Simon is available for hire
Hire SimonSimon Said
Verified Expert in Engineering
MVC Frameworks Developer
Location
Luqa, Malta
Toptal Member Since
August 23, 2018
Simon is a passionate software engineer with experience working on enterprise-level applications, team leadership, and project management. He is highly motivated, takes pride in his work, and enjoys learning new technologies and expanding his skill set. He has experience working in various sectors including eCommerce, iGaming, and payments in both full-stack and back-end roles.
Portfolio
Betsson Group
Microservices, Octopus Deploy, TeamCity, SpecFlow...
ArenaCube
RavenDB, SQL, Redis, C#
CS Technologies International Limited
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), CSS, HTML, jQuery, JavaScript, SQL, C#
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
C#, .NET
The most amazing...
...thing I've done was to lead the complete rewrite of the eCommerce site for a global brand which was delivered on time with an over 50% page-load time reduction.
Work Experience
Senior Back-end Developer
2017 - PRESENT
Betsson Group
- Developed and optimized a microservice-based system prioritizing high scalability and reliability.
- Implemented domain-driven development (DDD), behavior-driven development (BDD), and Scrum.
- Provided REST APIs endpoints to consumers.
- Maintained legacy systems and integrated them with the newer components.
- Integrated external feed providers.
- Provided on-call support.
Technologies: Microservices, Octopus Deploy, TeamCity, SpecFlow, Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Domain-driven Design (DDD), SQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, C#
Senior .NET Developer | Team Lead
2017 - 2017
ArenaCube
- Implementing new features and changes to AN existing back-end game logic and back office.
- Implemented performance optimizations.
- Integrated external systems (sports feed providers and user management systems).
- Migrated the infrastructure to Microsoft Azure.
- Led teams.
Technologies: RavenDB, SQL, Redis, C#
Project Lead
2016 - 2017
CS Technologies International Limited
- Led and mentored teams.
- Developed new features and fixed bugs for international eCommerce sites and their content management systems (CMS).
- Interacted directly with clients to obtain requirements, track progress, and showcase demos.
- Participated in steering committees with stakeholders and management.
- Trained clients to use new features.
- Implemented SEO optimizations.
Technologies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), CSS, HTML, jQuery, JavaScript, SQL, C#
Senior Software Engineer
2015 - 2016
CS Technologies International Limited
- Led the development of eCommerce websites for RS components emerging markets.
- Rewrote the RS Components eCommerce website to use more modern MVC technology, achieving a 50% average page load time reduction.
- Led teams.
- Integrated payment gateways and ERPs.
- Developed new features and fixed bugs for international eCommerce sites and their content management systems (CMSs).
- Implemented search engine optimization (SEO).
- Managed projects.
Technologies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, SQL, C#
Software Engineer
2014 - 2015
CS Technologies International Limited
- Developed new features and fixed bugs for international eCommerce sites and their content management systems (CMS).
- Integrated ERPs and external providers.
- Implemented search engine optimization (SEO).
Technologies: CSS, HTML, jQuery, JavaScript, SQL, C#
Junior Software Engineer
2012 - 2014
CS Technologies International Limited
- Developed new features and fixed bugs for international eCommerce sites and their content management systems (CMS).
- Implemented search engine optimization (SEO).
- Integrated ERPs and external providers.
Technologies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), CSS, HTML, jQuery, JavaScript, SQL, C#
Software Tester
2012 - 2012
Transactium Limited
- Tested the company's proprietary payment gateway.
- Added new unit tests to verify specification requirements.
- Tested the UI of the company's back office.
Technologies: C#
Experience
WittyPass Back-end Development
I participated in programming a web API and management UI for a side project called WittyPass. The concept aimed to allow companies to create QR-code-based promotions accessible through a custom mobile app quickly.
In this project, I was responsible for the back-end development. Although the project seems to have been abandoned due to the unavailability of other contributors, implementing the API was still a valuable experience for me. It allowed me to explore the practical application of .NET Core, Entity Framework Core, MVC, and API packages in a real business scenario. The API utilizes a generic repository and unit-of-work patterns, incorporates JWT authentication, and is documented using Swagger.
While the project only reached the POC stage, I would make several significant improvements to the code. One of the key changes would be adopting a more domain-driven design (DDD) approach, particularly for the API. Additionally, the code lacks unit tests, which I would prioritize by implementing a behavior-driven development (BDD) approach for larger projects, as it has proven effective in the past.
In this project, I was responsible for the back-end development. Although the project seems to have been abandoned due to the unavailability of other contributors, implementing the API was still a valuable experience for me. It allowed me to explore the practical application of .NET Core, Entity Framework Core, MVC, and API packages in a real business scenario. The API utilizes a generic repository and unit-of-work patterns, incorporates JWT authentication, and is documented using Swagger.
While the project only reached the POC stage, I would make several significant improvements to the code. One of the key changes would be adopting a more domain-driven design (DDD) approach, particularly for the API. Additionally, the code lacks unit tests, which I would prioritize by implementing a behavior-driven development (BDD) approach for larger projects, as it has proven effective in the past.
eCommerce Website Rewrite
At CS Technologies, I led the full rewrite of the RS components EMD eCommerce website to the latest .NET MVC framework.
This was completed successfully within the required deadline and we achieved an average page load time reduction of 50% through this rewrite. The stakeholders were impressed and I am proud to have led this project.
This was completed successfully within the required deadline and we achieved an average page load time reduction of 50% through this rewrite. The stakeholders were impressed and I am proud to have led this project.
Skills
Languages
C#, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SQL, Java
Libraries/APIs
Web API 2, jQuery
Tools
RabbitMQ, Apache Solr, TeamCity, Jira
Paradigms
Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Dependency Injection, Agile, Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban, Microservices, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Platforms
Windows, Linux
Storage
Microsoft SQL Server, Redis, RavenDB
Other
Domain-driven Design (DDD), MVC Frameworks, Octopus Deploy, Programming
Frameworks
Entity, .NET, SpecFlow
Education
2014 - 2017
Master of Science Degree in Software Engineering
University of Hertfordshire - Hertfordshire, England
2011 - 2014
Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
University of Malta - Msida, Malta
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