Alexandr Shurigin

I've built Chef/AWS/Opsworks configuration for deploying all required applications and services with very flexible deployment configuration including a lot of features.

- Created AWS OpsWorks infrastructure from scratch.
- The configuration is connected with CI pipeline.
- Configuration for over than 30 microservices.
- Go language and Node.js deploy recipes.
- Filebeat and Metricbeat configuration.
- Multiple Stacks environment support via Custom JSON configuration in OpsWorks.
- Roles grouping (soft-layers) for multiple applications in one instance support is added.
- Local testing, Chef cookbooks dependency management integration.
- AWS application level balancer integration.
- Dynamic DNS names for multiple environments configuration support is added.

Used technologies: AWS, OpsWorks, Chef, Ruby, Go Lang, Node.js

I joined the team when the project was in a crisis due to a series of major issues: bugs, feature requests, performance problems, etc. Performance optimization was the most serious problem because it made normal usage impossible at times due to critical bugs. My work helped the team out of the crisis and stabilized the application, and it is now fast and growing.

My work included the following:
- Back-end performance optimization
- Docker container integration
- Image/Office file to PDF conversion
- PDF file manipulation (read, convert, merge, export) in Python and Java
- Graylog2 (+MongoDB +ElasticSearch) cluster installation/configuration in Docker containers on AWS OpsWorks Stack
- Custom logging adapters (TCP, UDP, HTTP/HTTPS) added to the Graylog2 instance
- Shibboleth (SAML2 Protocol) auth method integration
- Custom Django MongoDB Queries profiler middleware that allows users to see/download requests for checking code, load performance, etc., to a Mongo server list
- CASHNet payment processor integration
- Chef recipes in Ruby
- Bug fixes and features
- Postfix installed/configured as a smart host

Tech stack: Django, AWS, Mongo, TastyPie, Docker, Backbone, Postgres, Linux

Created a flexible configuration in Chef from scratch for deploying a test application on a cluster of application servers, balancers, database servers with dedicated logging server which collects logs from all the servers and allows you look through it in a moment.

Solution stuff:
- Python Application servers
- Nginx Router/Balancer servers
- MySQL server with slaves
- Graylog2 server with its configuration which accepts logs from multiple sources and processes it allowing flexible filtering and reporting.
- Multiple application level balancing
- Automatic S3 backups for mutable storages

Used technologies: Chef, Ruby, AWS \w OpsWorks \ ALB \ VPC \ Route53 \ EC2 \ etc, MySQL, Python, Django, Nginx.

The client required back-end API architecture for a mobile application with geolocation, payments, and shipment integration. I delivered a working app that had all of these features.

I also hired an iOS developer contractor for the client and managed a small team until the application was completed.

The client received a working prototype and used it to secure another round of investment.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“I’ve worked with Alex on multiple projects and have been amazed at the quality of his work and his professionalism. His work is definitely top shelf material and he takes great pride in making sure of this. He is extremely easy to work with and can handle any stressful situation before him. Ambiguity is no concern for Alex! I’m also impressed with his communication skills as he makes sure to focus on his clients’ needs and puts any concerns to rest by walking them through risks and providing alternative solutions. I’ve considered myself very lucky to have worked with Alex and hope to work more with him in the future.”

The client needed to fix bugs and add features to a back-end ScraPy project tool that is used to crawl websites.

I added approximately sixty features, including login support for standard HTTP authorization methods, popular CMS engines, and custom client engines. We moved from a standalone dedicated server to AWS autoscaling Docker container deployment processes.

My work greatly improved crawler speed and accuracy. I added extra caching layers, database bulk writes, and temporary storage for crawling time data to Redis and MongoDB. The crawler now works without any bottlenecks and can crawl websites in about fifteen parallel threads, providing an amazing user experience. This project has increased lead generation and boosted the popularity of the client's service.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Alexandr Shurigin is a brilliant Python developer who has always delivered projects to exact specifications and has always been a pleasure to work with. If you are looking for an innovative developer with fresh ideas, he would be an excellent choice to add to your team. He works well with other developers and has an excellent attitude. He succeeds where I have seen other Python developers fail and he makes it look easy. A+ developer.”

