Allen is available for hire
Hire AllenAllen Firth
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Toptal member since November 9, 2021
Bio
Allen is a software developer and architect with 20 years of experience across energy, finance, asset management, insurance, and law. He has deep expertise in Microsoft technologies, primarily C#, ASP.NET Core, and Azure, along with client-side web technologies, such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Angular. Allen is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, and he has worked remotely out of London and South Africa.
Portfolio
London Stock Exchange Group
Web Components, TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL
Uniper
C#, ASP.NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Service Bus...
Clifford Chance
C#, ASP.NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, Azure SQL Databases
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
C#, ASP.NET, Azure SQL, Azure, Azure Functions, Azure Service Bus, Azure DevOps, Angular, TypeScript, SignalR
The most amazing...
...project I've worked on was integrating an online accounting package with one of the big banks in South Africa to automate the import of bank statements.
Work Experience
Senior Consultant Developer
2023 - 2024
London Stock Exchange Group
- Re-developed the Municipal Market Monitor application (TM3) at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
- Delivered multiple production releases of the product to date, enabling LSEG to start migrating their customers from the legacy product onto the new TM3 application.
- Worked closely with LSEG stakeholders to define and determine the necessary business requirements for successful delivery of the new TM3 product.
Technologies: Web Components, TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL
Senior Consultant Developer
2022 - 2023
Uniper
- Led a team as a full-stack developer on a project at Uniper aimed at creating a system to handle the inputs necessary for operating Uniper's Power Price Agreement valuation models related to renewable energies.
- Re-wrote the existing system, improving functional performance by an order of magnitude.
- Re-architected the existing system to correctly implement business requirements and provide value to system stakeholders.
Technologies: C#, ASP.NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Service Bus, Azure Functions
Senior Consultant Developer
2022 - 2022
Clifford Chance
- Delivered technical and architectural guidance and input to an existing team of developers.
- Upgraded the technology of an existing Partner system that was utilized for managing global partner remuneration in various tax regions, taking into consideration many different country-specific tax rules.
- Improved the application's performance significantly while incorporating industry best practices to enhance the code quality and design.
Technologies: C#, ASP.NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, Azure SQL Databases
Senior Consultant Developer
2021 - 2021
Anglo American
- Developed an exposure reporting tool for live intraday trades at Anglo American in the UK. I completed this engagement as a fully remote full-stack developer, using Angular, C#, ASP.NET Core, SignalR, and Azure Synapse.
- Delivered live trade data via SignalR to the Angular client application.
- Managed large trade dataset cached on the server for performant access from the client.
Technologies: Angular, ASP.NET Core, SignalR, Azure SQL Databases, C#
Senior Consultant | Architect | Developer
2017 - 2021
Self-employed
- Developed the SPAR DataLake System, which involved replicating operational data from several disparate legacy data systems into a central Azure SQL Server data lake using Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse.
- Created the user interfaces for SPAR's master data management systems using Angular and C# APIs.
- Built the back-end APIs for Veridot's OEM system, enabling them to move from their legacy system to a new, highly functional system for tracking vehicle microdots in South Africa.
- Worked remotely on a live data processing system for Chelsea Football Club in the UK to receive, analyze, and process player GPS acceleration and speed data using Azure cloud technologies.
- Built a new customer coupon management site using Angular while working remotely for CashRewards in Australia.
- Completed implementations of PROFiltr's online solution for small bookkeeping companies, using Angular, Node.js, and MongoDB. This was a remote engagement with PROFiltr in the UK.
Technologies: C#, .NET Core, Angular, TypeScript, Azure, Azure SQL, Azure DevOps
Senior Developer | CTO
2015 - 2017
SMEasy
- Provided technical leadership, management, and guidance for the SMEasy product, an exciting online accounting package startup for small to medium-sized enterprises, while serving as the company's CTO.
- Presented key technical insights to the SMEasy board to aid them in strategic decision-making.
- Managed system architecture and development, which included managing outsourced development team members.
Technologies: C#, .NET, Azure, Angular, Azure SQL
Senior Consultant Developer
2011 - 2015
Digiterre (London, UK)
- Introduced Agile practices to the development team at M&G Investments, incorporated CI into the development lifecycle, and contributed significantly to the automation of unit, integration, and acceptance testing.
- Developed a master data management system and an initial margins tool to calculate initial margins on all EDF Trading's energy positions.
- Built a transfer pricing management tool for E.ON Energy Trading. As the team lead, I led this large project to successful delivery and handover to an outsourced provider chosen by E.ON.
