About
With over 15 years of professional experience in web development, Ray Yick offers a wide range of consulting and freelance services to clients from all industries and sizes, including non-profits, startups, digital agencies, universities and municipal government. In 2009, he independently established Dystopian Blue to provide invaluable web expertise to a large number of advertising agencies in Toronto, Canada. Specializing in Drupal and PHP development, he is actively involved in web projects from the early planning and design stages to the final delivery and deployment. He strives hard to understand client needs, and works closely with project managers and dev team members to achieve a highly functional and user-friendly application. As a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, he is self-employed and open to working remotely on projects.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 520-222-8998
- Business Domicile: Tucson, AZ, USA
- Available For: Freelance, 1099 Contractor
Acquia Certified Drupal Developer
Ray Yick began developing Drupal websites in 2010. As Drupal has progressed from version 6 to 10, he has become an all-round expert, wearing multiple hats as an architect, full-stack developer, technical writer and QA tester. In 2022, he became an Acquia Certified Drupal 9 Developer and Front End Specialist, one of 100+ developers in the United States with that credential.
Stats
Here are some figures from all consulting and web development work performed since 2007:
Agencies/Clients
Completed Projects/Websites
Total Hours Of Development Work Accumulated
Years of Professional Experience
Skills
LANGUAGES
- HTML, HTML5 (15+ yrs)
- Javascript, jQuery (15+ yrs)
- PHP (15+ yrs)
- SQL (15+ yrs)
- CSS (15+ yrs)
- XML (15+ yrs)
- C, C++ (2 yrs)
- Java (2 yrs)
APPLICATIONS
- CMS: Drupal 6-9, ExpressionEngine, WordPress
- Database: MariaDB, MongoDB, MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite
- IDE: Cloud9, Eclipse, Sublime Text, Vim, Visual Studio Code
- Project Management: Asana, Basecamp, ClickUp, GitHub, GitLab, Jira, Redmine
- Web Server: Apache, Nginx
DRUPAL
- API: Cache, Configuration, Database, Entity, Form, Menu, Plugin, Render, Routing, Update
- Migration: Migrate Plus, Migrate Source CSV, Migrate Tools
- Modules: BEF, Group, JSON:API, Media, Metatag, Paragraphs, Redis, SAML Authentication, TB Mega Menu, VBO, Webform
- Search API: Algolia, Solr
- Tools: Composer, Devel, Drupal Console, Drush
OPERATING SYSTEMS
- Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, Red Hat/Fedora, CentOS)
- Mac OS X
- Windows
TECHNOLOGIES
- API: Bullhorn, Facebook Graph, Google Maps, IDX/RETS, Mailchimp, Paypal, Postman, SAML, Twitter
- Cloud: Acquia, Amazon AWS (EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, RDS, S3), Cloudflare, DigitalOcean, Heroku, Pantheon, Platform.sh
- Container: Docker, Lando, OpenShift
- Front-end: Bootstrap, Bower, Grunt, gulp.js, LESS, npm, SASS, Twig, Webpack
- QA: BrowserStack, Google Lighthouse, Litmus, MailHog, PHP CodeSniffer, WAVE Web Accessibility Tool
Resume
Download Ray Yick's CV in the following formats:
Summary
Ray Yick
- Senior Full-Stack Web Developer with over 15 years of technical consulting experience
- Freelance specialist in Drupal 7-9 and LAMP/LEMP (Linux, Apache/Nginx, MySQL, PHP)
- Acquia Certified Drupal 9 Developer and Front-End Specialist
- Actively involved in all phases of the SDLC from planning and design to testing and deployment
- Deeply familiar with project-based work for digital marketing/ad agencies and government
Education
Bachelor of Applied Science & Engineering, Computer Engineering
Sep 2000 - May 2005
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Experience
Drupal Architect, Developer and Consultant
Jan 2021 - Present
Dystopian Blue, Washington, DC / Tucson, AZ
- Planned, designed and developed an entire Drupal application to serve over 3,000 businesses in the tourism industry
- Migrated content and media from Drupal 7 and other legacy applications to Drupal 8-9
- Implemented JSON:API web service and created fully documented specifications with examples
Web Architect, Developer and Consultant
Jan 2009 - Jan 2021
Dystopian Blue Ltd, Toronto, ON
- Established a Canadian corporation in 2009 offering freelance and consulting web development services
- Led the development of over 50 website projects for several digital marketing/ad agencies in Toronto
- Designed and developed multiple Drupal 6-8 sites for corporate clients and government agencies
- Designed wireframes and information architecture documents for website planning
- Collaborated with DevOps teams to setup and configure servers for continuous integration and deployment
- Wrote user documentation and manuals to instruct clients how to manage website content
- Advised project managers and dev team members on best practices and strategies
Portfolio
Click on an image to view project details. Use the toggles below to filter projects by type.
