Distributed Systems Engineer
2016 - 2018Airbrake.io- Improved and maintained the distributed systems code (Go) that accepted and ingested large quantities (~10 million/day data points) of error data.
- Built front-facing features in JavaScript and TypeScript using AngularJS—focusing on improving the user flows linking error data to deploys.
Technologies: Go, JavaScript, Angular, TypeScriptDistributed Systems Engineer
2015 - 2016Appmonsta- Built Spark (Python) pipelines processing more than 200 million unique data points per day.
- Implemented more-intelligent crawling strategies for high-performance Python web spiders scraping more than 1 million items a day which reduced the operational load of the crawler infrastructure significantly.
- Fixed bugs and maintained the high-performance crawling infrastructure.
Technologies: Python, SparkContract Software Engineer
2015 - 2015Spring- Helped the company scale their web scraping infrastructure by building critical components with golang.
Technologies: GolangEngineer
2014 - 2015Rockpool Labs- Worked with Golang on the Google app engine building high performance, auto-scaling services.
- Built out core service libraries, including logging, error handling, and others critical components.
Technologies: GolangSenior Software Engineer
2013 - 2014Aston Club- Initiated and won internal support for a set of Node.js-based software development best practices that minimized duplication of work. This became the lynch-pin for the refactoring of internal code and a key part of the company's plans to tackle problems of scale.
- Championed a complete switch in infrastructure management to Ansible, rewriting deployment, testing, and changes to development procedures to increase productivity.
- Played a part in developing a custom auto-updater in C# and .NET, getting up to speed quickly with the evil land of Microsoft (perhaps learning it's not so evil).
- Developed a new POS integration that increased the total number of active venues (at the time) by 10%.
- Wrote a communications library to drastically simplify the methods of inter-service message routing through message brokers (RabbitMQ).
Technologies: Node.js, AngularJS, .NET, AnsibleSoftware Developer
2012 - 2012Better Place Australia- Prototyped an IOS application to give the company's customers direct feedback about the Better Place network.
- Designed and built the early mobile client API for communicating with the Better Place network; utilized the Typesafe stack, Salesforce, and MongoDB.
- Improved and maintained internal tools that directly affected the workflow of employees testing devices in the field.
Technologies: iOS, Scala, MongoDBFounder | Sole Developer
2011 - 2011Reindeer Flotilla- Founded a small business that created games for the web.
- Led a remote team of five people across nine time zones to build Sapphire Skies, an action game with strategic elements that has been played 9,400 times to date.
- Coded all elements of the game, from the UI to the back-end, integrating and heavily modifying an open source ActionScript engine called Flixel.
- Utilized a small test group to make informed improvements based on analytics.
Technologies: ActionScript, HTML, CSSSoftware Developer
2011 - 2011Electronic Arts Montreal- Worked closely in a team of developers, artists, and economists to develop "Trouble Makers," an iPhone game that was played by tens of thousands of users.
- Contributed to all layers of the application, from the server to the UI to the tools.
- Added new features, fixed bugs, and pushed development towards a polished finished product.
- Worked with Unity 3D and C# on the client end in addition to Java on the back-end.
Technologies: Unity3D, Java, C#Games Developer
2010 - 2010HitGrab Inc.- Helped drive the conceptualization, development, and analysis of a Flash-based Facebook game.
- Contributed to all layers of the application, creating code on the PHP-based back-end and the ActionScript front-end.
Technologies: ActionScript, PHPPrototype Software Developer
2009 - 2009Research In Motion- Architected the front-end development of a major conceptual prototype intended to explore new uses of advanced user interfaces.
- Worked closely with a team of hardware engineers, graphic designers, and industrial designers to develop software to create a cutting-edge product concept.
Technologies: ActionScript, Java, CInteractive Development Intern
2009 - 2009Fantasy Interactive- Worked alongside seasoned industry experts on projects for major clients (Electronic Arts and Burton).
- Created CSS and HTML widgets that formed the basis of a community-based portal website.
- Brainstormed and designed wireframes that were used to create the Kontain (FI’s home-grown social network) iPhone app.
- Worked in Flash to rapidly create an application for Burton Snowboards that would interactively reveal a portion of a map with smoothly animated movements.
Technologies: ActionScript, CSS, HTMLSoftware Developer
2008 - 2008Autodesk- Created a Java-based web tool for a project management system that increased usability and saved employees considerable amounts of time each day.
- Performed basic use and administration of the Perforce source control system.
- Wrote Python scripts to automate processes in Perforce.
Technologies: Java, Python, PerforceSoftware Developer
2008 - 2008DesignAxiom- Learned an in-house Flash development framework and applied knowledge to contribute major deliverables in the development of a complex Flex application for a pharmaceutical analytics company.
- Contributed to an intricate Flex application in the children’s entertainment sector.
- Created JSFL scripts to simplify animation tasks and solve interaction problems between animations and the Flex application.
- Added features to a a desktop-based educational video player.
- Fixed bugs with a Facebook-based Flash game.
Technologies: ActionScript, Flex
Zach Goldstein
Web Scraping Developer in Toronto, ON, Canada
Member since March 26, 2016
Zach is a software engineer with a decade of experience developing software across a wide variety of platforms. His focus now is on distributed systems and back-end development with Python, Golang, and Node.js. He has built data pipelines processing hundreds of millions of unique data points, and mobile payment platforms processing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Zach is now available for hire
Portfolio
- Airbrake.ioGo, JavaScript, Angular, TypeScript
- AppmonstaPython, Spark
- SpringGolang
Experience
- Python, 4 years
- JavaScript, 4 years
- Go, 3 years
- Web Scraping, 3 years
- React, 2 years
- Node.js, 2 years
- Scrapy, 2 years
- Apache Spark, 1 year
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
PyCharm, Atom, Docker, AWS, Linux, GitHub
The most amazing...
...work I've done was on a high-performance data pipeline with Spark and Python that processes hundreds of millions of unique data points every day.
Employment
Experience
- Metadroner (Development)http://metadroner.com
I built a search engine for drone and multicopter (mechanically simple aerial vehicle) parts, after getting involved with racing drones and getting frustrated with searching numerous stores for the hobby products I needed. This was built to serve a personal itch, and I'm proud to say that the small community received it quite well. It's grown to serve almost a thousand users.
This project was a solo endeavor, and included building the following:
• A Python-based web scraping infrastructure collecting data on over 25,000 products every day.
• An advanced search engine leveraging Elasticsearch and a Node.js back-end.
• A React single page app front-end.
Skills
Languages
Python, JavaScript, GoFrameworks
Scrapy, Flask, Django REST Framework, Apache Spark, .NETPlatforms
Linux, Amazon Web Services (AWS)Storage
MongoDB, PostgreSQL, ElasticsearchOther
Big Data, Web ScrapingLibraries/APIs
Node.js, React
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Systems Design Engineering2007 - 2013University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Certifications
- AWS Solutions Architect — AssociateFEBRUARY 2019 - PRESENTAWS