Technologies: C#, .NET, Automated Testing, Agile, Continuous Integration (CI)
Senior Developer
2010 - 2011
MAN Investments (London, UK)
- Worked in a geographically distributed team on systems integration of multiple disparate applications in the middle office of the world's largest fund of funds.
- Served on the team that facilitated systems communication between data sources and applications using a variety of request/response and publish/subscribe messaging solutions built on Oracle WebLogic, MSMQ, and custom, in-house messaging buses.
- Used Scrum practices to run and manage month-long sprints. Scrum teams were in different offices, and communication was paramount to completing the work.
- Played a pivotal role in adopting Agile development principles, increasing test coverage of the codebase, and driving the ethos of TDD.
- Worked on various systems, including middle office fund accounting, fee calculation, foreign exchange, and trade planning.
Technologies: C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server 2000
Senior Developer
2009 - 2010
BritInsurance (London, UK)
- Served on a team of eight that developed an online policy management system enabling BritInsurance to manage insurance sold through its network of brokers.
- Employed a publish/subscribe messaging model implemented with NServiceBus to decouple logically separate components, ensure high availability, and reduce dependencies on other systems.
- Applied Agile methods, using a continuous integration environment (TeamCity), unit and integration testing, and automated deployment to provide timely feedback to developers on the health of the codebase as a whole.
- Used a Kanban board to monitor and manage progress. The team operated in a self-managing style with emphasis on distributing system knowledge across the whole team and each member taking responsibility for the entire system.
Technologies: C#, ASP.NET, MSMQ, SQL Server 2000
Senior Developer
2008 - 2009
Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer (London, UK)
- Co-developed a contact and event management system for managing business contacts and targeted communications with specific groups of contacts about business events and full lifecycle tracking of those events.
- Developed the system using ASP.NET MVC and jQuery for the client-side asynchronous UI updates.
- Co-developed a budgeting application for the firm's internal budgeting and cost monitoring of matters. The application was a web-based tool relying on data from disparate systems, including finance and firm control work management systems.
- Enabled system users to budget the costs of estimated work by different partners, fee earners, and other resources at different exchange rates.
- Included the ability to compare budgets against the actual outcomes of work done on a matter and provide reports to help users monitor the progress of budgets.
Technologies: C#, ASP.NET MVC, SQL Server 2005
Senior Developer
2004 - 2008
TDH
- Worked on various projects for this small, Durban-based software consultancy.
- Served as the firm's primary architect and software developer.
- Collaborated with clients to determine requirements and developed the technical specifications.
Technologies: C#, .NET, ASP.NET, SQL Server 2000
Senior Developer
2000 - 2004
Gencentric
- Joined Gencentric as a junior developer and worked my way up through the ranks.
- Migrated from working with VB6 to VB.NET and then C#.
- Advanced to the principal software developer while working on a wide range of projects.
Technologies: VB.NET, C#, Active Server Pages (ASP), SQL Server 2000
Experience
Intraday Live Reporting Dashboard
An Angular-based live intraday reporting dashboard for Anglo America. I recently completed and delivered this dashboard, using SignalR and C# to provide real-time trade exposure and position reporting to trading desks.
Bluetooth Light Energy Device IoT Platform
An IoT platform for asset management and tracking using BLE tags. I developed this platform, which provides live location reporting, live asset inventory reporting, and historical asset location reporting. I also implemented various channels to send alert notifications to clients, providing immediate feedback on the presence or absence of high-value assets.
SMEasy User Interface Migration
Migrated the user interface for an online accounting package from Microsoft Silverlight to Angular, successfully bringing the client into the modern world of HTML5 and dynamic responsive web user interfaces.
Education
1999 - 2004
Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology
University of South Africa - Durban, South Africa
Certifications
OCTOBER 2000 - PRESENT
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
Microsoft
Skills
Libraries/APIs
SignalR, Node.js
Tools
Azure App Service
Languages
C#, TypeScript, VB.NET, Active Server Pages (ASP), HTML5, GraphQL
Frameworks
ASP.NET, Angular, .NET Core, .NET, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC
Platforms
Azure Functions, Azure, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE)
Paradigms
Azure DevOps, Automated Testing, Agile, Continuous Integration (CI)
Storage
Azure Cosmos DB, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, Azure SQL, Azure SQL Databases
Other
Azure Service Bus, Business Technology, MSMQ, Responsive Web Apps, User Interface (UI), Internet of Things (IoT), Dashboards, Web Components
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