Hello, my name is Katja Durrani. I am a web developer and content writer living in Bristol, in the UK.

I have worked for myself, managing my own clients, as part of web agencies, and for a startup.

This website will give you an insight into what I can do.

I am currently not actively looking for new web work, but if you think you have a project that might interest me, please do get in touch.

painted tree and me with laptop

Skills

My skills span frontend, backend and basic server admin. I am familiar with important concepts of JavaScript and React, as well as functional programming paradigms.

I am reliable and self-motivated, and work well in a team.

  • HTML+CSS
  • Responsive Design
  • JavaScript
  • ReactJS
  • Git
  • PHP
  • MySQL/PostgreSQL
  • Wordpress
  • SilverStripe
  • Concrete5
  • Python
  • Django
  • Commandline tools
  • Puppet
  • Vagrant
  • Docker
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Projects

Freelance (from 2010)

Working for myself, I
  • built a directory site for therapists from scratch, with CMS SilverStripe
  • managed and further developed sites built on custom PHP frameworks and CMSs
    (Clients: Holistic Community, TLT, European Law Firm)
  • built a number of smaller sites for individual clients. Examples:
    illustrator Henning Löhlein
    Website for book Furry Logic http://furrylogicbook.com/
Screenshot Furry Logic website

Agency and Startup (2013 - 2023)

I worked as a regular freelancer for Fanatic Design for a year, and I was employed by Wiredmedia for three years.
 
From 2019 - 2021 and then again from 2022 to 2023, I worked for Bristol startup Solverboard, which was then acquired by Sopheon (now part of Wellspring).
 
In those roles, I

  • worked on an application using ReactJS on the frontend and PHP and GraphQL on the backend
  • worked with various services in Docker containers
  • used AWS, for example Lambda functions, DynamoDB
  • created HTML templates and CSS from Photoshop designs
  • integrated templates with CMSs Wordpress and Concrete5
  • programmed custom features in PHP
  • managed servers (manually, or through puppet)
  • used git for version control

Examples of sites I worked on: https://londonspeakerbureau.com (changed since) https://www.ellenboroughpark.com (mostly as when I left)

Own/Play/Study

A project I did with my friend Tom while running a Code Club for kids: Using Python code to place blocks in Minecraft in order to emulate 3D Logo turtle movements.

With our JS study group (see below), we created a React Redux app to which I contributed a lot, as well as to our JS101 site.

I wrote a little proof-of-concept static site generator and analysed our Meetup group's most popular programming languages.

I also built a book-swapping app with Django.

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Organising

In January 2014, I set up Codehub with my friend Gicela Morales. I was its main organiser till the start of 2022 when I left the organising team. Originally aimed at people working from home, it has grown into a helpful community of developers with diverse backgrounds, skills and experience levels.

With Codehub, I organised workshops and ran one myself, on Git. I organised three one-day JavaScript workshops and ran a JS study group. For half a year, I hosted our hack nights. I also helped start a mentorship programme.

Being involved with, and running, the group did not only improve my technical skills, but has also been an invaluable experience overall.

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Contact

If you want to get in touch, drop me an email at mail@kdurrani.co.uk or tweet me at @kdurrani.

Elsewhere on the web:

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