Alin Popa, Developer in Bucharest, Romania
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Alin Popa

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Mobile Developer

Location
Bucharest, Romania
Toptal Member Since
October 27, 2021

Alin is a mobile engineer eager to face new challenges and deliver high-quality products. He brings hands-on experience with mobile applications architecture, high-quality design and user experience, incredible app performance, and responsiveness, and also, among many others, excellent social skills. Alin takes ownership, delivers on time, and aims for the best possible outcome in any given scenario.

Portfolio

GoCab
iOS, Xcode, Firebase iOS SDK, Swift, RxSwift, MQTT, Sockets, Fastlane...
Alpha International
Swift, REST APIs, iOS, SwiftUI, Azure DevOps, Fastlane, Rollbar, Katalon Studio...
ThoughtWorks
iOS, Swift, RxSwift, Moya, Firebase, Fastlane, Test-driven Development (TDD)...

Experience

Availability

Full-time

Preferred Environment

Xcode, Firebase iOS SDK, RxSwift, Swift, GitHub, Moya, Postman, UIKit, iOS

The most amazing...

...project I have worked on for a Fortune 500 company is a multi-app setup, an iOS framework and iOS apps that were built on top of it.

Work Experience

Lead iOS Engineer

2022 - PRESENT
GoCab
  • Refactored the client's existing app to a reactive architecture and applied the MVVM pattern to improve and increase its overall stability.
  • Performed profilings to eliminate memory leaks and reduce app crashes to an absolute minimum.
  • Developed new features while deciding on the whole UI/UX flow to render maximum benefits for the users.
  • Started building an app from scratch for drivers to receive and go on taxi rides.
Technologies: iOS, Xcode, Firebase iOS SDK, Swift, RxSwift, MQTT, Sockets, Fastlane, Model View ViewModel (MVVM), Git, Bitbucket, Jira, iOS Native Libraries, Firebase Authentication, PostgreSQL, SwiftLint, Cloud Firestore, Reactive Programming, Mapbox iOS SDK, Mobile Development, SDKs, Maps, MapKit, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, User Experience (UX)

iOS Developer

2021 - 2022
Alpha International
  • Developed an app that enabled users to attend video conferences, with the possibility of chatting with other participants, joining separate breakout room calls, and viewing incoming broadcasts and screen shares from other participants.
  • Implemented a CI/CD pipeline and integrated it into the Azure DevOps platform to automatically build and deploy testing and production apps.
  • Tracked app issues and crashes and solved any occurring difficulties.
  • Wrote automated testing scripts to perform end-to-end testing for the main functional flows of the app.
Technologies: Swift, REST APIs, iOS, SwiftUI, Azure DevOps, Fastlane, Rollbar, Katalon Studio, Jira, Slack, Agile, Figma, Mobile Development, SDKs, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, User Experience (UX)

Senior iOS Developer

2021 - 2022
ThoughtWorks
  • Continued working on the same projects with the same Gemini Solutions clients after Thoughtworks had acquired it.
  • Added new features to existing applications, such as a general-purpose single sign-on implementation for all brand apps and user data sharing between apps.
  • Performed interview training and conducted technical and cultural interviews.
  • Aided new employees on specific project-related technical matters.
Technologies: iOS, Swift, RxSwift, Moya, Firebase, Fastlane, Test-driven Development (TDD), Xcode, RealmSwift, Model View ViewModel (MVVM), Object-oriented Programming (OOP), iOS SDK, REST APIs, Git, iOS Native Libraries, GitHub, SwiftLint, Reactive Programming, Realm, Mobile Development, SDKs, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), User Experience (UX)

iOS Developer

2018 - 2021
Freelance
  • Developed an application used by beekeepers to manage their activities, track their bees, and improve their ability to efficiently store their data and improve their workflow.
  • Worked on an application that enabled users to create custom reminder notifications in a highly configurable manner, either on a specified date or at custom intervals.
  • Built an application that provided a fast and easy way to book appointments, which enabled business owners to reach more clients, and offered clients a wider range of available services they could benefit from.
Technologies: Agile Sprints, Swift, RxSwift, Firebase iOS SDK, Model View ViewModel (MVVM), Mobile Architecture, SQLite, Moya, iOS, UIKit, iOS SDK, Git, iOS Native Libraries, Jira, Firebase Authentication, Mobile Development, SDKs, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

iOS Developer

2018 - 2021
Gemini Solutions
  • Developed a configurable iOS SDK with common functionalities between multiple applications as a team member with more than a dozen mobile developers.
  • Implemented custom UI/UX functionalities for multiple applications using a custom version of the developed SDK to connect, manage, and remote control various home appliances.
  • Added or contributed to various features in the SDK, such as client-server communication, offline data storing, home appliances connectivity, management, and remote controlling.
  • Participated in project overview meetings and discussed, analyzed, and established project requirements and user stories.
  • Performed continuous research on new features and made general improvements to the existing apps.
Technologies: Swift, iOS, RxSwift, CocoaPods, Moya, Firebase, Model View ViewModel (MVVM), Unit Testing, RealmSwift, iOS SDK, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), REST APIs, Git, Xcode, iOS Native Libraries, GitHub, SwiftLint, Reactive Programming, Realm, Mobile Development, SDKs, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Mobile Application Framework | An All-purpose SDK for Brand Apps

The client was a company that owned multiple home appliance brands. The framework's purpose was to define all the common functionalities and ensure that the mobile applications used were strictly aligned with the predefined requirements.

