Ken Mendes, Developer in Antwerp, Belgium
Ken is available for hire
Hire Ken

Ken Mendes

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Bio

Ken is a full-stack Python developer who has broad experience in different IT roles, including mission-critical operations. He enjoys challenges, algorithms, and distributed systems, and follows a university education in data science and artificial intelligence. Ken cherishes knowledge, responsibility, and integrity, and brings these qualities to all his jobs.

Portfolio

Muresi
RDBMS, React, Unix, Linux, Flask, Docker, Machine Learning...
KdG University College
Cisco, Networking, Shell Development, Linux
SWIFT
SharePoint, Oracle, SAP

Experience

Linux - 15 yearsSQL - 15 yearsPython 3 - 7 yearsPostgreSQL - 5 yearsJavaScript - 5 yearsFlask - 3 yearsFastAPI - 2 yearsReact - 1 year

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, Linux

The most amazing...

...thing I've written in Python is a fully-functional C compiler.

Work Experience

Freelance

2013 - PRESENT
Muresi
  • Built eCommerce websites, including the development of custom plugins for communicating with payment gateways and shipping handlers.
  • Developed a flexible and automatic billing system in Python for online marketeers. It interfaced with bookkeeping systems and online marketing platforms like AdWords.
  • Built an ecologically inspired social web application using Python, Flask, and React.
  • Developed a popular PrestaShop plugin in PHP that dynamically injects canonical and hreflang tags.
  • Built a proof-of-concept neural network for license plate recognition using Python and Keras.
Technologies: RDBMS, React, Unix, Linux, Flask, Docker, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), JavaScript, C++, C, Shell Development, SQL, Python

IT Lecturer

2016 - 2019
KdG University College
  • Taught Linux courses focused on platform basics, philosophy, commands, regular expressions, and Shell scripting.
  • Guided students through the Cisco CCNA courses with theory, labs and thesis.
  • Taught basic and advanced networking courses.
  • Helped adapt course content to the current business context.
  • Built network simulations in order to evaluate students' skills and knowledge.
Technologies: Cisco, Networking, Shell Development, Linux

HR Business Partner for IT and Americas

2011 - 2013
SWIFT
  • Attracted and recruited new IT talent to the organisation.
  • Guided performance management cycles in the supported divisions.
  • Supported senior management with facilitation, coaching, and management training.
  • Encouraged and supported a culture of continuous improvement.
  • Designed talent programs and training packages.
Technologies: SharePoint, Oracle, SAP

Senior Unix Engineer

2008 - 2011
SWIFT
  • Led the technical team for one of the internal HP-UX teams.
  • Responsible for the internal mission-critical services running on HP-UX Serviceguard clusters and Oracle RDBMS.
  • Wrote business continuity tests and planning.
  • Created post-mortem reports detailing operational incidents.
  • Ensured all managed systems met or exceeded the required security levels and policies.
Technologies: Java EE, Shell Scripting, HP-UX, Oracle RDBMS

Unix and Network engineer

2006 - 2008
Reslea NV
  • Responsible for the mission-critical HP-UX (Serviceguard) clusters.
  • Built and managed a pan-European network between the headquarters and branch offices.
  • Created a highly-available Citrix infrastructure for business-critical applications.
  • Implemented server virtualisation using VMWare ESX Server.
  • Built a VPN solution that allowed secure remote working.
Technologies: VMware, Citrix, Juniper, Linux, HP-UX, Oracle RDBMS

IT Coordinator

2004 - 2006
KOCA
  • Responsible for the management of the IT infrastructure, networks, and telephone exchanges.
  • Supervised two IT colleagues.
  • Created a Drupal-based website for the organisation.
  • Planned structured cabling as well as network and voice architecture for several new buildings.
  • Devised a buying and replacement strategy for all IT equipment.
Technologies: JavaScript, PHP, CSS, HTML, Bash, Linux, Cisco

Near Duplicate Image Detection Using Locality Sensitive Hashing

https://github.com/mendesk/image-ndd-lsh
This proof-of-concept uses Locality Sensitive Hashing for near-duplicate image detection and was inspired by Adrian Rosebrock's article Fingerprinting Images for Near-Duplicate Detection. At the end of the article, the author proposes to use K-d trees or VP trees to achieve real near-duplicate detection in a scalable way. This page explains how to achieve that with Locality Sensitive Hashing instead.
2015 - 2018

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

University of Antwerp - Antwerp, Belgium

2000 - 2003

Bachelor's Degree in Applied Computer Science

KdG University College - Antwerp, Belgium

Libraries/APIs

React, X (formerly Twitter) API, Google Ads API, Mapbox GL, NumPy, SciPy, Scikit-learn, Pandas, Keras, Formik

Tools

Shell Development, VMware, Docker Hub, Git, LaTeX

Languages

Python 3, SQL, HTML, Bash, Python, HTML5, PHP, C, JavaScript, C++, CSS

Platforms

Linux, Debian, Google Ads, HP-UX, Citrix, Java EE, Oracle, SharePoint, Docker, Kubernetes, Alpine Linux, Unix

Frameworks

Flask, Bootstrap

Paradigms

Microservices, Database Design

Storage

PostgreSQL, Databases, Oracle RDBMS, RDBMS, MySQL

Other

FastAPI, Networks, Data Science, Cisco, Juniper, Shell Scripting, SAP, Networking, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring