David Richard, Developer in Lafayette, LA, United States
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David Richard

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Lafayette, LA, United States
Toptal Member Since
March 11, 2021

David has 11 years of experience in web development, including positions such as CTO, lead developer, solo developer, and database admin. David excels at working with clients directly and helping them craft their vision of the perfect app or MVP. He specializes in full-stack development and loves building SaaS apps, Chrome extensions, and PWAs. David prefers to build back ends in Node.js or PHP, and he's currently working on building more JAMstack apps.

Portfolio

Hub City Code
Node.js, React, Vue, MySQL, PHP
Trakability
JavaScript, PHP, Vue, MySQL, Docker, Node.js, React
Exco
PHP, Node.js, Assembly, Microcontrollers

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Node.js, PHP, React, Vue, Bootstrap, Docker, Git

The most amazing...

...web app I've developed is trakability.com. It serves thousands of insurance agencies and is the number one office management tool in the State Farm network.

Work Experience

Director of Engineering

2019 - 2021
Hub City Code
  • Developed software as a service applications across dozens of industries.
  • Consulted with clients and filled the role of a product owner with the development team.
  • Helped clients through various software accreditations, such as PCI compliance and HIPAA compliance.
  • Managed a team of developers across dozens of projects.
Technologies: Node.js, React, Vue, MySQL, PHP

CTO

2015 - 2019
Trakability
  • Developed the company's web application, an office management tool for insurance agencies.
  • Provided all technical support to the customer service staff.
  • Managed the development team and worked with co-founders to create roadmaps.
Technologies: JavaScript, PHP, Vue, MySQL, Docker, Node.js, React

Senior Full-stack Developer

2013 - 2015
Exco
  • Developed an IoT device that monitored welding machine usage.
  • Created a web application to track IoT device data, specifically from the above-mentioned welding machine tracker.
  • Developed a web application to accurately price second-hand components sold by the parent company.
  • Provided QA for uumph, an order management software for dropshipping logistics providers.
Technologies: PHP, Node.js, Assembly, Microcontrollers

Web Developer

2008 - 2012
Louisiana Tech University
  • Developed a content management system for the engineering college to manage their web presence.
  • Developed a learning management system for a NASA-sponsored high school curriculum.
  • Developed a camp management system for the engineering college's annual summer camp.
Technologies: PHP, JavaScript

Trakability

https://trakability.com
An office management application for insurance agencies. Some of the application features include reporting, employee tracking, time tracking, compensation planning, and payroll.

Trakability is a PHP-backed application with Vue.js and React apps for various features. Trakability uses Node.js microservices to handle background tasks from its queue.

I built the first version of Trakability as an MVP with my cofounder in about 1 month. The MVP demo gathered hundreds of beta users and an outside investor within a few months. Working on Trakability as CTO and lead developer, the application has grown to over 1,200 users and keeps track of 100,000+ insurance policies.

I have also managed the development team as it has grown, developing best practices and leading my company successfully through State Farm certification, which is similar to SOC2.

HowMany Extension

https://howmanyextension.com
A Chrome extension that serves the eCommerce community, primarily Amazon sellers. HowMany helps customers do product research and make buying and pricing decisions by focusing on opposition research.

HowMany is a Chrome extension powered by PHP and Node.js microservices running on a rabbitMQ queue. HowMany also has a React-powered admin interface and a Vue.js-powered Customer portal.

I picked up this project from another developer and became the lead developer for several years. Some of the technical challenges included scaling computationally-intense, real-time tasks, creating a robust API, and evolving a legacy database to more modern standards.

I reduced the load time for the API's intensive calls from around one min (yes a whole minute) to around two seconds. I also implemented dozens of new features resulting in a user growth rate of nearly 100%.

I also improved the system uptime to around 98%. It's worth noting this application using web scraping techniques (with permission) so that is unheard of in this space.

GroupsPro.io

https://groupspro.io
A Chrome extension that helps Facebook group managers organize their users for marketing follow-ups. GroupsPro is built in Angular for the front end and uses a PHP back end. Node.js microservices handle some of the data-intensive tasks.

I took over the project from previous development. The application was not working due to changes in Facebook's APIs.

I rebuilt the extension's API code, completely eliminating the constant issues with Facebook changing APIs. I also retooled the codebase to make adding new integrations with third-party APIs easier. Adding a new API went from about 10 hours to about 30 minutes. We have tripled the number of integrations since this change.

GroupsPro has gone on to be featured on AppSumo and now boasts over 110,000 members.

File Genius

https://filegenius.com
File Genius is a file-sharing and data storage application targeting enterprise organizations. It is similar to Dropbox.

File Genius is a React front end with a PHP back end and Node.js microservices for data cleanup.

I started on as a developer with File Genius and quickly moved up to managing the feature team. In my time there we rebuilt the dev environment instructions – which took roughly 10 hours to set up – into a Docker container that can be brought up in seconds. This reduced new employee onboarding significantly.
I also oversaw the transition from a plain JavaScript front end to React.

Sora.co

http://sora.co
A React and Node.js-based application to manage HR operations. I worked as a full-stack engineer, primarily developing improvements to the role based authorization system. I also worked quite a bit improving the DevOps experience.

Languages

PHP, JavaScript, PHP 7, TypeScript, Assembly, GraphQL

Frameworks

Bootstrap, Express.js, CodeIgniter

Libraries/APIs

Node.js, Vue, jQuery, React, Redis Queue

Tools

Slack, Git, Stylus, Create React App, React Apollo

Storage

MySQL, Redis, PostgreSQL

Other

People Management, Chrome Extensions, Full-stack, Software, Robotics, Microcontrollers, Apollo Server, Apollo, APIs

Platforms

Docker, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

2011 - 2012

Master's Degree in Education

Louisiana Tech University - Ruston, Louisiana

2007 - 2011

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering

Louisiana Tech University - Ruston, Louisiana

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