Luke Sampson, Developer in Launceston, Australia
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Luke Sampson

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Full-stack Developer

Location
Launceston, Australia
Toptal Member Since
August 22, 2022

Luke is a software developer with over 20 years of experience creating full-stack web applications. He enjoys working with various technologies and is most skilled with the Microsoft stack, including C#, .NET Core, ASP.NET, and SQL Server. Luke's career-building SaaS products for large and small organizations have given him a broad range of proficiency, from cloud system administration to user experience.

Portfolio

Black Rock Nutraceuticals
Shopify, Shopify API, AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, Mailchimp...
StudyStays
C#, .NET, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, .NET Core, SQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
StudyStays
Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), ASP.NET...

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Windows, MacOS, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed is a university student accommodation platform called StudyStays, now used by most Australian universities.

Work Experience

IT Manager

2023 - PRESENT
Black Rock Nutraceuticals
  • Managed the seamless migration of an eCommerce store from a WordPress/WooCommerce site to Shopify.
  • Evaluated a WooCommerce website built by an external team and offered recommendations for improving performance, scalability, and development processes.
  • Developed custom functionality and integrations between Shopify, ShipStation, and Mailchimp.
  • Developed Shopify theme customizations to empower design and marketing experts to make changes to the website easily.
  • Performed ongoing maintenance, support, and improvements to the web store.
Technologies: Shopify, Shopify API, AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4, Liquid, Liquid Template, ShipStation, Shipping, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Fulfillment, eCommerce, eCommerce UI, WooCommerce

Senior Software Engineer

2012 - PRESENT
StudyStays
  • Designed and implemented a white-label student accommodation SaaS platform used by 30 universities across Australia.
  • Developed an email-to-web SMTP gateway server allowing customers to save email communications by forwarding or cc'ing a tracking email address.
  • Executed a web-based change-management system that allows customers to control revisions submitted by the public before they are displayed on their websites.
  • Implemented a suburb autocomplete lookup feature that pre-fetches and combines data from various sources. This was more performant than 3rd-party APIs and reduced ongoing costs from these services.
  • Developed a web-based application functionality using client-side frameworks such as Vue, including a flatmate finder and feedback system.
Technologies: C#, .NET, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, .NET Core, SQL, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon EC2, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), Amazon Route 53, Let's Encrypt, Windows PowerShell, SMTP, Microsoft SQL Server, Stripe API, Twilio API, Xero API, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Sketch, Google Maps, Software as a Service (SaaS), Vue, IIS, Internet Information Services (IIS), Online Payments, DNS, SPF, New Relic, REST APIs, APIs, Software Architecture, Architecture, API Integration, Web Development, Full-stack, Databases, Software Development, C#.NET, .NET 4, Model View Controller (MVC), SQL Server 2016, Windows Services, HTML5, T-SQL (Transact-SQL)

Senior DevOps Engineer

2012 - PRESENT
StudyStays
  • Created a deployment server that reduced deployment time by 85% to approximately 10 seconds.
  • Developed an email-to-web SMTP gateway server allowing customers to save email communications by forwarding or cc'ing a tracking email address.
  • Implemented, upgraded, and maintained cloud-based infrastructure with minimal downtime and disruption to customers.
Technologies: Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bitbucket, C#, GitHub, Deployment, MSBuild, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), CruiseControl, Web Development, Full-stack, Databases, Microsoft SQL Server, T-SQL (Transact-SQL)

Project Manager

2012 - PRESENT
StudyStays
  • Co-founded the business and developed the initial product used by almost 30 tertiary education institutions across Australia to manage their off-campus student accommodation.
  • Worked closely with customers during the initial phase of development to build a functionality that matched the needs of this market.
  • Arranged and managed the implementation of a system for managing Homestay accommodation, which involved meeting regulatory requirements and careful risk management for universities.
  • Planned and managed the implementation of new modules that successfully integrated with the existing product and extended the product line, including a Flatmate finder module.
  • Managed a major visual redesign of the platform and rolled it out successfully.
Technologies: Figma, Sketch, Basecamp, Gantt Chart, Communication, Creative Problem Solving, Complex Problem Solving, Planning, Final Cut Pro

