Kevin Lo, Developer in Thousand Oaks, CA, United States
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Kevin Lo

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Mobile Developer

Location
Thousand Oaks, CA, United States
Toptal Member Since
June 21, 2023

Kevin has extensive experience in hands-on development in the Android mobile native space and with technical project and product management. His technical knowledge and cross-functional skills have been honed throughout his career in various startup and larger-sized companies, with a proven track record of delivering results that drive business growth.

Portfolio

Bird Rides
Kotlin, Android, Agile Project Management, Agile Software Development, Java...
Curbit
Android, GraphQL, GraphQL Code Generator, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio...
Victorious
Java, Android, Management, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio...

Experience

Availability

Full-time

Preferred Environment

Android

The most amazing...

...thing I've done is deliver augmented reality (AR) solutions for scooter parking as the sole client engineer, learning AR and the math behind it from scratch.

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer

2018 - 2022
Bird Rides
  • Developed a proprietary AR-based parking solution for electric scooters without GPS.
  • Led the development of the scooter helmet lock integration's cross-hardware availability, firmware, back end, and client app support in time for the targeted market launch in Paris, France.
  • Integrated Stripe's two-factor authentication 3D Secure 2 payment flow in one month from start to delivery.
  • Drove the design and development of a highly configurable tutorial system's 2nd version.
  • Supported the 3rd-party Bird Bikeshare Bluetooth Low Energy protocol for the battery compartment and cable lock.
Technologies: Kotlin, Android, Agile Project Management, Agile Software Development, Java, APIs, Full-stack, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio, Android Jetpack, Android Architecture, Operating Systems, Mobile, Web Development

Senior Software Engineer

2020 - 2020
Curbit
  • Developed the GraphQL back-end API and the Android client.
  • Generated a dynamic menu UI with GraphQL displayed with Android UI.
  • Built and implemented real-time notification of the customer location to the restaurant for hassle-free delivery curbside.
Technologies: Android, GraphQL, GraphQL Code Generator, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio, Android Architecture, Operating Systems, JavaScript, Mobile, Web Development

Manager, Android Development Team

2016 - 2017
Victorious
  • Increased velocity and morale by effectively dealing with issues related to code review, employing the matrix-led development process.
  • Managed conflict resolution at the process and interpersonal levels.
  • Created a process to address the production app crash rate effectively and achieve quality mandate.
  • Reduced the production app crash rate dramatically from over 10% to around a stabilized 3%.
  • Laid the dependency injection foundation to facilitate meaningful UI testing using Dagger 2.
  • Led practical testing mindset through the MVP and the unit and Espresso UI tests aided by Dagger.
Technologies: Java, Android, Management, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio, Android Architecture, Operating Systems, Mobile

Senior Mobile Developer

2014 - 2016
TrueCar
  • Selected as a Webby Award Honoree for Best User Interface for mobile sites and apps 2016.
  • Pioneered using RxJava for various app functionalities for more clear-cut and modular code.
  • Achieved better unit test coverage with the MVP architecture.
Technologies: Java, Android, APIs, Android SDK, GitHub, Android Studio, Android Architecture, Operating Systems, Mobile

CTO

2010 - 2013
Tailorbet
  • Drove the strategic change from non-API-based integration to API-based integration, reducing integration time from 3 to 1.5 months and opening up a new channel for clients to have better control over the integration process.
  • Proposed redesigning of system API into RESTful Web API to suit a SaaS business model.
  • Prioritized over 500 tasks and features available and slotted them for delivery with input from client business requirements and product timelines.
  • Worked with the financial group and CFO to design, implement, and test a home-grown financial accounting system that supported multiple currencies and various tax/vat schemes. Ledgered and reported the system from the ground up.
  • Identified scalability as a potential risk and proposed caching as a workaround (short term) and design change and development plan change (medium term).
Technologies: Agile Project Management, Agile Software Development, JavaScript, Web Development, CTO

Technical Project Lead

2007 - 2012
IBM
  • Developed J2EE-based plugin solutions for Rational and WebSphere-based product suites globally.
  • Developed multiple plugin-based solutions enabling IMS transactions to be integrated into service-oriented architecture and business process management tooling.
  • Engineered multiple proof of concept (PoC) solutions on fortune 500 client sites directly.
Technologies: Java, IMS DB, Java EE, Micro SOA, BPM

Android Parking Solution Using ARCore

https://youtu.be/vDJqQFDSLnU
A 100% Kotlin-based Android native implementation of an AR-based scooter parking solution.

This project consists of the development time and runtime portion. Development time involves capturing the parking space boundary—marked using QR codes placed in physical space—and the overall current environment's look and feel. When a rider attempts to park during runtime, the neighboring environment will be matched against some previously saved trackable data in the cloud. Once a match is found, matrix math is used to determine the precise location of the scooter head, which can be used to determine if that falls into the shape of the parking area. A follow-up improvement that speeds up the resolution or matching process involves using Google's Visual Positioning System (VPS).

Configurable Tutorial System for Mobile Clients

https://youtu.be/H2lZ16PhrKQ
A system I designed to alleviate the time it takes to serve various tutorials considering factors like geographical markets, feature flags, and scooter types.

I developed RESTful-style APIs using Kotlin and Dropwizard for external facing and internal administration. I built admin functionalities allowing operation people or the product manager to create a new tutorial or extend existing tutorials using admin interface-enabled Apache FreeMarker and RESTful API.

I also created the ability to have various "context" or insertion points so that tutorials specified can be shown automatically with little to no code added on mobile clients and the back-end API. Lastly, I constructed an extendable template-based model, allowing different styles of content to be shown for Android and iOS.

Dual Mode Unlock Control of Electric Bikes

https://youtu.be/SA7jZzuthGU
Developed a dual-mode operation—via Bluetooth or cellular connection—to unlock accessories in brand-new hardware, such as the battery pack and auxiliary lock on electric bikes. The user operation is done through a flight sheet-based UI on Android. Then, the user connects and issues the command to unlock the bike's battery compartment and auxiliary lock.

3D Secure 2 Authentication Support for Payment

https://stripe.com/docs/payments/3d-secure?platform=android
Integrated Stripe to satisfy the EU mandate for banks to use stronger payment authentication. First, we updated Stripe's payment API to use the newer intent-based API. Then, we reworked payment functionalities along with using updated Stripe Android SDK across the Android client to support the new style payment API for credit card, Paypal, and Google Pay processing.

Languages

Kotlin, Java, GraphQL, JavaScript

Frameworks

Dagger 2, Android SDK, Dropwizard

Libraries/APIs

RxJava 2, Stripe API

Tools

GitHub, Android Studio, FreeMarker, Android Jetpack

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Agile Project Management, Management

Platforms

Android, Mobile, ARCore, Bluetooth LE, Java EE

Other

Technical Design, Android Architecture, Operating Systems, APIs, Augmented Reality (AR), RESTful Web Services, RESTful Microservices, Payment APIs, Google Pay, Web Development, CTO, Full-stack, GraphQL Code Generator, Authentication, Card Payments, PayPal, Micro SOA, BPM, Machine Learning, Deep Learning

Storage

IMS DB

2001 - 2003

Master's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Business Management

Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

1996 - 2001

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

California State University, Northridge - Northridge, California, USA

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