Matthew Taylor
Web Developer / Software Engineer
English/Drama Teacher and Theatre Director
Elkins, WV
About
Matthew Taylor is a well-rounded intellectual with a wide variety of experiences and interests. Combining his background in performance, education, and technology, he seeks to achieve results at the highest possible level and inject creativity and lateral thinking into every endeavor. His Renaissance approach to solving problems and his leadership philosophy of simultaneously improving efficiency and morale in the workplace by focusing on team members' strengths make him an ideal candidate for any project.
Skills
- HTML - I have been coding HTML since the 1990s and keep abreast of the latest standards.
- CSS - I am experienced creating pages in different styles using the latest in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3). I specialize in styling pages based on design documents created by others, but can quite competently create styles from scratch.
- Responsive Design - I use CSS to provide the optimum view for a multitude of devices and form factors. Try resizing your browser and you will see how this page responds.
- Python - I love programming in Python more than anything, and have experience with Django and other frameworks.
- iOS Apps - I have been programming in Objective-C for close to a decade and have created several apps for iOS.
- Databases - I have been writing MySQL queries for 15 years and understand how relational databases work on a fundamental level. I have experience with MySQL, SQLite, and PostgreSQL, as well as several frameworks that tie into DBs.
- Leadership - 14 years of teaching and volunteering, and 18 years of serving as a leader in various organizations have taught me how to work with a diverse group and leverage their individual strengths to achieve results.
- Theatre and Technical Theatre - I have been producing plays, directing actors, and teaching theatre and technical theatre for 13 years. I often serve as the stage designer, director, costume designer, costumer, and lighting designer on the same production, and have developed leadership skills by guiding a group of individuals with diverse experience levels to produce and perform live theatre.
Education
B.A. in English Education - Davis & Elkins College - Elkins, WV
Work Experience
| 2005 to Present |
Teacher of English, Drama, and Public RelationsRandolph Co. Schools - Elkins, WV Matthew Taylor currently serves as Theatre Director and English teacher at Elkins High School in Elkins, WV. His job includes teaching writing and critical thinking skills, developing young actors' performance abilities, coordinating the skills and abilities of a diverse team, marketing, stage management, and theatrical design and production, as well as maintaining and operating audiovisual equipment for presentations around the school. |
| 2005 to 2019 |
Summer InstructorDavis & Elkins College Upward Bound Program - Elkins, WV The summer program of the Davis & Elkins College Upward Bound Program has given Matthew Taylor a chance to teach a wide array of subjects to high school students, including technology, improvisational acting, writing, and public speaking. |
| 2002 to 2017 |
Podcast HostFantasmagorio Productions - Elkins, WV Matthew Taylor established Fantasmagorio Productions as a creative outlet and a way to enjoy his love of radio and media, and he produced audio and video media for the Internet for 15 years. |
| 2005 |
Administrative AssistantRandolph County Community Arts Center - Elkins, WV Duties for this non-profit included establishing artist and donor databases, as well as scheduling, advertising, and setting up for concerts, classes, and art exhibits. |
Additional Information
First and foremost, Matthew Taylor is a leader and a teacher. Through his experience in 4-H, Alpha Phi Omega (the National Service Fraternity), and the West Virginia Highlanders Bagpipe Band, he learned quickly to effectively use leadership techniques and to manage the efforts of a large group. He continues to practice his leadership skills in the workplace today.
Matthew Taylor never imposes limits on his own experience, and he is always seeking new and better ways to do things, so he possesses a wide variety of skills from computer programming (Python, PHP, Objective-C) to photography and image editing (Photoshop), web design (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Django), database design and management (Access, FileMaker, MySQL, PostgreSQL), video and audio editing and production, directing, acting, and writing.