Among many others, the main goals of the framework were to:
• Provide it as a white-label product.
• Implement a highly configurable platform to serve any specific brand.
• Have built-in third-party integrations.
• Fully develop all the common business requirements.
• Define modular design and components.
• Minimize all resource usage, including battery, CPU, storage size, and network.
• Ensure user-friendly experiences across all functionalities.

I contributed to all the framework modules on multiple layers, including networking, local storage, data caching, data processing, notifications, and several applications built on top of it.

GoCab RoClient

https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/gocab-roclient/id1503879811
A free taxi application with hundreds of thousands of users on the platform enables clients to order a taxi ride to their desired destination. Users could choose to be picked up from a location and have the taxi rider take them wherever they wanted to go by paying with cash, or they could enter a destination address and easily reach it by paying with cash, a card, or a corporate voucher. They could even chat with their driver and receive live notifications with the status of their ongoing ride.

My main goal was to completely refactor the app codebase to include reactive concepts and to apply the MVVM pattern fully, highly increasing the code quality and the overall app stability. I implemented a reactive component to communicate with the platform servers using an MQTT-based third-party library. I also continuously oversaw the app issues and crashes and provided quick and reliable fixes to increase the app's stability. I continued adding new features to the current application flows that enriched the user experience.

GoCab RoDriver

https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/gocab-rodriver/id1637861173
A free taxi application that holds the largest number of available drivers. Also, the sole application that has been integrated with the Romanian taxi drivers' taximeter fiscal device, namely Equinox. The app enabled a safe and controlled system when engaging in the taxi ordering process between a client and an authorized taxi driver.

Acted as the sole developer that developed the application using the MVVM pattern, a custom reactive component built on top of a third-party MQTT library, and a custom library created for the company's needs. I actively engaged in the UI/UX, defining the flow and providing valuable feedback to improve the client-driver interaction further. I defined logical schemas for the overall application flows and implemented them accordingly using clean reactive architecture.

AlphaNow

A free-to-use SwiftUI-based application that offered users video conferencing functionalities. Users can attend video conferences, chat with other participants, join separate breakout room calls, and view incoming broadcasts and screen shares from other participants.

I fully developed specific functionalities from the app, including the chat and the separate breakout room. I continued verifying known app issues and crashes to provide stable fixes while providing general app maintenance.

Appointments | An Application for Business Owners and Their Clients

I worked with a team of two developers on an application meant for people who wished to book an appointment at any available location: restaurants, barbershops, beauty salons, and taverns.

Business owners could add their location, set the availability, mention their available services, add their staff among their availability, and appear in user's searches. Staff members could also access the business they belonged to and manage their appointments.

Users could set up their accounts based on their location preferences. They could book available slots for existing services.

I worked on every application part, including the base architecture, custom components, server communication, data storage, notifications, and the UI/UX design.

ApiaryBook | A Beekeeping Management App

A team of two developers developed an application that provided most of the required functionalities for minor and major beekeeping activities.

I implemented most of the project's structural architecture, using the MVVM design pattern and UI layout, using custom components among all the functional requirements. Everything was implemented using reactive extensions to ensure proper UI updates based on user input and actions.

I developed the app in two versions, a lite version with a limited amount of data that could be stored and processed and a pro version with no limitations.

Various graphs were available that used the user input data as entry points.

The user data was stored offline in an SQLite database for which I implemented a general-purpose query creation mechanism for basic and complex CRUD operations.

I implemented data exports that were available as printable files or as CSV documents.

Nag | An App for Custom Reminders

I worked with another developer on an application that provided the basic reminder functionality with an enhanced and highly customizable set up flow that significantly increased its utility and usability. The application would provide local notifications whenever and however the user configured them.

Users could set up custom events that would trigger as reminders, providing notifications at the desired date or an interval defined by their custom recurrence.

The application offered a custom UI set up that enabled users to define specific running times or recurring variations for reminders.

The application offered a multi-theme UI design.

The user could even change UI components and layouts based on personal time preferences and set up default predefined time intervals for a quick reminder creation.

Languages

Swift, C++, Java, JavaScript, Flash ActionScript

Frameworks

UIKit, iOS SDK, SwiftUI, RealmSwift, Core Data, MapKit

Libraries/APIs

RxSwift, Firebase iOS SDK, REST APIs, CocoaPods, Kingfisher, RxCocoa, Sockets, Rollbar, Twilio API, Twilio Sync API, Google Maps SDK, iOS Native Libraries, Mapbox iOS SDK

Paradigms

Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Mobile Development, Model View ViewModel (MVVM), Unit Testing, Reactive Programming, Agile, Test-driven Development (TDD), Azure DevOps

Platforms

iOS, Firebase

Other

SDKs, Mobile Apps, Native Mobile Apps, APIs, User Experience (UX), Agile Sprints, Mobile App Development, Mobile Architecture, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Flow Coordinators, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet of Things (IoT), iOS Video, Video Streaming, Maps

Tools

Xcode, GitHub, Moya, SwiftLint, Git, Postman, Fastlane, Redmine, MQTT, Katalon Studio, Crashlytics, Figma, Lucidchart, GitLab, Google Places SDK, TestFlight, Jira, Slack, Bitbucket, Firebase Authentication, AVPlayer

Storage

PostgreSQL, Cloud Firestore, SQLite, MySQL, Realm

2013 - 2016

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

University of Bucharest - Bucharest, Romania

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