This project encompassed a wide variety of tasks, including simple template work, simple PHP work, software dev from scratch, inventory management CRM creation, POS system development from scratch, performance optimization, source code sanitation from spaghetti code, and integration with third-party services such as ShipStation, Amazon, eBay, PayPal API, PayPal Payflow Pro, and more.

I built an amazing CRM and POS with all required features and integrations, which has reduced the client’s spending on staff costs.

These systems have also allowed the client to spend less time on business management because all areas of business now are automated. This has freed the client up to grow his business, open a brick-and-mortar showroom, and make more sales than ever before.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Alex is a GREAT programmer. I have repeatedly retained his services for my private business interests (not for my employer) and he has produced prompt and expert work every time. I have learnt that I can count on his expertise every time. I also love that for many items I have wished programming for that other programmers have said that were not possible, Alex delivered them. Wow!!"

My role: Full-stack engineer, Linux/DevOps engineer, Scrum product owner

The client required a project manager to build a dedicated CRM system from scratch with REST API endpoints and approximately seven of the company's clients' applications. I oversaw the build of a CRM system, three versions of the primary eCommerce website, two additional eCommerce websites, two payment gateways, mobile applications, several mobile websites designed from scratch (not responsive versions of the main websites), and many additional tools and utilities. I used best practices to perform all required tasks. All elements of the project have been deployed; they are now live and generating leads.

As a result of my work, the client now uses many new business instruments that generate leads and increase customer satisfaction. My work led to an increase in orders from 25/day to 80/day. Additionally, I built a stable platform with 99.99% SLA, DDoS protection, all infrastructure configuration, automated deployment, version control, and various features.

The client required a Google Chrome extension to perform an automation "change and control IP task" to prevent being banned when the same cookie appears on multiple IPs. This plugin saved the client a significant amount of time and prevents him from being blocked by a target service due to an IP conflict.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
"Excellent. Perfect on all fronts. Alexandr did a really amazing job quickly and with great communication. I look forward to hiring him again in the future."

The client’s website stopped working after being switched to a new hosting provider. I fixed all deploy configuration issues so that the website would work properly. Once the website went live, I fixed numerous problems, including bad validation of form data. I also adjusted email settings/configuration, including SPF and DKIM configuration with auto-forwarding to company staff. As a result, the client’s website is now functional and able to generate leads.

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
"I like everything about my experience working with this particular contractor: knowledge, communication, quality of work, availability, professionalism. Extremely happy with his work! Everything has been fixed even faster than I could expect! Thank you!

"Great quality of work and outstanding communication skills!

"Strongly recommending!"

The client needed to migrate from Google App Engine to an AWS Elastic Beanstalk Docker Multi-container infrastructure. This required rewriting a significant amount of source code that depended on Google App Engine API.

I rewrote a significant portion of the project and made all deployment processes as simple as possible with shippable.com CI. I found alternatives and rewrote all source code for Google App Engine APIs: URLfetch, geocoding, XMPP proxy, Cloud SQL, Async tasks, deferred tasks, and cache. I also rewrote many unit tests to test all migration process results.

DELIVERABLES
- Shippable configuration for CI and auto-deploy staging/production configurations and tests evaluation
- All source code migrated to open source existing solutions which work like Google App Engine API
- Lot of bugs and outdated source code fixes

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
"Alex is a great developer and sysadmin. He showed great flexibility and accountability during the project. I would recommend him for any job that involves sysadmin, Docker, and Python skills."

The client had an API web service as the main project feature and wanted to have an API client written using Python. I built a strong API client with features such as auto-retry on 5xx errors, a circuit-breaking pattern to avoid DDoS on API web service if it has an increasing error count, async/sync execution of API, unit-tested features, and more. All of this was completed within two weeks and all deadlines were met.

The client received an exceptional Python client and has begun to use it with his web service business clients.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

"Alexandr produced very well written code. Very readable, well structured and commented. Great Python skills employing lambdas and multi-threading.

Alexandr worked late hours to deliver my project in time. Great talent!"