Andrew Kroft

Portfolio

Even Keel

Spellbacus

SustainableBusiness.com

Even Keel

Description:

This is a personal project that I've been working on recently. Prior to diving into development full time, I was a rowing coach. This is something I was always very passionate about, and I've utilized my work on this project to help keep that passion alive.

In a nutshell (or crew shell if you're on the inside), this site will help coaches keep track of data for their athletes. It will help them track height, weight, workout data, and much more. I have fully designed, architeched, and developed this site front to back. This is currently still a work in progress and I don't have it on an active server currently, though the project is available on GitHub.

View PDF of Screenshots Check it out on GitHub
Technologies:
  • MySQL (Maria DB)
  • Python
  • Flask
  • SQLAlchemy
  • Vue.js
  • JavaScript
  • HTML 5
  • CSS (Sass)
  • Git

Spellbacus

Description:

This site was developed as my final project at Full Sail University. The site is designed to take the paper out of character creation and gameplay for the Pathfinder tabletop RPG. If you're not familiar with the game, that's okay. The site basically just tracks information about a character that you create for the game. You enter some stats, take notes, etc, and this application tracks all of that for you. It also will help with some of the tedious calculations that go into creating a Pathfinder character.

For this site, I created an RFP and a style guide in Abobe Illustrator, as well as a wireframe and full site design. After which, I designed and created the database, developed the mid-tier with PHP, built out the front-end functionality with Angular JS, and styled the site with SASS and CSS.

View Site Check it out on GitHub
Technologies:
  • Angular JS
  • JavaScript
  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • HTML 5
  • CSS
  • SASS
  • Git

SustainableBusiness.com

Description:

I was brought on to this project as a contractor to help migrate an older ColdFusion job board and news site into WordPress. The site now includes a fully featured job board, news page, and payment system that is all able to be maintained via the WordPress dashboard by the client. The work involved with this included:

  • Communicating directly with the client to clarify specs and ensure the client's business needs were met.
  • Database conversion from TSQL to MySQL for WordPress
  • Implementing and customizing WordPress plugins
  • Updating template JavaScript and CSS to create a more custom look and feel

View Site
Technologies:
  • MySQL and TSQL
  • WordPress
  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • HTML 5
  • CSS

About

Hey, thanks for checking out my website! My name is Drew, and I've been fascinated with learning and writing code since I realized it was possible, starting at age ten. I’d like to share my journey, from figuring out how to open Q-Basic in Windows 3.2 to being the full stack web developer/designer that I am today.

Dev Life

Q-Basic (1994-1996)

I've certainly just dated myself, but this was a big step in my path to becoming a web developer. I was ten years old at the time, and my family had a computer in the basement. When I wasn't playing The Even More Incredible Machine, I was experimenting with this program I found called Q-Basic. I quickly became obsessed with learning more about how to get the computer to perform different tasks.

We didn't have reliable internet at the time, so I had to use the built-in help files to learn how to run scripts. I really enjoyed a game called Nibbles which came with Q-Basic, and I wanted to know how it worked. So, again, using the built-in help files, I began learning how to reverse engineer Nibbles and began creating my own programs.

Some of my first applications would just play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with the built-in audio tones. Soon, I moved on to creating a two-player version of Jeopardy for my parents to play. There was this satisfaction in creating whatever I could imagine out of nothing that I’ll always remember. I was hooked.

More Basic, C++, and Objects (2000-2004)

As a sophomore in high school, a friend and I made the decision to get TI-80 graphing calculators. The calculators had a form of Basic on them, along with a mere 7KB of storage space. Throughout high school, we taught ourselves the TI-80 Basic language and created games for each other. Each time, we found more clever ways to spruce up our applications while using less storage space.

Senior year of high school and into community college, I learned Object-Oriented Programming with C++. I had taken a course on C++ in high school, and continued in Hudson Valley Community College’s computer science program. Both in high school and into college, I completed my assignments in just a fraction of the allotted time. I spent the rest of class working on extra credit assignments, and helping others who were struggling to complete the assignments.

Web Development (2002-Present)

Late in my senior year of high school, I decided to look into web programming. Previously, I had only worked with versions of Basic and C++, and the internet seemed like it wasn't going away anytime soon. I decided to dive in to see what it was all about. I began teaching myself HTML and JavaScript after crew practice and over the weekends.

My first project involved creating a humorous website for my rowing team using some HTML and JavaScript. This was a "fun" time to get into web programming, as web "standards" were still not very standard. Regardless, I really enjoyed it, and began seeking more opportunities to use my new found skill set.

I furthered my development abilities by making websites for other people. The first website I ever made for a client was for the fencing club I belonged to. I traded the website for free fencing lessons. Since then, I've continued picking up clients here and there for bigger projects to continue advancing my expertise.

In recent years I have:

  • Created and updated Drupal and WordPress sites
  • Developed a custom GUI to help a client track shipments
  • Created a custom CMS utilizing PHP and MySQL
  • Written scraping bots to pull data from various sites and email the results to clients daily
  • Gathered data for, and created a machine learning program to predict fantasy football outcomes
  • Worked on several personal projects simply to continue advancing my skillset and stay fresh with various technologies

Jahnel Group (2016-Present)

In 2016, I found work utilizing the skills I've developed over the years - both in programming and from my time with the crew team - at a small startup company called Jahnel Group. Some of the projects I’ve worked on at Jahnel Group include:

I've worked on various projects since beginning work at Jahnel Group, including:

  • Heading up a small team of developers to create a mobile game for kids utilizing JavaScript
  • Doing front-end development work with JavaScript, CSS, and HTML
  • Doing some database work in TSQL, helping update stored procs and functions, and writing select queries
  • Working with the business team to clarify specs and create reports

Personal Life

Being a Kid (1995-1998)

Middle school was an age of wonder for me. Sure, I liked all the normal kid stuff - video games, playing outdoors, and turning our sectioned couches into a wrestling ring. But I had a curious side to me, too.

