Claudiu is available for hire

Claudiu Gilcescu Ceia

Verified Expert in Engineering

Full-stack Developer

Location

Alba Iulia, Romania

Toptal Member Since

October 20, 2022

Claudiu is a senior full-stack developer with around 15 years of industry experience. He has built various projects, from marketing websites and applications for digital agencies to internal tools at Facebook, civic technology projects, and SaaS products. Claudiu is passionate about open source, developer experience, clean code, and maintainable software.

Full-stack Front-end RESTful Web Services Web Development Code Review Webhooks UI Components CSS PHP Microsoft Excel LAMP REST APIs OAuth 2 Bootstrap Front-end Build Tools

Portfolio

WhiteCity Code

TypeScript, GraphQL, Node.js, React, Next.js, Apollo, CSS, HTML, Docker...

CivicNet

PHP, WordPress, React, Mapbox, Algolia, CSS, HTML, Docker, TypeScript, GraphQL...

CivicTech Romania

PHP, Node.js, Algolia, Mapbox, Deck.gl, TypeScript, React, GraphQL, WordPress...

Experience

JavaScript - 15 years React - 10 years GraphQL - 9 years Node.js - 8 years Express.js - 7 years TypeScript - 7 years Mapbox - 5 years Deno - 1 year

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Fedora, Vim Text Editor, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), TypeScript, Redis, Python, Linux, Web & Mobile Applications

The most amazing...

...thing I've built is a GraphQL API powering all of the kopplr interfaces and providing a data bridge for merchants, providers, and partners.

Work Experience

Senior Full-stack Developer

2020 - PRESENT

WhiteCity Code

Built the GraphQL API for kopplr's website, using TypeScript, with the Node.js runtime and Amazon Neptune for the storage layer. This was the read service, communicating with the write services via Amazon SNS.
Authored design documents outlining the high-level implementation strategy and key design resolutions for the larger decisions that had to be taken at a technical level concerning the API for kopplr's website.
Reviewed all the code committed to the kopplr GraphQL API codebase, including a significant amount of front-end code.
Handled most of the kopplr production releases, monitoring the deployment process, running migrations, summarizing the changelog, and keeping all stakeholders in the loop regarding progress.
Wrote a data-fetching or -entity layer for resource description framework databases, specifically Amazon Neptune at kopplr, including generating TypeScript code from declarative schemas and a query builder and privacy layer for entities.

Technologies: TypeScript, GraphQL, Node.js, React, Next.js, Apollo, CSS, HTML, Docker, Amazon Neptune, Microsoft Edge, Deno, Tailwind CSS, Vue 2, Redis, Docker Compose, Bash, Jest, Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Amazon Cognito, Code Generators, Express.js, Code Review, GitLab CI/CD, Microservices, Redis Cache, Redis Clusters, Amazon ElastiCache, JSON/XML Schemas, RDF, RDFs, Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), SPARQL, Git, GitLab, GitHub, Mentorship, i18n, APIs, Fintech, SaaS, SaaS Design, REST, Amazon Web Services (AWS), REST APIs, AWS Amplify, Web Development, Full-stack, Architecture, Software Architecture, API Integration, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Vue, Redux, Algorithms, Cloud, Databases, System Architecture Design, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Real-time Data, Payment APIs, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, AWS Lambda, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, UI Components, Storybook, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), PHP 7, OAuth 2, Data Visualization, Bootstrap

Co-founder and President

2019 - PRESENT

CivicNet

Founded CivicNet as a branch of CivicTech Romania to focus on the organization's open data and data visualization efforts.
Defined the organization's mission and vision, original roadmap, infrastructure, development toolchain, and release process while still being the largest code contributor.
Managed relationships with institutional and private partners before, during, and after building and launching our products.
Helped financing efforts for our projects by finding sponsors, applying for grants, and reaching out to potential partners.

