Experience

Kinetic Commerce

• Canada
• IT Services and IT Consulting
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director, Platform Engineering

  • Nov 2014 - Present

  As the Director, Platform Engineering, I am responsible for the team delivering and maintaining the Kinetic Commerce Platform, providing APIs that support iOS, macOS, and Android clients across multiple client organization types. On any given day, I will discuss new features, work with client integrations, provide one-on-one mentorship, participate in a regular learning workshop, and maybe even write a little code. I am responsible for the overall architecture, design, and implementation of the platform and services, security, and development quality. After a proof-of-concept in Node.js, we implemented a REST API using Ruby on Rails supported by Lua, Go, and Ansible. Planned features require greater concurrency, resiliency, and lower bandwidth requirements, so we are now working with GraphQL on Elixir. I am responsible for the growth and health of the team. We have established a humane hiring process that focusses on attitude, aptitude, and collaboration over raw skill. This process comes from experience and necessity—none of the original members of the team developing the platform knew Ruby before starting work on it. We can train new hires in our stack; we haven’t the skill to train them how to learn. We have grown and contracted, but our hiring process and results have been consistently positive since mid-2015. I am responsible for the growth of team members. I have regular one-on-one sessions and train leadership candidates to have one-on-one sessions, too. I have encouraged continual learning, and established a weekly learning session led or presented by members of the team, exploring technical topics and expanding speaking skills with a friendly audience. (This job was formerly titled Lead Engineer, Backend Platform. Same job, different title. Lots of hats.) Show less



Open Source

• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Ruby Developer

  • May 2002 - Present

  Open source software development in Ruby and other languages as appropriate. Google Summer of Code mentor for Ruby Central in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Provided several widely used and well-regarded libraries. Open source software development in Ruby and other languages as appropriate. Google Summer of Code mentor for Ruby Central in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Provided several widely used and well-regarded libraries.



ClearFit

• Netherlands
• Food and Beverage Manufacturing

• Senior Developer

  • Sep 2013 - Sep 2014

  Provided leadership, mentoring, and expertise to an existing development team for the ClearFit product. Responsible, as part of the team, for design and implementation of major API and UI changes as well as a shift from a pure-Rails project to a Rails and Angular JS project. • Added basic change management procedures for releases, requiring release notes and announcements for each release. • Improved test and deployment tools for developers, ops, and QA. • Lead developer on integration with an external mobile development team to define and provide API support. Also responsible for in-house builds of the mobile application. • Primary developer for feed generation code. • Designed and implemented campaign-based discounting. • Designed and implemented job feed caching for the ClearFit job board. • Designed and implemented comments for employers to make notes about candidates using Angular JS and Rails. • Designed and implemented resume-based keyword matching using PosgreSQL stemming. • Designed and implemented modern (AngularJS) candidate survey. • Created the marketo-api-ruby gem to replace an earlier less-customizable integration with the Marketo SOAP API. • Centralized Redis-based cache and connection management to solve a number of problems including hosted Redis connection exhaustion. • Reduced repeated boilerplate code for Resque workers. • Started the transition of older Rails code to Rails 4.0. • Started normalization and documentation of JSON-based APIs across the application. • Planned and implemented several large-scale data migrations to fix data model design flaws with no visible end-user impact. Show less



SurfEasy

• Computer and Network Security

• Lead Developer

  • Dec 2011 - Aug 2013

  Developer on multiple products at SurfEasy, including the Private Browser (a USB stick that launches a customized version of Firefox on both Windows and Mac OS X); the VPN for Desktop (Mac OS X and Windows); and the backend (including the network management API, the user account management page, and the SurfEasy networks themselves). • Designed and implemented the upgrade mechanism to download and write update images to the USB stick. Provided design and implementation for other REST-based APIs necessary for implementation in C++ and Objective-C. Later extensions to this basic work added the concept of update channels for staged rollout (including implementation on the Rails API server) and further extension to be the core update mechanism for the SurfEasy VPN product for Mac OS X and Windows. (The iOS and Android VPN products are updated through their respective app stores.) • Responsible for the introduction and maintenance of an automated build environment, including the building of the customized version of Firefox (both Windows and Mac) and the final production of update images for the USB stick. • Designed and implemented a simpler, more reliable, and more extensible bootstrap mechanism for rolling out additional private network servers. (Ruby, Rails, and Puppet) Also responsible for on-call duty to support the network if any part of it went down. • Designed and implemented out a new account system supporting multiple devices per account with minimal downtime and no visible impact to end users. Refined the billing system around this new account system. (Ruby and Rails) • Designed and assisted implementation of new APIs to support the VPN product. (Ruby and Rails) • Designed and implemented a new account management page and a rewards mechanism for the VPN product. (Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, jQuery) Show less



