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Alex Hollyman

Experience

I have worked in web development since 2008: in web, creative and digital agencies, then a healthcare communications agency and an immersive technology studio. I hold a 2:1 BSc in Computing.

  • Owning a product from concept to maintenance

    As development lead at a healthcare communications agency I created a complete multi-tenant eLearning platform, from concept to completed product.

    I was fully responsible for its software development lifecycle and its development direction, and it operated as a software-as-a-service product within an agency environment.

    1. Concept
    2. Design
    3. Build
    4. Launch
    5. Maintain

    Platform core

    One codebase

    • Courses
    • Learners
    • Reports
    • Tenant A
    • Tenant B
    • Tenant C
    One platform core, built up stage by stage, runs a site for each tenant. Every tenant has its own branding and data, and shares the codebase and its modules.

  • Leading the technical side of a team

    I have led web development in my last three roles: as lead senior developer at a digital agency, as development lead at a healthcare communications agency, and now as technical lead at an immersive technology studio.

    Alongside the engineering I work within the wider team as a digital expert, advising senior management and account managers on all things web and digital.

    My background in agency work gives me a strong understanding of how to balance budgets, time and quality, and the skills to work with colleagues and key stakeholders towards the best outcome and the long-term sustainability of a system.

    Account manager In business terms

    Me

    Developers In technical terms

    1. Account manager asks: “Can we launch before the conference?”
    2. I brief the developers: Release 1: sign-up and agenda pages. Release 2: live chat.
    3. The developers reply: Release 1 fits the date. Live chat does not.
    4. I answer: “Yes, with sign-up and the agenda. Live chat follows after.”
    A question arrives in business terms and goes to the developers as a technical brief. Their reply comes back the same way, as an answer in plain words. The exchanges are invented examples.

  • Modernising how software gets built

    I joined a digital agency to help modernise its digital production: educating the team on version control, implementing best practices and standardising workflows.

    I replaced a central office server and FTP uploads with Git repositories, staging and live branches, and deployment scripts for more than 80 live websites. I also implemented frontend preprocessing workflows and introduced object-oriented techniques to make the custom WordPress themes modular and scalable.

    I have since made the same kind of change to my own practice, moving from traditional development methods to working primarily with AI code agents.

    Before: files went by FTP from one office server straight onto the live sites, with no version history. After: commits go through a staging branch to the live branch, and a deploy script puts them on more than 80 live sites.

  • Platforms and APIs

    Across two spells at an immersive technology studio I have designed and built Laravel-powered APIs and administration systems for augmented and virtual reality apps, working with the Unity developers to deliver globally available, secure APIs.

    My primary role today is building and maintaining the systems that manage VR and AR experiences and their data, alongside internal and client-facing tools that support the business.

    I have delivered this work for large organisations such as universities, government departments and international pharmaceutical companies.

    • VR headset
    • AR on a phone
    • API
    • Secure connection
    VR headsets and phones running AR, anywhere in the world, send requests to one API and get responses back over a secure connection. The positions are for illustration, not real places.

  • Integrations and data

    I have built complex Salesforce integrations for international charities and membership organisations, and I am used to normalising and sanitising data and consuming third-party APIs.

    I am comfortable handling large datasets and love squeezing every millisecond of performance out of a query. I understand the importance of thinking ahead when designing user-facing systems, APIs and data structures.

    1. Trim
    2. Standardise case
    3. Parse dates
    4. Match duplicates
    5. Validate
    6. Sync

    Member records Sample data, made up for this page

    NameEmailJoined Result
    Robin Demo missing 2022-02-28 Held back: no email
    Sam Example sam@example.org 2024-03-07 Synced
    Priya Sample priya@example.org 2023-11-02 Synced
    Priya Sample priya@example.org 2023-11-02 Duplicate of record 3, merged
    Jo Testcase jo@example.org 2021-06-15 Synced
    CRM 3 records synced, 1 duplicate merged, 1 held back.
    Five made-up records arrive untidy, are cleaned one step at a time and are synced to a CRM. Each step is a real function run on this sample in your browser. The records have mixed capitals, stray spaces and dates in several formats; one person is entered twice and one record has no email address. The good records are synced, the repeat is merged and the incomplete record is held back.

  • Accessible interfaces

    My final year degree project was designing and building an online message board to integrate with an existing online community, using good human-computer interaction practice.

    I have built accessible, responsive websites and systems for a wide range of clients since, from small business websites to complete platforms.

    Thursday meeting

    Robin
    Is the hall open before seven on Thursday?

    Sam
    Yes. I will open up at half past six.

    A screen reader announces

    Name
    Post reply
    Role
    button
    State
    none
    A small message board built from real controls. The numbers show the order the Tab key visits them, and the panel shows what a screen reader is told about the one in focus.
See what I work with