Ross Wintle

Application for Senior WordPress Plugin Developer

Hi Brad, my name is Ross Wintle. I’m an experienced, UK-based software developer who’s currently freelance but very interested in your Senior WordPress Developer post, and I’d love you to consider me for it.

I’ve worked in software and IT for 23 years. I’ve worked freelance with WordPress for 10 years building complex custom themes and plugins, and have been working with Laravel for 5 years. I worked with the web and PHP before that too.

Delicious Brains has, for a long time, been on my (short) list of companies I’d love to work for. Your job description fits me perfectly, and the opening comes at a great time for me.

I’m a long-time Migrate DB Pro user (since 2013!) and ACF user (since before 2016) and I use services like Laravel Forge and ServerPilot which are similar to SpinupWP, so I have a good understanding of much of your product set.

I’ve also recently taken an interest in developer products and education. Inspired by what I’ve seen in the Laravel world, I’ve been motivated to bring back some of the awesome tools and processes that I see there into the WordPress sphere.

I’ve positioned myself as someone that bridges the Laravel / WordPress gap, through my Beyond WP newsletter, and I’ve developed a real passion for helping WordPress developers expand their knowledge and improve their processes.

I'm excited by what Delicious Brains are doing for WordPress developers and I believe I have a lot of experience, skills, and ideas that can help you in your mission.

You can see my CV/resume for my working history and a detailed list of tech I've worked with. I'm keen to point out that many of my bigger and more complex commercial projects can't be listed publicly because they were done for agencies under non-disclosure agreements. And some of the best have been retired. But I'm happy to discuss the details of them with you in person.

Meeting your requirements

• I’ve worked with PHP and WordPress for more than 10 years.
• I’ve built website front-ends, themes, and application interfaces in HTML, CSS, SASS, TailwindCSS, and other frameworks, as well as using page builders and the Gutenberg editor.
• I’ve created many complex website back-ends with both PHP and with all manner of WordPress plugins, including lots of ACF, and full web applications in both WordPress and Laravel too.
• I’ve written plenty of JavaScript including vanilla ES6, VueJS, and jQuery.
• I’ve used Git for many years. I’m familiar with both GitHub and BitBucket.
• I have experience of writing automated tests and TDD for web applications, but I also previously worked in software verification and validation on safety-critical software systems.
• I do a lot of integrating with APIs: mapping and geocoding; email systems and CRM’s; social media; payment gateways; government open-data APIs, and more. Plus I’ve worked with browser APIs such as geolocation and media, and have created my own APIs.
• I’m an excellent communicator: I’m happy in both client and team meetings; I blog; I write email newsletters; I record screencasts for client training and broader educational purposes; and I speak at conferences and meetups.
• I’m highly motivated and love working both in teams, and focussing on projects by myself, as proven by my successful freelance career.
• I have been working both remotely and independently for 10 years. For a lot of that time, I’ve been working both in a remote, distributed agency team, and on my own independent projects for clients.

Picking up your bonus points

• I’ve built some substantial systems with VueJS, including an eCommerce food-ordering system and a WordPress-developer-focussed Electron app that’s under development as a side project. I’ve also developed a browser extension and am familiar with bundlers such as Laravel Mix and Esbuild.
• I’m a Laravel developer too. I’ve completed 2 commercial, freelance projects and many smaller side projects .
• I have good system administration and networking skills from having worked in systems admin in a large hosting department. I love my command-line, and I look after some VPS’s too.
• I understand user experience and design principles. I can identify good design and UX, and critique bad design. I even gave a UX talk at a WordCamp once!
• I have contributed to open source code, including WordPress, plus I develop and share my own open-source code as libraries , packages and plugins . I also contribute by playing a very active role in the WordPress and freelancer communities.
• I have a good computer science degree from the University of York here in the UK.

Going above and beyond

If all that isn’t enough, I have other experience that may interest you.

• I’m experienced with database design and SQL.
• I have experience with composer and PHP package development.
• I’m proficient with debugging using xDebug, browser dev tools, and Postman for APIs. I take a very active interest in performance, security, accessibility, and privacy, considering the broader aspects of web development, both for my own work and to provide advice to clients and perform audits.
• I’ve been keen to get into the product space. I’m about to launch a small side project as a product and other ideas are at various stages of development.
• I’ve mentored other developers and produced lots of developer-related educational content, including a short video course .

More about me

That’s the tech stuff. But I like to think I’m a well-rounded person too.

I don’t limit myself to focussing purely on code. I think in broader “systems”, understanding the real problem I’m solving. What is the business goal? What is the user trying to achieve? How can technology do that?

I’m a problem solver at heart. I love to get stuck into tracing a root cause, debugging source code, or raising a comprehensive GitHub issue. I’m often the “last man” called upon to dive in when everyone else has given up on a problem or deemed it too technical. I’m persistent and tenacious, but I also know my work has constraints and that sometimes you just need to make it work!!

I’m super curious and highly motivated to learn and become a better developer. I love learning from others, and I love sharing what I know with others too.

I try to be a positive force in the tech communities I inhabit online. I want tech to be inclusive and welcoming; a space where people can be creative, learn and grow their skills, and make friends and have fun too. I received the Yoast Care Fund award for my contributions in the UK WordPress community.

As a freelancer, I’ve had to take responsibility for my work - both successes and failures. And as a part of several distributed teams, I’ve contributed to business, process, and cultural improvements too.

And despite all the hard work of running a business, coding, learning, making, and delivering for clients, I’m also a dedicated family man. I have a wife and two young kids who I love to spend time with. My wife works too, and I share the load of parenting with her and we support each other to do the things our jobs require of us.

Yay! I applied!

I really hope you’ll consider me for this role. I’m genuinely excited about the opportunity, and fully prepared to move away from freelancing to working for Delicious Brains.

I’d love to chat more with you, and I hope you’ll have questions for me. So I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ross Wintle
ross@oikos.digital
Creator - Engineer - Advisor
Currently of Oikos Digital Ltd, UK