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Valentino Aluigi
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since March 4, 2015
Bio
Valentino is a hands-on technical lead/senior Agile developer specialized in web and service-oriented applications and dynamic languages (JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, Python, etc.). He is passionate about working with motivated teams and getting things done.
Portfolio
CollegeBacker
Amazon Web Services (AWS), React Router, WebDriver, Stripe, Plaid API...
NotOnTheHighStreet.com
Jasmine, PhantomJS, Grunt, YSlow, jQuery, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Express.js...
R/GA
Amazon EC2, Jenkins, Bootstrap, PHP, Grunt
Experience
- JavaScript - 14 years
- Agile Software Development - 5 years
- Node.js - 5 years
- React - 2 years
Preferred Environment
Git, Atom, MacOS
The most amazing...
...thing I've coded is a JavaScript animation library. I was 16 and jQuery didn't exist yet. Good fun!
Work Experience
Full-stack Lead Developer/CTO
2015 - 2017
CollegeBacker
- Single-handedly drafted their MVP, and then developed and expanded their core fintech product, assuming the role of lead developer and CTO.
- Managed the whole technical stack, from crafting responsive UI to setting up server infrastructure and deployment pipeline; from optimizing front-end performance to designing the API and database architecture, also ensuring long-term code quality and helping hire other developers.
- Interfaced with different third-party services, such as: Plaid API (customer financial data), Stripe (ACH and credit cards payments), AWS S3 (storage), and BrowserStack (browser automation).
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), React Router, WebDriver, Stripe, Plaid API, Sequelize, PostgreSQL, Express.js, Bootstrap, React
JavaScript Developer (Contract)
2013 - 2015
NotOnTheHighStreet.com
- Developed an internationalization solution for this eCommerce platform - a monolithic Rails application - with a customer facing front-end enhanced with jQuery and an articulated admin/back-end built as a Ext JS app. The process followed was very much Agile and test-driven, in a continuous deployment setup. It started from a local Vagrant environment, going through a Jenkins CI-system running Jasmine unit tests, RSpecs, and Cucumber Features - and a code review workflow structured around Github pull requests - and ending in a production deployment automated via Capistrano.
- Supported the front-end team by building a suite of front-end performance automation tests written using Grunt, PhantomJS, and YSlow, to track front-end metrics and degradation of performance as part of the CI tasks.
- Developed a template engine, based on Handlebars and Express.js, used to preview and compile HTML newsletters.
- Built a proxy-cache command line application built to abstract front-end development from the Rails back-end by selectively caching or proxying the HTTP requests.
Technologies: Jasmine, PhantomJS, Grunt, YSlow, jQuery, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Express.js, Handlebars, Less, Ext JS, Node.js, JavaScript
Technical Project Lead (Contract)
2013 - 2013
R/GA
- Led the technical development of front-end templates for the main website of Turkey's leading mobile phone operator.
- Led the distributed development team. The team was made up of four front-end developers and a tester, organized using a Kanban board and FogBugz tasks. The templates were assembled using PHP 5.4 partials, built and verified via Grunt 0.4 tasks, and published on a Jenkins CI server hosted on Amazon EC2.
- Supported the London production team with estimates and scope definition.
- Established communication with the client.
- Ensured that quality standards were met.
Technologies: Amazon EC2, Jenkins, Bootstrap, PHP, Grunt
JavaScript/Python Developer (Contract)
2012 - 2013
Arts Alliance Media
- Collaborated with a team of Python/JavaScript developers, building the next version of the company's flagship product (Python/CherryPy on the back-end, jQuery UI/Backbone on the front-end).
- Assisted in adding JavaScript unit tests based on Jasmine and PhantomJS.
- Introduced Python unit tests in the team using Unittests and nose.
- Contributed to the addition of BDD tests for the back-end API using Python Behave.
- Introduced the team to continuous integration practices and tools (Jenkins).
- Extended internationalization functionalities using Pybabel and Gettext.
Technologies: Babel, Backbone.js, jQuery UI, CherryPy, Python, JavaScript
Hands-on Technical Lead/Senior Web Developer
2010 - 2012
Sky (Sky UK Limited)
- Developed clean, mantainable object-oriented code following conventions, MVC pattern, clear separation of concerns, SOLID principles, and domain-driven development.
- Wrote mantainable tests to support development, including unit tests, functional tests, and performance tests.
- Helped upgrade the architecture of legacy products and helped shape new ones, following and supporting the overall department vision.
- Helped improve team productivity and morale. My team became a successful, recognized, and awarded team.
- Inspired developers and testers to learn new skills, organizing brown-bag sessions, setting up a technical library, and encouraging prototyping of cutting-edge technologies.
- Helped re-organize team practices towards a common sense of ownership, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
- Mentored junior developers, even outside of the team, as part of Sky's Software Engineering Academy.
- Collaborated in hiring developers and testers, screening CVs, leading interviews, helping organizing structured assessment days for the whole department, and writing coding tests.
Technologies: Zend Framework, Google Maps API, RSpec, Cucumber, PHPUnit, jQuery, PhoneGap, Sencha Touch, HTML5, Symfony, Backbone.js, WebSockets, Node.js, Subversion (SVN), Git, Sinatra, Ruby, PHP
Web Developer
2009 - 2010
TheTeam, Ltd.
- Worked on different projects, in small dev teams or solo, successfully collaborating with designers and user-experience architects.
- Designed and built the company's JavaScript library of reusable widgets based on the jQuery UI widget factory, assembled with RequireJS and unit tested with YUI Test.
- Coded high-standard web pages using semantic and validating XHTML/CSS, font-replacement systems, CSS3 through progressive enhancement (Modernizr), jQuery, and jQuery UI.
Technologies: SVG, WordPress, Drupal, YUI, RequireJS, jQuery UI, Modernizr, PHP, JavaScript
Freelance Web Developer
2006 - 2009
Maverick
- Projected, designed, and developed goal-oriented web-sites with a particular focus on usability and web standards, focusing on websites (more than 30) for no-profit and tourism companies, using open source technologies, Web 2.0 resources, and user generated content.
- Worked on all the different aspects of building a website, giving me a great overview of the process and invaluable experience and, more importantly, teaching me how to budget and estimate, how to plan and meet deadlines, and ultimately how to be a pragmatic and effective developer and deliver on a promise.
- Gained extensive experience with a wide variety of technologies.
Technologies: X (formerly Twitter) API, Facebook API, MooTools, jQuery, Contao, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, PHP
Software Developer
2003 - 2004
Airvent SAM S.p.a
- Coded the server-side data access of the main company product in Java, XML and XSLT, using Java RMI.
- Projected and realized software in Visual Basic 6 to turn a PC into a hotel internet-point with smart-card activation.
- Designed the company's main website.
Technologies: JavaScript, XSLT, Java, Visual Basic
Experience
CollegeBacker
https://collegebacker.com/I was initially hired as remote full-stack JavaScript developer by CollegeBacker to singlehandedly draft their MVP in React.js. Our collaboration lasted two years, during which I fully developed and expanded their core fintech product, assuming the role of lead developer and CTO.
Archimedes
A Sky call center agents sales app. Built as a single-page JavaScript app on top of Backbone.js, Symfony 1.4, and using Node.js and Web Sockets to handle telephony interaction. Tested using QUnit, Vows, Nodeunit, and Selenium.
Sky Walklist
An iPad HTML5 mobile application that allows Sky door-to-door salespeople to browse optimized walk paths and collect sales outcomes. Wrapped with PhoneGap, built on Sencha Touch using Google Maps, and backed by a RESTful Ruby service with Cassandra as a NoSQL storage, it was tested using Cucumber and RSpec.
Sky RSG
A front-end enterprise application used by stores and retailers to sell Sky products. Built with jQuery and Symfony 1.4 (with additional Zend and Symfony2 Components) on top of Sky core systems and services and tested using Cucumber and PHPUnit following TDD and BDD practices.
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Underscore.js, jQuery, Node.js, Lodash, PhantomJS, Sinon.JS, RequireJS, Handlebars, Google Maps API, YUI, MooTools, Stripe, WebDriver, Plaid API, React Router, Stripe API, Facebook API, X (formerly Twitter) API, Google Maps, Modernizr, Backbone.js, jQuery UI
Tools
Cucumber, Browserify, Sequelize, Babel, Trello, NPM, Yeoman, Jenkins, Gulp, Grunt, Mocha, Atom, Git, YSlow, Subversion (SVN), RSpec, Contao, Stripe Checkout, Vagrant, Behat
Languages
JavaScript, ES8, ECMAScript (ES6), ES7, PHP, Sass, HTML5, Visual Basic, Java, XSLT, CoffeeScript, Python, Ruby, Less
Paradigms
Agile Software Development, Pair Programming, Test-driven Development (TDD), Scrum, Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Functional Programming, REST, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, Kanban, Domain-driven Development, XP
Frameworks
Ext JS, Selenium, Bootstrap, Express.js, Jasmine, PHPUnit, Symfony, Sinatra, PhoneGap, Bootstrap 3, Zend Framework, CherryPy, CodeIgniter, QUnit, Sencha Touch, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ember.js, AngularJS
Platforms
WordPress, Blockchain, MacOS, Amazon EC2, Drupal, Joomla, Amazon Web Services (AWS), DigitalOcean, Meteor
Storage
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
Other
Data Science, Isomorphic, Cordova, Agile Software Testing, RESTful Web Services, WebSockets, Stripe Payments, SVG, Ubuntu Server, Domain-driven Design (DDD)
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