Shaul Behr, Developer in Bet Shemesh, Israel
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Shaul Behr

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Bet Shemesh, Israel
Toptal Member Since
March 12, 2020

Shaul is a software architect with more than two decades of experience in the trenches of the software industry. He's an expert in all things C# and SQL, and he ranks in the 99th percentile of reputation on Stack Overflow. Supported by the glowing recommendations from colleagues and previous clients, he's a smart guy who works hard to get things done—striving for the best outcome for all stakeholders involved.

C#Microsoft SQL ServerDatabase DesignASP.NET CoreAPI ArchitectureBitbucketWindows Server 2016.NET CoreIISMultithreadingJiraGitMicroservicesBambooPostgreSQL

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Azure, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity Framework Core, ASP.NET Core, .NET Core, C#

The most amazing...

...app I've developed is the API for LightSail Education's eReader, which has given hundreds of thousands of students worldwide a huge literacy boost.

Work Experience

Founder, Owner, and CTO

2002 - PRESENT
Johannesburg Jewish Community Forum
  • Created a mail processing engine for an opt-in email discussion group (similar to Yahoo! Groups).
  • Built a system for monetizing the group by charging for commercial postings.
  • Designed an HTML template for banner ads with trackable click-throughs.
Technologies: Entity Framework, Microsoft SQL Server, C#

API Architect

2012 - 2020
LightSail Education
  • Designed the architecture and implemented API for LightSail's educational eReader product, which on my watch grew to hundreds of thousands of users.
  • Successfully converted the project from .NET Framework to .NET Core, in the process migrated from MS SQL/IIS/Windows to Postgres/Docker/Linux, thus saving a fortune in operating costs.
  • Designed an in-house sharding system to split our databases across multiple servers to facilitate scalability as the business grows.
  • Set up load tests to ensure that the API would be performant even under heavy loads.
Technologies: Git, Ansible, Docker, Linux, Azure, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Entity Framework Core, ASP.NET Core 3

System Architect

2012 - 2015
Success Academy Charter Schools
  • Designed and implemented a school management system to track Success Academy's unique, data-intensive approach to providing a fantastic educational experience for children from underprivileged backgrounds.
  • Carried overall responsibility for code and database performance and debugging.
  • Conducted frequent design discussions with business owners to understand functional requirements and translate into a technical spec.
Technologies: Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.NET, C#

Senior developer

2004 - 2009
Datanet-ITC
  • Wrote processing engine to identify bankrupt debtors using data scraped from the PACER online court system.
  • Created and maintained Windows Forms interface for internal users to perform manual review to match debtors with bankruptcies.
  • Wrote code to lodge claims automatically for bankruptcies with assets.
  • Wrote a terminal emulator using Windows Forms to allow safe access to mainframe screens, permitting only certain specified actions to mark accounts as bankrupt.
Technologies: Microsoft SQL Server, Mainframe, Windows Forms (WinForms), VB.NET, C#

LightSail Education's eReader and Curriculum Builder

https://lightsailed.com/
LightSail produced an HTML-based eReader promoting literacy and other educational goals. As the API architect, I was responsible for designing the whole server-side infrastructure, from the API through the service layer to the database layer, as well as some basic DevOps functions. I also led a refactoring of the project to migrate it from .NET Framework to .NET Core 3.1, enabling us to deploy to Linux and Postgres and saving a fortune in operational costs.

Johannesburg Jewish Community Forum's Mail Engine

JJCF is a high profile and well-loved community email discussion forum, connecting the Jewish community of Johannesburg. I founded the list originally as a Yahoo! Group, and have since developed my own technology to run and manage the list. At this writing (March 2020), JJCF has over 9,000 active subscribers.
Seeing that JJCF was a modestly effective way to monetize an email list, I designed and almost completely implemented a more generic "Version 2", which was intended to provide the same features as JJCF plus more as a SaaS platform for other list owners.

Early Intervention Software Systems

http://kidsei.com
I was contracted to design and implement a version 2 for this Early Intervention company, providing services to children requiring special education. This included recording the SPED mandate and tracking the services provided and related costs, while ensuring compliance with HIPAA regulations. I designed the architecture of the whole system, and implemented the server-side code, using ASP.Net, Linq to Entities, and MS SQL Server.

Languages

C#, VB.NET, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML5, CSS

Frameworks

.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET, Angular

Tools

Bitbucket, Jira, Bamboo, Git, Ansible

Paradigms

API Architecture, Database Design, Microservices

Platforms

Windows Server 2016, Azure, Oracle, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux, Docker

Storage

Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL

Other

Multithreading, IIS, Octopus Deploy, ASP.NET Core 3, Mainframe

Libraries/APIs

Entity Framework, Windows Forms (WinForms)

1997 - 1997

Diploma in Project Management

Damelin College - Johannesburg, South Africa

1991 - 1994

Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering

University of the Witwatersrand - Johannesburg, South Africa

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