Stuart Corrans
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since June 25, 2019
Stuart is a certified Azure developer and architect with 20+ years of experience. In recent years, he has specialized in enterprise integration and back-end projects, tackling problems of big data, scale, performance, and observability. He is passionate about mentoring, training, and technical writing, ensuring knowledge is transferred to developers and users when a project is completed. Stuart is currently ranked inside the top 0.2% of Stack Overflow.
Portfolio
Experience
- SQL - 20 years
- Technical Writing - 20 years
- .NET - 16 years
- C# - 14 years
- Architecture - 10 years
- Azure - 5 years
- XSLT - 5 years
- Azure DevOps - 3 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
SQL, Azure, .NET, C#, Architecture, Azure DevOps, Technical Writing, Azure Service Bus, Zendesk, Integration
The most amazing...
...thing I've realized is that despite the many systems I've delivered during my career, I always find something new to learn every day!
Work Experience
Owner and Technical Consultant
Vanestum Consulting
- Consulted for an Anglo-Dutch oil major company to assist in designing and integrating a large-scale commodities trading system using the Azure Data Factory.
- Provided long-term consulting to a US-based startup to build an Azure-based microservices enterprise.
- Assisted new customers strategically on their customer experience and support journey, including integrations with Stripe and Zendesk.
- Assisted Hexagon Metrology with Azure and .NET best practices on a migration project to Azure and CosmosDB.
- Consulted with Ubisoft/i3D performance hosting, which uses a high volume, low latency, event-driven architecture to manage and scale large fleets of game servers distributed globally using the actor model.
- Performed as a senior developer in an elite team at NewDay Card Payments, delivering an innovative financial microservice enterprise into the Azure cloud.
- Assisted with an automated, AI-assisted business process mapping with building learning management and certified training course for their groundbreaking product, using Northpass and iorad.
- Developed training manuals, end user guides, and compliance documentation for a Texas-based home healthcare and visitation system to obtain their EVV certification.
- Worked as part of an elite team building a low latency transactional API and service bus microservice enterprise for NewDay, in the financial/credit industry.
- Provided architectural consulting and software development at Petroineos Trading Limited (UK commodities trading) to move a batch-driven, on-premises enterprise into a cloud-based, real-time, event-driven analytics platform.
Developer
Freelance
- Created a custom Windows educational game, Compublox Brain Games. The application was written in C# and used either an MS Access (home edition) or SQL Express (franchise version) database.
- Contributed to various projects, including WCF Web Services, an actor and model agency website, and numerous class libraries and components for larger systems.
- Built a prototype advertising and billboard management system for scheduling, monitoring, and distributing media and data content to a large restaurant chain.
Senior Azure Integration Contractor
Petroineos International Trading Limited
- Served as a contract Azure engineer and assisted the chief architect with a blueprint to evolve an on-premises enterprise into a modern, cloud-based platform and data analytic enterprise from existing legacy on-premises systems, avoiding vendor lock-in.
- Demonstrated significant expertise in integrating and extracting data from the Amphora Symphony and Openlink Endur commodity trading systems and integrating voucher and payment transactions with SAP.
- Created blueprints for large-scale data analytics requirements, utilizing Power Query, the M language folding, DAX, SQL, and SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).
Senior Azure Contractor
NewDay UK Ltd
- Served at the center of a senior team to provide development, design, testing, and process services to a major new Azure cloud initiative in the payment services industry, building a series of modern microservices and APIs entirely within Azure.
- Used the tech stack that included .NET Core microservices, REST APIs with OpenAPI documentation, ledger-based event sourcing stored on Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Service Bus integration.
- Undertook various duties, including demos and presentations to company management, performing load and performance testing of services using Grafana k6, and system throughput profiling.
Senior Azure Integration Contractor
Shell
- Provided assistance with the design, integration, deployment, and commissioning of a new cargo and freight system on the Azure cloud. Technologies used include Oracle, Salesforce, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Data Lake, deployed by Azure DevOps CI/CD automation.
- Acted in a supportive software development role on a major internal data analytics platform built around .NET Core 3.1.
- Created Salesforce custom objects and used the Salesforce Bulk and Metadata APIs to load bulk logistics data from the Openlink Endur CTRM system, including functional and loading testing.
Chief Technical Officer | Architect | Team Lead
Galena Hill Systems, LLC
- Assisted in advising the company founder with building a prototype as a part-time freelancer, conducted remote sales presentations to raise seed funding, and then took on the responsibility of CTO and architect to get the product to market.
- Oversaw all standards and DevOps processes on a toolset that included Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps for CI/CD, and management of NuGet package artifacts.
- Used NUnit and Moq for unit testing and Selenium and Specflow for automated UI testing.
- Integrated the system with the Stripe payment API, where subscriptions and products can be purchased, promotion discounts are run, and subscription upgrades can be prorated.
