Selçuk Cihan
Verified Expert in Engineering
Serverless Developer
Istanbul, Turkey
Toptal member since October 9, 2018
Selcuk is a senior engineer, a certified AWS expert, and an ex-Amazonian who cares deeply about his customers. He brings a strong sense of ownership and a track record of delivering results. With over five years of experience developing serverless applications on AWS, he has a proven ability to take on technical duties, from operations to development and architecture. He has worked as a contractor for various startups, shipping numerous products and making customers happy.
Portfolio
Experience
Availability
Preferred Environment
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Serverless, Python, Node.js, TypeScript, Datadog, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, Next.js, AWS Lambda
The most amazing...
...project I've done is migrating from SQL to a managed NoSQL database without down time, involving three different services and over 20 different clients.
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer
serverless
- Developed the Python AWS Lambda SDK of serverless console product.
- Implemented CI/CD on GitHub actions to automate releases and PRs.
- Added automated tests that validate end-to-end business logic and performance.
Senior Engineer
Tellimer
- Created the GraphQL back end for parsel.ai, a machine learning SaaS offering.
- Migrated existing applications to be hosted as serverless applications (AWS Lambda).
- Created a serverless application to source news from third-party providers.
- Added payments on tellimer.com using Stripe. This involved extending the existing GraphQL API.
- Created serverless workflows using AWS Step Functions to integrate with external services.
- Created GraphQL APIs with AppSync, connecting various data sources like DynamoDB and RDS.
- Built a serverless app that periodically maintains the sitemap for various web apps.
- Implemented a Stripe integration for SaaS subscriptions to collect payments.
- Architected an article recommender and summarizer for tellimer.com.
Senior Software Developer
Toptal Client
- Created a public-facing web application with a serverless framework.
- Created a serverless back end in Python on AWS Lambda and API Gateway.
- Developed and maintained the front end, implemented with AngularJS.
- Reduced cost, resulting in more than a 50% savings on the AWS bill.
- Mentored developers and was involved in planning and reviewing pull requests.
- Improved performance by reengineering caching on CloudFront/S3.
- Created serverless workflows using AWS Step Functions to integrate with external services.
Software Development Engineer
Amazon
- Developed the orchestration platform that processes Amazon's catalog. The platform can handle tens of thousands of TPS, enabling the finest and most extensive catalog on earth.
- Added functionality to a Node.js service, a high TPS REST service for difference analysis.
- Refactored an orchestration engine that consumes Kinesis and calls downstream services so the application can be started without any dependencies, enabling performance testing of the core.
- Supported the reconciliation engine (Java 8) that generates the retail catalog.
- Carried out live migrations of several web services without downtime. Successfully deprecated multiple legacy services to simplify the overall architecture and enable catalog growth.
Senior Software Engineer
Intertech
- Supported the workflow engine (C#, Windows service) serving banking applications, such as loans, customer complaints, etc.
- Set up elastic to index workflow engine documents, enabling powerful search mechanisms for the end user.
- Designed and implemented a workforce management system that empowers the bank's operation center. The project won an award.
Senior Software Engineer
Ziraat Teknoloji (formerly Fintek)
- Designed and implemented a workflow engine running on Oracle, serving over 100,000 workflow instances daily.
- Served as scrum master and mentored junior developers.
- Created a workflow designer and simulator for the workflow engine.
Software Engineer
AirTies Wireless Networks
- Implemented Teletext for the IPTV set-top box using C++.
- Developed a subtitle parser in C, which was embedded in the IPTV set-top boxes.
- Implemented a high-performance transport stream parser in C.
Software Engineer
CC Yazılım
- Designed and implemented a cross-platform desktop client in C++ utilizing the wxWidgets GUI toolkit. The client database is SQLite.
- Designed and implemented the corresponding backup server in Java (J2SE). An application-level protocol is implemented for client-server communication secured via SSL (OpenSSL). Stored files are encrypted (AES).
- Designed (visual design excluded) and implemented a web portal serving online backup users. Users can download/browse backed-up files through the portal. MySQL, Apache web server, and the Django framework are utilized.
Experience
Python AWS Lambda SDK
https://github.com/serverless/consoleThe SDK can instrument several common libraries like Flask, requests, botocore, etc.
Parsel.ai (Machine Learning App)
http://parsel.aiSourcing Financial News from External Providers
https://tellimer.com/channelsTwitter Friends Map
https://twheat-map.selcukcihan.com/Tetris with React
http://tetris.selcukcihan.com/Software News Curator
https://sw-news.selcukcihan.comTweeted About
http://tweeted-about.selcukcihan.comEducation
Master's Degree in Computer Engineering
Bogazici University - İstanbul, Turkey
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering
Bogazici University - İstanbul, Turkey
Certifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
AWS
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, REST API, React, Stripe API
Tools
Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Cognito, AWS IAM, Git, Amazon CloudFront CDN, AWS CloudFormation, AWS Step Functions, AWS AppSync, Pytest, Auth0
Languages
Python, JavaScript, Python 2, Java, SQL, Python 3, C#, Perl, C++, C, TypeScript, GraphQL
Paradigms
Unit Testing, Microservices, DevOps, Agile, REST
Platforms
Amazon EC2, Linux, AWS Lambda, Docker, Unix, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Algolia, Vercel
Storage
Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), NoSQL, Relational Databases, PostgreSQL, Oracle SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Elasticsearch, Datadog
Frameworks
Django, Spring, Serverless Framework, Spring Boot, Flask, AngularJS, Jest, Next.js
Other
AWS Kinesis, Back-end, API Gateways, Architecture, Amazon RDS, Integration Testing, Cloud Architecture, Technical Leadership, API Integration, APIs, Amazon API Gateway, Web Scraping, Data Analytics, Serverless, Graph Theory, Distributed Systems, Wireless Networking, Computer Vision, Computer Science
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring