Bruno Ferreira

Backend (sometimes front-end) developer for AgileDeZign (ADZ), a project/software management web app with an emphasis towards usability and progression tracking. The backend is based on Ruby-on-Rails, and the frontend updates in real-time with React+Redux. The product includes an optional two-way real-time/historic sync with Jira. I started working on the project roughly after the first alpha.

• Improved upon the existing structure centered around multiple layers of abstraction and nested entities.
• Architected and implemented multiple new entities to extend functionality.
• Performed massive database optimizations of primary API calls' queries, with speedups in the range of several orders of magnitude.
• Wrote and refactored fiddly algorithms like a custom sorter for stories.
• Dealt extensively with Rails/ActiveRecord triggers and validations.
• Wrote elaborate PostgreSQL queries too tricky for Rails' ActiveRecord
• Likewise, wrote PostgreSQL queries with window functions to make it easier and faster to collect certain statistics.
• Coded a deep integration with the Jira API for a clean two-way sync between Jira and ADZ. The import and sync both include point-in-time playback, a particularly tricky feature to code.
• Massively expanded the RSpec test bench, taking care to DRY and ensuring tests function under multiple permission levels. Added exensive testing for the Jira sync.
• Refactored most of the API, taking particular care with data validation and permission handling.
• Implemented fast API output serializers to work around Ruby/ActiveRecord's performance limitations.
• Extended and improved user authorization handling.
• Wrote extensive back- and front-end code for integrating QuillJS with Redux and ADZ's real-time updating.
• Created multiple Sidekiq job dispatchers.

Primary tech stack: Ruby, Rails, RSpec, PostgreSQL, Jira API, React, Docker, GitLab
Secondary tech stack: Sidekiq, Redis, Docker, NodeJS, React-Redux, Alpine Linux.

Took on the entire technical side of The Tech Report webside (pre-2019-sale). I was the sole full-stack developer and sysadmin. Additionally, I was both a writer and a managing editor.

• Inherited and improved upon the codebase for a custom website, custom CMS, a custom comments system, and phpBB forums.
• Developed a custom threaded comments system from scratch: backend, database, API, frontend. It used several layers of caching and was probably the fastest and most complete across popular websites at the time.
• Optimized page serving speed with extensive use of memcached and DB caching. The site could serve ~1 million page impressions a day easily with an average CPU load of around 1.0.
• Developed multiple benchmarking utilities, including an automated CPU benchmarking GUI utility with automatic result export in Python+PyQt. One click, and it ran tens of common benchmarks, then exported the results to a matching server utility manipulating a custom, elaborate Excel report.
• Wrote a custom pay-what-you-want subscriptions system that rewarded users paying above the average contribution with extra perks. Integrated this custom system with Stripe subscriptions.
• Created and maintained custom clean, preconfigured Windows disk images for hardware benchmarking with automated setup and preinstalled software.
• Developed a handful of custom phpBB plugins for spam control, via Akismet and StopForumSpam.
• Customized ckEditor with automatic formatting, table handling, and additional custom shortcuts to make writers' lives easier.
• Added image collection and drag-and-drop functionality to the CMS - a new/unique feature at the time.
• Managed multiple web and database servers. Handled backups and disaster recovery. Ran SELinux on CentOS and implemented/maintained SELinux policies for hardening.
• Handled full HTTPS/SSL integration throughout the custom website, CMS, and forums. Configured Apache with HTTPS, being careful around TLS protocols and HSTS configurations.

Primary tech stack: PHP, Python, MySQL, memcached, Apache, JavaScript, Python, phpBB, ckEditor, CentOS, SELinux.

Secondary tech stack: PyQt, xlWings (Python), Stripe API, Windows DISM + friends, Excel, R1Soft CDP.