Technologies: PHP, WordPress, React, Mapbox, Algolia, CSS, HTML, Docker, TypeScript, GraphQL, Node.js, Google APIs, Data Processing, Visualization, Bedrock, Sage, D3.js, Deck.gl, Mapbox API, Mapbox Styling, Mapbox Datasets, Next.js, React Native, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Redis, JavaScript, NPM, Private NPM Modules, GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, APIs, Reason ML, Heroku, CI/CD Pipelines, DigitalOcean, SQL, Redis Cache, NGINX, Create React App, Git, GitHub, Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Expo, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), i18n, Plugins, REST APIs, REST, Firebase, Web Development, Full-stack, Dashboards, Architecture, Software Architecture, Google Analytics, API Integration, Google Sheets, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Redux, Web Design, Algorithms, Databases, System Architecture Design, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Figma, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, Cross-platform, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, Project Management, App Development, Mobile Development, Mobile Apps, WordPress Plugins, LAMP, Mobile, iOS, Android, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, Google Maps, Social Media APIs, MUI (formerly Material UI), UI Components, Storybook, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), PHP 7, OAuth 2, Data Visualization, Bootstrap

Co-founder

2017 - PRESENT

CivicTech Romania

Founded CivicTech Romania together with other fellows from the GovITHub program to continue the mission of building open-source software dedicated to citizens.
Defined the organization's mission and vision, roadmap, development toolchain, volunteer onboarding, and release process while still being the largest code contributor.
Led several of the organization's initiatives, including projects built in partnership with the Alba Iulia City Hall and the Department for Emergency Situations.
Talked about CivicTech Romania and what we did at TEDxAlbaIulia in 2018 and other smaller events.
Received the Forbes 30 under 30 award in recognition of our efforts.

Technologies: PHP, Node.js, Algolia, Mapbox, Deck.gl, TypeScript, React, GraphQL, WordPress, CSS, HTML, Mapbox API, Mapbox GL, Mapbox Styling, Next.js, React Native, Open Source, JavaScript, Bedrock, NPM, Git, GitLab, GitHub, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Google Analytics, Google Analytics API, Google Docs, SQL, Redis, Redis Cache, Auth0, Auth0 API, LogRocket, Create React App, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), APIs, Apollo, Apollo Server, App Store, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bash, CI/CD Pipelines, REST APIs, REST, Web Development, Full-stack, Dashboards, Architecture, Software Architecture, API Integration, Google Sheets, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Redux, Web Design, Algorithms, Databases, System Architecture Design, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Figma, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, Cross-platform, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, Project Management, App Development, Mobile Development, Mobile Apps, WordPress Plugins, LAMP, Mobile, iOS, Android, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, Google Maps, Social Media APIs, MUI (formerly Material UI), UI Components, Storybook, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), PHP 7, OAuth 2, Data Visualization, Bootstrap

Senior Software Engineer

2017 - 2017

123FormBuilder

Implemented a code review process with Phabricator.
Improved the CI/CD pipeline and deployment practices.
Proposed and implemented good practices, from writing unit and integration tests to code style and better third-party dependency management.

Technologies: PHP, JavaScript, MySQL, Phabricator, jQuery, HTML, CSS, CI/CD Pipelines, Code Review, Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Git, Web Development, Full-stack, Front-end Development, Databases, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, Microsoft Excel, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, PHP 7, Bootstrap

Fellow

2016 - 2017

GovITHub

Helped organize GovCamp at the Victoria Palace, the first hackathon open to the public in the government, during my first week of fellowship.
Engaged as one of the main code contributors for projects built and launched during the program.
Built and launched an iOS and Android mobile app one week before the 2016 parliamentary elections to show people the voting booths nearest to their location.

Technologies: PHP, Hack Language, Flow, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, Ionic, Algolia, Node.js, Git, WordPress, Auth0, Auth0 API, Ionic 4, Cordova, App Store, Google Play Store, JavaScript, Hackathons, PostgreSQL, HHVM, Heroku, DigitalOcean, GitHub, GitHub API, Prisma, GraphQL, Code Review, APIs, REST APIs, REST, Web Development, Full-stack, Dashboards, Architecture, Software Architecture, Google Analytics, API Integration, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Redux, Databases, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Web & Mobile Applications, Cross-platform, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, Project Management, App Development, Mobile Development, Mobile Apps, WordPress Plugins, LAMP, Mobile, iOS, Android, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, Google Maps, Social Media APIs, MUI (formerly Material UI), UI Components, Storybook, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), PHP 7, OAuth 2, Data Visualization, Bootstrap

