Raul Larion, Developer in Bucharest, Romania
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Raul Larion

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Bucharest, Romania

Toptal member since July 26, 2021

Bio

Raul is a software developer with 13 years of experience building eCommerce solutions, apps, digital platforms, and full-scale optimization processes for various companies, including those with a major presence in the Romanian electronics market (like the partner importer for LG Electronics) and a crowdfunding startup. Raul specializes in PHP (it's his comfort zone), frequently using Magento, but he never passes up an opportunity to code with Python or ES6.

Portfolio

Marketplace
PHP, Magento, AWS, Symfony, Python, ECMAScript 6, TypeScript, Protobuf, Systemd...
Self-employed
PHP, Symfony, Magento, Python, ECMAScript 6, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ...
Kinecto | Innobyte
PHP, CSS, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Magento, ES5

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Magento 1, Symfony, PHP, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed and deployed was a computer-vision application for a beach venue to analyze customer inflow in context with the sales data.

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer

2018 - PRESENT
Marketplace
  • Led a full-scale optimization process for back-end services to achieve lower response times and higher stability.
  • Involved in the migration process to the new cloud infrastructure with CI/CD capabilities, auto-scalability, and failover of core organization's core services.
  • Designed and developed a centralized import data processor with data channel abstractization at the core with tens of millions of mutations processed so far across multiple different active channels.
  • Contributed to the development of new logistics and fulfilment processes for the company's self-operated fleet and for third-party partners.
  • Researched actively and proposed new and more performant technologies.
  • Helped with the selection and interviewing necessary to recruit new software engineering talents.
Technologies: PHP, Magento, AWS, Symfony, Python, ECMAScript 6, TypeScript, Protobuf, Systemd, Varnish, Magento, React.js, Redis

Senior Software Engineer

2012 - 2018
Self-employed
  • Made a web-based computer-assisted translation (CAT) app with custom project workflows capabilities, a WebDAV protocol, project ACL built in, translation memories normalized in Elasticsearch indexes, and Damerau-Levenshtein string distance algorithm.
  • Developed a crawler "hive" made of micro-crawlers, coordinated by "queens" through message brokers and with anti-bot-mitigation features.
  • Contributed to the development process of multiple Magento 1 stores with customers from various geographical locations and activities in industries ranging from firearms to climbing accessories.
Technologies: PHP, Symfony, Magento, Python, ECMAScript 6, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ, WebSockets, Magento, Redis

PHP Developer

2009 - 2012
Kinecto | Innobyte
  • Contributed to the development process of the first eCommerce platform owned by Altex, a Romanian electronics retailer with tens of physical locations.
  • Developed a Magento 1-based eCommerce store for Internity, a Romanian GSM shop present in all Romanian major cities.
  • Helped with the development of digital platforms as part of nationwide advertising campaigns for companies like Avon, Givenchy, Nestle, and LG.
  • Built the eCommerce platform for the main Romanian importer of LG Electronics using Magento 1.
  • Aided in the development of the online presence of a local investment bank.
Technologies: PHP, CSS, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Magento, ES5

CAT App

This application is a web-based CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool that aims to help translators collaborate on their projects in a cloud environment. It allows project managers to create custom workflows, assign translators and reviewers to specific translation steps and sources, and enable customers to download the final translated product.

To maximize translator productivity, the app has various integrated features:

• Automated extraction of translatable content and XLIFF conversion from a wide range of file types, including but not limited to DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, IDML, and so on;
• Translation memories which enable translators to reuse their past work;
• Term bases which are industry-specific term dictionaries with "while-typing" suggestions;
• Machine translation which helps with the automated translation of source documents;
• Segmentation rule customizations;
• Segment aligners;
• Webdisks through the WebDAV protocol to allow quick access to project documents.

HomePlans

http://www.homeplans.com
HomePlans is a leading online floor plans retailer that has sold millions of layouts since it was founded.

When I was involved in the development process, the platform was powered by Magento Enterprise with heavy customizations to the caching and content engines.

Structural Funds

http://www.fonduri-structurale.ro
With hundreds of thousands of users, tens of thousands of resources, and news articles, Fonduri Structurale—or Structural Funds in English—is the leading Romanian portal for entrepreneurs seeking European or government funding for their ventures.

Altex

Altex is a leading Romanian electronics retailer with tens of physical locations in all major Romanian cities.

I was involved in the development process of the eCommerce shop built on Magento 1. As a developer, I also worked on ERP integration and automated marketing tools.

Consolid8

http://www.consolid8.ro
Consolid8 is a Romanian crowd-funding platform with a focus on social startups. I was involved in the back-end development process with a focus on the billing service and DevOps infrastructure. The platform is built with Symfony 4.
2009 - 2012

Bachelor of Science Degree in Economic Informatics, and Cybernetics

Bucharest University of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania

Libraries/APIs

jQuery, React.js, Protobuf

Tools

Systemd, Varnish, RabbitMQ

Languages

PHP, CSS, ECMAScript 6, ES5, TypeScript, PHP, Python

Frameworks

Symfony, CodeIgniter, Symfony 4

Platforms

Magento, Magento, Linux, AWS, Docker, Magento

Storage

Redis Cache, MySQL, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Redis

Other

Software Engineering, WebSockets, Okapi, WebDAV

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