- All
- Drupal 7
- Drupal 8
- Drupal 9
- Web
Agency: m5 Marketing
Jun 2020 - May 2023
- Planned, designed and developed the TNS Portal application in Drupal 9 to allow over 3,000 Nova Scotia businesses to register and manage their listings
- Migrated over 300,000 records from a Drupal 7 website and a SQL Server-driven legacy application to Drupal 8 and 9
- Authored various documents, including information architecture mapping, migration plan, API documentation, README setup files and technical reference manual
- Collaborated with the Nova Scotia DevOps team to setup, configure and troubleshoot government infrastructure to support Drupal
Agency: m5 Marketing, DDB Canada
Mar 2019 - May 2023
- Led the Drupal 8 backend development and provided ongoing maintenance for the newly redesigned Tourism Nova Scotia public and corporate websites
Agency: TEN7
May 2022 - Oct 2022
- Involved in team sprints building Drupal 8 front-end components for SageGlass official website
Agency: DDB Canada
Dec 2018 - Jan 2019
- Managed data retrieval of lead ads for McDonald's Canada using the Facebook Graph API
- Integrated webhooks to post form data to McDonald's CCP API
Agency: DDB Canada
Nov 2018 - Jan 2019
- Built custom modules in Drupal 8 to sync API content to the new UBC Sauder School of Business website
Agency: Thinkingbox
Apr 2018 - Jul 2018
- Moved client's existing Drupal 7 websites to the Pantheon platform
- Provided technical documentation on code deployment and workflow
Client: Sprout at Work
Jul 2017 - Dec 2017
- Developed an admin feature allowing company clients to schedule custom weekly emails
- Architected and constructed the backend and frontend interface for recommending content to the company's users
Client: City of Toronto
Nov 2016 - Feb 2017
- Developed internal web form application for city staff using various Javascript libraries and conforming to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)
Agency: FCV Interactive
Feb 2016 - Mar 2016
- Migrated over 1,000 articles and publications from IDRC's SharePoint system to Drupal 7
- Advised Project Manager and stakeholders on strategies to migrate data
Client: DBRS
Jun 2015 - Nov 2015
- Built an API using Drupal Services to sync thousands of historical credit ratings and other content from an internal middleware service
- Collaborated with publishing team to gather UI requirements and common use cases for the admin workflow
- Recommended and setup the Pantheon platform to host and manage the Drupal website
Agency: IBM
Jan 2015 - Mar 2015
- Built online application forms using Drupal 7's Form API and a responsive Bootstrap theme
- Integrated single sign-on with Shibboleth's SAML service provider
Agency: Nuscreen Digital
Sep 2014 - Nov 2014
- Recommended strategies and best practices for deploying D+H's Drupal 7 website on the Acquia platform
- Provided website enhancements and maintenance, and wrote user documentation
Client: CBC
Jan 2014 - Mar 2014
- Redesigned the school age website focusing on website optimization and responsive design in ExpressionEngine
Agency: Grip Limited
Nov 2013 - Jan 2014
- Developed the Facebook contest app with a responsive mobile version using the Laravel PHP framework and Bootstrap
Agency: Grip Limited
Aug 2013 - Oct 2013
- Developed the backend for a Facebook contest app using the Laravel PHP framework
Client: City of Ottawa
Aug 2013 - Dec 2013
- Designed a REST API blueprint using Apiary for the online events calendar website
- Helped create the multi-step forms for submitting events in Drupal 7
Client: CBC
May 2013 - Jul 2013
- Designed wireframes and built a REST API in CodeIgniter for a family website where parents and children can draw/send messages and manage events
Agency: BlueBand Digital
Apr 2013 - May 2013
- Developed a Facebook contest app using the Laravel PHP framework and Bootstrap, allowing users to create groups and invite friends to join
Agency: JWT
Feb 2013 - Mar 2013
- Assisted in the backend development of a WordPress site using the Pods framework, enabling organizations across Canada to apply online for the funding of teen programs
Agency: Tribal DDB
Oct 2012 - Nov 2012
- Led the development of a donation microsite that processes online payment through Paypal and manages donor information in Salesforce
Agency: Blast Radius
Jul 2012 - Oct 2012
- Upgraded the Ontario wine website by incorporating social media content and a pinboard, responsive design using Drupal 7
- Involved in configuring servers for release and deployment management
- Wrote detailed user documentation outlining procedures to manage website content