Software Engineer

2012 - 2016

Facebook (now Meta)

Built the first prototype for what later became Facebook's internal CRM to replace Salesforce and continued working on the CRM while the team grew from five to over 20 engineers.
Optimized the feature gating abstraction at Facebook, improving the global CPU usage by 1.6%.
Onboarded new employees on the data abstraction frameworks used at Facebook.
Engaged as part of the team that rebuilt the Facebook Developers Support Tool, radically improving the experience of building apps on Facebook.
Participated as one of the main contributors to refactoring and updating old or deprecated code throughout the codebase.
Helped steer early design decisions around Hack as part of the company's first few users of the language.
Contributed to bringing HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM) to Heroku via the first official HHVM buildpack.

Technologies: PHP, Hack Language, HHVM, JavaScript, React, GraphQL, Git, Memcached, Code Review, Interviews, Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Salesforce API, XHProf, Web Development, Full-stack, Dashboards, Architecture, Software Architecture, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Design, Algorithms, Cloud, Databases, System Architecture Design, Software Design, Project Planning, Web & Mobile Applications, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, User Experience (UX), Front-end, Front-end Build Tools, Responsive, Social Media APIs, UI Components, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, PHP 7

Technical Manager

2011 - 2012

TBWA Worldwide

Oversaw the agency's digital branch, managing outsourced teams in Ireland, Poland, and Romania for some of our projects and building in-house solutions when time constraints were too tight.
Met with clients to define product specifications and discuss time and budget constraints.
Managed a small team of in-house developers and designers, with several of our digital campaigns awarded at festivals like the DMA.

Technologies: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, Facebook API, Facebook SDK, CakePHP, PhpMyAdmin, NGINX, Apache, SQL, PostgreSQL, Management, Outsourcing, IT Outsourcing, HTML Email, PhoneGap, jQuery, HTML, CSS, Requirements & Specifications, Mentorship & Coaching, APIs, REST, Web Development, Full-stack, Architecture, Software Architecture, Google Analytics, API Integration, Front-end Development, Back-end, Scripting, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Design, Algorithms, Databases, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Web & Mobile Applications, Cross-platform, Webhooks, Microsoft Excel, Project Management, App Development, Mobile Development, Mobile Apps, Gaming, LAMP, Mobile, iOS, Android, User Experience (UX), Front-end, Google Maps, Social Media APIs, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, OAuth 2, Bootstrap

Lead Developer

2011 - 2011

Rothco

Managed the internal development team of five members.
Participated in client and internal meetings to assess technical requirements.
Built Facebook apps and websites to complement the agency's marketing campaigns.

Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Mentorship, Facebook API, Facebook SDK, Facebook Login, Apache, NGINX, JavaScript, jQuery, HTML, CSS, Requirements & Specifications, APIs, REST APIs, Web Development, Full-stack, Architecture, Software Architecture, Google Analytics, API Integration, Front-end Development, Back-end, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Design, Algorithms, Databases, Software Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Web & Mobile Applications, Microsoft Excel, LAMP, User Experience (UX), Front-end, Social Media APIs, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, OAuth 2

Web Developer

2010 - 2011

EightyTwenty

Built most of the agency's digital projects for clients such as Nokia and Toyota and other prominent local brands such as RTE, UCD, and Meteor, as the only in-house developer.
Participated in the Appys 2011, receiving seven out of eight nominations for the Social Media category.
Engaged in internal and client meetings to assess various products' technical requirements.

Technologies: PHP, MySQL, CakePHP, NGINX, Apache, JavaScript, Facebook API, Facebook SDK, Facebook Login, Twitter API, HTML, CSS, Requirements & Specifications, YouTube API, jQuery, Mentorship & Coaching, APIs, REST APIs, Web Development, Full-stack, Architecture, Software Architecture, Google Analytics, API Integration, Front-end Development, Back-end, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Design, Algorithms, Databases, Software Design, Project Planning, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, Microsoft Excel, LAMP, User Experience (UX), Front-end, Social Media APIs, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Release Management, OAuth 2

Experience

Kopplr Merchant Service Console

A platform that lets merchants access any services they need in one place through one slick interface. I led the back-end team, mainly tasked with building the GraphQL API, while also playing a part in many technical decisions across the project.

