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Jason Heuclin
Verified Expert in Engineering
.NET Developer
Raglan, United Kingdom
Toptal member since August 23, 2021
Bio
Jason has a decade and a half of .NET development experience in desktop and web environments and a history of innovative and maintainable software that hundreds of thousands of people use. He specializes in out-of-the-ordinary uses for technology and is freelancing to make more of an impact and bring his accumulated experience to new clients and situations.
Portfolio
Intelligenti Ltd
C#, .NET, Azure, Azure SQL, Azure Functions, Azure Websites, Material Design...
Smartbox Assistive Technology
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), C#, .NET, Visual Studio, TeamCity...
The Institute of Commercial Management
Windows Forms (WinForms), Printer Drivers, Document Recognition, ABBYY...
Experience
- C# - 15 years
- Visual Studio - 15 years
- .NET - 15 years
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) - 7 years
- Microsoft SQL Server - 6 years
- Entity Framework - 5 years
- Git - 5 years
- Data Synchronization - 3 years
Preferred Environment
Windows, MacOS, Slack, Visual Studio, Azure, Git
The most amazing...
...thing I've developed is Grid 3, an industry-leading software for people with disabilities to communicate and control.
Work Experience
Software Developer
2018 - 2021
Intelligenti Ltd
- Took over, developed, and scaled the customer portal and onboarding sites for a financial services company serving over half a million UK customers.
- Extended and took over the company's document recognition and digitization system, adding automated classification with user supervision of uncertain results and scaling it to handle tens of thousands of inbound documents per day.
- Built and deployed an Iress mortgage search engine with a follow-up questionnaire to allow potential customers to minimize their time spent with an adviser as mandated by the industry.
- Developed and operated a server-side calendar synchronization platform allowing Apple, Android, and Outlook users to collaborate without installing additional software on their devices.
- Operated and built an Azure-based PDF mail merge application to provide increased capacity and reduced cost for a company previously performing more than a million external WebMerge merges per month.
- Extended and supported an Azure-based import application to summarise daily management information (MI) spreadsheets in different formats from business partners.
Technologies: C#, .NET, Azure, Azure SQL, Azure Functions, Azure Websites, Material Design, Visual Studio, Git, Entity Framework, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Web Forms, Zapier, Postmark, jQuery, WordPress, PDF, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Document Recognition, Google APIs, Microsoft Graph API, CalDAV, Azure Application Insights, MSTest, Blazor, Windows Forms (WinForms), Data Synchronization, C#.NET, REST APIs, Payment APIs, Stripe API, JavaScript, Transact-SQL (T-SQL), ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, Stripe Connect API, Razor, .NET Core, SQL, APIs, API Integration, Scripting, HTML5, Web Services, CSS, Web Development, HTML, Node.js, Mail Merge
Software Development Manager
2012 - 2018
Smartbox Assistive Technology
- Co-wrote the industry-leading Grid 3 alternative communication software for Windows, tackling a huge variety of unusual technical challenges to provide alternative access methods for nearly any computing function.
- Managed a team of seven after release to deliver monthly updates to 10,000 users worldwide.
- Assisted in the development, testing, and release of Grid for iPad, using Xamarin and portable code to maximize feature parity with Windows.
- Helped with the translation of software, grammar rules, and resources to over 25 languages as diverse as Hebrew and Arabic, including user-editable symbolization throughout for less-literate users.
- Wrote a .NET installation and software update package that was backward compatible through COM with the previous Visual Basic 6 (VB6) equivalent and fully integrated with source-control and TeamCity.
Technologies: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), C#, .NET, Visual Studio, TeamCity, COM Interop, COM, MahApps.Metro, Touchscreens, Eye Tracking, AAC, Speech Synthesis, Subversion (SVN), Git, Internationalization, Languages, Z-Wave, Data Synchronization, Flash, NUnit, Win32 API, C#.NET, REST APIs, Scripting, Web Services
Software Developer
2009 - 2012
The Institute of Commercial Management
- Implemented a new CRM to replace the obsolete previous system, delivered continuously across the three years and completed in full.
- Automated the batch printing of exam materials and student cards, using the Win32 DEVMODE API to support advanced printer features such as collation, stapling, and double-sided plastic cards.
- Worked on automating the scanning and processing of completed printed forms using ABBYY templates, image recognition techniques and Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Technologies: Windows Forms (WinForms), Printer Drivers, Document Recognition, ABBYY, Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO), Visual Studio, Subversion (SVN), Microsoft SQL Server, C#, .NET, C#.NET
Software Developer
2006 - 2009
Dolphin Dynamics
- Implemented booking of flight tickets through three of the world's four global distribution systems, and direct with a newly-partnered airline Sterling Airlines.
- Worked on the implementation of searching and booking of new product types including car rentals, hotels and insurance.
- Improved the sustainability of the codebase by advocating and implementing base classes and workflows for the searching and booking processes.
Technologies: ASP.NET Web Forms, XML, Global Distribution Systems (GDS), C#, .NET, Visual Studio, Visual SourceSafe, Microsoft SQL Server, C#.NET, ASP.NET, SQL, Web Services, JavaScript, Web Development, HTML
Experience
Grid 3
https://thinksmartbox.com/product/grid-3/A complete communication solution that enables people to have a voice, control their environment and live more independent lives.
I was one of the four original developers during a three-year build and managed the software team of seven after the product's release, successfully delivering updates every month since.
The technological challenges involve were huge and varied, with many operating system and application features being required to work in unusual ways. The end result is fascinating, genuinely changes lives and advances state of the art - it's a project I'm immensely proud of.
I was one of the four original developers during a three-year build and managed the software team of seven after the product's release, successfully delivering updates every month since.
The technological challenges involve were huge and varied, with many operating system and application features being required to work in unusual ways. The end result is fascinating, genuinely changes lives and advances state of the art - it's a project I'm immensely proud of.
Smartbox Software Update
https://hub.thinksmartbox.com/knowledgebase/smartbox-update-faq/A .NET-based software installer and updater replaces a previous VB6 implementation and allows one-click software update experiences that were rare in 2013 but have become expected since.
A concise design allowed deploying software straight from version control. A dive into Windows technologies such as COM, bitness, and user account control (UAC) enabled full backward compatibility, including users without the .NET framework or internet connectivity.
Approaching ten years later, this software has remained a reliable workhorse that can be taken for granted, and as far as I know, it has required very little modification.
A concise design allowed deploying software straight from version control. A dive into Windows technologies such as COM, bitness, and user account control (UAC) enabled full backward compatibility, including users without the .NET framework or internet connectivity.
Approaching ten years later, this software has remained a reliable workhorse that can be taken for granted, and as far as I know, it has required very little modification.
Financial Claims Tracker
A self-service portal for customers to create and track financial claims. While the site is straightforward, obtaining the data, displays presented many behind-the-scenes challenges in a regulated and notoriously paper-based industry.
I implemented branching data collection forms, digital contracts, automated spreadsheet parsing and automated classification of OCR'd documents to enable the scaling of this small business to engage with and serve over half a million UK customers without needing a call center or legal team.
I implemented branching data collection forms, digital contracts, automated spreadsheet parsing and automated classification of OCR'd documents to enable the scaling of this small business to engage with and serve over half a million UK customers without needing a call center or legal team.
Scanned Document Uploader
A Windows desktop system for digitizing inbound paper mail.
I took over this project to streamline the processing of sackfuls of financial correspondence arriving daily.
Starting only with scanned, OCR'd PDF files, I added the ability to determine the document type from the content, extract and highlight critical information, assess the quality of customer signatures and upload the output to a database and storage after user review of lower-quality findings.
The resulting system processed millions of documents across two years and allowed the company to transition to remote working as expansion and the pandemic made this a priority.
I took over this project to streamline the processing of sackfuls of financial correspondence arriving daily.
Starting only with scanned, OCR'd PDF files, I added the ability to determine the document type from the content, extract and highlight critical information, assess the quality of customer signatures and upload the output to a database and storage after user review of lower-quality findings.
The resulting system processed millions of documents across two years and allowed the company to transition to remote working as expansion and the pandemic made this a priority.
Dolphin Flight Scanner
Now part of Dolphin CRM, Flight Scanner was an asynchronous web-based search and booking engine for the travel industry.
I joined the project as a junior developer with no .NET experience. Still, after three years, I'd led and participated in sweeping product improvements, including new product categories, a standardized workflow, and the implementation of a replacement UI framework.
I joined the project as a junior developer with no .NET experience. Still, after three years, I'd led and participated in sweeping product improvements, including new product categories, a standardized workflow, and the implementation of a replacement UI framework.
Education
2001 - 2004
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
University of Southampton - Southampton, UK
1999 - 2001
High School Diploma in Mathematics and Computer Science
Filsham Valley Sixth Form - Hastings, UK
Certifications
APRIL 2005 - PRESENT
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft
Skills
Libraries/APIs
OpenGL, Windows Forms (WinForms), Entity Framework, jQuery, Google APIs, CalDAV, Win32 API, REST APIs, Stripe API, Stripe Connect API, Node.js, SurveyJS
Tools
Visual Studio, Git, ABBYY, Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO), Visual SourceSafe, Subversion (SVN), TeamCity, MahApps.Metro, Flash, Zapier, Azure Application Insights, MSTest, Slack
Languages
C#, C#.NET, JavaScript, SQL, HTML5, CSS, HTML, Java, XML, Transact-SQL (T-SQL)
Frameworks
.NET, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, NUnit, Blazor, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, Razor, .NET Core
Storage
Data Synchronization, Azure SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure Websites, Azure Cosmos DB
Platforms
Windows Server, Azure, Azure Functions, WordPress, Windows, MacOS, Docker
Other
COM Interop, PDF, Web Services, Formal Methods, Data Structures, Algorithms, Statistics, Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Printer Drivers, Document Recognition, COM, Touchscreens, Eye Tracking, AAC, Speech Synthesis, Internationalization, Languages, Z-Wave, Material Design, Postmark, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Microsoft Graph API, Physics, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Information Technology, Payment APIs, APIs, API Integration, Scripting, Web Development, Mail Merge
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