George English

Working as a freelance web developer in my spare time, building brochure and ecommerce sites on WordPress/WooCommerce. I used this as an opportunity to improve my client interaction skills and gain experience that I would not normally get the chance to in my day job to e.g. project management, sales, support etc.

I applied to move from the development team to the design team and was successful on the basis of my proven track record. I took on a hybrid role, designing and building my own websites, while also assisting in development tasks where required.

My knowledge of web development and UI/UX best practices, and my ability to design directly in HTML/CSS, gave me a huge upper hand. Combining design and development in to one process not only saved time in both stages while effectively eliminating snags, it allowed me to really push the boundaries in my designs—interpretting client briefs in new and creative ways.

While working with HTML/CSS from the beginning entailed an additional investment of time prior to the initial client presentation, it was my experience that this was more than offset by the increased “wow” factor during the presentation, with a corresponding increase in sign-off rates and reduction in negative client feedback/amends.

During this role I also mentored three junior developers, ensuring they settled in and got up to speed quickly. I was passionate about, and took an active role in improving design/development relations, using my combined experience to act as mediator to resolve any qualms, and implement workflow changes that would reduce snags and improve morale.

Initially a purely development based role, I was tasked with building e-commerce and brochure style websites from a given design on a variety of platforms such as Magento, WordPress, and a custom in-house CMS. Over time, through my own initiative and by building rapport with leadership and the design team, I was able to carve unique opportunities for client interaction and design, in some cases taking complete design and development control of projects where it proved to be more cost effective.

A contracting role involving the design and development of a driving telematics web app. Again, initially only developing frontend HTML/CSS from existing wireframes, but with subsequent ownership of the entire design direction. This included the creation of a logo which was trademarked, as well as graphics for a promotional video, and design mockups/wireframes which were presented at quarterly stakeholder meetings.

Following my initial work on the Standard Chartered PeopleSoft HR portal – in particular my success with an iterative, user-centred design – I moved to the in-house development team, where I was singlehandedly responsible for a major UI refresh of the company’s flagship “element HR” application. Ultimately, this led to the bespoke role of creative developer, effectively the point of contact for UI/UX design within the company.

I worked closely with the head of marketing, under whom I continued my work on the element HR brand including a new logo, website and other marketing material. During this time I was also instrumental in the design and development of an employee engagement portal for Nando's, as well as the creation of an internal marketing microsite for the McDonald's Sweden implementation of element HR.

2:1 BSc (Hons) Physics & Astrophysics

• A* Physics
• A Mathematics
• B Chemistry