Fiipregatit National Emergency Preparedness Platform

https://fiipregatit.ro/

A website inspired by ready.gov, which contains official guides from various governmental agencies detailing what one should do before, during, and after different emergencies. It was built over a very short timeframe using WordPress with roots.io.

Meserii Interactive Map of Trade Schools

An interactive map showing trade schools in Romania, with data such as specialization and number of students in each grade, and companies that employ people with those specializations and their data, including company name, address, and revenue. I built the front end of the application, which was a project initiated in partnership with the Romanian Ministry of Education.

Cancer Atlas | Mapping Prototype

https://civicnet.github.io/cancer-atlas/#/

A data visualization and mapping prototype to aid lung cancer patients, their navigators, and medical staff. It maps medical services across Romania, making it easy to find specific facilities nearby users' locations.

Cancer Atlas | Data Processing Pipeline

https://github.com/civicnet/cancer-atlas-scripts/

A data processing pipeline built using Reason. It takes in data that powers Cancer Atlas and enriches the application with information related to the location of medical services suppliers using Google Geolocation APIs.

RoDiaspora React Native App

https://github.com/civicnet/rodiaspora/

A React Native application for Romanians abroad, helping them locate embassies or consulates and voting booths during elections. It also provides them with news related to the country they may be in and alerts issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Disaster Visualization Atlas

https://github.com/civicnet/disaster-atlas/

A visualization of global warming's potential effects. It allows simulating sea-level rising interactively using a slider and maps out important landmarks in Romania that could potentially get flooded. It also shows estimated material damages and the number of affected people for each county. I built the application and the dataset that powers it. The application was presented during the Understanding Risk Europe conference in 2019.

Heroku Buildpack for HHVM

https://github.com/facebookarchive/heroku-buildpack-hhvm/

A custom buildpack that I helped develop for bringing HHVM to Heroku. My role was mainly building the HHVM .hdf configuration linter using Bash, which was the prerequisite step before compiling any HHVM project.

1977 Cutremur Earthquake Visualization

https://civicnet.github.io/cutremur77/#/

An interactive visualization of the large earthquake that hit Romania on March 4, 1977. It shows how the earthquake propagated from the epicenter in real-time, using actual data, including a short audio recording. I built this with the aid of the National Research Development Institute for Earth Physics.

Alba Iulia Smart City Presentation Website

https://github.com/civicnet/website-alba-iulia-smart-city/

A presentation website showcasing smart city solutions implemented during the Alba Iulia Smart City program. The City Hall needed a presentation website that would allow them to easily add solutions from over 100 partners, with photos, videos, and structured text descriptions in both Romanian and English, which I built using a custom WordPress installation based on roots.io.

Translation Detector

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/detect-translation/

A TypeScript library that allows website owners to detect when a user requests a page translation using an online translator such as Google, Baidu, Microsoft, Yandex, and others. It does so by observing Document Object Model changes and looking for specific modifications that these online translators make, allowing owners to listen specifically to these events.

Redis Hexastore

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/redis-hexastore/

A lightweight hexastore implementation using Redis sorted sets. It allows storing graphs as triples, such as subject, predicate, and object, for efficient querying. This library was built with Deno in mind as the runtime.

FNV-1a Algorithm Implementation

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/FNV/

A straightforward TypeScript version of the FNV-1a algorithm implemented as a learning exercise, though it seems to perform on par with the FNV-1a algorithm implemented for Deno in the official library.

Feature Bouncer

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/feature-bouncer/

A feature toggle library with persistence in Redis, built for Express. It allows gatekeeping of certain app functionalities for release purposes, only available to x% of the user base; for privacy purposes, only available internally; or for any other purpose a product may require.

Allegro Map Editor

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/Allegro-map-editor/

A tilemap editor built using Allegro. It enables the creation of variable-sized 2D tile maps with any number of layers using custom tilesets. It also allows exporting these maps in Allegro's .dat format, ready to be used for any 2D games. Each tile could also hold several attributes, such as collision information.

