About Rasmus
Who is this guy ?
My name is Rasmus Schultz, and I have been living in Ithaca, New York since july 2008, with my wife Vanessa and two children, Madison and Sarah, ages 10 and 13. We moved here from my birthplace in rainy little Denmark.
(hint: famous author, little mermaid).
I am a 34 year-old web developer with very strong systems development, programming and database skills. I have a strong knowledge of usability and user interface design, and a good sense of graphic design, layout, form and color.
I have over 13 years of professional experience, but I have been programming since the age of 11, and I was tinkering with web development since before internet connections were widespread.
I am passionate about the technical aspects of the technology I work with - I apply MVC and a multitude of other modern patterns, creating user-friendly and standards-compliant websites and internet applications, cross-browser "Web 2.0" and AJAX techniques, efficient database design, structured and maintainable code, custom development tools and documentation.
I have a deep-seated interest in all of the fun aspects of technology and the arts: computers, music, design, video, games, animation, physics, sound, graphics, gadgets, photography, robotics, nature and artificial intelligence.
Educational Background
My educational background includes completed college, and completed Datamatiker education at Tietgen Business College, where I finished my final exam with a grade 10. But much of what I have learned comes simply from experience, natural curiosity, reading books, searching the internet and experimenting on my own.
Career History
In my career, I have always chosen jobs that satisfied my creative side, rather than more prestigious but purely technical jobs.
I am currently working as a web developer for Gorges Web Sites, where I work with a multitude of frameworks and applications, mainly open-source PHP/MySQL applications.
In my previous job, I worked as a developer for Fynske Medier - a media partnership comprising one major newspaper, several local newspapers and a radio station, all of which rely on the web-platform developed by our team of 8 developers. I developed several modules for their CMS platform, including a single sign-on service, and a code generation framework. Their platform has been customized for numerous large clients, including a number of national magazines.
In the past, I have worked various different jobs in advertising and one job in retail/desktop software development.
Technical Experience
I have written several content-management systems, content editors, store fronts, intranet platforms and custom website frameworks applying MVC and other modern patterns.
I have worked with many different programming languages on different platforms, and I am passionate about maintainable, clean and reusable code. In terms of internet development, my focus in recent years has been mostly on object-oriented PHP5 and MySQL, using various modern frameworks. I have many years of experience with ASP (VBScript and JScript) and Microsoft SQL Server, but no recent experience. I have limited experience with Ruby and Rails, and superficial knowledge of other languages.
I have deep knowledge of relational (and other, more exotic) database management systems, data-driven development and database tools.
I write standards-compliant, cross-browser XHTML, CSS and JavaScript - for example, this page validates and renders accurately (to the pixel) in Firefox, IE (5 and newer), Opera and Chrome. I work daily with AJAX and DOM/DHTML, and have practical experience using and extending various JavaScript frameworks, including jQuery, ExtJS and MooTools.
I have also written stand-alone desktop software, server applications, system services and client- and server-side COM components for the Windows platform, using Borland Delphi, Visual Basic, PureBasic and other languages.
I have been using Flash and programming in ActionScript since Flash version 2. I have experience with ActionScript 3, and have completed several large games, applications and various components in Flash in the past. I have worked with streaming video, data-driven (XML) scripting and real-time animation using dynamic effects and physics.
I do lightweight Linux shell work, configuring Apache, and I use CVS and SVN extensively in my daily work. I can write complex regular expressions and rewrite rules for Apache.
I work with XML and related technologies, including DTD, XSL, RPC, ATOM, RSS, etc.
Creative Experience
I designed graphical user interfaces (skins) for software applications, using mainly Photoshop and Flash, and some lightweight 3D modeling in 3D Studio Max.
I have a good understanding of graphic design, color and form - I have some web design, logo design and other graphic design experience. My understanding of this field means that I admire, understand and communicate well with graphic designers on a project.
Other Skills
My written and spoken english is very good - most people barely notice my accent, and I am capable of documenting software and systems in a clear, concise and accessible language.
Personality
I function well doing either small or very large projects, though I prefer doing larger, more challenging projects - the bigger and harder, the better!
I can take constructive criticism - anything that helps me grow, professionally, and as a person. I expect my colleagues to be open to objective criticism, too.
I enjoy good teamwork with other skilled developers, preferably in smaller groups. When working solo, I prefer to have other colleagues around - the social aspects of work are a strong driving force for me; I would not be productive in a cubicle.
I have a healthy sense of humor. I don't smoke, chat on IRC, or play multiplayer games. I enjoy an occasional beer, a good talk about life and the universe, and listening to strange music.