- Broke up components into reusable and scalable microservices and NuGet packages so that the enterprise could quickly adapt to ever-changing requirements and increasing load.
- Designed and provisioned a ZenDesk support and Zendesk guide knowledge base system for the completed SaaS product, including context-aware help integration into Zendesk articles. Additional training was provided on this product to key customers.
Team Lead | Senior Contractor
Sporting Solutions (Sporting Index Group)
- Led an agile team of engineers and delivered seven real-time sports trading systems into production under tight deadlines without compromising quality. All systems were built to scale elastically and tested to handle large spikes in load.
- Helped establish a culture of continually automating self-diagnosis and failover of systems to keep ownership costs low, with real-time monitoring on Splunk. The few latent residual issues were addressed via root cause analysis and log diagnosis.
- Used the test-first approach to delivery, automating the testing of the systems with NUnit, Specflow, and Selenium.
- Conducted technical interviews for new developer candidates, assisted London management with the growth strategy in Cape Town, nurtured and mentored the development teams, and furthered a culture of continual skills growth in the teams.
Senior .NET Contractor
Old Mutual, PLC
- Contributed to the architecture and delivery of the online tax-free savings account product. Under tight deadlines, both back-end integration and front-end functionality were delivered for internet users to interact with various calculations.
- Assisted the front-end team on their legacy .NET 3.5 web stack with JavaScript, jQuery, and Ajax to hook up the calculator.
- Used NUnit and Neoload to conduct load testing of back-end APIs and introduced Selenium to the team to ensure the browser's functionality and compatibility testing.
Senior Software Engineering Contractor
Dynamic Visual Technologies, Pty., Ltd.
- Conducted technical interviews for .NET positions within DVT and for the talent exchange, DVT's recruitment subsidiary.
- Served as the architect and lead developer on the vehicle tracking system integration between MUA's systems and the NetStar and Tracker vehicle tracking companies, using .Net 4, SQL 2008, WCF, and EF 4.3.
- Customized SharePoint to enable an automated claims and policy document processing workflow as well as build a lightweight service bus across MSMQ.
- Acted as the senior consultant and lead developer on the 2013 maintenance release of a risk modeling tool on behalf of BSG for a London-based reinsurance company.
- Assisted as a developer with the addition of new features to a .NET Nuke 4 system.
Contract Senior Developer, Retail BPM Team
Allan Gray
- Served as a consultant developer on the retail IT business process management team, delivering integration and line of business services for the business across a wide stack of commercial and open-source technologies.
- Integrated Siebel CRM and Oracle line of business systems to bespoke SOA services using RabbitMQ, Protobuf, and caching with Riak.
- Participated in migrating the existing .NET and Java microservices to Scala.
Biztalk Integration Specialist, Contract .NET Developer
Woolworths, Pty., Ltd.
- Integrated custom Woolworths' systems to suppliers' purchase order management systems.
- Led a small .NET team on Woolworths' EDI processing application, which assesses and validates all trade invoices presented by suppliers to Woolworths.
- Advised the Woolworths chief architect on application and integration matters.
- Assisted with the training of junior developers and also assisted in bringing new technologies into their development stack.
Lead Consultant
Business Edge Systems, Pty., Ltd.
- Redeveloped a legacy medical aid system written in ATK on the IBM Universe DBMS into a contemporary Microsoft .NET 3.0 Smart Client application for Anglo Platinum.
- Mentored a team to assist in adapting from legacy procedural database coding to modern object-orientated design, including training sessions for .NET and C#.
- Automated Smart Client deployment using the MS Smart Client Application Block and ClickOnce installation.
Systems Architect
Rand Mutual Assurance Limited
- Ensured that IT systems were aligned with RMA’s strategy and, conversely, that systems were positioned to enable growth in RMA’s business.
- Led a small team of three developers involved in the design and roll-out of CompDiv, an employer accident/disease/IOD claims submission system. The system integrates with RMA’s claims system.
- Implemented an effective, low-cost imaging and scanning solution in Sharepoint for documents (VS 2005, C#). The solution included automated barcode recognition, WebDAV, and indexing metadata via the SharePoint Web Services and CAML.
Software Engineer | Architect
Software Futures Pty Ltd
- Served as the lead developer and architect of the Investec Dividends loyalty program for Investec Private Bank, with integration to an AS/400 transaction system and a proprietary CRM System.
- Served as the lead architect on a system that processes workman's compensation insurance claims for the South African mining sector. The system was built using an ASP Classic Web UI and a tiered COM-based back end on top of an SQL Server database.
- Built additional workflow, client portal, and medical assessment modules to extend the core functionality.
- Integrated the claims system with five other systems using Microsoft BizTalk Server.
- Managed a team of up to 15 developers in delivering the claims and medical insurance systems.
Software Development Engineer
Absolute Systems Pty Ltd
- Worked on a variety of projects including the delivery of ATM banking software, proof of concept work with biometric devices and smart cards, and central management of remote coupon printing devices.
