About Me

Hi! My name is Dan Sprucek and I am a new web developer in the world! After years of working as a Project Manager and spending some time abroad I figured Programming would be my next passion.

I started with HTML/CSS/JS educational videos followed by free online courses and got instantly hooked. You can go through these links to read more of my Work Experience followed by self-learning stage or see my CV.

What are my qualities?

I have a very strong can-do attitude, that lets me believe that with the right tools and enough time literally anything is possible. That's why I don't like the word "problem" and use "challenge" instead. I am more productive on my own when I "go into the Matrix", but I also work very well with other colleagues. I like staying positive (Corona pun not intended) at all times and enjoy occasional joke or two and be as honest as possible.

What I look for in a job?

During my work experience I figured there are a few very important aspects of a job. It needs to be work I like doing, otherwise there is no sense spending 8 hours a day feeling miserable. Next, and I actually realized this quite recently, the final product or service has to make sense to me. If I am asked about the Company I work for, I want to answer proudly and be happy about it. Friendly colleagues are also a must of course, but to be honest up to this point I was very lucky in this part so I cannot even imagine working with unfriendly people.

Download CV

By default I create my CV in English and Czech and provide it in PDF and DOCX since everyone preferes it different way.

Select the language and document type in the table below (English PDF is pre-selected), then click on "Download CV":

Download selected CV

Work Experience

For my Work Experience in brief, please see my CV.

Otherwise, here is my full story of the work I did since my University. It is written in kind of a blog style describing my life in different places:

• CZECH-IN (2012-2015)

  Back when I was in University finishing last year of my studies a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in a temp job. It wasn't difficult, simply filling out Visa applications and delivering them to the Alien Police. After one month I was offered a full-time position in Registration department. Since I've always had a good grasp of working with computers and programs it was a perfect match for me at that time. The job consisted of processing participants' registrations to various Conferences and Congresses, accommodation and subsequently being on-site. We used variety of programs such as cmOffice, Eventsforce or Pohoda. Over time I became a Deputy of the department.

  Highlight of my work was however another part of the job - managing transportation during one of the biggest Conferences the Company organized. There were over 5.000 participants and the event lasted for a whole week. Hundreds of transports including individual shuttles from and to the airport/venue/hotel, buses to social gatherings and nearby cities (where I had to be present to organize the boarding) and last but not least high profile transport for the Board of the Association. It was a 4am - 1am job for 7 days straight but in the end it was a huge success.

  After my studies were over, I decided to work abroad. Via one of the contacts I gathered during working for CZECH-IN I secured a voluntary job as Administrator for ICM in The Hague, Netherlands.

• ASTRIUM (NETHERLANDS) (2015)

  I started my Netherlands experience as a voluntary Administrator for a non-profit organization ICM. After two weeks in the city I secured a job interview for Astrium company as a Billing Assistant. This company was a major accountant for call and broadband services used on the sea. We handled big companies such as Maersk, but also private ships. At first my role was helping other colleagues - Accountants - with minor tasks.

  However, they soon realized I can handle quite an amount of work in a short time and I don't make mistakes. I was given a search-and-charge job supporting all the Accountants. This job consisted of searching for unbilled services, finding the right account and charge them. Sometimes these amounts were quite low like a few pounds, but summed up there were thousands of pounds every month that would otherwise go unbilled due to limitation period.

  Living in The Hague was great and if I would ever decide to retire in another country, I believe Netherlands would be amongst my top choices. At the end of the year 2015 I went back to Czech Republic due to personal reasons however and although Astrium offered me a job as a full Accountant, I had to decline.

• WUNDERMAN (2015-2016)

  I looked for a job in the Czech Republic even before I moved back from The Hague and sent out loads of applications. I remember applying to Wunderman with a feeling that I am underqualified for the job of Project Manager (mainly lacking Marketing experience), but I thought I would leave it up to them to decide. It turned out to be a good choice since I got the job and started working in one of the friendliest environments.

