Matthew J. Strauss

Every day for the past 10+ years I have loved what I do. I am knowledgeable but I do not have all the answers. I am meticulous but I am not flawless. I am creative but I am not Basquiat. I adore our community and the fact that it celebrates both the teacher and the student. I believe that is what makes our industry so great and I can only hope to make it greater with what I know and what I learn.

Technical Proficiencies:

Below is a generalized display of some languages, stacks, libraries, software, tools, etc., I've had experience with and used to get the job done over the span of my career.

  • HTML
  • CSS (Sass)
  • Javascript (ES6)
  • Typescript
  • Node.js
  • REST API Design & JSON (JAM Stack)
  • Wordpress (LAMP Stack)
  • MySQL
  • MongoDB
  • Firebase
  • GraphQL
  • Jest
  • Enzyme & Testing Library
  • Version Control (Git)
  • ADA Compliance (Accessibility)
  • Azure
  • Heroku
  • Netlify
  • Vercel
  • React
  • Redux
  • Sagas
  • React Query
  • Storybook
  • Turborepo
  • Styled Components
  • Adobe CC
  • Invision
  • Sketch
  • Figma
  • MS Office
  • G Suite
  • Jira
  • Confluence
  • Trello
  • ClickUp
  • Basecamp
  • Slack
  • Teams

Experience:

This section mimics what you will find on my resume. It includes a chronological list of my experiences throughout my career with the company, title, dates and to the best of my ability, words to describe what I was doing while I was giving it my all.

Senior Web Developer - BLKDG
6/23 - 4/25

At BLKDG (Black Dog), I've worked on various projects building custom Wordpress components (with Gutenberg), in a conventional sense as well as in a headless manner using React to solve complex problems with interactive and dynamic solutions across a vast client landscape. With my experience in many industries and team structures, I've helped educate and successfully implement an efficient and optimized CI/CD process. My strengths in semantics, accessibility, and overall best practices regarding UI/UX and development have and continue to propel our development and adjacent teams on a path for success and growth moving forward.

Senior Software Engineer - Hotel Engine
3/21 - 10/22

While at Hotel Engine, I ran various agile ceremonies for our team, led department-wide initiatives while also working closely with our Backend and QA teams to design APIs used to build out many scalable, reusable, and accessible components that were used throughout our codebase, tested and deployed to various environments utilizing our CI/CD pipeline. I strived to constantly strengthen, expand, optimize our UI/UX and improve the developer experience from the top down. I researched, implemented, and educated teams on various approaches to increase efficiency, reduce redundancies, minimize dependencies, and ensure a minimum of a AA level of accessibility compliance was adhered to.

Front End Engineer - Cadent
2/19 - 3/21

At Cadent, I worked within a large, agile-driven engineering team developing various internal and external facing products around the SPA model with a React ecosystem. I created reusable, scalable, and testable components using React's best practices, techniques, and libraries involving but not limited to Redux, Hooks, Sagas, and Jest and “React” Testing Library. I collaborated with product and design in order to make sure our global design library maintains a level of consistency that enables the company and its software to become quickly adaptable and scalable for the business and its users.

Contract Developer - Bull Interactive
3/17 - 2/19

During this time, I worked on various types of assignments and companies, including but not limited to Cohere, Defy (previously [2one5] Creative), Tonic Design Co., J2 Design, Stitch, Inc., and Blackfynn Inc. I offered my services to aid in internal processes, project planning/management, business development, UI/UX prototyping, and full-stack development for various public-facing projects.

7/16 - 2/17

Working as a part of the creative department, I was responsible for managing any and all interactive projects from kick-off to launch. I worked with high-demand clientele ranging from blink 182 to Alicia Keys. While collaborating with all departments, I helped to establish a project's initial proposal, consult on design approaches to maintain the approved scope, build the website with a CMS, and ultimately coordinate and perform a thorough QA before configuring the server and launching the website.

Senior Developer - 160over90
3/14 - 7/16

I was relied upon to oversee all aspects of a digital project from the beginning projected scope to the final deliverables. I am responsible for executing the highest level of visual appeal while still meeting client-issued compliance standards for many levels of the impaired and disabled. I accomplish both front-end and backend executions at many different complexity levels.

Work Samples:

Last but not least are some examples of work I've done over the years. Some are professional projects, some are just "sandboxed" proof of concepts, and some are a mix of both. I've included a brief description of each project and the client I worked with (if applicable). Sadly, we all now that in the landscape of the internet, a lot of our work's lifespan in the real world can be limited so I can speak to more about what I've done beyond what you see here should you wish to learn more about my past.

Client: Abita Brewing Company
Project: Website Development

Description:Once the client saw their last agency on record as part of the past and not their future, they relied upon me and the team at BLKDG to bring them into the current state of modern web development. We created a brand new website to integrate their brand, display their catalog of offerings (beer and NA drinks), merchandise, and more. We integrated their e-commerce side of things with WooCommerce, leveraged Untappd API to display their taproom menu, created a custom beer finder, and included a way to manage and display content from Instagram.

Client: Revel Yachts
Project: Website and Custom Boat Builder

Description:Beyond building their new website from scratch and after creating various custom endpoints within Wordpress, where all of the options are very configurable via the backend, I hooked into my new custom "API" with React and created a custom flow with various levels of conditional logic to enable a user to navigate through a process and "build" their own custom boat. Upon going through the process, I authenticated the gravity forms API to save the information provided at the end of the process to the backend of Wordpress so that they can easily maintain their leads while integrating them with the CRM of their choosing.

Client: Hayden Outdoors Real Estate
Project: Equipment For Sale

Description:The client needed a way to display their equipment for sale in a way that was easy to manage and easy to use. I built a custom React app within a Wordpress ecosystem that allowed them to manage their equipment and display it on their website in a way that was easy to use and easy to manage, filter, sort, and ultimately help the end user find what they were looking for.

Client: Maryland Citizens for the Arts
Project: Website Development

Description:While at Cohere, we were awarded the opportunity to redesign and develop the Maryland Citizens for the Arts website. We created a new, modern, accessible, and easy-to-use website that was built on Wordpress. We integrated various APIs to display their events, news, and other content in a way that was easy to manage and easy to use.

Client: Hotel Engine
Project: Web Application Development

Description:This may be useless (because you need to be a user to view the application in its entirety) but I worked on their web application as well as their native iOS app. I enacted various processes, methodologies, and best practices across our entire 20+ front-end team. Feel free to register and take a look if you're feeling ambitious.

Client: AAA
Project: Component Guide (Proof of Concept)

Description:While working at 160over90, AAA (the car company) needed a way to create a front-end component library to hand off to the client and enable them to follow an implementation guide and style guide to incorporate our front-end development into their backend system. This is the proof of concept we created as a deliverable to the client...obviously, it's re-skinned with my temporary brand when I was a contractor (as my own company Bull Interactive) so that their AAA identity is no longer a part of this sample. Note: It may be a tad broken but you can probably get the idea.