Alen Rafagudinov
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Toptal member since January 8, 2019
With an MS in data science and a BS in computer science, Alen brings 20+ years of professional experience and a commendable remote work record. He's proficient in various programming languages: Python is his favorite, and he treats software development as a career and hobby. He is dedicated to continuous learning, keeping up with industry news, exploring new technologies, and engaging in conferences like PyCon. As a friendly, passionate team player, he aims to contribute positively to the world.
Portfolio
Experience
- SQL - 18 years
- Python - 10 years
- Pytest - 6 years
- Flask - 6 years
- FastAPI - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Python
The most amazing...
...project I've designed and developed was an emission tracker for monitoring gas emissions under the UN Kyoto Protocol.
Work Experience
AI Engineer | Software Developer
UAE-based freelancer
- Engineered AI agents using LangGraph, orchestrating LLM-based task automation workflows for a legal company in the UAE that collects leads and does initial sales communications.
- Fine-tuned and integrated Mistral 7B into production pipelines for context-aware chatbots for a legal company in the UAE.
- Implemented retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipeline, enabling dynamic knowledge retrieval and grounded responses in conversational AI systems with minimal hallucination.
Technical Lead
Dubizzle
- Developed a robust and scalable auction system for Dubizzle marketplace, a leading online classifieds platform in the Middle East region. This system enabled buyers to place instant bids, enhancing the user experience.
- Led the system design and development of the application tracking system (ATS), an innovative solution that streamlined the hiring process for businesses using the Dubizzle platform.
- Conceptualized, designed, and developed an internal gamification tool for Dubizzle to motivate developers to perform code reviews more frequently, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
Founder
PalCar
- Developed the front-end system utilizing JavaScript, HTML, and CSS while engineering the back-end system using Python.
- Implemented comprehensive unit, integration, and functional testing.
- Configured ELK Stack and Sentry for real-time system monitoring.
- Identified and resolved performance bottlenecks regularly through diligent system profiling.
- Designed scalable microservice architecture and established efficient CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins.
- Implemented effective SEO techniques, including on-page optimization and link-building, to improve search rankings.
- Learned vital lessons in prioritizing customer needs and market insights over product features and technologies, embracing methodologies like Lean startup, business model generation, and value proposition design.
IT Architect
Core Carbon Group ApS
- Developed an emission tracker for monitoring gas emissions under the UN Kyoto Protocol.
- Provided on-demand system support and maintenance following the active development phase.
- Engaged in setting up an emissions monitoring system within the plant while working remotely, in an office, and within a large chemical plant.
Remote Software Developer
DoctorBase (https://doctorbase.com)
- Developed a core part of a geospatial search engine.
Senior Software Developer
OneAgile
- Developed an analytical system for Philip Morris International. It collects raw marketing data, and then processes it (ETL) to a usable format.
Senior Software Developer
Rambler (https://www.rambler.ru)
- Participated in the development of the search engine and high traffic mail system. Gained experience in developing and maintaining services that are used by millions of users daily.
- Developed control interface for ads displaying. It was the primary source of the company's multi-million dollar income.
Senior Software Developer
Universal Valuables
- Developed a digital currency exchange service. Gained experience of how to process and store digital currencies in a secure way.
- Designed and developed a control system for shareholders of Alfa Capital (alfagroup.org).
Department Head
Diamond Scent
- Developed a web interface for emails (like Gmail). Got a good knowledge of how to work with mail protocols (SMTP, POP3, IMAP) and many mail tools (Postfix, sendmail, qmail).
Software Developer
IPONWEB
- Developed a testing framework for Right Media. Later this project was acquired by Yahoo!
Software Developer
Sema.Ru
- Developed a content management system. With a team of great graphic designers created 30+ nice websites and landing pages using this CMS.
Experience
PalCar
Education
Master of Science Degree in Data Science
HSE University - Moscow, Russia
Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science
National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET) - Moscow, Russia
Certifications
Letter of Recommendation
Core Carbon Group ApS
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Flask-RESTful, SQLAlchemy, Flexbox, NumPy, jQuery, jQuery UI, Python Asyncio, PyTorch, Mypy, Google Maps API, Twilio API, Pandas, REST APIs, Keras, Jenkins Pipeline, Facebook API, OpenAI API
Tools
Celery, Pytest, NGINX, Docker Compose, Git, Atom, MySQL Workbench, RabbitMQ, Workbox, Webpack, Apache, OpenVPN, ChatGPT, Claude, Crystal Reports, Ansible, Jenkins, Sentry, Apache Solr, GitHub, Postfix, Sendmail, Slack, Subversion (SVN), Trello, VMware, ELK (Elastic Stack), Sketch
Languages
Python, HTML, CSS, SQL, Perl, Regex, JavaScript, XPath, HTML5, C, C++, XML
Frameworks
Flask, Alembic, Jinja, Bootstrap, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), Dancer, Django, Django REST Framework, LlamaIndex, LangGraph
Paradigms
MVC Design, Test-driven Development (TDD), Agile, Microservices Architecture, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Unit Testing, RESTful Development, Scrum, ETL, Functional Programming, Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Platforms
Docker, Linux, Ubuntu, MacOS, Windows, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon EC2, FreeBSD, Kubernetes, CrewAI
Storage
MySQL, Neo4j, Redis, Memcached, Database Replication, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, PostgreSQL
Other
Hardware, SSL Certificates, System Administration, Back-end Development, Gunicorn, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Ajax, DOM, IT Security, Lean Startups, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Quality Assurance (QA), SSL, SSL Configurations, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Bcrypt, Firewalls, Security, Computer Security, Optimization, Profiling, FastAPI, Code Review, Debugging, Cloud, Chatbots, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Courier, FastCGI, I2P, Qmail, TCP/IP, Customer Development, A/B Testing, Team Leadership, Web Scraping, Big Data, APIs, Data Science, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer Science, WebSockets, AI Agents, Large Language Models (LLMs), Prompt Engineering, Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), LangChain, Chroma, Pinecone, Anthropic, Cursor AI
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