Cristian is available for hire
Hire CristianCristian Calara
Verified Expert in Engineering
Full-stack Developer
Location
Iași, Iași County, Romania
Toptal Member Since
February 5, 2020
Cristian is a full-stack engineer with 7+ years of experience in web development. He has been working as a full-time freelancer for the past six years, time in which he has acquired a robust set of skills across the whole software engineering process. Cristian considers communication and management to be critical for a project’s success. He is an avid learner and likes to get involved in challenging projects.
Portfolio
AgentSuite
Full-stack, ImageMagick, Google Ads API, Facebook Ads API, Vue, Laravel
Planify.ro
Full-stack, Ads, Pinterest, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Vue, Nuxt.js, Laravel
RunPage
Full-stack, Google Cloud, PayPal, Image Processing, Canvas, Vue, Express.js...
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Slack, Git, Vim Text Editor, MacOS
The most amazing...
...experience was building an online marketplace for wedding services as a side project that turned into a small sustainable business.
Work Experience
Contractor
2019 - PRESENT
AgentSuite
- Developed an application to allow real-estate agencies to automate their social advertising process by creating ads on Facebook and Google based on the properties data.
- Used ImageMagick to enhance properties images by adding critical information like price, the number of rooms, real-estate agent information on top of the picture.
- Provided a dashboard to showcase statistics and possible improvements of the campaigns run via the application.
Technologies: Full-stack, ImageMagick, Google Ads API, Facebook Ads API, Vue, Laravel
Co-founder | Chief Executive Officer
2017 - PRESENT
Planify.ro
- Co-founded and developed an online marketplace for wedding suppliers.
- Ran user interviews with wedding suppliers to decide on the product features and roadmap.
- Ran marketing campaigns to bring in wedding suppliers and future brides and grooms to the platform.
- Refactored from a standard server-side rendered app to single page application for a better UX.
Technologies: Full-stack, Ads, Pinterest, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Vue, Nuxt.js, Laravel
Contractor
2016 - PRESENT
RunPage
- Developed the web application to allow race participants to showcase their latest race pictures and stats using Pic2Go patented race-photography solution.
- Generated dynamic images using GraphicsMagick for each race and runner profile to help with social virality.
- Integrated client-side canvas editor to allow runners to create a dynamic high-resolution poster image that was afterward printed and delivered by a third-party provider.
- Provided technical expertise while planning for new features.
- Helped to grow and scale the project to almost 100,000 users and over 120,000 races.
Technologies: Full-stack, Google Cloud, PayPal, Image Processing, Canvas, Vue, Express.js, Node.js
Senior Full-Stack Developer
2013 - PRESENT
Freelance
- Worked and communicated successfully with over 100 clients on a varied range of projects, starting from one-hour bug fixes to thousands of hours type of projects.
- Received artwork that I sliced into HTML with fast loading performance.
- Integrated APIs such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Maps, Mailchimp, Stripe, Paypal, and more.
- Improved the security of the applications by preventing SQL injections and XSS attacks.
- Profiled and improved the overall performance of applications.
Technologies: Full-stack, PayPal, Canvas, ImageMagick, Social APIs, Stripe, Vue, Nuxt.js, Laravel, Node.js, JavaScript, PHP
Chief Technology Officer
2017 - 2020
SocialEazie
- Worked on creating a unified internal API to allow posting to all the major social networks, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.
- Handled interviewing and onboarding temporary remote developers to speed up development for specific new features.
- Implemented a queue-based architecture to allow horizontal scaling.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Full-stack, LinkedIn API, Twitter API, Instagram API, Facebook API, Stripe, Vue, Laravel
Full-stack Developer
2012 - 2013
VeryCreative
- Developed several WordPress and WooCommerce web sites, handling the whole process after design handover.
- Handled client communication for all assigned projects.
- Handled deployment, maintenance, bug-fixing and new features requests for all assigned projects.
Technologies: WordPress, JavaScript, PHP
Experience
Web App for Runpage
https://runpage.com/A web application built with Express.js (Node.js) and Vue.js. This project started in 2016. Even though Node.js was not in my professional skillset at the time due to my past work with the client, he wanted me to work on this.
We started with an MVP that integrated an already existing API to showcase a runner race. The runner could edit the statistics from the race, remove current photos, and add new ones.
During the past four years, we have slowly added new features and improvements, and the project has grown to have over 120,000 races and over 80,000 runners.
We started with an MVP that integrated an already existing API to showcase a runner race. The runner could edit the statistics from the race, remove current photos, and add new ones.
During the past four years, we have slowly added new features and improvements, and the project has grown to have over 120,000 races and over 80,000 runners.
Web App For SocialEazie
https://socialeazie.com/A web application that provides easier social media management. The platform supports posting to all the major social networks - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Users can also create a backlog of posts that will get posted based on a weekly/monthly schedule they set.
I have handled the development of the platform. I also provided technical expertise to guide the product roadmap.
The platform is built using Laravel and Vue.js.
Over 160,000 posts were created via the platform.
I have handled the development of the platform. I also provided technical expertise to guide the product roadmap.
The platform is built using Laravel and Vue.js.
Over 160,000 posts were created via the platform.
Web App For Planify
https://www.planify.ro/An online marketplace for connecting brides and grooms to wedding suppliers.
This was a personal idea that I implemented as a side project, which then turned into a small sustainable business. I handled the whole process. I handled planning, mockups, hiring a designer, developing the application, product roadmap, social ads campaigns, and support.
In terms of technologies, Nuxt.js and Laravel are the main frameworks used. The application is hosted on AWS.
This was a personal idea that I implemented as a side project, which then turned into a small sustainable business. I handled the whole process. I handled planning, mockups, hiring a designer, developing the application, product roadmap, social ads campaigns, and support.
In terms of technologies, Nuxt.js and Laravel are the main frameworks used. The application is hosted on AWS.
Web App for AgentSuite
A web application that streamlines the process of creating social ads for real-estate agencies.
This was a project where the client had an idea, and I helped him get to a finished product. I was in charge of planning, creating the mockups, implementation, deployment, basically taking the role of a CTO.
The real-estate agencies are first onboarded on another app that was implemented by a previous developer. That app handles the gathering and unifying the properties data in a standard format. After that, they are onboarded on AgentSuite, where we use the previously mentioned API to pre-populate the ad creation wizard. Using the wizard, the real estate agents can create ads on both Facebook and Google at the same time. The app handles creating all the needed assets such that a previous 10+ minute process becomes a half a minute one.
I interviewed and onboarded two remote developers to complete some needed features in a more timely manner.
I currently still handle maintenance, technical support, and new feature requests.
This was a project where the client had an idea, and I helped him get to a finished product. I was in charge of planning, creating the mockups, implementation, deployment, basically taking the role of a CTO.
The real-estate agencies are first onboarded on another app that was implemented by a previous developer. That app handles the gathering and unifying the properties data in a standard format. After that, they are onboarded on AgentSuite, where we use the previously mentioned API to pre-populate the ad creation wizard. Using the wizard, the real estate agents can create ads on both Facebook and Google at the same time. The app handles creating all the needed assets such that a previous 10+ minute process becomes a half a minute one.
I interviewed and onboarded two remote developers to complete some needed features in a more timely manner.
I currently still handle maintenance, technical support, and new feature requests.
Skills
Languages
PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL
Frameworks
Laravel, Nuxt.js, Express.js, Jest, Cypress
Libraries/APIs
Vue, Vuex, REST APIs, jQuery, Node.js, Facebook Ads API, Google Ads API, ImageMagick, Stripe, Facebook API, Instagram API, Twitter API, LinkedIn API, Social APIs
Other
Full-stack, Web Development, HTML to WordPress, Image Processing, PayPal, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Pinterest, Ads
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), MacOS, WordPress, Ubuntu
Tools
Vim Text Editor, Git, Slack, Canvas, Trello, Sketch
Paradigms
DevOps, Unit Testing
Storage
Google Cloud, MySQL
Education
2014 - 2017
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University - Iași, Romania