  The biggest challenges in Wunderman were get used to all the jargon that is used in Marketing and Online Media in particular. Learning Jira (and Confluence), the Project Tracking Software, was essential as this was the main software used to communicate with both clients and the internal team. I was one of many Project Managers who worked for a single client - Ford Motor Company. We received requests for online advertisement from most of European countries, clarified all the details (the most time consuming part) and then briefed it to our internal team of art directors, designers, deverlopers etc.

  After a year of mutual satisfaction I decided to move abroad again - this time with my partner - and since we weren't lucky in getting visa to Canada, we chose Edinburgh in Scotland/UK as our destination. Our vision was to spend 1-3 years there.

• APARTHOTEL ADAGIO (UK) (2016-2017)

  Scotland is quite a country to move to. Although I used English throughout my entire career and I consider myself fluent, talking to Scots took some getting used to. For a foreigner with not much IT skills the only viable option were services such as waitering, working in a call center or a store. I worked as a bartender for a few weeks before finally landing a job in a newly opened Adagio Aparthotel as a Night Auditor. This position consisted of a Night Receptionist and Auditor. Unlike most businesses hotels never have EOD. Since the most quiet time in a hotel is between 3am and 4am, when those who enjoyed an evening out are already back and early birds are not up yet, that's when the "closing" takes place. Everything must be balanced before this time (room reservations, other services, small purchases). Adagio used FOLS program to achieve that together with check-in/out and handling reservations.

  After two months of spending 4 nights working and 3 nights sleeping (plus 16 straight night shifts due to my colleague illness) I finally had enough and I requested a transfer to the day shift. Right after I trained the new Night Auditors I started working during the day which was a great relief, but also a benefit for the Hotel. There were number of struggles between the night and day shifts but no one to fix them since no one knew about each other's responsibilities or rather difficulties. I could finally understand the whole process and served as a messenger or "translator". Day shift was almost the same as night with many more check-in/outs and calls, though of course minus the auditting.

  If it weren't for Scottish weather (neverending wind, almost no sun and kind of the same cold all the time) I might have stayed longer. I was finally started getting offers for better jobs, when we decided with my partner it was time to move back Czechia and settle down.

• WUNDERMAN THOMPSON (2017-2020)

  Here I was back in the Czech Republic looking for a job and the obvious thought came up - applying for my old job as a Project Manager in Wunderman. Since I had a lot of contacts and left on a good terms, it took one meeting to get it back. The main software used was still Jira and most of the processes were still the same. After one year the Company merged with J. Walter Thompson to create Wunderman Thompson.

  As the time passed the number of Project Managers dwindled. With our second to most senior Project Manager gone I started working much more closely with our most important client in London. The development of online assets got to a much higher level during the last years (and the developers in Wunderman Thompson are the sole reason for that). This lead to me discussing the process in more details with the QA team and developers. Looking into the codes (and understanding very very little) I was becoming interested in web development a little bit, but lacking the time it was just a very minor hobby. After two years back in Wunderman Thompson I was promoted to Senior Project Manager.

  I decided to leave the company right before the Coronavirus outbreak.

• SELF-EDUCATION (April 2020-present)

  At my last day in Wunderman Thompson I came to empty offices with just a couple of colleagues from IT and HR who had to greet new employees or as in my case, to say goodbye to the former ones. Coronavirus was about to hit Czechia and the government declared a state of emergency and implemented quarantine measures to reduce the spread. I figured this was a perfect opportunity to learn a new skill and web development was something I dreamt of lately.

  I was told that HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the basics everyone has to know, so I started with w3schools.com and Giraffe Academy (namely Mike Dane) study materials. I created a few basic websites and applications (such as the Cube) when I heard about Greenfox Academy offering a free course for web developers. I registered instantly and two days later began a 3-weeks course. At the start it wasn't challenging enough and I wanted to learn more so I went back to Mike Dane's page and studied the basics of PHP, Python and SQL.

