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Peter Suggate, Full-stack Developer in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Peter Suggate

Full-stack Developer in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Member since June 12, 2020
Peter is a full-stack developer with 15 years of full-time experience building apps for the web and desktop. He's helped industry leaders to deliver new scientific research and online learning platforms, creating value rapidly through flexible, high-quality solutions. Peter ships high-quality products with exceptional user experiences that are achieved through extensive automated testing and by writing simple, resilient code.
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Portfolio

  • ADInstruments
    Amazon Web Services (AWS), APIs, MySQL, Express.js...
  • KuraCloud
    Amazon Web Services (AWS), APIs, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS, REST APIs, HTML...
  • ADInstruments
    Express.js, Test-driven Development (TDD), React, Node.js, Visual Studio...

Experience

Location

Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Windows, Visual Studio, Xcode, Visual Studio Code

The most amazing...

...achievement I've had altered the direction of an established company, instigating then executing a major tech shift to gain a new generation of research users.

Employment

  • Full-stack Software Architect | Manager

    2017 - 2020
    ADInstruments
    • Led the development of a large application for life science researchers, delivering a high-quality product on schedule (stack: React, TypeScript, Node.js, and Electron).
    • Worked on a full-stack web app for managing product subscriptions, which required training team members quickly to make further changes (stack: React, Node.js, and MySQL).
    • Oversaw comprehensive automated testing of the new product; took the lead of ensuring the team achieved 85% total test code coverage and an ability to ship regularly with confidence.
    • Identified and helped resolve technical and skills issues that hindered the team's progress, leading to sustained team velocity even after the 1.0 launch.
    • Designed and helped develop a services-based architecture that effectively incorporated IP and algorithms developed over a period of 20 years and exposed them through an easy-to-use GUI and APIs.
    • Worked in a management role and effectively combined development duties with the management of a successful development team of ten.
    Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), APIs, MySQL, Express.js, Test-driven Development (TDD), React, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS, Node.js, MobX, Electron, SQL, REST APIs, Windows, Visual Studio, Xcode, Styled-components, Functional Programming, Biotech, CMake, MacOS, Redux, MongoDB, C++, TypeScript

  • Full-stack Web Developer

    2015 - 2017
    KuraCloud
    • Helped develop an online learning platform for Universities teaching the Life Sciences, developing front-end components that enabled rich learning experiences for students.
    • Integrated front-end components with the API layer and also through to the back-end when necessary, removing project bottlenecks and increasing team effectiveness significantly.
    • Conducted empathy interviews with customers, translating their needs into software requirements.
    • Took on ownership of complex areas of the product with very little supervision, freeing up others to work elsewhere. Acclimatized quickly to a new team and unfamiliar code-base, completing a significant feature within the first week.
    Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), APIs, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS, REST APIs, HTML, Spring, Java, Backbone.js, Knockout (Knockout.js)

  • LabChart Coordinator

    2011 - 2015
    ADInstruments
    • Led a development team of six that worked on maintaining and extending the company's main product, a research software desktop application for use by scientists around the world.
    • Oversaw the team performance—hiring and training as well as release processes and shipping two major new versions of the product.
    • Provided timely assistance to colleagues located in various offices around the world to ensure product requirements were well understood by the team.
    • Oversaw the technical support for the product, achieving consistently fast response rates and good outcomes for customers experiencing issues.
    Technologies: Express.js, Test-driven Development (TDD), React, Node.js, Visual Studio, Xcode, Biotech, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Desktop, Windows Forms (WinForms), .NET, C#, C++

  • Software Engineer (Desktop)

    2006 - 2011
    ADInstruments
    • Migrated an existing standalone desktop application into the company's flagship product, including all key features within the required timeframe. This allowed the company to remove support for the legacy app and focus investment elsewhere.
    • Gained a deep knowledge of a multi-million LOC codebase written in C++. This knowledge was key to efforts to extend the previously Windows-only desktop app to run on macOS X (and later Linux), increasing the product's total user base by 20%.
    • Worked with business analysts to develop robust software algorithms for new, scientific research methods. Many users noted how well the algorithms worked on a wide variety of input data.
    Technologies: Test-driven Development (TDD), Windows, Xcode, Biotech, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), MacOS, Objective-C, Windows Forms (WinForms), .NET, C#, C++

  • Full-stack Software Developer

    2005 - 2006
    SmartMedia Solutions
    • Added a new role-based permissions model to a real-estate desktop publishing product which ensured all data for users in the system was secure and not accessible to others—critically important in this ultra-competitive space.
    • Developed and updated SQL Server database queries which improved the performance of one of the product's core SQL stored procedures by a factor of 5x and resulted in a reduced database load of 30%.
    • Found and fixed issues in the software and rapidly gained expertise working across different parts of the system.
    Technologies: SQL, Windows, Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.NET, C#

Experience

  • Data Acquisition and Analysis Platform for Research Scientists
    https://www.adinstruments.com/products/labchart/lightning

    A desktop app (React/TypeScript Electron.js) built using web technologies that scientists and tinkerers use to record time-series data then visualize and explore the results.
    I initially proposed this new product as a way to ensure the company was best positioned to solve our users' current and future needs effectively. Originally working as part-time developer and manager of the team, I later switched to a hands-on architect role where I developed features on both the front and back end and ensured the technical demands from our uses would be met at the same time as their need for elegant, simple to use UI.

  • Online Learning Platform to Assist Teaching of University Physiology Students
    https://www.adinstruments.com/lt

    An AWS-hosted online learning platform that I worked on as front-end developer for a year leading up to the 1.0 launch. I was added to the project in order to boost the development pace and keep the project on track for release.

  • WebAssembly/Rust Tutorial: Pitch-perfect Audio Processing (Publication)
    https://www.toptal.com/webassembly/webassembly-rust-tutorial-web-audio
    WebAssembly gives near-native performance to web apps and allows languages other than JavaScript—plus their libraries—to be used on the web. This tutorial leverages Rust and the Web Audio API to make a basic guitar tuner app that runs at 60 FPS, even on mobile.
  • Leveraging Declarative Programming to Create Maintainable Web Apps (Publication)
    https://www.toptal.com/javascript/declarative-development-fsm-programming
    Adopting declarative-style programming techniques allows teams to create web applications that are easier to extend and maintain. In this article, Toptal Full-stack Developer Peter Suggate demonstrates how to leverage declarative programming and finite-state machines in JavaScript.

Skills

  • Languages

    TypeScript, C++, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS, SQL, Rust, Java, HTML, C#, Objective-C

  • Libraries/APIs

    React, MobX, Node.js, REST APIs, Backbone.js, Windows Forms (WinForms)

  • Frameworks

    Electron, Express.js, Redux, Knockout (Knockout.js), Spring, .NET, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), ASP.NET

  • Paradigms

    Test-driven Development (TDD), Functional Programming

  • Other

    Styled-components, APIs, Biotech

  • Tools

    CMake, Visual Studio, Xcode

  • Platforms

    Windows, Desktop, MacOS, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Visual Studio Code

  • Storage

    MongoDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server

Education

  • Bachelor of Science Degree with Honors in Computer Science
    2000 - 2003
    University of Otago - Dunedin, New Zealand

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