Engineer
Anglo American Corporation
- Built software to support and process data from the Airborne Multispectral Scanner instrument and allow geoscientists to access data generated by the instrument.
- Developed SpectNT software to visualise and process data from the hand held PIMA spectral measuring instrument.
- Liased with senior management on project progress, technical capabilities, and cost management.
- Involved in documenting and setting up operating processes and procedures for the airborne instrument, logistics, calibration, and maintenance.
- Wrote end user, training, and system design documentation for the SpecTNT software package I had developed.
Experience
Arene.io | Financial Accounting Certified by the Ethereum Blockchain
https://arene.ioMy StackOverflow Profile
https://stackoverflow.com/users/314291/My GitHub Profile
https://github.com/nonnbSoftware and Architectural Consultant
https://hexagon.com/products/product-groups/computer-aided-manufacturing-cad-cam-softwareSenior C++ Engineer Developing Process Control Analytical Applications
https://www.getmissioncontrols.com/Technical Writing Consultant for The Kwil Kuneiform Product
https://www.kwil.com/Integration Project Between Command Akon JWS Ticketing and Viewpoint Spectrum ERP Systems
https://www.midstatesmaterials.com/LMS Content for Training and Skills Testing for Business Process Discovery System
https://www.skan.ai/process-intelligenceJavaScript Media and Video Player for Backtracks
Internal, External, and Governance Documentation for Healthcare Visitation Software
https://riverkidstexas.com/Zendesk Customization and Bespoke After-service Survey Application on AWS
https://www.flywithcraft.com/• Implemented custom workflow, integration, triggering, and management reports in Zendesk (VOIP, chat, and mail) and provided operations policy templates in the Zendesk Guide.
• Built a bespoke .NET Core 6 customer satisfaction survey app hosted in AWS connected to a Redshift data warehouse using AI transcription, with reporting and alerting capabilities.
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, Light Current
University of the Witwatersrand - Johannesburg, South Africa
Certifications
Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft
Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
Microsoft
Functional Program Design in Scala
EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) via Coursera
Functional Programming Principles in Scala
EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)
MCSD (Web Applications 4.5)
Microsoft Corp.
MCTS - Microsoft Biztalk Server 2010
Microsoft
MCPD (Web Developer 4)
Microsoft
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Moq, REST APIs, Stripe, Salesforce API, Entity Framework, Web API 2, Protobuf, LINQ, Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) Library, TPL, Apache HttpClient, Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), React, Node.js, QuickBooks API, Zendesk API
Tools
RabbitMQ, Git, Jira, NuGet, Autofac, Ninject, Azure App Service, GitHub, Microsoft Visual C++, SAP Remote Function Call (RFC), Jenkins, StructureMap, TeamCity, Help+Manual, Terraform, Amazon Transcribe
Languages
XSL, C#, SQL, XSLT, Markdown, T-SQL (Transact-SQL), XML, HTML, XSD, C++, Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic, Scala, Java, Solidity, Web Services Description Language (WSDL), JavaScript, CSS, XML/XSLT
Frameworks
.NET, .NET 4, NUnit, Entity Framework Core, ASP.NET, MVC Razor, Selenium, SpecFlow, ASP.NET Web Forms, gRPC, .NET Core, Boost, React Native
Paradigms
REST, Continuous Integration (CI), Web Architecture, Microservices, Azure DevOps, Microservices Architecture, Design Patterns, Test-driven Development (TDD), Continuous Delivery (CD)
Storage
Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL, Aerospike, SQL Server 2017, Azure Blobs, Azure Table Storage, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Azure Cosmos DB, Web Forms, Riak, NoSQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Redshift, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
Platforms
Oracle, Microsoft, Azure, Windows, Linux, SharePoint, IBM WebSphere, Blockchain, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache Kafka, Ethereum, Zendesk, Windows Server, AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Industry Expertise
Project Management
Other
Integration, SOLID Principles, Architecture, Performance, Technical Writing, Knowledge Bases, Software Development, Engineering, API Design, Software Architecture, MSMQ, System Documentation, API Documentation, Technical Documentation, APIs, API Integration, Writing & Editing, Documentation, Software Documentation, Back-end, Data Modeling, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Service, BizTalk 2010, Azure Service Bus, BizTalk, Mentorship, CTO, XML Web Services, Process Documentation, Startups, Leadership, Technical Leadership, Coaching, Scalability, Process Development, Advisory, Trading, Domain-driven Design (DDD), CI/CD Pipelines, Full-stack Development, .NET 6, COM, SOAP, WebDAV, Workflow, Reporting, Siebel, GRID, Workbench, QuickBooks Online, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Intuit QuickBooks, Octopus Deploy, BizTalk Server, Azure Cloud Security, Web3, Content Creation, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Training, BPM, CSS5, Full-stack, Content Writing, SAP, Symphony, System Administration, Amazon Redshift
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