Ivan Voras, PhD
Verified Expert in Engineering
CTO Developer
Zagreb, Croatia
Toptal member since August 26, 2014
Ivan has a Computer Engineering PhD. He has worked as a CTO and a system architect, founding multiple projects and businesses. He has experience architecting and implementing server-side solutions, including distributed platforms, such as blockchains, chat servers, and game back-ends. He helped establish the Toptal blockchain specialization, served as a tech screener, and lectured for Toptal Academy.
Portfolio
Experience
- Back-end Architecture - 20 years
- Web Application Architecture - 20 years
- Database Design - 18 years
- Python - 15 years
- CTO - 11 years
- Business Services - 10 years
- Go - 6 years
- Large Language Models (LLMs) - 1 year
Availability
Preferred Environment
Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Go, Git, GCC, Linux, Python, Back-end Development, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Ollama, VLLM
The most amazing...
...thing I've created is the Augmented Reality platform Equinox XR, bringing the virtual and the physical with GPS-based AR content.
Work Experience
Data and DevOps Engineer
ThoughtLeaders Ltd
- Developed an AI data processing pipeline for detecting brands in scraped content of the open web and media platforms.
- Made the AI data processing pipeline horizontally scalable, using AWS services and Elasticsearch.
- Developed tools for modifying and maintaining data in Elasticsearch to support business processes and decisions.
CTO | Founder
Equinox Vision d.o.o.,
- Architected and developed a highly scalable back-end architecture to handle hundreds of thousands of users for the global AR platform the company is developing.
- Assembled a team of developers, designers, and marketers to launch the company as a startup.
- Managed the startup's founding team for the early stage of the company.
Consultant | Blockchain Developer
Ideja na kvadrat (Self-employed)
- Developed the back end for a Bitcoin explorer tool with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Python.
- Handled DBA and DevOps for large companies and startups.
- Worked with a self-employment company as a consultant and freelance in web app architecture, big data processing architecture, and high-performance network services.
Open Source Developer
Freelance
- Authored dozens of open source projects, including applications and libraries.
- Created a faster, faster, high-performance memory cache server with more features than Memcached.
- Built a module for PostgreSQL (written in C) to extend the full-text-search facility with support for the Croatian language.
- Developed a module for PostgreSQL (written in C) to support on-the-fly.
- Created a client-side public key encryption module in JavaScript and PHP for secure user authentication without SSL.
- Developed a fixed-point header library in C for environments without floating-point support (e.g., embedded).
- Created an encrypted notepad app for desktop and Android editing, directly saving encrypted files.
- Updated a blog regularly at http://ivoras.net/blog/tree/.
Solidity Developer
Tinloof GmbH
- Participated in R&D on managing communities on the blockchain.
- Created complex community management smart contracts on Solidity.
- Developed a prototype using a miniaturized version of generative AI on the blockchain in Solidity using the Markov Chain algorithms.
Senior Back-end Developer | Big Data Architect
OpenNovations
- Created an extremely performance optimized log processor in Go for anomaly detection in lab systems, capable of analyzing tens of gigabytes of data per second.
- Troubleshot the DevOps setup for a new product using Ansible.
- Troubleshot PostgreSQL deployment and performance issues.
Senior Lead PHP Developer
Foothold Technology, Inc.
- Troubleshot performance issues and daily database issues for a large web app.
- Worked with and consulted the DevOps team in closing hard-to-catch issues relating to the Linux kernel and PostgreSQL internals.
- Participated in planning and designing sysadmin/ops activities and requirements.
- Managed a data processing pipeline using Airflow and Snowflake.
C Developer
EvoBits Information Technology SRL
- Developed the back end for a blockchain explorer product using Python and PostgreSQL.
- Created a system that periodically imports blockchain data into PostgreSQL for analytics purposes.
- Developed forks of the Bitcoin codebase to work as altcoins.
CTO and Founder
Akira Industries
- Developed multiple iterations of a PCB board for an IoT product.
- Assembled and tested pre-production PCB boards and made them ready for production.
- Managed PCB manufacture and assembly of pre-production PCB samples with a Chinese manufacturer (JLCPCB).
Kernel Developer
FreeBSD
- Wrote kernel-side code dealing with storage systems (GEOM).
- Designed and implemented a device-level journaling module.
- Designed and implemented a virtual storage module.
- Gave talks at annual FreeBSD conferences about my work with storage systems (GEOM).
- Participated in the vibrant international community of users and developers.
Internet Services Architect
University of Zagreb
- Designed and implemented the core of a web content management system back when they were a new concept (2001-2002).
- Designed the faculty web and student information systems as a technology and product architect.
- Designed a very modular web application framework.
- Designed and optimized the design of the database to include recent PostgreSQL features.
- Designed and implemented the server-side environment based on FreeBSD for high performance and uptime.
- Spearheaded the implementation of new technologies into existing products and processes.
- Completed a PhD in an efficient multithreaded client-server architecture.
Experience
A Book About Running an Early Stage Startup in Eastern Europe
https://www.amazon.com/European-VC-Funded-Startup-Guide-Eastern-ebook/dp/B0C2XT3BV1?crid=3UR2IQ4LWZD2ZDaisy Blockchain
https://github.com/ivoras/daisyESP8266 3LED
https://easyeda.com/84e3e8ee/ESP8266_3LED_1_3-9442fb3e6844443299208137daf8dcdaBullet Cache
My Electronics Blog
http://ivoras-electronics.tumblr.com/I'm currently interested in low-power design and solar power.
