Drupal Developer — Freelance & Web Designer
Looking for a Drupal expert for your project? A polyvalent agent that can do both the development and the design? An architect able to build a functional website with good knowledge of Drupal modules? A rigorous programmer capable of writing custom code for specific features while respecting Drupal coding standards? A digital agent that cares and gets interested in what your business is so that he can help you present it the best way possible? A wise artist that knows design must be put at the service of your content and not the other way around? A Web 2.0 specialist that will give life to you website with attractive yet relevant animations? A handyman of the web that won’t forget about boosting your Search Engine Optimization on everyone of your page as well?
You came to the right place.
Animations
Optimization
My name is Nicolas, I am 36 and I’ve been passionate about Drupal, the web and Digital Marketing in general since 2007.
Efficiency & Versatility
My significant experience as a developer, especially under Drupal, and my methodic mind, allow me to quickly identify and resolve the problems you face, and it gets even faster when it comes to building new features.
By the way, while other freelancers tend to me more specialized in one field only, wether it is design or programming, the fact that I can do it all is real added value. Indeed, not only does it mean that you don’t need to coordinate multiple freelancers together, it also means that all the different phases of your project will be conducted by only one person: the one that sat with you in the first place to listen and understand what your needs and expectations are. So chances are, you’ll get exactly what you asked for in the end!
But there’s more… my versatility also allows me to realize each step of your project in a wise way. For instance, some graphic designers tend to do gorgeous photoshop designs that will later be a pain for design integrators to apply to your Drupal. Instead, I create my design in complete awareness of the complexity they will require… I also make them not to heavy because I know slow loading page speed will penalize your visitors experience and thus your Google ranking as well!
Most importantly, as a said earlier, because design must be at the service of your content, it’s a good thing that the one to think about your design actually knows what it is that you do and how to best present it. Cherry on the cake, my Drupal expertise is a warranty that both my design and feature code will be Drupal standards proof, which is very important for the future maintenance of your website. It makes it easier and cheaper for you to evolve.
Whenever you’re ready to contact me, feel free to push me a mail at
I’m looking forward to hearing more about your projects and sharing all my ideas and energy on it :)
Drupal Development & PHP
- Great knowledge of Drupal 6 & Drupal 7 and 90% of the modules
- Good adaptability to Drupal 8 especially thanks to my experience in OOP
- Drupal API - Custom developments in PHP following Drupal best practices
- Rules - Creating complexe automated processes
- Views - Presenting dynamic data into sortable and filterable lists
- Drupal Commerce — eCommerce, online payment, shipping costs, discounts...
- Performance Optimization — Boost, APC, Varnish...
- Multilingual — Creating sites available in multiple languages and easily translatable
- Multisites — Centralizing several sites into one and only main Drupal site for cheaper maintenance
- REST webservices — interact with external platforms with JSON or XML
- Hybrid mobile apps (IOS / Android / Windows) — DrupalGap / PhoneGap / Cordova / Ionic
- Exporting / Importing data
- Migrating / Upgrading / Updating sites from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 and from 7 to 8
- Use of optimized Drupal installation for each project
- Working with SVN & GIT for collaboration and/or project versioning
Theming & Web Design
- Creating logos, designs, visuals, vectors under Photoshop and Illustrator
- Responsive design / Mobile first design : adapted to smartphones and tablets
- Cutting out complexe Photoshop designs into state of the art Drupal themes
- Javascript / jQuery & CSS3 effects, animations, transitions...
- Decoupled architectures with Angular, React, Ember or Vue.js
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CSS preprocessors: Sass / Libsass — Grunt / Gulp — Compass / Autoprefixer :
- compatibility with all web browsers
- compressed and optimized CSS and JS files
- code easier to read and maintain
- Reusable graphical components & variables
- Use of Bootstrap & Zurb Foundation frameworks
- Knowledge of web accessibility standards and W3C recommandations
- Adaptation of professional templates and Drupal themes
Search Engine Optimization
- Metadata (h1, title, description, schema.org tags)
- Automated, clean and relevant URLs
- Optimized and regularly updated XML sitemap
- Keyword presence repotrting on individual editorial pages
- Advice on how to increase visitors trafic
- Visitors trafic statistics analysis
Certified Object Oriented Programmer
- Oracle Certified Java 6 Programmer (OCJP)
- Mastering Java EE and its main frameworks (Maven, Spring, Hibernate, etc.)
- Senior Object Oriented Programmer (OOP)
- Aware of many good practices for professional development
- Experience in Test driven development (TDD)
Customer relationship
- Professional communication through email, on the phone and during meetings
- Able to make a clear presentation following a logical and relevant outline
- Step by step training of the client of the Drupal administration
Agility & Communication
Another thing you would appreciate, working with me, is agility and communication. I am not the kind of person that works in his corner and you don’t hear about until some feature is finished and you realize it’s not exactly what you would have expected.
I truly believe regular communication in a project is a necessity. So every time I raise a question, a suggestion, an idea, you and I get to talk about it first, before I keep on going. That way we can readjust where it is that where’re going before it’s too late, or before it’ll be a pain to go back from a previous decision.
From my experience, I know that even when people think they are sure about what they want, it can all change suddenly as the project starts to become a reality and they see it with their own eyes. I also know that you consider some things to be implicit, so you don’t think about asking for them until you notice there not here. And I don't want to be the guy that tells you that you did not bring it up before so now you have to pay some extra money to get it... Which is why making regular progress meetings and demo is the way to avoid that kind of situation.
Project management
- Respect client's expectations
- Respect deadlines
- Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneoulsy
- Experience with Agile management processes like SCRUM
Involved in Drupal community
- Helping in Drupal modules "issue queues"
- Write articles about advanced Drupal tips & techniques
- Participate in Drupal events
- Would like to give presentations at Drupal events in the future
- Sponsor some Drupal events at my level
- Plan on sharing and maintaining a module for the Drupal community
International
- English - Very comfortable both speaking and writing - everyday practice
- Spanish - Used to have a very good level at 18 but do not practice anymore
- Chinese - Good bases at 20 but do not practice either
Qualities
- Honest
- Rigorous et methodical
- Cares about fine work
- Cares about details
- Great ability to analyse and resolve problems
- Considerate: anticipate needs
- Creative
- Open minded
- Positive and smiling
- Eager for knowledge — self-educated — Passionate
- Ability to stay motivated even when passion less strong
- Team spirit
Integrity & Honesty
By the way, my biggest quality in your eyes will be honesty. See, I believe in Karma, thus, if there’s one thing I would never do, it is lie to you or be a sneaky developer. I would never deliver a poor piece of code just so that it forces you to come back to me several month later for maintenance, or because it takes me less effort. And I won’t charge you for more time than I actually spent working on some feature just because you wouldn’t notice anyway.
I truly believe that what comes around goes around, so even if one can be tempted to do such things sometimes, I won’t ever. Integrity it too important to me. I really like it when the people I work with can trust me with closed eyes. I believe I do all it takes to earn that trust everyday.
Defaults
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Does not really like reproaches
If you're the kind of person that only focuses on what's wrong and spends its time telling its employees how they could do they job better, you and I won't get along.
On the other hand, if you're more of a positive person, trusting the people you work with, welcoming their ideas, and highliting the good things they do so that they feel supported in their work, in that case I'm the man you've been looking for!
I'm a completey autonomous person, that is both responsible and honest. I need people to trust me, and I believe I do what I have to do to earn that trust every day. You don't have to be afraid that I could rest on my laurels if you start telling me that what I did was great. I set my own expectations and I want my work to be state of the art. As much as I can, I try to anticipate your wishes to increase even more your satisfaction, and mine at the same time.
