About Simeon Franklin

History

Hi! My name is Simeon Franklin and I'm an independent web developer specializing in dynamic websites and web applications.

Experience

I've been writing dynamic web applications since 2001. I've used several different technologies in that time: classic ASP pages and CGI back when that was state of the art and mostly PHP for the last few years. I started out working for a small Web Development shop in downtown Modesto. After a few years of growth the company I worked for was aquired by a local ISP and I became the Lead Developer in their Web Division.

In the last few years of my professional life I've been fairly prolific - turning out many well-used sites in addition to being the primary developer of our in-house CMS and the general web-tech goto guy. I'm only showing independent sites I've done as an indie on my portfolio page, but I can give interested clients a personal tour of the many web properties in which I've been involved.

Education

I earned a BS in Computer Science in 1999. Since then I've mostly been self taught as I've worked for small companies - originally making desktop applications with Delphi, VB6, and later VBA and MS Access. For the last 5 or 6 years I've mostly built online applications but have continued to be self taught - absorbing information about standards compliant HTML and CSS, learning Javascript and PHP and databases. My language of choice is currently Python and I'm writing web applications using the impressive Web Framework Django. While I'm not very experienced yet with Python and Django, I've recently started attending the Bay Area Python Interest Group meetings at Google and will continue to explore Django.

Philosophy

Despite the increase in team size and resources available to me when I worked for a larger company, I felt constrained by the technological and methodological limitations that I had no control over. I enjoyed the security of being an employee for 7 years but I decided it was time to see what I could do if I called the shots. I am now an independent developer - I'll work directly for you as a client and help you make the best decisions that will most benefit you as you embark on a technology project.

This site explains my philosophy about software development (and web development in particular). In brief, however, let me say that "Agile Development" is more than a catchy slogan for me. Software development is a balancing act popularly expressed by the aphorism "Fast, Good, Cheap - pick any two". I have some definite ideas about the technologies and processes that best facilitate helping the customer realise their ideal balance. For more details about my philosophy visit the Home Page or read my Principles for Web Development statement.

Business

So let's do some business together! I work with a local Designer/Project Manager who also has a lot of years in the business. If you are looking for a local developer to build a great web application or just want a website that's more than an online business card, hit my contact page and tell me what you're looking for! Be sure to read my principles page to see if we'd be a good fit!