Olin College of Engineering

A challenging & fun opportunity

Developing the website for Olin College of Engineering was a complete ground up rebuild using the latest version of Drupal (version 9 at that time). The project proposal included a budget for a brand redesign and a new website to align with the institution's refreshed vision. This provided a unique chance to create an entirely new user experience, allowing our creativity to truly flourish.

Adding to the excitement, Olin is an engineering-focused institution, which gave us considerable flexibility in our design and development approach. The client encouraged innovation and welcomed fresh ideas, allowing us to explore and implement creative solutions throughout the project. This setting offered an ideal environment to create something distinctive while meeting the client's specific needs and reflecting their new branding.

Rising to the Challenge

The project posed a significant challenge: to meet client expectations by delivering a robust and scalable Drupal theme with limited resources. To complicate matters, internal turnover and transitions made planning more complex. Despite these hurdles, my colleagues and I, drawing on our experience from past projects at Sametz Blackstone Associates, successfully managed a large-scale project by utilizing the strategies we'd developed from previous projects for delivering a full web site in a timely manner.

Additionally, the timing of this project coincided with a major release of Drupal, necessitating alternative development practices and careful consideration of module implementation to meet the client's needs. Due to the upgrade, we had to apply patch fixes to certain required modules. This added complexity, requiring us not only to build but also to thoroughly test these modules against our theme and Drupal's latest version—at that time, version nine.

Going the Extra Mile

During this project, I worked as an independent contractor, often dedicating evenings and weekends to meet deadlines. Although this limited my social life, I was eager to seize the opportunity and demonstrate my capabilities, even if it meant wearing multiple hats. Beyond front-end development, I also took on responsibilities in content modeling, back-end configurations in Drupal, and project management.

This project was highly client-facing, and I built a memorable relationship with the team at Olin. It underscored my versatility and showcased my ability to collaborate on a personal level, developing strong working relationships with everyone involved. Ultimately, this project stands as a testament to my commitment, adaptability, and technical expertise, all of which contributed to its successful outcome.

A Project to Be Proud Of

Developing the website for Olin College of Engineering was one of my most rewarding projects. What could have posed significant challenges at the start transformed into a valuable experience for my personal growth as a developer.

We utilized the Pattern Library tool to organize and facilitate collaboration among the team, which proved instrumental in our success. The post-launch metrics showed that Olin's engagement rates had risen, leading to an increase in lead conversions and enrollments.

I'm proud to have played a key role in this project, and the multiple hats I wore along the way helped to showcase my versatility, positioning me well for future opportunities. This experience not only highlighted my ability to adapt to various roles, but it also reinforced my commitment to delivering quality results even in challenging situations.