Richard Sharp

Introduction

I received my first computer when I was 13, a Timex Sinclair 1000. That ignited a love of programming, and occasional tinkering with hardware, that has been a major part of my life.

My non-traditional career path has offered me a myriad of opportunities to learn new skills and work in many different situations. I enjoy learning new skills, and thrive in positions that will require me to grow and adapt to new situations and technologies. I am a problem-solver, both when dealing with technology as well as people. Although I have telecommuted since 2003, I also enjoy working with people. I require little supervision, but also work well on a team.

In addition to working with technology and being the “computer guy” for family and friends, my hobbies include audio engineering for live music, photography, and target shooting.

Experience

2006 - Present — Senior Developer Web Services Corp, Inc.
Knoxville, TN

In this position, I am the developer who handles the more complex projects. In most cases, the web sites were designed and pre-programmed by HTML developers, and then I was tasked with adding all of the functionality, both server-side and client-side. My work here includes:

• Programming consumer shopping carts, membership systems, and intranet web sites using PHP, Perl, jQuery, AJAX, and standards-compliant HTML.
• Integrations with all major credit card processors, including Authorize.Net, LinkPoint, PayPal, USAePay, Skip Jack, etc.
• Working with staff and clients to define project goals and methods, estimate time and cost, facilitate testing and promotion, and document project technical details.
• Use of various PHP extensions and custom code to generate and modify PDF files, generate Microsoft Excel documents, manipulate images, generate ZIP files, serve digital files, etc.
• Development of full-featured company intranets for companies such as USA Tax Advisors Inc (Tax and Insurance Services), Mobile Device Protection Association (mobile phone damage insurance), and MK Exterior Systems (telecommunications contractor).
• Wrote company coding standards.

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2004 - 2006 — Chief Technology Officer
Group Travel Planet, LLC
Sevierville, TN

This company, which is no longer in business, was a group travel booking company, which provided online group booking services for hotels and motor coaches. When I started with this company, I was brought on as the “tech guy” and sole programmer . Over time, I grew the IT department to three other full-time employees plus off-shore developers as needed. Being there from the ground up mean that I designed, purchased, and set up the office network and the web hosting servers. As we grew, I wrote all IT policies for the company. I took a lead role in working with other companies to integrate our technical services, including:

• Orbitz.com - We built the group booking engine used exclusively by Orbitz. My duties included page and logic design of the service, working with Orbitz Customer Service, Information Architecture, Operations, and legal departments to ensure compliance, and handle project management of our developers.
• Amadeus Global Travel - We built a group booking module available to 20,000 independent travel agents that were associated with Amadeus. This was before we had other employees, so I built the module entirely myself.
• Pegasus Solutions - Pegasus Solutions provided hotel information and direct booking engines that allowed our system to automatically create reservations for multiple rooms in each hotel booking system.
• Cendant Group - Cendant Group provided a set of web services that allowed us to create hotel bookings directly with their hotels.
• SideStep - I personally built a set of SOAP web services that allowed SideStep to check hotel pricing and availability for groups, and then hand the customer off to our web site to make a reservation.

In addition to working with these companies, I was responsible for:

• Programming the original core of the web sites and all technology using PHP and Perl.
• Writing documentation for all external services for publication to outside vendors.
• Administration of office network, including Microsoft Exchange Server, domain controller, and Cisco firewall.
• Administration of the web servers, running FreeBSD and MySQL. This included tuning the servers and code to handle heavy traffic loads.

I left this position when it became apparent that the company would not be around much longer.

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2000 - 2004 — Senior Developer
Tennessee Online Solutions
Pigeon Forge, TN

• Programmer on a cabin rental management system, written in Visual FoxPro and Visual Basic 6.0, utilizing Microsoft SQL Server.
• Web site development utilizing PHP and MySQL.
• Maintained company web servers running FreeBSD.

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1998 - 2000 — Collision Center Manager
Craig Zinn Automotive Group Hollywood, FL

In 1994, I worked as a part-time office helper for a dealership body shop. Over time, I worked my way up to become department manager of this collision center. During my two years as manager, I was able to increase profits by 17% while increasing both customer and employee satisfaction. I accomplished this by:

• Working with vendors to obtain better purchase terms for supplies.
• Working with Toyota to develop a new method to process small-damage repairs in 40% of the usual time.
• Working with insurance companies to identify area for improvement, and to create a mutually beneficial relationship with reduced customer complaints while bringing in more business from the insurers.
• Worked with employees to empower them to be more efficient and proactive, and to identify areas for improvement in the business.

I left this position to persue a career in Information Technology.

Education

1990 - 1991 — Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
Studies in Computer Science.

1991 - 1992 — Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, FL
Studies in Computer Science.

1992 - 1993 — Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Studies in Photography.

Industry Certifications

• Microsoft Certified Professional
• A+ Certification
• Network+ Certification

OK, let’s introduce the elephant in the room. Even though I completed 101 college credit hours, I was not able to complete my college degree. My wife and I were married during my fourth year of college, and an unexpected pregnancy (now, my oldest son) and medical complications meant that I had to drop out of school and go to work full-time to support our new family. The opportunity to return to school has not yet come, but I am still hoping to complete my degree. Given the opportunity to do things over, I wouldn't change a thing.

Primary Skills

I have extensive experience with these development tools and skills:

• PHP
• Standards-compliant CSS based design
• jQuery and standard JavaScript
• AJAX
• MySQL
• Apache
• Red Hat
• FreeBSD
• Dreamweaver
• API's for credit card processors and other vendors
• Employee supervision

I also have moderate experience with these development tools and skills:

• Perl
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Microsoft Project
• Mac OSX
• Technical document writing
• Technical presentations
• Photoshop

Work Samples

A large portion of the work I have done is either no longer available on line, or requires login credentials to access. However, below are some examples that can either be visited directly, or have screen shots.

• Digital Content Center - This site was designed primarily as a system for marketing and selling digital content (music, videos, etc.). I was the sole programmer on this site. Features include:
  • Access-controlled and logged file downloads.
  • Client MicroSite page designer.
  • Integration with several credit card processors including Authorize.Net and PayPal
  • Complete shopping cart including product styles, shipping, sales tax, and discounts.
  • PDF file stamping and encryption.
  • Complete affiliate system.
  • File upload with progress bar.
  • Extensive use of AJAX and JSON.
  • For more information, visit the How it Works page.
• My Law Centers - This site is a membership-based promotion site for attorneys.
  • This site is a good example of my HTML and CSS style.
  • Dynamically created and managed email boxes for members.
  • Template-based mini-web sites generated for members.
  • Google Maps integration for map display and geocoding.
  • Use of AJAX and JSON.
• Mobile Device Protection - This site is primarily an intranet for a mobile phone warranty company, with a public site for members to submit and manage service claims. Features include:
  • Recurring credit card billing.
  • Generation of files for import to QuickBooks.
  • Integration with third-party vendors Simplexity and Let’s Talk
• USA Tax Advisors - This site is a membership-based site for financial planners. Features include:
  • PDF file personalization.
  • Complete task assignment and management system.
  • Zip-code based territory system.
• NLB Access - This site provides lien attorneys with access to details of the laws for each state. The details are customized based on the project type and their client's role in the project.
  • Automated recurring credit card charges.
  • Manipulation of complex legal formulas to calculate due dates for specific legal actions based on dates of previous actions.