  After 3 weeks of course (where I deepened my HTML/CSS knowledge and discovered jQuery) I decided to create this website since the only way to learn is experience. To be honest I feel like it can never be fully finished since I still discover new tweaks I could include...

  Since I spent a lot of time learning without having any certificate to show I decided to get some in freeCodeCamp.com. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot of stuff I didn't know (Grids for example) - I guess it is impossible to learn everything in this field. But that doesn't stop me from trying - next on my list was ReactJS. I know the basics now and my new apps (such as Random Quote Machine or Markup Editor) are already built using ReactJS + Bootstrap.

Programs

I think this website is my greatest achievement so far, but I also created a few little programs and apps since learning the first basics about web development:

• Cube

  A first program I wrote - using keywords you have to follow the cube till the end to see the final color and select the right answer. However, while rebuilding the Cube I set in a few more bits so I would personally call it Cube 2.0

  Now, learning more about jQuery animation I think I would be able to create even nicer version that could be more fun, but I'll leave it to another future app. It's like learning JavaScript and then finding jQuery - a whole new level...

• Random Selector

  This I created for internal use using random function - we often struggle with deciding who to start a game or whose turn is it to do the chores etc.

  Again, when I built first version of this during my learning with Mike Dane, it was a very simple app. Only after the course with Greenfox Academy I realized the need of extra buttons and functionalities.

• Roman Numerals

  During freeCodeCamp certifications I've had to do a number of projects, one of which was create an app that would take a latin number and change it to Roman number.

  It is not a difficult app and I inted to add a function which takes a Roman number and translates it back to latin.

• Caesar Cipher

  Another of the freeCodeCamp tasks - create a ciphering app. This program takes each letter, moves it in the alphabet by a number of positions and returns the new letter. Fun fact, Julius Caesar used this type of encryption in his private correspondence.

  I have also added the option of decipher. Indeed, for deciphering of number 1 you can just use encrypt with the number 25, but who has the time to count the difference every time :)

• Quote Machine

  Quote Machine fetches over 1500 random quotes and randomly shows one. It has a possibility to share the quote in the tweet, copy it to the clipboard or choose next random quote.

  My first ReactJS + Bootstrap application, finally! For that reason it will not be served on this website, but on a different github repository - you can go there directly via this link

• Markup Editor

  This application changes the normal text you input to the HTML and shows it in real time.

  My second ReactJS + Bootstrap application and I don't know how happy I am with that since I don't find that much use of it... Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

• Drum Machine

  Become a drummer! This app is kind of cute - basically clicking or pressing keys to play sounds.

  Till this app I didn't use audio tags or keydown events, so this was huge for my development :) Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

• Calculator

  Easy to guess what Calculator does, right? This one is a simple one - add, subtract, multiply or divide.

  I would never have guessed that create such a simple application as calculators are could be so demanding. The number of conditions in order to make it work is really something. Glad I went through it though!Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

• Pomodoro Clock

  Pomodoro Clock is an app using the Pomodoro Technique. It's a time management method that uses productive and break times. These run one after another so that you are able to focus 100% on your productive time.

  I finally used React hooks in Functional component. I think it's a nice way to skip using the constructor/super/this.state etc. of the Class components. Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

Cube

The instructions are easy - hover over the cube and it will start moving. Stay with it till the end of animation to learn the final color. At the same time, try to click it as many times as possible as it will decide your final score.

There are several difficulties to choose from, the harder you select the more points you will have in the final score):

Number of clicks during animation: 

0

Select the final color (careful though, you have only one guess):

BEST SCORE: 0

Random Selector

If you ever have troubles to decide who's turn it is to wash the dishes, clean or just be the starting player of a game, seek no further!

Roman Numerals

This very simple app converts your number into Roman numerals.

Caesar Cipher

Caesar Cipher shifts every letter in the provided text by a number of places and returns a ciphered version. Simply type in the text, number 1-25 and press CIPHER or DECIPHER.