Client: Innovapost
Oct 2011 - May 2012
- Proposed and presented social media initiatives for Canada Post's epost service
- Designed and implemented a Facebook app, integrating epost's bill management service
- Prototyped a mobile app using PhoneGap, jQuery Mobile and Urban Airship
Agency: Draftfcb
Jul 2011 - Sep 2011
- Designed wireframes and IA document for OLG's lottery game microsite
- Set up the website framework in PHP using Yii
Agency: Draftfcb
Mar 2011 - Jun 2011
- Overlooked the development of a new Drupal 7 website for the park's 2011 season opening
- Implemented a front-page slideshow, an events calendar with showtimes and social media widgets
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Jan 2011 - Feb 2011
- Built a contest website encouraging participants to reconnect with family and friends by collaborating to write a story about the past
- Implemented the Gigya API for Facebook integration in PHP
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Dec 2010 - Feb 2011
- Set up Ubuntu Server and MySQL database for touch screen kiosks at the Canadian International Auto Show GM exhibit
- Developed a moderation system to push real-time data and Twitter feeds to a stage screen
Client: Creative Niche
Dec 2010, Apr 2012
- Reconstructed a website for a local employment agency using Drupal 6 and 7
- Used a SOAP API to transfer data from a job application form to the Bullhorn recruiting software
Agency: MacLaren McCann
May 2010 - Jul 2010
- Developed a contest website that verifies unique PIN entries from scratch cards then allows users to create an online group and invite friends to join via Facebook and email
- Leveraged the Gigya social media tool to integrate Facebook into the site
Client: Hart House, UofT
Mar 2010 - Sep 2010
- Revamped the website using Drupal 6, making information more accessible to students by organizing event listings in a calendar module
- Proposed improvements and wireframed new features for the redesigned site
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Feb 2010 - Apr 2010
- Created the PHP/MySQL contest form and basic reporting features for the Canadian Whisky online promotion
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Dec 2009
- Set up a basic PHP/MySQL contest form to allow entrants to win a Team Canada hockey jersey
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Sep 2009 - Dec 2009
- Planned and overlooked the backend development of a nationwide video contest, in which users submitted a video of themselves singing the Cheez Whiz jingle
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Jun 2009 - Jul 2009
- Constructed a microsite where online users send virtual bear hugs to family and friends, resulting in a Kraft Peanut Butter donation for every submission
Agency: Cyberplex
Aug 2009 - Jan 2010
- Built the members section to allow users to create profile pages, import/email contacts and search for others geographically
Agency: Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG
Jun 2009
- Helped build the contest website using the Zend PHP framework, encouraging participants to commute to work and keep track of their carbon footprint
Agency: MacLaren McCann
May 2009
- Involved in the backend development for a promotional website featuring an interactive Flash-based game
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Apr 2009 - May 2009
- Developed the website backend including a reporting tool for analytics and stats
Agency: Idea Couture
Dec 2008 - Feb 2009
- Expanded search capabilities and admin functionalities for the insurance microsite
Company: G.A.P Adventures
Position: eCommerce Web Developer
Jan 2007 - Oct 2008
- Developed a login/registration system for the company website
- Built an online community by implementing the KickApps social networking platform and integrating a phpBB online forum
- Initiated and exposed the company brand to social media on Facebook, flickr and YouTube
Services
Drupal / PHP Development
Including custom module development in Drupal 7-9 and any front-end/backend feature enhancements
Strategy and Planning
Research, evaluate and propose efficient and effective solutions for your web application
Migration
Mapping and syncing data from older systems to Drupal, ensuring data integrity
Maintenance and Support
Identify and apply bug fixes/patches, and quickly deploy Drupal module updates and core upgrades
Website Optimization
Improve overall site performance by reducing page load times, compressing images and implementing caching
Documentation
Create instructional guides and manuals for onboarding resources and technical reference