Jordan Hirsch: Technologist, Improviser, Rock Star

Independent contractor offering strategic technical consulting, technical project management, and web development services.

Clients include:

• PBS's Idea Lab
• Virilion
• Beaconfire Consulting
• ThinkCreative
• EchoDitto
• Humanitas, Inc.

Repeatedly promoted in recognition of outstanding leadership, technical, and project management skills at this award-winning interactive PR firm. Responsible for managing staff and ensuring that technical projects meet quality standards and are delivered on time and within budget.

• Manage a team of developers and engineers.
• Manage $20,000 training budget.
• Develop and implement technical vision and strategy.
• Manage project teams and timelines.
• Write and present technical proposals.
• Architect and develop complex technical solutions.
• Estimate budgets and staffing requirements.
• Assess, select and implement third-party technical solutions.

Managed Development of Webby-Nominated Site
Wrote and presented to client the technical proposal for this $500,000+ project. Managed a team of 5 developers to deliver complex functionality on a  tight deadline.  Led the architecture and development of the Webby Award Honoree www.netlc.org. Developed the first-ever PHP API to the Macromedia Breeze web conferencing software.

Led Best Practices Initiative
Spearheaded “best practices” initiative for technical team of 12 engineers and developers.  Wrote and presented a series of presentations and wiki articles to standardize technical processes and create efficiencies across project lifecycles. Ensured that team implemented best practices across technical projects. Represented technical staff on a cross-functional team including senior management to improve and standardize Mindshare’s project management processes and documentation practices.

Spurred Innovative Strategy
Persuaded CTO (in 2003) that Mindshare should build a REST-based web service for their database of legislative information.  Conceptualized and developed the API, including a token-based authentication system.  Performed due diligence on data vendor.  Integrated API with existing zip-code-to-legislative-district lookup functionality to extend impact and reach of third-party applications.

Programmer/Analyst
Humanitas, Inc. (1999 – 2003)

Designed, developed, tested and implemented multi-platform technology solutions for government healthcare organizations at this management consulting firm.

• Conceptualized and implemented technical approaches to meet client objectives.
• Presented technical proposals to clients.
• Collaborated with senior management on technical strategy.
• Provided support and training to end users

Initiated Technical Policy Changes
Demonstrated technical and ROI rationale for moving from ColdFusion to ASP.NET for future web application development through planning and implementing pilot projects. Persuaded senior management to change technology policy based on success of these pilots.

Developed project efficiencies
Rewrote eligibility processing module for call center software to utilize classes and object-oriented design. Improved scalability and maintainability of significant portion of code base.  Advised technical team members on similar upgrades of other code sections.

• Webby Award Honoree for www.netlc.org
• Winner, 2007 "Publication of the Year" eZ Award for article “Indexing Multiple Binary File Types” written for the eZ Publish web site.

• eZ Publish Certified Developer
• eZ Publish Now Certified Administrator
• Microsoft Certified Professional – “Programming SQL Server 2000”
• Sitecore Certified Developer

• Effective Presentations (Oratorio)
• CommonSpot Fundamentals, Development, and Migration (PaperThin)
• Ruby on Rails Studio (Pragmatic Studio)
• ASP.NET Master Class (Deep Training)
• Basics of SPSS, Intermediate SPSS, Survey Methodology With SPSS (SPSS)
• Microsoft SharePoint and Portal Server Development (INTG)

• “Jordan is an excellent verbal and written communicator.” 
  
• “Jordan has an impressively broad and … very deep understanding of technology and technology trends.” 
  
• “Jordan is an experienced and talented project manager.” 
  
• “Jordan is an excellent leader and is one of our best technical project managers.” 
  
• “Jordan is a strong and talented leader and a valuable teammate on any project.” 
  
• “Jordan is a real pleasure to work with because of his positive attitude and sense of humor.” 
  
• “Jordan is a versatile and talented technologist.  His creative energy, curiosity, highly developed communication skills, and charisma make him a valuable member of any team or project.”