Dan Grebb

My collaboration with Calm Clarity involved conducting a comprehensive website audit, which was pivotal in identifying key areas for improvement. Alongside this, I provided detailed content recommendations, ensuring that the website's messaging was both clear and impactful. The groundwork I laid through my research and analysis helped guide the website's forthcoming visual redesign, ensuring that the updates were both user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. This project was not only about enhancing the website's current state but also about setting a strategic direction for its future development.

In my role working with West Park Cultural Center, I played a pivotal part in enhancing their website's functionality and user engagement. A significant achievement was the successful launch of recurring donation subscriptions, a feature where we integrated PayPal with WordPress. This addition was crucial in facilitating seamless, ongoing contributions from supporters, thereby augmenting the site's fundraising capabilities.

I led two teams of 3 and then 5 engineers in the development and successful launch of the innovative "Plan Builder" application, which is a cornerstone of Xfinity's newly reimagined service-by service "add to cart" experience. I also helped launch the "Affordable Connectivity Program" amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, providing internet access to low-income families and "learn-from-home" students. Additionally, I played a pivotal role in the API design and implementation for product content management.

When a "Dotcom Refresh" project was announced, I led the "Accelerators & Tools" working group, and introduced command-line tooling and a shared-components ecosystem now adopted by a dozen sub-groups within the Technology and Product Experience organization.

My contributions during this period were marked by impactful and innovative solutions that significantly benefited Comcast's initiatives.

In this position I built micro-applications and persistent, cross-application state hydration in React and Redux. This led to actively mentoring junior engineers, conducting code reviews, and a lead role in the design and development of the "Help Me Decide" app. Our efforts resulted in a remarkable 20% increase in OKR achievements. Lastly, I played a key role in establishing a comprehensive end-to-end testing framework across the Sales Technology organization.

My journey in this role commenced as a contractor with Yoh Staffing Services, leading to my transition to a Full-Time Employee in June of 2017. In this period, I made significant contributions by developing framework-agnostic front-end components for our shared pattern library. These contributions played a pivotal role in launching innovative application features, enhancing product comparison capabilities and overall discoverability. Collaboratively, I worked closely with design and development teams, both within and beyond agile refinement sessions. A key aspect of my role involved leading the integration of accessibility considerations into our final requirements documentation, ensuring our products were inclusive and user-friendly.

Through a professional connection at Think Company, I re-engaged with the University of the Arts, where I led a month-long Continuing Education course on WordPress (WP). This comprehensive course began with the fundamentals of HTML, PHP, CSS, and MySQL, progressed through the intricacies of WP installation, and culminated in hands-on theme creation using Underscores, an esteemed boilerplate for WP theme development. My responsibilities extended beyond the core curriculum; I meticulously planned lessons that enabled students to transform static HTML sites into dynamic WordPress themes. Additionally, acknowledging the diverse interests of my students, I incorporated explorations of alternative content management systems, tailoring the course content to their specific requests and broadening their technical repertoire.

During my second tenure at Think Company I engaged in multifaceted projects for Fortune 250 companies, including Comcast. One of the highlights was my year-long on-site collaboration with The Wharton School, where I played a pivotal role in the simultaneous relaunch of over 80 WordPress websites. My work also extended to Johnson & Johnson, where I developed a pioneering medical application using "headless CMS" or "Jamstack" technology, ahead of its widespread adoption.

During my enriching tenure at a startup, I not only contributed to Django application development but also thrived in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where customer feedback directly influenced product evolution. This role was a dream come true, allowing me to collaborate closely with friends on a project we were deeply passionate about. My responsibilities included mastering DevOps routines, extensively using Google Cloud Platform services, and writing a myriad of shell scripts, which culminated in a highly automated workflow.

