Tom Aratyn

Experience

• Founder, Boulevard Platform, Inc.

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Oct 2012 to Present

  Accomplishments:

  • Released Asystant, a checklist management tool: https://asystant.co. Built using Django, Docker, and React.
  • Wrote Building Django Web Applications (published by Packt Publishing ).
  • Released an iOS app: Time Since I.
  • Bootstrapped company with consulting work.

• Senior Developer, Tucows, Inc. (Consumer brands: Ting, OpenSRS, Hover.com)

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada April 2019 to Present

  Accomplishments:

  • Designed and wrote major parts of Python Kafka based next generation domain registration platform.
  • Primary contributor to Github Action based CI/CD system.
  • Coordinated across teams to migrate deployment to Hashicorp Nomad.
  • Designed and wrote hooks in legacy application (Perl 5) to communicate with new system.
  • Fostered peer professional development through sharing code and book club (Accelerate).

• Part Time Contractor, Tucows, Inc. (Hover.com)

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Novemeber 2018 to April 2019

  Accomplishments:

  • Fixed bugs on multi-tier system made up of legacy Perl 5 code and modern code in Python, Django, and JS.
  • Executed project to unify logging across teams and projects.

• Senior Developer, Impact Infrastructure

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 2016 to January 2017

  Accomplishments:

  • Updated django app deployment to permit fast blue/green deployments and resource monitoring.
  • Mentored team, advised on scrum improvements, and started team knowledge sharing.

• Developer, Snap Inc. (Formerly Snapchat)

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 2016 to December 2016

  Accomplishments:

  • Implemented code and architecture changes to handle 10x growth in comic rendering.
  • Lead Bitmoji "Delivery" team during Bitstrips-Snap integration.
  • Designed and helped implement architecture change for comic rendering to speed up rendering and increase stability.

• Developer, Bitstrips

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 2014 to July 2016

  Accomplishments:

  • Developed a new backend system used in every comic served by every app in Python (Pyramid).
  • Developed mass mailing system for emailing millions of users per day using Mandrill using Python.
  • Developed backend for in app purchases using Django.
  • Ensured new and existing apps were easy to deploy using ansible and integration tests.
  • Worked on features in variety of environments including PHP, node.js, and Python
  • Co-built a datawarehouse using Pentaho for ETL'ing to Redshift and Looker for reporting.
  • Presented at lunch and learn events.

• Developer, FoxyProxy Inc.

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nov 2013 to Jun 2014

  I was contracted to develop an e-commerce system that communicates with FP’s proxy network.

  Accomplishments:

  • Built custom Django payment processor for Stripe and PayPal recurring payments that managed accounts across a global proxy network.
  • Ensured internationalization with Django internationalization API and GNU gettext.
  • Implemented a (modified) Scrum process to produce immediate progress while requirements were gathered.
  • Mentored junior developer and assisted infrastructure team with Python scripting.

• Instructor, Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jun 2012 to Nov 2013

  I focused on Unix and web development courses adding to the existing course content based on my own experience with web development and security.

  Accomplishments:

  • Updated existing courses to include up to date material and covered interesting topics (ex. PHP 5.3 introduced anonymous functions).
  • Reorganized the "introduction to front-end web development" course to focus on JavaScript rather than HTML tag memorization.
  • Counselled students who had problems as well as meeting with students to assist them with understanding course material.
  • Made content publicly accessible and encouraged industry standard tools, where possible (ex: PHP Demos, Front End Web Demos).

• Chief Software Architect, SD Elements

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jan 2011 to Oct 2011

  I managed contractors, served as SCRUM master, and coordinated planning with the VP. (I was part of the Security Compass team that spun SDE out as its own company)

  Accomplishments:

  • Developed the initial expert system backend.
  • Ensured that the product continued to stand out for its user experience by coordinating between the developers and designers.
  • Ensured that project progress was meeting business needs by having regular sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives with the product owner.
  • Recruited and screened the developer team.

• Chief Software Architect, Security Compass

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jan 2008 to Oct 2011

  I led the development of products, multiple internal projects, and recruited an infrastructure team.

  Accomplishments:

  • Created the open source Exploit Me Firefox extensions for web application security testing. The tools were a key component of Security Compass marketing strategy, were one of the first sources of name recognition, and had an install base of +40K users.
  • Maintained and developed an internal Java tool that let consultants spend more time testing by automating reporting. Reporting quality is a key differentiator for Security Compass.
  • Created TrueLabs, an AWS cloud-based Django web application to provide a unique remote training and CBT offering.
  • Grew the IT infrastructure as company grew from around 6 people to over 20 people and spun out a new company (SD Elements, see above).
  • Developed the prototype for SD Elements.

• Founder, MetaTom Enterprises

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jun 2007 to Dec 2007

  I developed a product to parallelize and distribute builds across a local grid.