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Ben Walton, Software Developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ben Walton

Software Developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Member since May 4, 2021
Ben is a seasoned full-stack developer who excels in guiding companies through their technical journeys towards profit. At Dubzzle, he grew traffic from almost nothing to 300 million page views per month and founded the R&D department. Ben is skilled in growing technical teams and was the first developer on the ground for companies such as Dubizzle and NOW Money. His passion lies in building products from databases through the back end and APIs up to the front end and single-page apps.
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Portfolio

  • NOW Money
    Node.js, MongoDB, Advisory, Recruitment, IT Recruitment
  • Unit21, Inc
    Python, Python 3, PostgreSQL, Flask, Protobuf, Microservices, React, TypeScript
  • houza
    Angular, MongoDB, Node.js, Hapi.js, AWS, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, JavaScript...

Experience

Location

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Node.js, Angular, React, MongoDB, Databases, APIs

The most amazing...

...product I've built is a virtual bank for low-income workers in the Middle East enabling the unbanked to become banked.

Employment

  • Technical Advisor

    2019 - PRESENT
    NOW Money
    • Assisted as a technical advisor after I stopped working with the company full time.
    • Solved complex problems that often came up working with various financial institutions and technology providers.
    • Guided the recruiting of technical personnel and conducted interviews.
    Technologies: Node.js, MongoDB, Advisory, Recruitment, IT Recruitment

  • Software Engineer

    2021 - 2021
    Unit21, Inc
    • Helped design, architect, and convert existing monolith logic into a new service following microservice architecture and using Protobufs for communication.
    • Added several highly requested customer features from start to finish using Python and React.
    • Increased the test coverage on the module I worked on from practically zero to above 90%.
    Technologies: Python, Python 3, PostgreSQL, Flask, Protobuf, Microservices, React, TypeScript

  • CTO

    2019 - 2021
    houza
    • Built a scalable product from the ground up in a very short time frame to hit the launch deadline.
    • Reached feature-level of incumbent property portals in less than 12 months with a fraction of the team and budget size.
    • Migrated seamless deployment from Alibaba Cloud to AWS with zero downtime.
    Technologies: Angular, MongoDB, Node.js, Hapi.js, AWS, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, JavaScript, TypeScript

  • CTO

    2017 - 2019
    NOW Money
    • Rebuilt the entire technology platform integrating with a payment processor and multiple third parties to create a virtual bank.
    • Built the region's first eKYC system to help onboard our own customers and offer the service to third parties.
    • Oversaw the launch to thousands of low-income workers in the Middle East.
    Technologies: Node.js, MongoDB, Android, iOS, Ethereum, TensorFlow, Recruitment, Card Payments, Docker, Docker Compose, JavaScript

  • Co-founder CTO

    2015 - 2017
    Styck FZ
    • Launched a startup to encourage UAE residents to move more and be less sedentary.
    • Achieved 20,000 registered users with zero marketing spend.
    • Became the biggest lead driver for Deliveroo's launch in the UAE.
    Technologies: iOS, Android, Parse, MongoDB, Braze, JavaScript

  • Technical Lead

    2015 - 2017
    Unihorn Labs
    • Created a private workplace messaging tool allowing employees and management to interact anonymously. Built with Ionic and Parse.
    • Implemented an AI-based moderation tool for the communication app.
    • Assisted with an on-demand car washing application as part of the company.
    Technologies: Meteor, Ionic, Parse, MongoDB, JavaScript

  • Director of Technology

    2007 - 2015
    Dubizzle
    • Grew the technology team from two to 30 people working in six different teams.
    • Grew traffic from almost nothing to 300 million page views per month.
    • Founded the R&D department, which spun out an additional marketplace app product that became its own company.
    Technologies: Python, Django, Management, Recruitment

Experience

  • Live Video Streaming Shopping Application

    A React app supporting live video streaming combined with eCommerce. The host app allowed a host to broadcast on the platform and add an additional expert to the video call. The consumer side allowed one to watch the stream and purchase the products that were currently being demonstrated. The host app was React Native and the consumer side was React video streaming was using Agora.

  • Real Estate Website
    http://houza.com

    I was the full-stack developer building out this project under a tight deadline. The back end was developed with Node.js using the Hapi framework. The front end was built with Angular 9. We reached the feature level of the incumbent competitors in less than 12 months

  • "Virtual Bank" Mobile Application
    http://nowmoney.me

    Created the full back end for a banking application and assisted with the native Android and iOS builds. The work included building REST APIs from the ground up, connecting to multiple third-party services, and deploying in a PCI DSS compliant way.

  • eKYC Platform

    Created an eKYC platform in Node.js and native Android and iOS packages on the front end. Ran this as a standalone application that could also be integrated into other applications. The signature of the eKYC record was stored on the Ethereum blockchain for later verification.

  • Fitness Mobile Application

    Built 100% of the application. It was a Facebook Parse back end, iOS (Swift), and Android application. The app rewarded people for completing a certain amount of steps per day. This was done by working with the accelerometers in mobile phones.

Skills

  • Languages

    JavaScript, TypeScript, Python 3, CSS, CSS3, Python, Swift, Solidity

  • Frameworks

    Angular, Hapi.js, React Native, Tailwind CSS, Flask, Ionic, Django, Flutter

  • Libraries/APIs

    Node.js, React, REST APIs, Protobuf, TensorFlow, Parse SDK, Accelerometers

  • Paradigms

    Microservices, Management

  • Platforms

    Firebase, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Android, iOS, Ethereum, Docker, Meteor, Parse

  • Storage

    Databases, MongoDB, Realm, PostgreSQL, Alibaba Cloud

  • Other

    Programming, AWS, Recruitment, Card Payments, IT Recruitment, APIs, PCI DSS, MongoDB Realm, Video Streaming

  • Industry Expertise

    Project Management

  • Tools

    Docker Compose, Agora, MongoDB Atlas

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Business Computing
    2000 - 2004
    Leeds Metropolitan University - Leeds, UK

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