Hello,
I'm Brian

I love to code

more

Hello, I'm Brian Knapp, a Front End developer who loves to code beautiful, usable interfaces. I have a passion for using the latest supported web technologies like ES6, WebRTC and SVG, and for making clean, refined code. When working on a project, I am constantly asking myself, "How can this be built better? How can I make this more reusable?"

I have spent the last 5 years at Nutanix where I have helped build and scale our industry-leading, data-rich UI through major feature development, helping to establish and grow our Front End team from 4 people to over 30. Our UI is famous in the enterprise cloud industry for its solid and pleasant UX, elegant design, and proven scalability. While at Nutanix, I have developed numerous features including an in-app WebRTC-based video chat remote support platform, a tutorial framework, and a Kubernetes deployment and management UI. I worked closely with lead designers to ensure pixel-perfect fidelity on a daily basis. In previous positions I worked on marketing websites for clients like Google Express, Google Adwords, Banana Republic and Old Navy, so I have a great deal of experience producing accurate styling and high-grade UX.

I am a very curious person. Since childhood, I have liked to tinker and understand how things work. When I bought my first audio recording program to record my friends' bands in high school, I voraciously read the entire manual. Even though I'm an established UI Engineer, I love to stay on the cutting edge by reading articles, subscribing to newsletters, and following well-known Front End devleopers. And when I learn something new I immediately start thinking about how it can change the way I develop, or how I can use it creatively to do something I couldn't before.

My strength as a developer is not only being able to code cleanly and efficiently, but especially in innovating to help my team develop faster and to make large-scale projects more maintainable.

Skills

Languages / Frameworks

HTML5 ES6 CSS3 WebRTC React.js Redux.js Backbone.js Babylon SASS LESS PHP MySQL Bootstrap

Technologies

Git GitHub SVN firebase websocket Grunt npm Webpack Sublime 2 Atom IDE Photoshop

(Just for fun)

Portfolio

New Feature Turorial Framework

JS, HTML & CSS framework I coded for doing live demos of new features at Nutanix.

It reads a simple JSON file to run a tutorial, handles sequential steps, and even has a simulated mouse that uses CSS3 transitions to move and JS to trigger click events on the live interface.

View Project

WebRTC-based Support Platform

A WebRTC-based support platform that includes video, text, screen sharing, remote control, and data sharing.

I presented it to select customers at the annual Nutanix conference in Nice, France in 2017.

View Project

MAUGRE (Artist) Portfolio

I coded and co-designed this site with the artist MAUGRE to showcase her portfolio. It is completely responsive and has a very interesting mobile experience.

Notice that on desktop, the gallery areas are navigated by keyboard arrow keys, but on mobile they are side-scrollable for a very fluid experience.

View Project

Greek New Testament Reader

I designed and coded this web app because there were no beautiful, usable sites to study the Greek New Testmanet. This is an involved interface that allows students and scholars to look at grammar, vocabulary, and even do searches.

It is completely mobile responsive.

View Project

Google Ads

I built this page for Google for a Google Ads campaign they ran. It is very mobile responsive, using a fluid layout, and has inline form validation.

View Project

Experience

Member of Technical Staff

October 2013 - Present

Projects & Responsibilities:

  • JS Developer for main product UI
  • Developed features, including translation/localization service, WebRTC video chat platform, tutorial framework, and a Kubernetes deployment and management UI
  • Helped build and scale an industry-leading, data-rich UI over 5 years of major feature development in the enterprise cloud industry, helping establish and grow our Front End team from four people to over 30
  • Worked closely with lead designers to ensure pixel-perfect fidelity
  • JavaScript (ES6), React/Redux, Backbone.js, WebRTC, NodeJS, SASS, LESS, HTML5, CSS3, and SVG

HTML Developer

November 2012 – October 2013

Clients worked on:

Responsibilities:

  • Code websites and HTML/CSS email campaigns for our largest client (Google) using:
    • HTML5
    • CSS3
    • SASS
    • JavaScript/JQuery
    • Templating Languages (Twig, Django, Freemarker)
  • Convert layered PSDs to pixel-perfect HTML5/CSS3
  • Created and Managed content in various Google-run CMSs (Goro, Google Sites, Gumdrop, GAMMA)
  • Heavy use of SVN and GIT for content version control and content sharing among developers

Assciate Digital Content Developer

(October 2010 - November 2012)

Clients worked on:

Responsibilities:

  • Code email campaigns and landing pages using HTML, CSS and custom backend language based on JavaScript.
  • Work directly with client and coordinate with various internal teams to manage projects and ensure high standards/deadlines met.
  • Follow strict email coding standards and best practices to ensure perfect email rendering on all major platforms.

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me with comments, questions, or just to say hi at: