  • Increased revenue by increasing the number of sites from one to seven, and maintaining costs by re-using the same codebase and hosting.
  • Improved quality and efficiency by introducing automated testing and code quality tools, and automating deployments using GitHub Actions.
  • Grew the client relationship, providing excellent communication via regular progress updates, and helping the client prioritise and manage tasks in an Agile way.
  • Technologies used: Drupal 7, Drupal Commerce, AngularJS, PHPCS, PHPStan, Jest, GitHub, Acquia.

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer at Inviqa (Remote) - April 2019 to present

  • Worked on and led a development team responsible for a number of Drupal 7 and 8 projects.
  • Led the back-end development for the migration of inviqa.com and inviqa.de to Drupal 8, and oversaw the ongoing development and maintenance of the sites after completion of the first phase.
  • Advocate for pair programming to improve code quality and knowledge sharing.
  • Part of the out-of-hours critical application support team, supporting applications including Drupal, Magento and Sylius.
  • Promoted to an acting Technical Team Lead role prior to the completion of my initial probation.
  • Certified Mental Health First Aider and part of the Wellbeing team.
  • Link: https://www.inviqa.com

Freelance Software Developer and Systems Administrator - 2007 to present

  • Worked on projects to gain experience and to experiment with new technologies.
  • Developed and re-developed applications using Drupal, Symfony and Silex.
  • Migrated sites to newer versions of Drupal (6 to 7, and 7 to 8).
  • Updated themes and styling to match new designs and mockups provided by Designers.
  • Provisioned and maintained Linux servers for clients.
  • Introduced version control systems, automation and deployment processes to existing projects.
  • Performed code reviews and audits for other Developers.

Senior Drupal Developer at Microserve (Bristol, UK) - March 2017 to April 2019

  • Developed and maintained various Drupal 7 and 8 projects including custom modules and automated tests, such as integrating Drupal with third-party services.
  • Improved the accessibility of various projects by working on front-end and theming related tasks.
  • Wrote custom migrations to import data from various sources into Drupal 8.
  • Contributed Drupal modules and PHP packages to Drupal.org and Packagist.
  • Mentored other Developers and promoted knowledge sharing via pair programming, lunch and learns, and internal workshops.
  • Worked closely with the Management, QA and DevOps teams to define and improve internal processes for software testing and deployments.
  • Link: https://microserve.io

Senior Drupal Developer at Appnovation (Cardiff, UK) - May 2016 to March 2017

  • Co-developed various Drupal 7 and 8 projects for UK, US and Canadian clients.
  • Developed custom modules and themes, and contributed some modules to Drupal.org, such the Toggle Optional Fields module.
  • Provided technical knowledge for pre-sales opportunities, including the company’s first UK Drupal 8 project and first FTSE 100 client.
  • Interviewed candidates for Developer roles in the UK and US, and providing feedback to the relevant people.
  • Link: https://www.appnovation.com

Lead Drupal Developer at CTI Digital (Remote) - November 2015 to May 2016

  • Contributed to and helped support various existing Drupal 7 projects.
  • Improved my Drupal 8 knowledge via self-guided learning, focussing on custom module development and data migration.
  • Developed a prototype of a command-line application to generate and audit codebases, to reduce the onboarding time for Developers and ensure consistency across projects.
  • Link: https://www.ctidigital.com

Senior Drupal Developer at Microserve (Bristol, UK) - July 2015 to November 2015

  • Full-stack Drupal 7 development, focussing on custom module development, REST server integration via restws module, and data migration from Drupal 6.
  • Updated and modernised a non-Drupal PHP platform to ensure its compatibility with their new Drupal 7 website. This involved adding Composer to manage dependencies and Guzzle to perform HTTP requests to Drupal to trigger actions via REST.
  • Community and contribution advocate, wrote blog posts for the company website and attended and presented at meetups and conferences.
  • Link: https://microserve.io

Drupal.org Developer at the Drupal Association (Remote) - May 2014 to July 2015

  • Worked on the Drupal.org website, its sub-sites and infrastructure, developing new tools and features whilst fixing bugs and issues.
  • Monitored and maintained the Drupal.org testbot infrastructure during high traffic periods, ensuring that automated tests are able to run for patches submitted to Drupal.org.
  • Fixed any issues that made Drupal.org a Drupal 8 release blocker, ensuring that there were no further delays in releasing Drupal 8.
  • Resolved issues and submitting patches to the COD (conference organising distribution) that was used to build the DrupalCon websites.
  • Link: https://www.drupal.org/association

Senior Drupal Developer at Precedent (Cardiff, UK) - April 2013 to May 2014

  • Led a development team consisting of colleagues in other offices as well as an off-site client contractor.
  • Completed an in-progress Drupal 7 project, adding missing functionality and fixing bugs.
  • Implemented and later championed the Git Flow workflow, to create a standard development and release process across our projects.
  • Created and shared a Vagrant and Puppet based development environment to ensure consistency for Developers.
  • Released a small number of modules to Drupal.org, including 'Content Type Groups Theme', 'Taxonomy Disable Path', and the Eventsforce module for importing events from the Eventsforce events management system.

Application Developer & System Administrator at Nomensa (Bristol, UK) - February 2012 to April 2013

  • As a contractor, developed custom Drupal 7 modules including an integration with CiviCRM.
  • After being offered and accepting a permanent role, I also completed the front-end theme development work which had a focus on accessibility, ensuring that it was WCAG 2.0 compliant.
  • Worked alongside and mentored front-end Developers in Drupal theming on projects. Several of them would later become full-time Drupal Developers and Themers.
  • Provisioned servers with a Nginx, PHP-FPM and MySQL stack, and deployed applications alongside the in-house Systems Administrator.
  • Released CiviCRM and accessibility-related modules to Drupal.org, including the Nomensa Accessible Media Player, and Accessibility Checklist modules.
  • Link: https://www.nomensa.com

PHP Developer at Proctor & Stevenson (Bristol, UK) - April 2011 to February 2012

  • Developed and co-developed new websites, mostly using Drupal and PHP, and providing ongoing support and maintenance of websites for existing clients.
  • Developed the agency’s first Drupal 7 client project.
  • Architected and developed a full Drupal 6 and Ubertcart project for a water company client, which processed all property services transactions for residential and commercial properties. This was still used in production until September 2020.
  • Provided in-person and remote user training for Drupal websites.
  • Performed Linux server provisioning and configuration tasks for client websites.
  • Link: https://www.proctors.co.uk

Web Developer (PHP, Drupal) at Horse & Country TV (Cwmbran, UK) - July 2010 to April 2011

  • Maintained and supported the company’s Drupal 6 website as part of a two-person team.
  • Re-architected and re-developed the Events section, adding Ubercart for paid events which added a new revenue stream for the company.
  • Made various theme changes to improve the visitor experience.
  • Developed custom modules including the 'Now & Next' module which displayed the current and subsequent programmes being shown on the channel.
  • Resolved any unexpected issues that arose, including a SQL injection exploit of our OpenX ad server.
  • Link: https://horseandcountry.tv

Certifications and Qualifications

Date Course
2021 Completed the Platform.sh partner certifications
2019 Adult Mental Health First Aider - Training in Mind / St. John's Ambulance
2018 Acquia certified Cloud Pro
2017 Acquia certified Front End Specialist - Drupal 8
2017 Acquia certified Back End Specialist - Drupal 8
2017 Acquia certified Developer - Drupal 8
2007-2009 HNC Computing (End User Support)

Contact information