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Orest Kulik, Software Developer in Zagreb, Croatia
Orest Kulik

Software Developer in Zagreb, Croatia

Member since March 25, 2013
Orest is an experienced server side Software Engineer who has been developing software for 15+ years. His language of choice is Ruby which he uses for creating scalable web apps and REST API services. He is a self-driven worker who takes ownership and responsibility in what he creates.
Orest is now available for hire
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Portfolio

  • Labtiva
    Ruby, Ruby on Rails, AngularJS, Node.js, Heroku, AWS, EC2, S3, RDS, MySQL...
  • RealNetworks
    C++, Java, J2ME, Eclipse, GCC, Brew (Quallcom), Subversion, CVS, Redmine...
  • SecurityHeroes
    C++, C#, WCF-REST, JavaScript, Crypto++, XPCOM, XUL, Subversion, Trac

Experience

Location

Zagreb, Croatia

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

OSX, Sublime Text, Git

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed is a significant portion of the back-end for Labtiva's ReadCube application.

Employment

  • Senior Software Developer

    2011 - 2015
    Labtiva
    • Handled web-based back-end software development for ReadCube, Labtiva's platform for managing research literature and scientific articles discovery using modern open-source web technologies.
    • Created server-side systems for log storage and analysis, PDF document usage heat maps, web scraping, collaborative recommendations, article timelines, and sync services (between multiple client applications).
    • Sustained and tuned performance for web applications and web services to run smoothly on Heroku and AWS.
    • Created and sustained different SQL and NoSQL data storages like MySQL, ElasticSearch, Neo4j, DynamoDB, Redis, and Memcached. Also created and sustained database load balancing and failover using mostly HAProxy.
    • Integrated web applications and web services with Google Analytics, Mixpanel, MailChimp, SendGrid, etc.
    • Created a REST API prototype to allow customers to query data.
    • Created a prototype AngularJS app for supporting the main web application.
    • Used Adobe AIR's native extension to help a desktop application to render PDFs more efficiently (for OSX and Windows platforms).
    • Hired as the first non-founder Software Developer in the company; assembled the initial development team and rented the office.
    Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, AngularJS, Node.js, Heroku, AWS, EC2, S3, RDS, MySQL, DynamoDB, Neo4j, SQS, SNS, SimpleDB, ElasticSearch, C++, C, JavaScript, Redis, ActionScript, Sinatra, Bash, Mercurial, Git, Objective-C, Visual Studio Express

  • Senior Software Engineer

    2010 - 2011
    RealNetworks
    • Worked on converting the existing J2ME mobile application to the Qualcomm's BREW platform.
    • Co-developed code dealing with differences between J2ME and Brew platforms such as a lack of threading, a lack of exception handling, and no garbage collection.
    • Implemented parts of the J2ME layer in C++ for the emulation layer.
    • Adapted the emulation layer for the target Brew platform.
    • Worked on the Real's J2ME/Android white label mobile application for media distribution and sharing, targeting mostly J2ME and Android handsets and tablets.
    • Sustained the existing code base by creating new widgets and incrementally transferring legacy J2ME code to the modern Android Java platform.
    Technologies: C++, Java, J2ME, Eclipse, GCC, Brew (Quallcom), Subversion, CVS, Redmine, Android

  • Architect, Senior Software Engineer

    2009 - 2010
    SecurityHeroes
    • Organized and led a small team in building a next-generation advertisement blocking product and web browser security product.
    • Created an extension for Firefox using C++, Crypto++, and JavaScript.
    • Created back-end web services using C#, WCF-REST, and SQL Server.
    • Designed a custom security protocol to allow safe client-server data exchange.
    • Coordinated outsourced system admins responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of the datacenter blade servers.
    Technologies: C++, C#, WCF-REST, JavaScript, Crypto++, XPCOM, XUL, Subversion, Trac

  • Senior Software Engineer

    2008 - 2009
    Syntellect (Enghouse Interactive)
    • Sustained and fixed bugs in one of the company's Interactive Voice Response applications.
    • Searched for performance bottlenecks and general code inefficiencies.
    • Developed additional VoiceXML specific functionality.
    • Created a server application for the integration of two separate IVR applications in Java .
    • Created a migration tool and transferred an existing source code repository from SourceSafe to Subversion.
    Technologies: C++, ActiveX, Java, Eclipse, VoiceXML, TTS, ASR, Dialogic, Subversion, Visual Studio, BoundsChecker, IBM Rational Purify

  • Consultant, Senior Software Engineer, Software Engineer

    1999 - 2007
    Ekobit
    • Participated in many different software development outsourcing projects (mostly for EU software companies like Lexware, Moba and Sauter). Worked almost exclusively with software development tools from Microsoft.
    • Gave a number of software development presentations related to Microsoft C++ and .NET technologies and their applications at local IT conferences like WinDays and DevDays.
    • Mentored junior Developers.
    • Earned the following Microsoft professional certificates: MCPD (Enterprise Application Developer, C#, Jun 2007), MCTS (Distributed, Web and Windows Apps, May/June 2007), MCSD (Early Achiever, C#, May 2003 and Visual Studio 6, C++, Oct 2000). Also earned more than a dozen different Brainbench Master certificates and three Job Role certificates.
    • Attended the following soft skills courses: presentation skills, successful business communication, nonviolent communication, time management, stress management, creativity development, self initiative development, and consultative selling.
    • Learned German within the period of employment and used it in daily communications with German-speaking customers.
    Technologies: C, C++, Visual Studio, MFC, ATL, STL, COM/ActiveX, OLEDB, BTrieve, .NET, C#, C++/CLI, Team System, Subversion

Experience

  • ReadCube (Development)
    https://www.readcube.com

    I was responsible for a significant amount of the back-end software for Labtiva's ReadCube, the application for managing research literature and scientific articles discovery.

Skills

  • Languages

    Ruby, JavaScript, Bash, C++, C#, C++/CLI, ActionScript 3, Java, JRuby, Objective-C

  • Frameworks

    Sinatra, Ruby on Rails (RoR), AngularJS

  • Libraries/APIs

    Ruby on Rails API, Node.js

  • Tools

    Amazon SQS, AWS Push Notification Service (AWS SNS), Mercurial, Git, RSpec, Eclipse IDE, Microsoft Visual Studio, Sublime Text 3, Flash Builder, Xcode, Subversion (SVN), Nginx

  • Paradigms

    Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Agile Software Development, Unit Testing, Concurrent Programming

  • Platforms

    AWS EC2, Heroku, Amazon Web Services (AWS), BREW, DigitalOcean

  • Storage

    PostgreSQL, AWS S3, AWS RDS, MySQL, Elasticsearch, Neo4j, Redis

  • Other

    HTTP, HAProxy

Education

  • Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
    1991 - 1997
    University of Zagreb - Zagreb, Croatia

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