I really enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together to see if they'd still work. They usually did. I found there was about a 50/50 chance that if I took something apart (which was already broken), it would work again after I put it back together. I had a lot of success fixing SNES controllers after my brother broke them. This curiosity played a huge role in my desire and ability to continue learning new technologies.

Rowing (1999-Present)

Fall of 1999, I joined my high school rowing club. Rowing combined my love for the outdoors with teamwork, friends, hard work, and competition. I learned many valuable lessons during my time rowing, and joining the team ended up being one of the most defining moments of my life.

Rowing taught me about what it really means to work hard. It also taught me about teamwork and cooperation in a way that other sports never could. Maybe most importantly, I learned how to apply myself fully to something I'm passionate about.

Joining the crew team in high school was only the first step into what would turn out to be something much bigger. I continued rowing in college, and later transitioned to coaching. Coaching became a ten-year career, culminating in my position as head coach and executive director of my high school program.

Friends of Shenendehowa Crew Club - Shen Crew for short - was my high school team, and the same organization I ran for ten years, prior to taking my current position as a full-time web developer. Shen Crew is a non-profit organization, only affiliated with the school by virtue of its common name.

My time working for Shen Crew was my way of giving back; I gained so much from rowing in high school. I had no idea when I took the position how much I would continue learning, being with the team. I was in charge of a staff of ten coaches, and ran board meetings and implemented growth plans, amongst other things. I never stopped growing during my tenure at Shen Crew - that included getting my bachelor’s degree while working full time!

With rowing, the icing on the cake was always success on the water. From winning state titles in high school and competing internationally as a rower, to winning international competitions and sending athletes all over the world to compete as a coach, I feel rowing has been very rewarding over the years. All my experiences with rowing have helped me tremendously when it comes to confidence and work ethic as a professional software developer.

Now I'm Here

Recently, I've been enjoying the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York as often as possible. I get out to see regattas whenever I can. I often meet up with friends from my high school crew team to play D&D, and try to attend weekly ultimate frisbee games when the weather cooperates.

I have also taken on a personal project called Even Keel in my free time. The project is a site designed to help coaches enhance communication with their athletes in regard to workouts and performance, all while spending less time working in Excel. Even Keel is located on my portfolio page, and is something I plan to continue working on in my personal time.

To be continued...

Resumé

ANDREW KROFT

CAREER OVERVIEW

An accomplished, hard-working developer with an extensive background working with Java, SQL Server, MySQL, Jaspersoft, HTML 5, CSS 3, Python, PHP, JavaScript and AngularJS to create responsive web applications. Recent experiences working with SQL Server and Jaspersoft Studio, as well as managing several internal and client resources, for a large enterprise application have produced a strong sense of best practices in management, BI reporting, software and database development. Previous experience as Executive Director of a not-for-profit organization has helped develop a background of solid communication and a good sense of teamwork.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Advanced knowledge of front and back end technologies
  • Front end development with HTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • Strong grasp of SQL Server and MySQL query writing
  • Good understanding of middle-tier languages and
  • frameworks such as Spring and Flask
  • Superb analytical approach to BI reporting and query writing
  • Professional communication with clients to clarify specifications
  • Firm understanding of good UI / UX principles and coding standards
  • Experienced with project planning and time management

EXPERIENCE AND EMPLOYMENT

JAN '16 - PRESENT
JAHNEL GROUP, BI MANAGER AND DEVELOPER
  • Write and maintain Java / Spring code for an enterprise level application
  • Write well structured SQL Server queries to populate Jaspersoft reports and pull data for clients
  • Work with clients to maintain a clean and usable interface utilizing JQuery and Kendo
  • Effectively communicate with clients to ensure client expectations are met and exceeded
JULY '15 - PRESENT
ATYPICA INC. CONTRACTOR AND CONSULTANT
  • Develop and customize web applications using Wordpress and Drupal
  • Create automated data scraping tools to collect and compile data from various sites
  • Project management – Design RFPs, create budgets and timelines, and communicate with clients throughout project lifecycles to ensure client needs are met or exceeded
JUNE '11 – JULY '15
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
  • Worked closely with clients to find the most efficient solutions for their web needs
  • Designed and developed custom inventory tracking system utilizing PHP and MySQL
  • Designed and implemented custom site redesigns utilizing Adobe Illustrator and CSS
  • Created custom CMS with PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS
SEPT ‘08 – JUNE ‘15
FRIENDS OF SHENENDEHOWA CREW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & HEAD COACH
  • Created and implemented a 5-year growth plan to increase membership by over 70%
  • Provided leadership and direction for the board of directors and 10+ employees and coaches
  • Created yearly budget plans of nearly one million dollars
  • Managed day-to-day operations for the organization of over 160 members

EDUCATION

JUNE ‘15
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE: WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
  • Completed degree online while working full-time
  • Coursework in UI/UX design and web programming

LANGUAGES, FRAMEWORKS AND OTHER SKILLS

JavaScript, HTML 5, CSS 3, PHP, Python, C++, Java, TSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Vue.js, Angular, Node.js, jQuery, Flask, SQLAlchemy, Sass, Jaspersoft, Adobe (Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks), Wordpress, Drupal

Contact

Fill in all fields and submit to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!