Brent Whitman, Developer in North Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Brent Whitman

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Toptal Member Since
December 18, 2017

Brent is a developer with five years of experience in coding iOS apps. In his career, he's independently developed two apps that were deployed in the App Store, and through his freelance projects, he's developed two additional apps. Thanks to his product management experience, Brent is also proficient in the non-technical aspects of app development.

iOSObjective-CAgile Software DevelopmentSwiftC++MapKitXcodeREST APIsUIKitGoogle Analytics APICordovaGitRuby on Rails (RoR)JiraC#

Portfolio

Mountain Equipment Co-op
Swift, Objective-C
Pathym
PostgreSQL, Python, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Objective-C, Swift
Nemo Design (via Toptal)
Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, Swift

Experience

Agile Software Development - 5 yearsObjective-C - 5 yearsiOS - 5 yearsC++ - 4 yearsMapKit - 3 yearsSketch - 2 yearsSwift - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, Swift, Xcode, iOS

The most amazing...

...iOS app that I've worked on is an eCommerce app that is rated 4.7/5 with 1,000+ reviews. I was the sole developer on the project.

Work Experience

iOS Developer (Contract)

2016 - PRESENT
Mountain Equipment Co-op
  • Implemented new features and fixed bugs for Canada’s top-rated outdoor eCommerce app.
  • Modernized the UI of a 2012-era app to use a constraint-based layout and adapt seamlessly to all iOS devices such as the iPhone X and iPad.
  • Synchronized the mobile app cart with the website cart; worked with back-end developers to specify changes to RESTful API necessary to implement this feature.
  • Created a feature to show a virtual membership card when the user is near a store, using geofencing and barcode generation.
  • Added a more intuitive control for choosing product quantity; contributed fixes to the open-source library used for this control; am now the maintainer of this GMStepper library.
Technologies: Swift, Objective-C

Independent iOS App Developer

2012 - PRESENT
Pathym
  • Independently developed two iOS apps for outdoor sports (bicycling and hiking), including the front-end and back-end development, design, marketing, and strategy.
  • Sold tens of thousands of apps; increased sales by 300% through App Store Optimization.
  • Designed a responsive UI using storyboards and adaptive layouts, including the use of Sketch and Photoshop to create graphic assets.
  • Designed a map tile generation process that processes map data for the entire world (32 gigabytes) and extracts relevant trails for displaying in my apps.
  • Developed a back-end for my hiking app that accepts hike tracking GPS data via a RESTful API and can notify an emergency contact via email if the hiker gets lost.
Technologies: PostgreSQL, Python, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Objective-C, Swift

iOS Developer

2018 - 2018
Nemo Design (via Toptal)
  • Fixed bugs and improved design of a partially completed iOS app and its backend API.
  • Successfully launched "Nonstop travel" app in the app store. (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nonstop-travel/id1289829129).
  • Implemented iOS push notifications for flight reminders using Ruby on Rails (server) and Swift (app).
Technologies: Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, Swift

iOS Developer (Contract)

2015 - 2016
Radical.io
  • Developed the iOS native component of a mapping feature for a cross-platform (Android, iOS, HTML 5) app for Canadian credit unions.
  • Implemented a Cordova plugin to allow communication between my native code and HTML5 hybrid code on the other screens of the app.
Technologies: Cordova, Ionic, Objective-C

Product Manager

2012 - 2015
PNI Digital Media
  • Managed eight photo-printing eCommerce apps across complete product lifecycle from conception to launch for major retail clients such as Costco, Walmart, Tesco, and Staples.
  • Assisted the iOS development team with critical issues such as fixing out of memory bugs and implementing lossless JPEG rotation.
  • Redesigned iOS apps and brand new Android apps with these results: mobile revenue increased between 2x to 8x, the average user ratings increased from ~1.5 stars to 4-to-4.5 stars, and received positive client responses (e.g., “Best demo I have seen from PNI for the last couple of years.”).
  • Managed and prioritized product backlog and wrote user stories for features (agile product owner).
Technologies: Objective-C, Jira

Strategic Product Manager

2009 - 2012
BlackBerry
  • Managed releases of BlackBerry Travel app, v2.0.40 and v2.5—designed new social features that doubled the rate of user acquisition and improved purchase flow resulting in a 20% increase in revenue.
  • Specified requirements for a "big data" and mobile analytics platform at RIM by conducting market research, reviewing privacy best practices, and driving a solution set across development teams.
  • Planned and executed the launch of BlackBerry Analytics Service 1.0; wrote marketing collateral, coordinated documentation updates, created a presentation for a conference session on the product.
  • Designed a new customer support strategy: determined key benefits, created a model forecasting financial impact, and pitched an idea for a phased approach, beginning with an A/B test pilot to quantify loyalty and word-of-mouth impacts. Collaborated with a mobile carrier to carry out the pilot.
  • Validated a tiered-pricing model: constructed detailed data-driven assumptions to build a financial model and presented results to C-level executives.
Technologies: Jira

Programmer II

2004 - 2007
Ubisoft Entertainment
  • Created a system to produce interactive cinematic sequences which provides a high level of control to level designers, while remaining easy-to-use. This became part of the Anvil game engine that is used as a basis for many next-generation games at Ubisoft.
  • Designed and implemented a system which manages the distribution of people in each of the cities in the game.
  • Managed the technical design and implementation strategies for all investigation and mission structure features of the Assassin’s Creed video game.
  • Coached the junior programmers on my team, acting as a technical reference.
  • Solved twice as many bugs as any other programmer on my team—significantly contributing to the high quality and on-time delivery of our products.
Technologies: C#, C++

Software Engineer

2002 - 2004
Electronic Arts
  • Designed, programmed, and debugged all aspects of a presentation for the video games NBA Live 2004/5 and March Madness 2004/5, including cameras, replays, cutscenes, audio logic, and transitions.
  • Redesigned a replay system to use 1/3 the memory, and allow for continuous rather than frame-based playback.
  • Rewrote a pipeline for the cutscenes—reducing the build time from two hours to three minutes and improving the workflow for animators.
  • Re-engineered the animation pipeline for NBA Live 2003 to work with a new animation technology; isolated and fixed various issues with animation data.
  • Created tools for animators and sound designers.
Technologies: Perl, Java, C++

Root and Branch

• An iOS app for hikers that includes maps of trails, elevation, and other natural features
• It provides a hiking safety service that will notify emergency contact of your route and last known position.

Bike Maps

• An iPhone/iPad app that shows bicycle routes, lanes, and trails everywhere in the world, including turn-by-turn voice navigation and ride tracking

Note: This is a paid app, but if you'd like to check it out, I can provide promo codes to download it for free.

MEC | Mountain Equipment Co-op

• An eCommerce app for outdoor gear.
• I've worked as the sole developer on this project since July 2016.

Conexus

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/id529989186
• I implemented the "Find Us" map screen and ATM location functionality for this credit union app.

Languages

Swift, Objective-C, C++, C#, Java, Perl, Ruby, Python

Frameworks

UIKit, MapKit, Core Location, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ionic

Libraries/APIs

REST APIs, Mapbox iOS SDK, Google Analytics API

Tools

Xcode, Sketch, Git, Jira, Photoshop CC, Crashlytics

Paradigms

Agile Software Development

Platforms

iOS, Firebase

Storage

Realm, PostgreSQL

Other

Cordova, AVFoundation

2007 - 2009

Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)

Rotman School of Management - Toronto, ON, Canada

1997 - 2002

Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science

Simon Fraser University - Burnaby, BC, Canada

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