My journey with Neiman Group, initially as a freelancer, culminated in a promotion to a Senior Engineer role. This experience was rich with technical exploration and innovation. I delved into projects involving Arduino and Raspberry Pi, harnessing these platforms for creative and practical applications. Additionally, my work encompassed developing with Node.js, Express, Redis, and Heroku, offering robust, scalable solutions for our projects. Another exciting facet of my role was the exploration of various social network APIs, enabling us to integrate and leverage social media platforms in unique and engaging ways. This period was marked by a blend of technical proficiency, creativity, and strategic thinking, contributing significantly to the agency's technological capabilities and client offerings.

In my inaugural full-time consulting role, I joined the firm formerly known as “Think Brownstone,” working among the first three front-end specialists recruited to collaborate on-site with Comcast's new front-end focused distributed team. My primary focus was on the substantial refactoring and reengineering of the customer checkout process. We achieved this by implementing a standards-based approach, ensuring progressive enhancement across HTML, CSS, and JavaScript workflows. This role not only demanded deep technical expertise but also involved my active participation in supporting the QA team with both regression and acceptance testing. This experience was instrumental in honing my skills in front-end development and in understanding the nuances of applying technology solutions in a large-scale corporate environment.

During my tenure at Delaware Valley University, I had the privilege of being introduced to the Schoerke Foundation, where my expertise in digital marketing and communications was immediately put to use. Initially, my role encompassed systems maintenance and website design, which subsequently led to my appointment to the Board of Directors. A key milestone in 2011 was the successful launch of a fully redesigned ExpressionEngine CMS-driven website for the foundation. My primary contribution to this project was the integration of PayPal into their fundraising campaigns, significantly enhancing their online donation capabilities.

Upon rejoining the Marketing & Communications team at Delaware Valley College, I played a leading role in a series of pivotal projects aimed at achieving the institution's ambitious transition to University status. My focus was primarily on the college's website, where I had the honor of managing the request for proposal (RFP) process. This critical task led to the selection and hiring of Happy Cog, culminating in an industry-renowned redesign of the delval.edu website.

This period was not only marked by significant achievements in web design but also by personal professional growth. It saw the inception of an ExpressionEngine plugin and my first open-source project, a direct result of the experiences and challenges faced during these projects. This venture was my foray into product ownership and provided me with invaluable experience in user support operations, further expanding my skill set in digital communications and project management.

Upon joining a team proficient in Adobe Flash, MooTools, and Prototype JavaScript libraries, I quickly identified a pivotal shift in web development trends. My most significant contribution was advocating for the phasing out of Flash in favor of adopting jQuery as the new standard for JavaScript development. Recognizing the industry's move towards more modern, efficient technologies, I led the initiative to transition our 360º product demonstrations from Flash to JavaScript. This involved developing still-image framed animations in JS, a move that not only modernized our approach but also aligned our practices with emerging web standards. This transition not only marked a technological advancement for our team but also demonstrated our adaptability and foresight in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

My successful bid for a contract, which later evolved into a full-time role, was largely due to my strategic recommendation during the interview process. I persuaded the interviewers of the necessity to negotiate a transitional contract with EduCause for the maintenance of their existing .edu domain during the migration to a new one. This foresight in ensuring a smooth domain transition was crucial. Technically, I employed Dreamweaver alongside a combination of bash and sed scripting for efficient and swift execution of hard-coded 301 redirects. This approach enabled a seamless find-replace-insert process, exemplifying not only technical agility but also a deep understanding of the intricacies involved in web domain management and migration.

Between my junior and senior college years, I had the enriching experience of teaching courses to high-school seniors in a summer program. One of the courses I led was centered on web design, where I introduced students to the foundational elements of creating a personal website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This course not only taught them the basics of web development but also encouraged their creativity and technical understanding.

In another course, we delved into the world of audio engineering. The students were immersed in the practical use of industry-standard software such as Reason, Ableton Live, and ProTools. Our sessions took place in the audio engineering classrooms and a fully equipped studio, providing them with a hands-on learning experience. The course culminated in each student producing a polished song, a testament to their learning and creativity. This summer of teaching was not only a journey of imparting knowledge but also a period of witnessing and nurturing the students' growth in both web and audio technologies.