Chris Johnston

Software Professional, Teacher, Designer

My passion is working with software development teams to create amazing products and happy customers.

Experience

Practices

Agile, XP, TDD, BDD, ATDD, Continuous Integration, User-Centered Design

Technologies

Ruby on Rails, RSpec, Selenium, Capybara, Capybara-webkit, Cucumber, Git

Design

Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom

Employment

Lead Instructor

Bitmaker Labs
Aug 2013—June 2014

  • Introduced 40+ students/cohort to Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Testing
  • Streamlined curriculum to better teach web development
  • Mentored students to facilitate learning and hiring possibilities

Senior Developer, Agile Coach

Nulogy
May 2011—Oct 2013

  • Evolved QA policies, practices (Exploratory Testing), managed QA team
  • Refined Agile development processes, shortening development cycle time by up to 4 weeks
  • Introduced walkthroughs, significantly increasing the quality released each iteration
  • Liaised between multiple dev teams, QA, senior management to ensure quality product for customers
  • Enhanced developer hiring practices through introduction and leading of Pair Programming exercise
  • Guided development team to refine understanding of TDD and ATDD

Senior Developer, Agile Coach

Celect
May 2010—Mar 2011

  • Extended CMS hosting application developed on Ruby on Rails using TDD and BDD via RSpec, Cucumber
  • Coached development team on Agile development practices
  • Introduced User Stories, small iterations, frequent releases
  • Migrated over 1200 client websites from in-house hosting to Engine Yard

Contract Software Developer

VersaPay
Oct 2009—Dec 2009

  • Extended Ruby on Rails based Customer Resource Management system (Fat Free CRM)
  • Developed integrated messaging system and support ticket system
  • Used Cucumber, Test Driven Development to create manageable, clean code

Software Developer

ThoughtWorks
Feb 2007—Sep 2009

  • Utilized Agile methodologies to successfully release software that fulfilled business need and delivered value
  • Worked with client to reduce build time from 1 hour to 15 minutes increasing team efficiency
  • Increased efficiency of new software application by order of magnitude using User-Centered Design
    • Reduced user clicks from 1600 to 3 for one operation
  • Lead one team through exploration of Domain Driven Design principles
  • Enhanced Ruby on Rails, Capistrano application performing one-click installs to test environments
  • Worked with teams to further their understanding of Agile development practices

Education

Ryerson University

Graduated with Honours with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Co-Op

Fanshawe College

Graduated with a Diploma in Advanced Photography Majoring in Commercial Photography

Fanshawe College

Graduated with a Diploma in Photography