TypeScript Duckling

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/ts-duckling/

A TypeScript library for Deno that parses text into structured data. This is inspired by the Duckling parser but uses a more naive approach with parser combinators. In practice, this means that while the library is easy to extend and relatively light, it will perform poorly on larger datasets and be much more error-prone since the rules for entities are hard coded.

Combine Parser Combinator

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/combine/

A parser combinator library for Deno, which takes several parsers as input and returns a new parser. Combine defines a few such parsers and combinators, including utility functions, to make parsing tasks easy.

dHash Algorithm Implementation

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/dhash/

An implementation of the dHash algorithm for Deno. It allows quickly finding images that are identical—or have slight derivations of a source image—in a large dataset by computing a perceptual hash for each. This tool is handy for fighting spam, copyright, and many other scenarios.

Allegro Particle Editor

https://github.com/ClaudiuCeia/Allegro-particle-editor/

A particle editor built in C++ using the Allegro library. It features options to define particle and emitter parameters such as life duration, shape, size, color, and speed, including any forces that may be applied to them, such as gravity or wind.

Skills

Languages

TypeScript, GraphQL, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, PHP 7, HTML, Hack Language, SQL, Reason ML, Bash, C++, RDF, SPARQL, Python, C

Frameworks

Next.js, MUI (formerly Material UI), Redux, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), OAuth 2, Bootstrap, Deck.gl, Express.js, Jest, React Native, Ionic, Tailwind CSS, Bedrock, Ionic 4, CakePHP, PhoneGap

Libraries/APIs

Node.js, React, REST APIs, Google APIs, jQuery, Social Media APIs, Turf.js, Google Geocoding API, OpenStreetMap API, Vue 2, Sage, D3.js, Mapbox API, Mapbox GL, Google Analytics API, Auth0 API, GitHub API, Salesforce API, Facebook API, Facebook SDK, Facebook Login, Twitter API, YouTube API, AWS Amplify, Vue, Google Maps

Tools

Phabricator, Microsoft Excel, Front-end Build Tools, Flow, Git, GitLab, Google Analytics, GitLab CI/CD, Roots, GIS, Expo, NPM, Vim Text Editor, Docker Compose, Amazon Cognito, Amazon ElastiCache, AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), NGINX, GitHub, Auth0, Create React App, Prisma, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), XHProf, PhpMyAdmin, Apache, Google Sheets, Figma, Google Docs

Paradigms

Responsive, Unit Testing, REST, Cross-platform, Microservices, Management, App Development, Mobile Development

Platforms

LAMP, Docker, WordPress, Mapbox, Algolia, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Firebase, Linux, AWS Lambda, Heroku, Fedora, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), DigitalOcean, Microsoft Edge, Mobile, iOS, Android

Other

Code Review, APIs, Web Development, Full-stack, Architecture, Software Architecture, Front-end Development, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Software Design, Startups, Web & Mobile Applications, Webhooks, Front-end, UI Components, RESTful Web Services, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, Amazon Neptune, Deno, Visualization, CI/CD Pipelines, Integration Testing, Apollo Server, SaaS, SaaS Design, API Integration, Back-end, Scripting, Algorithms, System Architecture Design, Project Planning, Leadership, Payment APIs, WordPress Plugins, User Experience (UX), Technical Leadership, Storybook, Release Management, Data Visualization, Apollo, Data Processing, HHVM, Neptune, OpenStreetMap, Code Generators, Redis Clusters, RDFs, Mapbox Styling, Mapbox Datasets, Private NPM Modules, Open Source, LogRocket, Cordova, App Store, Google Play Store, Hackathons, Mentorship, i18n, Plugins, Interviews, Outsourcing, IT Outsourcing, HTML Email, Requirements & Specifications, Mentorship & Coaching, Fintech, Dashboards, Cloud, Real-time Data, Mobile Apps, Gaming, User Interface (UI)

Storage

MySQL, Redis, PostgreSQL, Databases, Redis Cache, JSON/XML Schemas, Amazon DynamoDB, MariaDB, Memcached

Industry Expertise

Project Management, Web Design