Francis Brassard
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Montreal, QC, Canada
Toptal member since September 17, 2019
Francis has built and led teams that have successfully developed robust and efficient PHP and Python back-end apps. To projects, he brings over a decade of hands-on experience with high-availability, high-traffic apps in both monolithic and microservice architectures. Francis is the type of developer who strives to improve himself and those around him while using cutting-edge tech and adhering to the highest quality standards as much as possible.
Portfolio
Experience
- Back-end - 15 years
- PHP - 15 years
- Technical Leadership - 12 years
- Software Architecture - 12 years
- Cloud Architecture - 10 years
- Laravel - 8 years
- Kubernetes - 7 years
- Python - 6 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Docker, Kubernetes, PHP, Python, Amazon Web Services (AWS), JetBrains, GitHub
The most amazing...
...project I've executed was the live migration of a core set of apps from on-premise hosting to Docker on AWS with no downtime or data inconsistency/loss.
Work Experience
Full-stack Engineer (via Toptal)
SimplyWise, Inc.
- Maintained the AWS infrastructure, including a full migration from Amazon EKS to Amazon ECS with no downtime.
- Increased the Terraform coverage of the infrastructure to 95% and merged multiple codebases into a single one.
- Reduced AWS and Datadog costs through fine-grained optimizations.
- Developed new features and maintained a monolithic back-end application and an API on Django.
- Optimized and implemented asynchronous processes with RabbitMQ (Django Celery) and SQS queues and workers.
- Developed ChatGPT algorithms to extract finance-related information from images and handle generic FAQ functionalities.
- Architected new features and maintained a React web application.
- Developed new features and maintained a React Native mobile application for iOS and Android.
Solutions Architect (via Toptal)
Azrieli Ecommerce Ltd.
- Founded and managed the back-end and DevOps teams of five and two members, respectively. Prepared and handed off the team leadership and moved to an architecture position.
- Collaborated closely with the CTO and various stakeholders to prioritize and execute the feature roadmap.
- Migrated a legacy application (monolith) to a new microservice architecture.
- Designed and built the cloud architecture of the new platform on AWS.
- Customized an Akeneo (Symfony) application to manage product-related information (PIM).
- Developed ChatGPT algorithms to extract standardized product information from non-standard vendor-provided information.
- Customized a Sylius (Symfony) application to handle all eCommerce-related functionalities.
- Developed a custom Flask service to handle geo-clustering of delivery and pickup locations.
- Oversaw the implementation of up-to-date development standards, including GitHub Actions testing and deployment pipelines.
- Set up and maintained the AWS infrastructure with Terraform Cloud with close to 100% coverage.
Senior Back-end Developer and DevOps Engineer (via Toptal)
Wizard Phone LLC
- Migrated the existing PHP application to a microservice architecture on Laravel and WordPress.
- Expanded checkout functionalities to Stripe (checkout, subscriptions) and PayPal (checkout).
- Organized and managed UI redesigns with various subcontractors.
- Managed and migrated all infrastructure components to Terraform.
- Migrated the complete application from a dedicated server to AWS (Fargate, RDS, ElastiCache, S3).
- Implemented GitHub Actions PR testing and deployment pipelines.
- Increased client application uptime to 99.9% within a year.
Senior Software Developer | Team Lead
IVADO Labs
- Developed AI/ML solutions for a wide variety of business clients in the supply chain domain.
- Implemented continuous integration and deployment pipelines.
- Refactored and improved Python codebases to make sure that they met current standards.
- Managed a team of three developers of various levels of seniority.
Tech Lead
SSENSE
- Led and mentored a team of back-end developers of all experience levels.
- Set up a continuous integration and delivery pipeline (Jenkins Blue Ocean) on back-end applications.
- Developed a product information management system in Python (Flask), MongoDB, Amazon S3, and Amazon SQS within a microservice architecture.
- Broke down a core monolith back-end application into microservices and micro UIs with no downtime.
- Participated in the overall effort of standardizing processes and development standards across the organization through documentation, transfer of knowledge, and code reviews.
Senior Web Developer
SSENSE
- Maintained the core monolith back-end application in PHP and MySQL.
- Translated business requirements into technical feature requests.
- Set up monitors and alerts in regard to uptime and code quality.
Production Manager
Cakemail
- Held regular calls with internal stakeholders and external API clients to ensure proper request follow-ups.
- Replaced GitHub issues with Jira for request tracking.
- Implemented development and deployment standards, including continuous integration and delivery pipeline on Jenkins.
- Maintained a high-traffic and high-availability PHP and MySQL application.
