About Rael

Hi, I’m Rael, pronounced as ra-el like kal-el, not reyl. I’m passionate about building things that others can use and enjoy. I fulfill that passion by being a Programmer and an Entrepreneur. One of the things I’m building right now is MagicThemes. I also helped found a small Web Development company, Wiz Media composed of 3 programmers including myself and 2 amazingly talented designers. Right now, I have multiple jobs at Wiz Media including janitor, attendant(the one that says Good Morning every time someone comes in), and sometimes driver.

Tools of the Trade

I love using technology to make people’s lives easier. Some of the Technologies I’m really Good at are:

• Joomla! Extension Development - my bread and butter for 5 years. I know the ins and outs of Joomla.
• Kohana 3 Web Apps Development - me and my team built MagicThemes using Kohana 3 from scratch. It’s fast!
• Full Website Development - planning and execution, marketing and SEO. I am also good at server maintenance and solving many other nuisance related to website management.
• And More - HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, Mootools, jQuery, you name it! As long as it’s about web development, I know lots.

If you want to see a list of things I programmed or contributed to, visit Rael’s GitHub page.

Some notables are:

• KoJo Project - Use it if you want to use Kohana 3 inside Joomla.
• Jelly Auth - This is an extension of my favorite ORM, Jelly

Actually, there are many more, but those are for my clients and they are private.

Things I’m Building Right Now

Alongside MagicThemes, I’m also engaged in building the Tools we will use for MagicThemes and the future of our business.

• Alchemy Theme Framework - it’s a Framework that helps MagicThemes to quickly build Joomla Templates and WordPress Themes.
• Alchemy Titanium - it’s an MVC Framework that helps us build apps for Appcelerator Titanium using MooTools.
• Alchemy Theme Builder - it’s a desktop application built on Appcelerator Titanium that helps users build themes for Joomla and WordPress.

These are in active development and they will be announced as soon as a usable demo is ready.

Things I’m Learning Right Now

Programming and Entrepreneurship are actually just a product of my main desire. That desire is to Learn! I don’t have fun if I’m not learning something. That’s why I’m not fond of video games and movies anymore. Although I watch movies that are worth something.

Here are some of the things I’m learning right now:

• Nooku Framework - it’s by far the best Framework for Joomla. I never ever liked Joomla Framework from the very beginning.
• HTML5 and the latest web technologies - I think I’m already good at the basics but I still have to try many features of HTML5. I’m learning them while writing Alchemy Titanium framework. 

Previous Experience

I took BS Computer Science from the Adventist University of the Philippines. In 2004, I got my first job as a Teacher. I taught for 1 year teaching basic programming in a remote area in the Philippines(Mindanao) firstly as a Missionary work and secondly, because teaching is my other passion.

After my short career in teaching, I went back to Manila and worked for another year as a Programmer for a now inactive company, ION Web Services. After that, I decided to be an Entrepreneur or “Technopreneur”.

During my 5 years in Technopreneurship, I’ve had several speaking engagements in Joomla Days, Drupal Meetups, etc. I’ve also been speaking on Web Technology seminars for students and professionals.

Personal Life

I married the best woman in the world, Jane Villegas-Canasa on July 2008. We have an adorable daughter, Ashelia Rane, who was born last April 2009. We’re building a great family together!

So what can I do for you?

If you’re reading my resume, chances are you’re my friend, relative, or just an employer hunting for people they need. If you’re an employer or someone simply interested in my services, here’s what I can do for you.

• Build your website from scratch covering every detail and every nuisance - I’m backed by my team at Wiz Media.
• Build WebApps and Desktop Applications
• Train or Teach your staff on Web Development subjects
• Consultation on anything related to Websites

Contact Me

You can reach me using the Contact Form of Wiz Media or through my Blog(just don’t forget to include your email address so I can reply).