Quote Machine

Quote Machine fetches over 1500 random quotes and randomly shows one. It has a possibility to share the quote in the tweet, copy it to the clipboard or choose next random quote.

My first ReactJS + Bootstrap application, finally! For that reason it will not be served on this website, but on a different github repository - you can go there via this link

Markup Editor

This application changes the normal text you input to the HTML and shows it in real time.

My second ReactJS + Bootstrap application and I don't know how happy I am with that since I don't find that much use of it... Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

Drum Machine

Become a drummer! This app is kind of cute - basically clicking or pressing keys to play sounds.

Till this app I didn't use audio tags or keydown events, so this was huge for my development :) Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

Calculator

Easy to guess what Calculator does, right? This one is a simple one - add, subtract, multiply or divide.

I would never have guessed that create such a simple application as calculators are could be so demanding. The number of conditions in order to make it work is really something. Glad I went through it though!Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

Pomodoro Clock

Pomodoro Clock is an app using the Pomodoro Technique. It's a time management method that uses productive and break times. These run one after another so that you are able to focus 100% on your productive time.

I finally used React hooks in Functional component. I think it's a nice way to skip using the constructor/super/this.state etc. of the Class components. Again, it is served on a different repository - you can go there directly via this link

Hobbies

I have the standard bulk of hobbies applicable to almost everyone such as reading, travelling (well... not so much during Coronavirus), sport etc.

To handpick the most important to me though:

• Sport
• Programming
• Board Games

Sport

IRONMAN ASPIRANT

It is my greatest sport desire that one day I will be able to finish a triathlon of Ironman distance - that is 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.195km run.

So far my greatest achievement in this area was a half-Ironman in 8 hours and 14 minutes (bike part on a mountain bike).

RUN/BIKE

Unsuprisingly, some of the Ironman disciplines are also my favourite sports - running and/or biking at least 3 times a week is a must during Spring-Summer-Autumn.

I consider my top run to be a half-marathon in under 1 hour and 50 minutes. For bike that would be Prague-Olomouc (270km) in around 22 hours.

WEIGHT LIFTING

Especially during Winter times the best way to stay in shape and easiest way to see the results is weight lifting in a gym. Surrounded by others with the same goal with pump music in my ears is a great motivation.

I am not a power lifter however and my records show it - 100kg for squat, 110kg for bench press and 120kg for deadlift are my best I tries in 2019.

SPARTAN RACE

Loving running and weights one gets drawn to some kind of obstacle races and for me Spartan Race was a fine combination. Back in 2013 "before it was cool" we created a group and tried our first race. It was such a success we followed the next year with 3 more races (achieving so called "Triffecta" for finishing all 3 difficulties during one year).

Lately this race is so overcrowded however that I am looking for other alternatives.

Board Games

There are very little board games I would NOT like. Be it quick party games like Activity, highly intelectual ones like good old Chess or 4-hours strategy games such as Nemesis - they are all an awesome way to spend time with friends.

Rather than listing the games I like I would rather mention a few thank yous:

• Tlama Games

  A fairly small retail shop with board games, but the owner is very friendly and helpful. Also, every Wednesday you can stop by after 7pm and try any of the games for just a little fee (optional, we usually leave 50 CZK per person).

• Tabletopia

  Tabletopia is a very nice website with loads of mostly free board games. The construction of the games is amazing and during the worst phase of Coronavirus our board games group used this site once or twice every week to "stay in touch".

• Wundergame

  A friend of mine - and let's call him the head of our board games group - started a little monthly gaming in a company I worked for (easy to guess which one if you check my Work Experience :)). Although the attendance from our work colleagues wasn't that high after a few months, he managed to put together more or less stable group. Since he is very interested in board games, a proper geek one would say, and he likes to talk about them and write about them, he created his own site. His opinions are very valuable and I strongly recommend - if you like board games - to visit this website.

Contact

There are number of ways to reach me, feel free to use any of them :)

E-mail:	dan.sprucek@gmail.com
Skype:	dan.sprucek
LinkedIn:	https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansprucek/