Alberto is available for hire
Hire AlbertoAlberto Granzotto
Verified Expert in Engineering
Blockchain Developer
Location
Berlin, Germany
Toptal Member Since
March 2, 2021
Alberto is a freelance software engineer specializing in decentralization, protocols, networking (not the one with business cards), hardware, and open source. He's been coding professionally and building software products since 2012. Alberto joined Toptal to collaborate on projects that interest him namely open-source, privacy, web, decentralization, blockchain, Ethereum, and Solidity.
Portfolio
Freelance
JavaScript, Go, Solidity, TypeScript, Svelte, PWA...
Freelance
TypeScript, Svelte, Node.js
Package Point
JavaScript, Svelte, Hardware, Raspberry Pi
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Vim Text Editor, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Linux
The most amazing...
...thing I've built was SayDAO; the goal was to make a decentralized app that ran on Ethereum and doesn't require any prior knowledge of blockchain.
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer
2020 - 2021
Freelance
- Developed a DAO to manage contributors' work and handle voting.
- Built an Oracle system in Go that calculates the number of tokens to release based on the value contributed to the DAO.
- Constructed a time-tracking PWA that connects to Odoo and facilitates the management of tasks.
Technologies: JavaScript, Go, Solidity, TypeScript, Svelte, PWA, Progressive Web Applications (PWA), Blockchain, Architecture
Senior Software Engineer
2020 - 2021
Freelance
- Developed a free and open-source platform to create pop-up communities with a strong focus on privacy. It integrates with Jitsi for video calls, EtherPad for taking notes, and a forum.
- Built a custom core feature to preserve the privacy and anonymity of the participants. Identities are managed using asymmetric cryptography and the client communicates with the server using signed JSON-RPC messages.
- Built the forum from scratch and integrated web notifications.
Technologies: TypeScript, Svelte, Node.js
Senior Software Engineer
2019 - 2020
Package Point
- Created a "smart locker" from scratch and had full responsibility for the hardware and software design.
- Built the circuit board for the drivers to control locks and connected everything to the GPIOs of Raspberry Pi 3.
- Developed software that could run in "kiosk mode" to control the lockers and allow the delivery and pick-up of parcels.
Technologies: JavaScript, Svelte, Hardware, Raspberry Pi
Senior Software Engineer
2019 - 2020
LeapDAO
- Developed demos on top of Plasma using the UTXO model instead of the classic account-model Ethereum uses.
- Contributed to the core architecture of the Plasma node.
- Participated in the decentralized decision-making process and learned a lot about how a real DAO works.
Technologies: JavaScript, Solidity, Ethereum Plasma, TypeScript, Blockchain, Architecture
Senior Software Engineer
2016 - 2018
BigchainDB
- Contributed to the development of BigchainDB v1.0, an open-source scalable database with blockchain characteristics; built demos on top of it and managed releases.
- Drove the effort to build BigchainDB v2.0—integrating the Tendermint BFT engine, establishing benchmarks, and optimizing code.
- Proposed and maintained BigchainDB enhancement proposals (BEPs), a protocol to describe and develop new features for the product.
Technologies: JavaScript, Python, MongoDB, Tendermint, RethinkDB, Blockchain, Architecture
Senior Software Engineer
2015 - 2016
ascribe
- Developed the front-end code for Ascribe, the first platform for digital art rights management on the Bitcoin blockchain.
- Composed and optimized the back-end code from queries to execution time.
- Built a custom web crawler that could download 1.5 billion images from the web while optimizing resources and execution time.
- Constructed a high-performance reverse-search engine called image-match; it's now open source.
Technologies: JavaScript, Django, Python, Gevent, Bitcoin, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Blockchain, Architecture
CEO
2012 - 2014
Urlist
- Founded and secured the investment for my startup, Urlist, a social bookmarking platform with the ultimate goal of sorting the web.
- Served as the CEO—dealing with the investors, hiring developers, leading and managing product and process, and making everything work from day one till the end.
- Developed the front-end code for the flagship product of my company.
- Built dashboards to display KPIs, constructed a platform for technical blogging, and developed other apps (also one for the now-defunct FirefoxOS).
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, Architecture, DevOps, Web API
Senior Software Engineer (2010-2012) | Software Engineer (2008-2009)
2008 - 2012
Freelance
- Developed cutting edge technology for smart street lighting that has been deployed in a highway in Italy.
- Developed a Python gateway to turn on/off the lights, dim the light intensity, collect information about the condition of the lights installed, compress and send the collected data to a remote server, and display on a screen the state of the lights.
- Integrated the software with the legacy controller provided by the client to react to emergency situations. The system was able to communicate via RS485 and XBee, using the MODBUS protocol.
- Developed a free, open-source app for the most important association for free software in Italy (2008-09). The goal was to make politicians aware of the principles behind the free software and was localized in English, Portuguese and French.
Technologies: Python, Embedded Software, Modbus Protocol, Digi XBee, RS485, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, TurboGears
Software Engineer
2009 - 2009
Leftloft
- Worked on Pirelli's annual report and financial book.
- Developed tools to automatically port Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress source files to web pages.
- Filled the gap between the desktop publishing tools and the web.
Technologies: Django, Python, Adobe InDesign, QuarkXpress
Java Software Developer
2007 - 2007
IKS
- Developed a framework to run benchmarks on the company's flagship product.
- Worked with legacy code and got my hands dirty with complex, layered code.
- Improved the performance of their web framework by several orders of magnitude by adding a custom cache layer to the system.
Technologies: Jakarta EE, Java, MySQL
Freelance Developer
2007 - 2007
Truelite Srl
- Developed a custom CRM in TurboGears 1.x and SQLAlchemy.
- Worked with other developers on a shared codebase.
- Worked often with free and open-source code, since the company itself is developing FOSS.
Technologies: Python, TurboGears, PostgreSQL
Experience
SayDAO
https://github.com/vrde/saydaoSayDAO is an experiment in facilitating group decision-making in loosely defined communities. The goal was to create a decentralized application running on Ethereum that doesn't require any prior knowledge of blockchain.
It leverages a burner wallet and OpenGSN to allow gasless transactions.
It leverages a burner wallet and OpenGSN to allow gasless transactions.
Ethnode
https://github.com/vrde/ethnodeEthnode is a zero-configuration tool to run a local Ethereum node. It supports both OpenEthereum and Geth. It's an alternative to Ganache CLI that allows a user to develop and test against a real Ethereum node.
Facebook Tracking Exposed
https://facebook.tracking.exposed/I built the web extension for Facebook Tracking Exposed, a framework to analyze Facebook's newsfeed algorithm. The extension scrapes the public posts in the timeline of the user and interacts with a back end to send and store the data.
Treasure Hunt Creator | THC
https://github.com/social-dist0rtion-protocol/thcTHC is a framework to create decentralized treasure hunts. It leverages Ethereum, IPFS, and a zero-knowledge-proof protocol to create competitive games that can be played online or real life.
The project challenges the misconception that "creating a good UX on Ethereum is difficult" by using an in-browser generated address (burner wallet) and gasless transactions.
An example of a game built on top of THC is Planetscape which can be found at the link below.
• https://www.dist0rtion.com/2020/01/30/Planetscape-a-dystopian-escape-game-for-36C3/
The project challenges the misconception that "creating a good UX on Ethereum is difficult" by using an in-browser generated address (burner wallet) and gasless transactions.
An example of a game built on top of THC is Planetscape which can be found at the link below.
• https://www.dist0rtion.com/2020/01/30/Planetscape-a-dystopian-escape-game-for-36C3/
Skills
Languages
JavaScript, CSS, Python, Solidity, TypeScript, Go, Bash Script, Java
Frameworks
Django, Tendermint, Svelte, TurboGears
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, Gevent, WebExtensions API, Web API
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Blockchain, Raspberry Pi, Ethereum, Linux, Jakarta EE, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Storage
MongoDB, RethinkDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL
Other
Software Engineering, Architecture, Bitcoin, Hardware, OpenEthereum, PWA, Zero-knowledge Proofs, IPFS, Embedded Software, Modbus Protocol, RS485, Progressive Web Applications (PWA)
Tools
Ethereum Plasma, Geth (go-ethereum), Vim Text Editor, Adobe InDesign, QuarkXpress, Digi XBee
Paradigms
Human-computer Interaction (HCI), DevOps
Education
2007 - 2011
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Milan, Italy
2003 - 2007
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Università degli Studi di Padova - Padua, Italy
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