Matthew is available for hire

Matthew Best

Verified Expert in Engineering

Security Developer

Location

Houston, TX, United States

Toptal Member Since

December 20, 2016

Matt is a passionate, talented software developer with 10 years of experience developing complex applications in the fields of cyber security, energy, automated tools, cloud applications, and back-end support systems. He is an expert in Windows applications, but is also proficient in creating cross-platform and web applications. Matt is an avid learner, a great communicator, and an excellent addition to teams of all sizes.

Security JSON REST APIs Python Windows C API Development Agile Software Development Django Java C++Linux Docker XML Visual Studio SDK

Portfolio

Sunnova Energy

Agile Software Development, Docker, Python, SQL, PostgreSQL, AWS CLI...

Lavoro Technologies

Agile Software Development, Agile Software Testing, C, Python, Kubernetes...

Aidap

JavaScript, CSS, HTTP, Django, Python, React, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...

Experience

Python - 9 years Windows - 7 years C - 7 years Security - 6 years Linux - 6 years Java - 6 years Agile Software Development - 3 years Django - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Git, Visual Studio, PyCharm, Linux, Windows, REST APIs

The most amazing...

...project I've developed was a multi-agent system for offensive computer network operations during my time working for the Department of Defense.

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer

2020 - 2023

Sunnova Energy

Expanded our data ingestion and processing capabilities to include additional solar energy panel and residential battery manufacturers, such as Generac. Integrated with vendor APIs to ETL data for billing and business development.
Created the company's first automated enrollment system for virtual power plants (VPP) integrations.
Oversaw the creation of the new Grid Services team and provided technical leadership. The team expanded from three people to over a dozen in the course of 1.5 years, creating brand new VPP event handling and auto-enrollment capabilities.

Technologies: Agile Software Development, Docker, Python, SQL, PostgreSQL, AWS CLI, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Heroku, MuleSoft, REST, Technical Leadership, API Development, Software Architecture, JavaScript, JSON, REST APIs, HTML, Security, Microsoft 365

Senior Software Engineer

2017 - 2020

Lavoro Technologies

Developed firmware for monitoring the processes at field well sites.
Engineered the cloud back end using Docker and Kubernetes. Features included real time display of field unit metrics as well as pushing of updates to deployed hardware.
Led code reviews and performed testing to ensure code quality across our product line.

Technologies: Agile Software Development, Agile Software Testing, C, Python, Kubernetes, Docker, Internet of Things (IoT), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Technical Leadership, API Development, Software Architecture, SQLite, JSON, REST APIs, HTML, Microsoft 365, Visual Studio SDK

Senior Software Architect

2015 - 2017

Aidap

Developed custom data types capable of importing data from several industry storage standards. These types formed the foundation for several analytics tools, allowing for easy programmatic access to data values.
Used Django to build a dynamic, plug-n-play application framework for ingesting and analyzing oil and gas drilling data.
Worked with oil and gas engineers to analyze data, developing intelligent algorithms capable of identifying the drilling activity of rigs based solely on simple surface data.
Analyzed existing documentation to create new algorithms, identifying errors in previous work to improve results.

Technologies: JavaScript, CSS, HTTP, Django, Python, React, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Technical Leadership, Software Architecture, TypeScript, JSON, HTML, Microsoft 365

Capabilities Development Specialist

2013 - 2015

Department of Defense

Developed tools to support offensive computer network operations for a variety of software frameworks across multiple operating systems.
Collaborated with multiple development teams to organize and create multi-agent tool sets.
Led Agile development teams of four to ten developers to solve some of the DoD's most complex, high-priority challenges.
Worked with team members to create the organization's first multi-project automated test framework using Jenkins and Python.
Utilized Java expertise to work with several teams to create advanced tool sets for the deployment of capabilities.
Made efforts resulting in several professional awards, including the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation.

Technologies: Jenkins, Atlassian Suite, Linux, Windows, Lua, Java, Python, C++, C, Technical Leadership, API Development, Software Architecture, JSON, REST APIs, Security, Microsoft 365, Visual Studio SDK, Redis, System Security Developer

Summer Intern - Security Researcher

2012 - 2012

Department of Defense

Conducted extensive testing of commercial static code analysis products using a publicly known OpenSSL bug to evaluate which product(s) yielded the best results.
Published findings in an extensive whitepaper for future researchers to use in their follow-up evaluations of the products.
Worked with fellow intern to create a Python application capable of displaying and comparing the results of different code analysis tools.

Technologies: Java, Python, HTML, Security, Microsoft 365, System Security Developer

Summer Intern - Global Network Exploitation and Vulnerability Analyst

2011 - 2011

Department of Defense

Worked with existing team members and customers to identify the requirements for new tool capabilities.
Designed and implemented complex operational capabilities using C, C++, and Windows native APIs.
Tested functionality using both manual and automated testing procedures.
Wrote user interface and tester scripts in Python, along with modifying proprietary XML-based testing definitions to ensure data integrity across software versions.

Technologies: XML, Python, C++, C, Software Architecture, JSON, PostgreSQL, REST APIs, HTML, Security, Microsoft 365, Visual Studio SDK, System Security Developer

Summer Intern - Systems and Network Security Analyst

2010 - 2010

Department of Defense

Evaluated the hardware and software security solutions for both small and large scale networks.
Analyzed VoIP protocols to determine what possible attack vectors were present in the latest commercial products.

Technologies: TCP/IP, VoIP, Python, Software Architecture, JSON, REST APIs, HTML, Security, Microsoft 365, System Security Developer

Experience

DrillVista

A web application built to support the drilling operations of clients by providing a comprehensive data storage and analysis solution. It is built with Django, React.js, and several back-end Python algorithms/classes.

The feature set includes the ability to import data, view data using an in-depth visualization system, and several analysis plugins that provide meaningful insights or identify potential drilling problems/risks.

Skills

Languages

Python, C, Java, C++, HTML, XML, CSS, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, Lua, Bash Script, SQL, TypeScript

Frameworks

Django, Django Channels

Libraries/APIs

API Development, REST APIs, Visual Studio SDK, Matplotlib, React, jQuery

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Penetration Testing, REST

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Docker, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Heroku, MuleSoft, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Storage

JSON, Redis, Elasticsearch, SQLite, PostgreSQL

Other

Security, Software Development, System Security Developer, Technical Leadership, Software Architecture, Google+, Agile Software Testing, Microsoft 365, VoIP, TCP/IP, HTTP, Reverse Engineering, Image Processing, Internet of Things (IoT)

Tools

PyCharm, Visual Studio, Git, Atlassian Suite, Jenkins, Celery, Interactive Disassembler (IDA), Supervisor, Apache, AWS CLI, NGINX

Education

2012 - 2013

Master's Degree in Computer Science

University of Tulsa - Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

2008 - 2011

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

University of Tulsa - Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

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