James Sun
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Springfield, VA, United States
Toptal member since June 18, 2020
James is a software developer with over 20 years of experience helping organizations solve complex database, reporting, and system integration issues. He has worked on a variety of platforms and databases—including Microsoft and LAMP stacks. James's ability to understand complex business processes, develop and document systems to manage those processes, and communicate technical information to non-technical people is what sets him apart from other technical resources.
Portfolio
Experience
- Microsoft SQL Server - 20 years
- SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) - 10 years
- Microsoft Access - 10 years
- WordPress - 5 years
- Node.js - 3 years
- Crystal Reports - 3 years
- Microsoft Power BI - 2 years
- Tableau - 2 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Microsoft SQL Server, C#, Python 3, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau
The most amazing...
...and complex systems integration project is the one I am currently working on: it supports the processing of thousands of applicants to a major US university.
Work Experience
Consultant
Law School in the Washington, D.C. area
- Developed custom Cognos Analytics queries and reports that pull information from Banner, CourseLeaf, and Faculty Success.
- Configured a GCE instance to run automated Python scripts to generate reports that are emailed to a Box-enabled email address.
- Wrote Python scripts to synchronize and clean up faculty, course, and scheduled teaching data between multiple line-of-business systems, including Banner, CourseLeaf, and Faculty Success.
Consultant
Casualty Actuarial Society
- Developed a custom Microsoft Access application used for the CAS exam grading process. This is a semi-annual on-site process where society fellows gather from across the U.S. and Canada to grade essay exams submitted by prospective fellows.
- Built a feature of the Access application that imports data from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The application also generates data that is imported into Excel as histograms.
- Constructed Access reports that open custom forms used for gathering report parameters. Many reports have extensive report logic and complex grouping and sorting. Most reports are tabular, but some support multiple (newspaper) columns.
- Attended semi-annual grading sessions and supported the in-person grading process.
Senior Programmer and Analyst
Johns Hopkins University
- Supported multiple functional areas—including registrar, admissions, and billing.
- Developed custom SQL Server Reporting Services reports.
- Built and maintained automated processes to integrate three applications from different vendors, including a web-based application, an internal document management system (with workflow), and the university's student information system.
- Worked as the lead developer for our internal OnBase (Hyland) document management system.
- Developed a Salesforce-based application to help manage walk-ins to our one-stop student services help desk.
- Created and maintained Tableau and Power BI dashboards used by the internal Admissions staff to track and analyze applicants throughout the admissions cycle. All dashboards leverage multiple datastores stored in a data lake hosted in Microsoft SQL Server.
Principal
Agile Media Ventures, LLC
- Implemented a redesign for the Americas Diabetes Challenge website. This site was hosted in WordPress and had both English and Spanish versions.
- Maintained several custom public-facing PHP and MySQL websites. Several of the web applications included subscription and one-time payment processing using PayPal.
- Updated the content for a leading e-learning portal for emergency room nurses. This was a custom application developed with PHP and MySQL.
- Developed the Power-of-a-Hug website using WordPress along with a few off-the-shelf plugins, including a front-end uploader, justified image grid, and PODS.
- Supported custom reporting engagements for a major provider of secure print management solutions. Developed custom reporting solutions using various tools—most notably SQL Server, Crystal Reports, and Tableau.
Senior Data Engineer
Datamundi
- Reviewed natural language queries and associated SQL statements for inclusion in the training data set for a custom LLM as part of a proof of concept.
- Provided feedback on natural language queries developed by other SQL/data engineers. Reviewed and revised SQL statements written by other data engineers.
- Analyzed publicly available datasets across a variety of domains hosted on Snowflake.
- Created natural language queries to be processed by the custom LLM. Submitted natural language queries to the LLM. Reviewed SQL statements, fixed bugs, and refactored output from the LLM as part of the training process.
Database Developer | Data Specialist
Norton LLC
- Developed Python scripts to convert 80,000+ articles (XML files) from an existing CMS to WordPress.
- Wrote Python scripts to transform existing pages with YouTube links into standalone pages on the new WordPress-powered website.
- Developed Python scripts to transform existing pages with audio/MP3 links into standalone pages on the new WordPress-powered website.
Vice President for Software Development
American Technology Services, Inc.
- Led teams that implemented multiple websites using various content management systems, including Ektron and DotNetNuke.
- Managed the business development for the software development group, including writing proposals and presenting at trade shows and conferences.
- Led the team that developed the Bechtel Public Affairs Database (BPAD)—a web-based tracking system used by the internal PR department at Bechtel.
- Served as the chief technical architect for the development of the Enterprise Information System (EIS) for the Petroleum Finance Company.
- Led the development of the CU Analyzer—an ASP.NET/SQL Server application that allowed external customers to analyze the relative performance of a credit union compared to its peers.
Experience
Sakura Matsui Festival
The technical architecture consisted of five key elements: Bluetooth sensors, data server, messaging server, data publishers, and information consumers. PubNub served as the primary messaging backbone for our technical architecture. I developed a simple specification for how all messages should be formatted throughout the application. Once committed to the spec, the team could integrate publishers and subscribers very easily across various locations, platforms, and technologies.
Automated Processes to the Support Admissions Cycle
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics (Strategic Management)
University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Skills
Libraries/APIs
jQuery, WordPress API, Node.js
Tools
Microsoft Access, Crystal Reports, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Excel, Ektron CMS, Tableau, Cognos Analytics 11, Google Compute Engine (GCE)
Languages
T-SQL (Transact-SQL), SQL, Python 3, Python, SQL DML, Snowflake, C#, VB, JavaScript, PHP, XML
Platforms
OnBase, WordPress, DotNetNuke (DNN)
Storage
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Databases, MongoDB, SQLite, JSON
Paradigms
ETL, Business Intelligence (BI)
Frameworks
.NET, ASP.NET, Classic ASP, Windows PowerShell
Other
Data Engineering, Data Migration, Data Cleansing, Data Cleaning, Data Transformation, PDF, Economics, Software Development, English, Query Optimization
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