Bob Richards, Developer in Austin, TX, United States
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Bob Richards

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Austin, TX, United States
Toptal Member Since
June 24, 2020

Bob brings years of full-stack web and data development to the table with a deep knowledge of databases, AWS, ETL, data cleanup, web scraping, server set-up, and Natural Language Processing. He has ten years of expertise building products and leading teams in spaces including oil and gas, mobile, sales data and applicant tracking. Working with many startups, he attained a high-level of business know-how. Bob has delivered MVPs in under 90 days and secured funding in the millions for projects.

Portfolio

Cambio
GPT, Natural Language Processing (NLP)...
Dun & Bradstreet
Amazon Web Services (AWS), ETL, Big Data, JavaScript...
Drillmap
Data, Web Scraping, GIS, Google Maps, Apache, MySQL, Python, Perl, JavaScript...

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), SpaCy, GPT, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), ETL, NGINX, Git, AngularJS, JavaScript, Python, Perl, Redshift, Relational Database Services (RDS), PostgreSQL, MySQL, Linux

The most amazing...

...project I've worked on went from start to MVP in under 90 days with minor help from UX/UI developers. Features include candidate scoring using NLP.

Work Experience

CTO

2019 - 2020
Cambio
  • Wrote the first line of code in June and released the product to the public in September.
  • Designed and built a scoring system to compare candidate resumes to job descriptions. Optimized the system to handle thousands of jobs and candidates on a single server.
  • Processed feedback from HR industry leaders and built the industry's first diversity engine, helping companies diversify their workforce.
  • Wrote scrapers to pull job information from multiple different job boards.
Technologies: Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Natural Language Processing (NLP), GPT, Apache, MySQL, Python, Perl, AngularJS, JavaScript

Leader, Partner Innovation Center

2018 - 2019
Dun & Bradstreet
  • Worked in a partnership group providing the sales team with new products, proof of concepts, prototypes, and tools to organize and streamline the sales and partnership process.
  • Built a system to pull, filter, process and compare internal data that took in 100 million records a night. Due to the complexity of the data, the tools at AWS did not work for us, so we built our own ETL system from the ground up.
  • Reduced the processing time from two weeks to 4 hours by optimizing the database and SQL and maximizing server resources.
  • Developed an idea to create a system to rank similar companies through NLP on company descriptions, saving thousands of person-hours per year. The system proved to be exponentially better than the manual version.
  • Developed a system to assign SIC codes to companies based on company descriptions automatically.
  • Built multiple web-based tools for groups to visualize data, streamline processes, and automate tasks. Doing this saved the company hundreds of person-hours per month.
  • Managed AWS implementation for the group, including servers, databases, load balancers, and big data storage.
  • Managed the hiring, building, and running of the team of programmers.
  • Used and managed multiple Postgres instances for different projects.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), ETL, Big Data, JavaScript, GPT, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Redshift, Amazon Aurora, MySQL, Perl, Python, PostgreSQL

Co-founder and CTO

2009 - 2015
Drillmap
  • Wrote the majority of the code and architected the system to collect oil and gas data from over 500 sources. I also enabled the system to display the data in google maps and added a report builder.
  • Developed solutions to clean and fix data from different sources.
  • Managed a 30-person, cross-functional department that included programmers, GIS, data management, and technical support.
  • Demonstrated the product to customers and clients, which lead to large deals at Conoco.
  • Arranged to have DrillMap invited into the Surge Accelerator, a Houston-based energy software incubator, which led to connections with VCs and angel investors. This effort resulted in over $6 million in funding.
  • Managed multiple large clustered instances of Postgres and optimized them for high availability and speed.
Technologies: Data, Web Scraping, GIS, Google Maps, Apache, MySQL, Python, Perl, JavaScript, PostgreSQL

Cambio

https://cambiome.com
Cambio is a startup in the applicant tracking space. Unique features include allowing candidates to upload videos, a robust matching algorithm, and a diversity engine. I was the only full-time technical person on this project with limited help from the UX/UI developer. I took the project from idea to a useful product in under three months.

Languages

Perl, SQL, JavaScript, Python

Tools

Apache, Git, NGINX, GIS

Paradigms

ETL

Platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux

Storage

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redshift, Amazon Aurora

Other

Web Development, Web Scraping, Big Data, Servers, Data Queries, Full-stack, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Data Analysis, Data Quality, GPT, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Relational Database Services (RDS), Data

Frameworks

AngularJS

Libraries/APIs

SpaCy, Google Maps

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