Adventures in JavaScript Development

Rebecca Murphey

Durham, North Carolina

I am a JavaScript application developer and a frequent speaker on the topic of code organization and best practices at events around the world. I authored the learning site jQuery Fundamentals, contributed to the jQuery Cookbook from O’Reilly Media, served as a technical reviewer for David Herman’s Effective JavaScript, and created the TXJS conference. I have also created and contributed to several open-source projects. I was instrumental in getting deferreds and promises introduced to jQuery 1.5; I created the js-assessment project, a test-driven tool for assessing a developer’s JavaScript skills; and I contributed key modules to the Johnny Five library for using JavaScript to interact with Arduinos.

Career

Bocoup, Boston, MA

Senior JavaScript Developer — April 2012 - December 2012

I joined Bocoup to do JavaScript consulting, but found myself engaging in the training side of the business instead. I developed new curriculum for teaching JavaScript beginners, overhauled the jQuery Fundamentals learning site to provide an interactive learning experience, and created presentations and training material around the subject of writing testable JavaScript. I also consulted on Roost, a training-focused conference featuring Bocoup developers, and developed a JavaScript coaching product aimed at clients who need ongoing JavaScript support.

Toura Mobile, New York, NY

Lead JavaScript Developer — November 2010 - April 2012

I joined the Toura team in a consulting role to help clean up a JavaScript mess, and joined full time as the lead developer on a team of varying skill levels. In that role, I guided the design and implementation of a client-side framework for developing content-rich, offline-capable mobile applications inside a PhoneGap wrapper. I also gained familiarity with Ruby on Rails, the framework we used for the content management system that created the mobile applications, and wrote extensive command line tooling using Ruby.

Independent Consultant

July 2008 - July 2011

I turned the sudden ending of my DailyStrength work into a successful consulting business. For three years, I worked with clients ranging from startups to large companies, helping them improve their JavaScript practices and organize their client-side code. In the process, I established myself as a thought leader on the subject of client-side application development.

DailyStrength, Santa Cruz, CA

January 2008 - July 2008

For five short months, I worked for this small startup, reworking the client-side code to depend on one DOM library instead of four, and standardizing the approach to implementing various aspects of the user interface. Though I was the only remote employee, I proved my ability to become an integral part of a small team from across the country. I lost my job, along with the rest of the developers, when the money ran out.

Webslingerz, Carrboro, NC

August 2006 - January 2008

I joined this local interactive agency to focus on improving my web development skills. The existing team was firmly attached to the 2001 way of doing things; I campaigned effectively to get fellow developers to embrace web standards, modern techniques, and the best practices of the day.

Before That

September 1996 - August 2006

I began my career at a small newspaper in upstate New York, working on the night copy desk with a team that was responsible for laying out the newspaper, editing the stories to fit the available space, and writing the headlines. I worked there for five years; I left in the summer of 2001. I spent the next 18 months bartending – and making about as much money as I had made at the paper – before getting on my bicycle and riding it from Maine to North Carolina, camping along the way. In North Carolina, I worked as a waitress for several months before landing a job at an advertising agency. There, I did page layout for various print materials, and grew to be heavily involved in the agency’s fledgling efforts with web technologies.

Speaking & Writing

I have spoken at dozens of conferences and events since 2009, with a focus on client-side application development, JavaScript best practices, and encouraging other developers to share what they know.

JSConf

jQuery Conference

Others Conferences of Note

Publications & Contributions

Education

I studied journalism at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, from 1993-1995. During the five semesters I attended, I created the college newspaper’s first online presence, authoring HTML in pico or somesuch, previewing it in the text-only Lynx browser, and deploying the files to the sever at the appropriate time using at. I also worked with a friend to create one of the first online resources for LGBT college students; we were very excited when, in 1995, its URL was featured in a print magazine.

Tools

I do my work on a 27” iMac desktop, and a 13” MacBook Air when I’m on the road or on the couch. I use Sublime Text 2 and MacVim as my editor, the Chrome Dev Channel as my primary development browser, and git for version control of all the things. I stay in touch with colleagues via IRC, using irssi running inside a screen session on a server. I write just about everything in Markdown, including this document. I have a 100% legal copy of Adobe CS4; I pretty much never use it.