- Migrated the main application from on-premise to AWS with no downtime.
- Implemented quality and uptime monitoring on back-end systems (SLA).
- Executed the migration of terabytes of data from one MySQL server to another with no downtime and no loss of integrity.
- Replaced most of the application's CRONs with RabbitMQ queues and workers for faster and more efficient data processing.
Tech Lead
TC Media
- Implemented code-review processes across the department.
- Defined, documented, and enforced development standards.
- Guided a team of developers through bug fixes and feature development.
- Supported a new release manager position by helping put in place a proper delivery pipeline (Jenkins).
- Assessed and resolved complex issues that required deeper business and technological knowledge.
Web Developer
TC Media
- Maintained various PHP and MySQL digital media websites.
- Ensured a proper follow-up on stakeholder feature requests.
- Estimated new feature requests from different stakeholders.
Webmaster
Canada Border Service Agency
- Regularly updated the .NET intranet website with new features.
- Estimated, implemented, and maintained new feature requests.
- Ensured accessibility standards were followed as per government standards.
Experience
SaaS Product for Nonprofit Organizations
https://www.wizardphone.com/eCommerce Platform Rehaul
https://www.azrieli.comMobile and Web Applications
https://www.simplywise.comCertifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
Amazon Web Services
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
Linux Foundation
GCP Associate Cloud Engineer
Skills
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, jQuery, API Development, Stripe, SQLAlchemy, Auth, Twilio API, AWS Amplify, Web API, PayPal API, Stripe API, Beautiful Soup, Stripe Connect, Google API, OpenAI API, React, Google Maps API, Auth0 API, Auth0 Management API v2
Tools
Terraform, Amazon EKS, AWS Fargate, phpDocumentor, PHPStan, Git, Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), AWS ELB, AWS CLI, AWS IAM, Stripe Checkout, GitHub, RabbitMQ, Jenkins, SendGrid, Akeneo, ChatGPT, Auth0, Figma, AWS Step Functions, JetBrains
Languages
CSS, PHP, Python, HTML, JavaScript, Python 3, SQL, SCSS, Sass, HTML5, CSS3
Frameworks
Flask, Django, Symfony, Laravel, Django REST Framework, Serverless Framework, Sylius, Alpine.js, Laravel Livewire, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, React Native
Paradigms
Microservices, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Development (CD), DevOps, API Architecture, REST API Architecture, Agile, Dependency Injection, Clean Architecture, REST, Database Design, Web Architecture, Event-driven Architecture, Unit Testing, Agile Software Development, Lambda Architecture, HIPAA Compliance, Mobile Development
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Kubernetes, WordPress, AWS Lambda, AWS NLB, AWS ALB, Amazon EC2, Twilio, Telnyx, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Android, iOS
Storage
MySQL, PostgreSQL, Datadog, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Redis Cache, MariaDB, Redis, Databases, Database Structure, Database Architecture, Amazon EFS, MongoDB, Google Cloud, Amazon FSx, Amazon DynamoDB
Industry Expertise
Marketing, Healthcare
Other
Back-end, Architecture, APIs, Product Information Management (PIM), Cost Management, Team Leadership, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Team Management, Leadership, GitHub Actions, Cloud Architecture, AWS Cloud Architecture, Cloud, CI/CD Pipelines, Software Architecture, Software Development, Technical Leadership, API Integration, API Connectors, AWS DevOps, Software Design, Technical Requirements, Full-stack, Static Analysis, Integration, Cloud Infrastructure, API Applications, Content Management Systems (CMS), eCommerce, eCommerce CMS, Website CMS, Webhooks, Headless Commerce, Headless Software, Full-stack Development, Back-end Development, Front-end Development, System Architecture, Solution Architecture, Web Applications, Front-end, Performance, Large-scale Projects, Headless CMS, Web Development, Relational Database Services (RDS), Serverless, Message Queues, ECS, Infrastructure, Amazon RDS, Containerization, API Gateways, Agile Product Delivery, HTTP, SSL, Code Review, API Design, AWS WAF, Amazon MQ, Amazon API Gateway, Frameworks, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Data Security and Privacy Frameworks (GDPR compliance), Monitoring, Terraform Cloud, ChatGPT Prompts, ChatGPT API, PayPal, Stripe Subscriptions, Subscriptions, SaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS), HIPAA Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Single Sign-on (SSO), TALL Stack, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Online Payments, Payment APIs, Payment Gateways, Large Language Models (LLMs), OpenAI, OpenAI GPT-3 API, OpenAI GPT-4 API, Startups, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), PDF, Fintech, Single-page Applications (SPAs)
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