Nick James

Web Design & Development in Zimbabwe

I enjoy the problem solving and creativity of both backend and frontend programming.

Creating a Personal Portfolio page started out as a project for freecodecamp.

About Me

I first stumbled into the basics of HTML during an information systems class at university. I'm not really sure what the rest of the class covered because I was so fascinated with this one topic. From there I started my web-dev journey taking course after course on Udemy, YouTube videos, blogs, and of course StackExchange.

Over the years I settled on focusing my energy on mastering only a handful of languages and technologies. I did this because...

If I kept changing to the latest and greatest flavor-of-the-month I would never gain the necessary proficiency of a professional.

So I took as step back and focused on what I was getting comfortable with. Now I am working on mastering PHP as my server-side language, as it stands I am very proficient here. I like to use Laravel as my PHP framework. My database of choice is a MySQL (relational database), because I found it easier to move from Microsoft Excel in the beginning. For my frontend I use jQuery, as the JS library, and Bootstrap for the CSS framework. Bootstrap requires the use of jQuery anyway.

As far as professional education goes I have an Aviation Bachelors from Henderson State University, as well as an MBA from the same University

Projects

My Projects are not extensive. The following list encompasses all the work I have done, separated into 3 categories: those required by FreeCodeCamp, Personal Projects, Professional Projects, and some Projects In-Progress.

Tribute Page
FreeCodeCamp Project

The brief was to build a responsive page dedicated to someone you admire. I chose Benjamin Graham because I am fascinated by the stock market and enjoy learning how the professionals approach investing.

Source Code View
Random Quote Machine
FreeCodeCamp Project

The brief was to build a program that whenever you clicked a button a new quote would appear. You also had to include a few extra pieces of functionality, like the option to Tweet the quote you were on. I chose to store all my quotes in a JS Object and then when you clicked the button Math.random went to work to make the selection.

Source Code View
#Justmarriedjames
Personal Project

I got married on the 4th of August 2018. Leading up to the wedding I decided it would be great to have a website showing all our guests where we would be and what activities there are to do in the area. The site also allowed people to write comments, and for others to reply on those comments. I used MySQL and Laravel for the backend, and Bootstrap for the front end (with some custom styles thrown in).

Source Code
FlyHAC
Professional Project

This was my first professional project, for the company I currently work for as the Quality Assurance Manager (aviation industry). As a learning exercise I developed my version of the Company website. When my boss mentioned that they were having trouble updating the website, I put my hand up. I showed my Boss what I had been working on and now I managed it.

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Remote Rescue Subscription Manager
Professional Project

The real magic behind this site is blocked to the general public so you won't see much if you visit. This was the first project that really put me to the test. The frontend is incredibly basic using only the bare bones of Bootstrap with minor custom changes to move thing into place. The real focus here is the PHP functionality, and having the chance to use many progamming aspects like CRUD, one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many table structures...

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Portfolio Page
FreeCodeCamp Project

This project was designed to showcase my work, as a developer, to the world. I probably should have done this as one of my earlier projects but I waited until I had a solid grasp of programming. You are currently looking at the portfolio site in action. CrestWorks is my own personal brand.

Source Code View
ZAU Athlete DB
Project In-Progress

This project is for the Zimbabwe Aquatic Union and is a database to store information about the athletes, useful for when athletes are selected for tours. This database will also store coach and manager information, including qualifications and certifications.

LimaBravo
Professional Project

Eloquent aviation management tools. LimaBravo is more than just an electronic logbook for pilots. We provide a suite of program subscriptions to help your aviation business succeed. Our philosophy is simply in that we provide what is necessary to help you make the right decisions for your company.

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Aquakidz Zimbabwe
Professional Project

The project uses both Laravel, Vue, and Tailwind. I have been leaning Vue for my 2020 resolution so wanted show off this on my Portfolio. Basically combining a few newly acquired skills here.

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Food Lover's Market Zimbabwe
Professional Project

FLM was built using Vue, Laravel and Tailwind. This is also a Single Page Application (SPA). Axios was used to make the api calls, and all api calls are asynchronous. A custom alerts systems was developed for this site too.

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Books

I will be honest I have never been a book worm but here are the greats everyone should digest...

  • How to Win Friends and Influence People

    - Dale Carnegie

  • The Sales Bible

    - Jeffrey Gitomer

  • The Intelligent Investor

    - Benjamin Graham

  • The Innovator's Dilemma

    - Clayton M. Christensen

  • The Lean Startup

    - Eric Ries

  • Make

    - Pieter Levels

Resources

Here is a list of my favorite resources I use on projects, and some resources that I am yet to learn (and then master).

Contact Me

There are a few ways to get in touch with me, but the best way is to send me an email.