THE FOR BEST MOST UX WEBSITES
Sometimes I really crack myself up.
sheriffderek
Mentor
(18 reviews)
US$19.00
For every 15 mins
51
Sessions/Jobs
ABOUT ME
Goal-driven design and programming for The Web. You deserve better.
Goal-driven design and programming for The Web. You deserve better.
Hello, My name is Derek.
I teach programming and design for The Web & I help build serious design teams.
https://sheriffderek.consulting
I can certainly help with one-off issues, but I think I can be the most help to people who want to learn from the ground up. I built the curriculum at https://perpetual.education
I learned everything the hard way. You shouldn't have to. There are so many 'frameworks' and buzz-words - and while so many people are creating things to make our lives easier, those tools can cloud what is actually happening and make learning some messy business.
Just because someone is a great developer doesn't mean they are suited to teach. Many developers lack the empathy or memory to explain concepts without making assumptions about where the mentee is coming from.
I'll make sure you learn WHY you write markup and what a CSS rule actually is - instead of showing you how to use bootstrap and other abstracted libraries of opinionated functions. I won't expect you to know what I mean when I say 'library' or 'terminal' or 'npm' or 'pass it in' until I've listened to your goals and heard about your background. I'll walk you through everything in order of importance to your unique understanding of the languages and help find the blind spots you may have. I believe that a solid foundation, while it may feel slightly slower at first, will ensure you cut through all of the churn of the changing code climate in the future. I'm not a JavaScript wizard, but I can explain what beginners need to know - better than most seasoned developers - and I can get you to a place where you can begin to ask the right questions. I'm an expert with CSS and responsive layout. I'll set you on the path to reusable/modular code that will be easier to write and maintain.
I can help you sort through the hype and ensure you don't get stuck in the mud. In my experience, pair programming is by far the best way to learn. Let's discuss.
If I can't help you ~ you won't be charged. My codementor rate is considerably lower than my standard rate because I expect to learn from our interactions as much as you do. I feel that pair programming is the best way to learn and that both parties benefit.
English
Pacific Time (US & Canada) (-07:00)
Joined April 2016
EXPERTISE
13 years experience | 9 endorsements
I've written style sheets every day since 2011. I have a ton of experience with all aspects of style sheets - responsive layouts - variou...
I've written style sheets every day since 2011. I have a ton of experience with all aspects of style sheets - responsive layouts - various ideologies - style guides - living style guides - pre-processors - modular thinking - fancy selectors - etc.
If you want to learn about CSS and cut through all the hype and frameworks, I can show you - step by step - starting with the box model, how to build yourself a thoughtful library of rules that you thoroughly understand and that you can use for all of your future projects.
13 years experience | 10 endorsements
I can help you write markup that is readable, maintainable, and ready for styling without any adjustments. We can talk about accessibilit...
I can help you write markup that is readable, maintainable, and ready for styling without any adjustments. We can talk about accessibility and templating engines that you'll eventually use - and how creating healthy habits today will help you along the way. If you are new to web development, I can get you on the right path with the right mindset that will prepare you for many roles, including content strategy. If you learn how to write excellent HTML (everyone takes markup for granted - and almost everyone writes it poorly), you are going to be leaps ahead when you learn CSS and how to craft responsive layouts. Let me help you skip all the nonsense and get down to business.
13 years experience | 10 endorsements
I consider myself to be a expert in responsive layouts - and I'm pretty darn savvy as far as making sure my approaches are 'responsible.'...
I consider myself to be a expert in responsive layouts - and I'm pretty darn savvy as far as making sure my approaches are 'responsible.' e.i. - I'm loading a different image on a phone than a large screen.
13 years experience | 4 endorsements
There are many ways to use WordPress. There is a spectrum from WordPress.com - to just filling in some content on a WordPress self-instal...
There are many ways to use WordPress. There is a spectrum from WordPress.com - to just filling in some content on a WordPress self-installed/purchased theme - to changing that theme - to building your own theme - to building your own theme with custom post-types and custom field sets. I'm on that last side of the spectrum. Debugging a theme is a hard-line NO for me. I don't like 'theming.' Most themes are written be kind - excited developers / but they are terrible and by the time you fuss with it for 50 hours, you may as well have just build it from scratch.
Not only is the way we use WordPress differ drastically person to person, but the way we deploy it to live sites is too. Some people work directly on the server. Some peole have a git setup and can deploy from a local setup to a staging environment. Working this out - depends on how serious you take this career path. I can help you sort that out.
Before even programing a site - WordPress can teach us a lot about content strategy in how we decide to build out the admin panel.
If I teach you anything about WordPress themes* will be about building a theme from scratch, general CMS understanding - code reuse and dynamic content. I can show you how to use custom post types and create intuitive admin panels with Advanced Custom Fields for your clients - and a bit about what you can and can't expect from customers. I have a lot of client experience in this realm - and I can talk about pricing and selling. I can go into depth aboutu SEO and what that means in 2018.
I can also teach you how to setup WordPress as a decoupled CMS that you can use for a JavaScript front-end application instead of PHP.
If you are looking to troubleshoot plugins or deeper PHP functionality, I am not the right person for you. I want to know as little about PHP and the legacy system that WordPress is built on - as I can get away with.