Education
PhD in Computer Engineering
University of Zagreb - Croatia
Skills
Libraries/APIs
API Development, REST APIs, Social Media APIs, LibC, Sockets, HTTP API, POSIX, Arduino RTC, Python Imaging Library, LocalStorage, AES, Puppet.js, Social APIs, Pygame, FFmpeg, SDL, Google API, pcap, ZeroMQ
Tools
Ansible, PuTTY, Vim Text Editor, Git, Apache, GitHub, Django-admin-tools, Trac, Subversion (SVN), Bitbucket, KVM/Qemu, NGINX, Mercurial, SQL Prompt, VirtualBox, Makefile, CMake, Valgrind, MQTT, Docker Compose, Puppet, AI Prompts, Apache Airflow, Postfix, Notepad++, MediaWiki, HSQLDB, cURL Command Line Tool, Trello, GCC, VPN, GNU Debugger (GDB), Google Workspace, ELK (Elastic Stack)
Languages
Go, SQL, Python, C, Snowflake, Stored Procedure, Regex, PL/pgSQL, Embedded C, Solidity, C#, PHP, Java, Bash, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, C++
Frameworks
Django, Knockout (Knockout.js), Flask, Bootstrap, Swagger, .NET, .NET Core, Unity3D, Unity
Paradigms
Concurrent Programming, Back-end Architecture, Database Design, REST, Hosting, Web Architecture, Web Application Architecture, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), DevOps, Socket Programming, Microservices, Real-time Systems, High-performance Computing (HPC), Refactoring, Clean Code, Data-driven Programming, Object-oriented Design (OOD), Management, Unit Testing
Platforms
Blockchain, Ubuntu, Linux, LAMP, Raspberry Pi, BSD, Red Hat Linux, Debian Linux, CentOS 6, CentOS, Kubuntu Linux, Linux RHEL/CentOS, Unix, FreeBSD, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Ethereum, Embedded Linux, Ollama, Blockchain Platforms, Xen, Django CMS, Android, Raspbian, Kernel Programming, Keychain, Arduino, Kubernetes, Apache Kafka, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Tezos, Hyperledger, AWS Lambda
Storage
PostgreSQL, Database Performance, SQLite, Memcached, Cache, FlatFile, Database Administration (DBA), Databases, SQL Stored Procedures, Database Modeling, NoSQL, LevelDB, DB, Redis, smbd, MySQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Data Pipelines, Elasticsearch, Cassandra, SQL Performance, MySQL Daemon, Internal Databases, Database Replication, JSON, Apache Derby, Firebird, LVM, CouchDB, Berkeley DB, MongoDB
Other
Performance Tuning, Software Architecture, Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency Development, Architecture, Version Control, IMAP, SMTP, TCP/IP, SSL, Bitcoind, Back-end Development, System Architecture, HTTP, Open Source, Bitcoin, System Administration, SSH, Memory Mapped Files, IT Consulting, Software Engineering, Linux Servers, Data, CTO, Technical Writing, API Design, API Integration, Web Development, Technical Leadership, SaaS, APIs, API Documentation, Back-end, Scripting, Software Design, Scalable Architecture, Solution Architecture, Email, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Podcasting, Game Back-end, Documentation, White Papers, Security Policies & Procedures, ESP8266, Hardware, Electronics, Firmware, Network Programming, WebSockets, Bluetooth, Distributed File Systems, Cryptography, Ethernet, Networks, Web Services, UDP, Encryption, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Embedded Systems, Site Speed Optimization, Public-key Cryptography, SFTP, FTP, GNU, Unix/Linux Virtualization, RSync, Multithreading, Writing & Editing, iSCSI, Hash, Regular Expressions, HTTP Server, Data Structures, Prototyping, Embedded Software, Crypto, Cryptocurrency APIs, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Scraping, Cloud, Team Leadership, Augmented Reality (AR), AR Interfaces, Web Security, WhatsApp, Smart Contracts, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Ethereum Smart Contracts, Web Scraping, Data Engineering, Distributed Systems, Container Orchestration, Non-fungible Tokens (NFT), Computer Science, Internet of Things (IoT), IoT Protocols, OpenAI GPT-3 API, ChatGPT API, ERC-20, Leadership, Business Services, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Full-text Search, Large Language Models (LLMs), Data Scraping, Social Media Analytics, VLLM, Large Language Model Operations (LLMOps), Prompt Engineering, ChatGPT Prompts, Applied Cryptography, Data Warehousing, Data Warehouse Design, Consulting, Digital Electronics, Algorithms, ARM Embedded, Apache Cassandra, Electrical Engineering, System Design, NFS, Unix Shell Scripting, Genetic Algorithms, RPC, Memory Profiling, Social Media Integration, Single Sign-on (SSO), Protocol Buffers, RSA, OAuth, Peer-to-peer Networking, Lean Development, Embedded Hardware, Software Consulting, Technical Consulting, ARM, PCB Design, PCB, Microcontrollers, Renewable Energy, Full-stack, Financials, Data Science, Due Diligence, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Machine Learning, Polygon, Tokenization, Big Data Architecture, Big Data
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