Kevin Sparks
Software Developer
Kevin is a self-motivated full-stack Python and JavaScript engineer with a bias for action and proven experience in delivering reliable software. He is passionate about learning and is particularly fascinated with collecting and analyzing data. He values people, relationships, communication, and Vim.
Portfolio
Experience
JavaScript - 8 yearsMySQL - 7 yearsPython - 7 yearsDjango - 5 yearsAgile Software Development - 4 yearsGitHub - 3 yearsPostgreSQL - 2 yearsAngularJS - 2 yearsLocation
Availability
Preferred Environment
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Python, Docker, Git, Vim Text Editor, Ubuntu, Linux
The most amazing...
...platform I've written is a search feature for one of New Zealand's top ten most-visited websites.
Work Experience
Co-Founder, Head of Engineering
Forwod, Ltd.
- Designed and implemented the full system.
- Architected data for the web tier and data processing tier (OLAP warehouse). This was my first attempt at using an FRP paradigm to handle the data stream that rolled up into insights presentation (Athlete + Coach dashboards).
- Fully automated CI + CD and all infrastructure as code using Ansible (and Fabric).
- Bootstrapped local development using Docker.
Software Engineer
ClearCare (www.clearcareonline.com)
- Provided general maintenance as well as new features for the flagship SaaS web app (built with Django) and accompanying services (Flask, GraphQL).
- Created a microservice to track usage metrics throughout the platform in order to aid client billing using Serverless (AWS Lambda).
- Implemented security features around user sessions to better support HIPAA + PII compliance goals.
- Served on the on-call DevOps SRE rotation, helping keep platform up-time on our AWS stack at 99.99%.
- Integrated a third-party background-check vendor using Restful APIs and webhooks.
- Extended the core accounting system to support advance billing as well as migration scripts for historical data.
Python Tech Lead, Senior Web Developer
Yellow Pages Group
- Served as tech lead for seventeen Python developers. Facilitated TDD, code reviews, system design, and continuous integration. Ensured that features built actually matched business requirements.
- Worked as lead developer for the rebuilding of Yellow's flagship properties (yellow.co.nz, whitepages.co.nz) in Python. Contributed to a search feature (Solr) built as a platform to service multiple client front-ends and third party apps.
- Worked as lead developer for the sales and provisioning web tool. Built the components for servicing content/asset administration and provisioning.
- Contributed to the design of a custom JavaScript framework for handling a multi-component AJAX approach to the UI, codenamed "Helio."
- Served as lead developer for the hyperlocal property YellowLocal.co.nz.
Senior Web Developer
The Folio Society
- Flew solo as the developer in a small online team, responsible for all development and maintenance of the company's primary eCommerce website (www.foliosociety.co.uk).
- Implemented a fresh new "skin" along with a "gift certificates" feature, a tremendous feat considering FS's complex marketing channels.
- Handled database administration, which constituted around 30% of my overall workload. Wrote and optimized queries for large-ish datasets (200k - 2M rows in some cases).
- Handled all development operations, deployment, and system administration (Linux, MySQL, Python).
Director
Just-digital.net
- Built a range of smaller websites (agency type work).
- Wrote my own light-weight proprietary CMS in PHP to facilitate rapid implementation.
Web Developer
Trader Media (TNT Publishing)
- Created new features and maintenance for www.tntmagazine.com as the sole developer.
- Built a job/accommodation directory for the site.
Software Developer
Sweet Mamma Software
- Handled the full development life cycle on small websites (PHP). Supported key clients' corporate intranet.
- Designed and implemented the desktop app Liquid Metal.
Experience
Yellow® NZ
http://yellow.co.nzAxle (sales and provisioning web tool)
https://axle.yellow.co.nz/Skills
Languages
SQL, JavaScript, Python, GraphQL, PHP, Bash Script, HTML5, CSS, HTML, Visual Basic 6 (VB6), VB.NET, UML
Frameworks
AngularJS, Django, Jinja, Serverless Framework, ASP, ASP.NET, Flask, CakePHP, Jasmine, Selenium
Storage
MySQL, Memcached, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Redis, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon DynamoDB, Google Cloud, Neo4j, MongoDB
Other
Full-stack, Single-page Applications (SPA), GitFlow, Debian Packaging, Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language Processing (NLP), GUI, Data Mining, Loggly, WebSockets, QA Automation, Sprints, Amazon Route 53, Tornado, Ajax, Mailchimp API, mod_wsgi, GPT, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT)
Libraries/APIs
React, Chart.js, Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), React Redux, jQuery, Fabric, Gevent, Bottle.py, Beautiful Soup, Facebook API, Tastypie, Backbone.js
Tools
Bitbucket, Apache, RabbitMQ, Subversion (SVN), Git, Vim Text Editor, GitLab, GitHub, Adobe Photoshop, Solr, Celery, Gulp, Mocha, Jira, uWSGI, Crucible, PyCharm, Haystack, Jenkins, NGINX, Apache Solr, Vagrant
Paradigms
Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Deployment, Continuous Integration (CI), Model View Controller (MVC), Scrum, Agile Software Development, Responsive Layout, REST, Kanban, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Test-driven Development (TDD), Concurrent Programming, Distributed Programming, Load Testing, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA), DevOps
Platforms
Ubuntu, Docker, Amazon EC2, Linux, New Relic, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Raspberry Pi, DigitalOcean, Google App Engine, Django CMS, Heroku, Arduino
Education
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer Degree in Computer Science
Torque IT - Johannesburg, South Africa