4 years experience | 2 endorsements
You probably don't want to learn jQuery now. So, I can help you understand an old codebase - or refactor to vanilla JS or Vue.
You probably don't want to learn jQuery now. So, I can help you understand an old codebase - or refactor to vanilla JS or Vue.
12 years experience | 7 endorsements
I can get you organized to learn the right things / and stay productive and steady instead of getting sucked into all the hype.
I can get you organized to learn the right things / and stay productive and steady instead of getting sucked into all the hype.
4 years experience | 2 endorsements
I haven't used Ember in quite a while. But what I learned from 2015-2018 using Ember has translated nicely to Vue and other frameworks. I...
I haven't used Ember in quite a while. But what I learned from 2015-2018 using Ember has translated nicely to Vue and other frameworks. I'm not sure I'm the person you should be going to Ember for. But who knows? Maybe I am?
REVIEWS FROM CLIENTS
(18 reviews)
Antti Perälä
March 2024
Worked out well!
Frankly Matanzo
September 2020
I just had my third session with Derek. He is great at teaching and can help teach me, I think having him to assist/go over the basics with my classes right now, especially since classes are not virtual and basically consist, this is the class assignment we have for today, homework is usually continue what you're doing, see you next "class". I recommend Derek's tutoring to anyone who needs assistance understanding JavaScript!
Frankly Matanzo
September 2020
This is my second session with SheriffDerek, and I am really pleased with how well he is able to break down HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. He is renting my textbook along with me so we can work together on things and knows where I am at in it. I really appreciate you helping me, and would recommend him for tutoring to those who are looking for a tutor.
David Young
September 2020
Has the skill of knowing coding content very well, but also very effective in teaching, and supporting the learning process. You need both of these to be a great mentor and Derek well and truly has it.
Aaron Fitzsimmons
September 2020
Super friendly & helpful. Helped me come up with a clean and usable solution. Explains everything thoroughly and really knows his stuff. Will definitely call him again if required.
Ben Carp
August 2017
Professional and creative mentor.
Bryan Mayor
July 2017
Great mentor! It was a pleasure working with Derek. He knows his stuff and is good at teaching both concepts and implementation. He speaks from experience which is extremely helpful. Thanks!
Karen Rinard
February 2017
Thanks Derek. I really appreciate you expertise and patience in not only helping me solve my problem, but also understanding the concept so I can deal with solving problems on my own.
You were GREAT!
Ivy
January 2017
My coding journey has been led mostly by blog tutorials and some help from friends. I was enjoying it, but things were pretty murky. Although I could write markup and styles - I couldn't really connect the dots to how everything worked or why I was doing things. Derek quickly assessed where I was at in a free meeting. During our first pairing sessions, He explained higher level concepts that lead into how the browser reads HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I thought JS was out of my league - but now I'm seeing how it all fits together and I'm more excited and confident than ever! I can't wait to learn more. I would highly recommend Derek if you are just starting out: )
John Balladares
December 2016
Derek was very patient and explained things clearly and succinctly.
SOCIAL PRESENCE
4184 Reputation
2
25
44
An "expensive" tutor - might save you thousands of dollars...
If you give me $100 - and I give you $1,000 - did it cost $100? - or was it free? - or... did I _just give you $900?_ There are a lot of ways to think about it.
2
I don't always use sliders, but when I do - I use Flickity.
If you are going to use a slider... make your list of crap FIRST... and then choose Flickity.
2
In CSS, the 'z-index' property will have no effect if the element has no specific 'position'
You might see a lot of CSS like this:
.someThing {
...
z-index: 99999;
}
You can tell that someone got frustrated. They were likely...
Get to know the console object
console.log("special message"); is often the first object/method that people use when writing JavaScript for the browser. I used it for years without...
how to center align the label for form
There are a few ways you can do this. Here is a fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/sheriffderek/b9jg33b3/
Markup
<form action="" class="your-thing">
...
EMPLOYMENTS
Principal
Perpetual Education
2020-01-01-Present
I teach a course called "Design for The Web" @ https://perpetual.education
I teach a course called "Design for The Web" @ https://perpetual.education
PHP
HTML
HTTP
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PHP
HTML
HTTP
CSS
JavaScript
Research
Design Thinking
Content strategy
Brain
Hands
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Principal
Sheriffderek Consutling
2015-01-01-Present
I consult various businesses, from auditing their workflow, UX, and code - to helping them build design teams. I also take on contract wo...
I consult various businesses, from auditing their workflow, UX, and code - to helping them build design teams. I also take on contract work on the side. Most recently, I helped design and develop a social network for entrepreneurs - doing the UX/UI and leading a front-end design team.
WordPress
HTML
Design
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WordPress
HTML
Design
CSS
Ember.js
JavaScript
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Senior Front-end developer
PXL Agency
2018-11-01-2019-05-01
Front-end. Vue + Laravel project and a few Ember things.
Front-end. Vue + Laravel project and a few Ember things.
HTML
CSS
Ember.js
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HTML
CSS
Ember.js
JavaScript
Vue.js
View more
PROJECTS
BumbleBee movie trivia gameView Project
PXL / Paramount
2019
App built while I was at PXL for Paramount
App built while I was at PXL for Paramount
Ember.js
Ember.js