First Media Group

• Serbia
• Marketing Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Software Developer

  • Oct 2011 - Nov 2011

  I provided advice on API design for an unreleased (and subsequently cancelled) social media project in Ruby on Rails. I provided advice on API design for an unreleased (and subsequently cancelled) social media project in Ruby on Rails.



i365 A Seagate Company

• Software Development Team Lead

  • Dec 2009 - Oct 2011

  • i365 is called EVault since 2011.Leading and growing a small (3–5 person) team of developers responsible for the production of Linux, Unix, and VMware platform backup software. The development primarily employs modern cross-platform C++ (with Boost) and other programming languages used as needed, in a Scrum-based agile development methodology.In addition to team-specific management and development activities, I am responsible for overall product architecture and solution design, working with and evaluating technology partners' products for integration, and improving development practices.Under my direction, my team delivered updates to the Linux and Solaris platform releases and added an Oracle plug-in for Linux.I was the development champion for a multi-phase release of a major update to the VMware platform product. I initiated the development on the release, which will be delivered as a virtual appliance. This effort has me working in three additional roles:- lead architect/designer for the appliance and backup engine, coordinating the efforts of two software development teams (~20 people);- third-party technology integration lead; and- sole developer of the appliance management web interface (using Ruby and Sinatra). Show less

• Senior Software Developer

  • Sep 2008 - Dec 2009

  • i365 is called EVault since 2011.Writing network-based backup software agents for Windows, Linux, Unix, and VMware platforms using C++ and other programming languages in a Scrum-based agile development methodology.Responsible for platform product architecture and solution design; cross-team integration and API design; delivering an updated release of our VMware platform backup software.This is a direct continuation of the EVault position reflecting a company name change. In January 2007, EVault was acquired by Seagate (STX) under the Seagate Services banner. In September 2008, Seagate Services launched itself as i365. Show less

• Senior Software Developer

  • Apr 2004 - Sep 2008

  • EVault was called i365 from 2008–2011.Writing network-based backup software agents for Windows, Linux, Unix, and VMware platforms using C++ and other programming languages in a Scrum-based agile development methodology.Responsible for platform product architecture and solution design; cross-team integration and API design. Delivered multiple releases of our software, including a new SOAP-based backend for the web front-end, and the first release of our VMware platform backup software.In January 2007, EVault was acquired by Seagate (STX) under the Seagate Services banner. In September 2008, Seagate Services launched itself as i365. Show less



Solect

• France
• Machinery Manufacturing

• Software Designer/Developer

  • Sep 1998 - Nov 2001

  • Solect was purchased by Amdocs in 2000. Primary database designer for Horizon ISP billing system; responsible for the billing engine and one of two rating engines. • Solect was purchased by Amdocs in 2000. Primary database designer for Horizon ISP billing system; responsible for the billing engine and one of two rating engines.



Vanguard Cellular, Inc.

• Software Developer

  • Dec 1996 - Sep 1998

  Part of the Operations Support Team; responsible for several small projects and bug fixes on the cellular billing software maintained by the team. Part of the Operations Support Team; responsible for several small projects and bug fixes on the cellular billing software maintained by the team.



Policy Management Systems Corporation (PMSC)

• Software Developer

  • Mar 1995 - Aug 1996

  Responsible for billing software source control and build staging; customer support; initial steps into Internet-enabling the software. The products were built on OS/2 and MVS with REXX, JCL, and C++. Responsible for billing software source control and build staging; customer support; initial steps into Internet-enabling the software. The products were built on OS/2 and MVS with REXX, JCL, and C++.