Lead Developer

2001 - 2012
CareerHub
  • Joined the three-people business founded in an attic and helped it grow to be used by over 60 universities across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
  • Installed and maintained the software on customer infrastructure and developed a distributed update system to support around 50 installations worldwide.
  • Managed the migration of the original product from Visual Basic to .NET, allowing for easier maintenance and updates, and increasing capabilities and performance.
  • Reviewed code, debugged problems, and corrected issues.
Technologies: .NET, ASP.NET, SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, C#, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Visual Basic, jQuery, Bitbucket, SMTP, Software as a Service (SaaS), Internet Information Services (IIS), DNS, Legacy Code, Legacy Software, Software Design, Architecture, Software Architecture, Web Development, Full-stack, Databases, Software Development, ASP.NET Web Forms, Microsoft Access, C#.NET, .NET 4, Model View Controller (MVC), SQL Server 2016, Ajax, HTML5, T-SQL (Transact-SQL)

Scoop Installer | Windows

https://scoop.sh
Scoop is a command line application installer. I developed the program to get cloud instances up quickly and released it under an open source license. Currently, it has over 16 thousand stars on GitHub. It is used by developers worldwide and suggested as an installation method by projects like Node.js and Yarn.

Little Kit

https://littlekit.com.au
Developed a web-based application for small business accounting and bookkeeping. I built the software as a side project and took the opportunity to implement as much of the functionality as possible without relying on third-party libraries.

Pluribus Crowdfunding

https://becomepluribus.com
A crowdfunding platform for content creators currently in the MVP phase. I was tasked with the back-end development and some front-end implementation, coordinating with a designer and a CSS expert.

The Vineway Prototype

https://thevineway.com/
A PHP-based web application for managing wine tours. I was responsible for the back- and front-end programming and developed a simple file-based data store and custom routing system to meet the clients' need to run on a low-end web host. I worked with a designer and front-end developer to implement UI, including route building and mapping functionality.

Real Estate Data Scraping

A service to extract real estate data from web-based listings into a machine-readable format to analyze sales and asking price trends over time. I implemented a variety of techniques to bypass the website's blocking of automated scrapers, including browser fingerprinting, request patterns, and throttling.

Languages

SQL, JavaScript, C#, HTML, CSS, C#.NET, HTML5, T-SQL (Transact-SQL), Python, PHP, Java, C, Ruby, Visual Basic, Liquid Template

Frameworks

.NET, .NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET, Windows PowerShell, Bootstrap, SPF, ASP.NET Web Forms, .NET 4, Express.js, Selenium, Svelte, Laravel, Ruby on Rails (RoR)

Libraries/APIs

Google Maps, REST APIs, Vue, jQuery, Node.js, Xero API, Twilio API, Stripe API, Shopify API, Liquid

Tools

Git, Visual Studio, MSBuild, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), Microsoft Access, Sketch, Figma, GitHub, Bitbucket, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), Let's Encrypt, Sequelize, Basecamp, Final Cut Pro, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, ShipStation

Paradigms

Model View Controller (MVC)

Platforms

Windows, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon EC2, cPanel, New Relic, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), MacOS, Shopify, AWS Lambda, WooCommerce

Storage

Databases, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server 2016

Other

SMTP, Web Scraping, Software as a Service (SaaS), Document Parsing, Internet Information Services (IIS), DNS, DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), Deployment, Software Design, Software Architecture, APIs, Web Development, Full-stack, Ajax, Amazon Route 53, Bootstrap 5, Online Payments, Creative Problem Solving, IIS, Legacy Code, Legacy Software, API Integration, DMARC, Software Development, Windows Services, Headless Software, Gantt Chart, Communication, Complex Problem Solving, Planning, CruiseControl, Architecture, Amazon API Gateway, Google Analytics 4, Shipping, Fulfillment, eCommerce, eCommerce UI, Amazon FBA

1997 - 2001

Bachelor of Multimedia Degree in Computer Science

Griffith University - Brisbane, Australia

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