Reading Room — Working as a UX Developer

Originally Published: December 2016

Key Facts

• Web development agency based in London with around 100 people
• Been working as a UX Developer since October 2015
• Working with React JS, Node JS, Javascript, JQuery, Sass, PostCSS, Git and all the basic front end tech
• All projects are built in PHP or .net
• Worked with test frameworks such as Cucumber, Mocha and Chai
• Have played a lot of pool and table tennis :)

Reading Room is one of the UK's top digital agencies which I joined in October 2015. My work mainly involves front end development and working closely with the designers and back end devs to ensure that end users will get a site that looks great, responds well, is highly accessible and technically works well with the back end systems. I have worked on dozens of different projects, ranging from large enterprise clients with millions of visitors to county police sites who need excellent accessibility and clarity with their user journeys. Some of most enjoyable work has been with pushing more modern front end development frameworks such as React JS and integrating a lot of functional testing with Cucumber JS. All our projects are built in PHP or .net with CMS's such as Drupal, Kentico, Sitecore and Umbraco. As an experienced PHP developer I have contributed to bits of PHP to those projects where necessary and often build prototype sites in PHP. Working on the .net projects have also given me a great appreciation of how to shape the front end differently for the particular quirks of each platform. I have also developed greatly as a pool and table tennis player and my posture has greatly improved whilst using a giant exercise ball as my chair.