Writing experience:

• Wrote hundreds of short-format, in-depth news articles about PC hardware, the PC industry, and gaming.
• Wrote periodical in-depth System Guide long-format articles with detailed recommendations and advice on the best PC hardware components to buy at a given time.
• Wrote bi-weekly Deals posts, detailing the best ongoing deals in PC hardware.
• Managed multiple writers and edited their articles' copy for both technical correctness and grammar (in English; yes really; no, it's not my native language; yes, that annoys natives)

I help manage 40+ cloud services across multiple disciplines and handle anything and everything that's systems and IT related, including granting access to cloud compute resources, user onboarding and offboarding, security policies, and data storage policies. This has historically been accomplished by a team of only two, counting me. While the vast majority of our work is with GUIs and no-code automation tools, occasionally we need to write scripts.

The MLCommons Association (mlcommons.org) is a multi-company AI industry comprised of most every major tech company on the market - Google, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, et al are members. Given that MLCommons is for all practical purposes a virtual organization comprised of engineers and scientists from large corporations, managing the cloud software stack is a unique challenge.

Cloud compute service providers

Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Azure Cloud Services, Alibaba Cloud Computing Service.

Source code: repositories, actions, and package repos.

GitHub, GitHub actions, CLA bot, PyPI

Cloud storage services & software

Cloudlfare R2, Linode Object Storage, Amazon S3, Seagate Lyve, Nextcloud, MassiveGrid

GPU compute and AI inference services.

Together.ai, HuggingFace

Mailer services

MailChimp, Mandrill

Office suite, email, file sharing, mailing lists.

Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Mail, Google Groups, Google Meet.

Auxiliary tools

Google Apps Scripts

Domain registration and DNS handling

Gandi.net: 30-odd domains, some requiring specific DNS settings

Websites

WordPress, Netlify, Gravity Forms

Project management and communication

Trello, Asana, Discord, GMelius

I was part of the technical marketing team for ASUS Computer International (North America), writing mainly for the EdgeUp blog. The combination of long-time expertise in the PC/tech hardware space and the experience I obtained as a writer and editor for The Tech Report resulted in me being generally assigned the longest and hardest articles.

I wrote under the pen name Joseph Kincaid, and my articles can be viewed here: https://edgeup.asus.com/author/joseph-kincaid/ . Notable work:

Motherboard family releases: these articles were multi-page, highly detailed pieces that pored over every motherboard from a new family, for Intel and AMD CPUs. As this was an important product category for ASUS, the respective blog coverage required special care.

Recommendations and deal guides: long-format articles covering multiple related products, and extended write-ups of deals available on ASUS products on specific occasions like Black Friday and Valentine's Day. The product selection for the deals guides was often performed by us.

Multi-product release guides: long-format articles covering multiple new product releases from a given category.

Individual product blog posts: short blog posts with insights about specific product releases.

I was the sole back- and front-end developer, DB architect, sysadmin, and tech lead in a small team doing mainly web development. During my tenure, I programmed and architected databases for 70+ web sites, about ten online stores, and a handful of specialized web apps. Nearly all code was custom and built on my own frameworks, with an eye towards security and performance. At one point nearly every site and app ran on the one modest dedicated server. Notable work includes:

• Multiple complete online stores, most all with varying degrees of custom functionality.
• Full management system for a parcel shipping company; highly optimized to handle thousands of parcels and their associated documentation per day, all served fast for tens of users, running on potato hardware. Had in-app PDF shipping label generation without going through a CRM, and real-time signature handling without using expensive dedicated PDAs.
• Back- and front-office reservation handling for a collection of holiday rentals. Think a mid-2010s mini-Booking, except a lot faster and a lot easier.
• Multiple CMSes and site control panels, including for news articles, newsletters, product pages, categorization, etc.
• Back-office reservation handling system for a large hotel. Lots of UI and speed optimizations; was easier to use and faster than anything comparable at the time
• Corporate websites with private download/upload areas.
• Advised clients on server, client, and networking hardware purchases and integration.

Primary tech stack: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, Apache, SuSE Linux, mdraid.
Secondary tech stack: Windows, IIS, bash, C, Plesk, cPanel.

Additional work: source control strategies
During a recent stint at the company (Oct 2024 - Mar 2024), I performed a conversion of a large repository from SVN to Git + GitHub, and offered in-depth training sessions on branch strategies and source control best practices.

• Managed and optimized a WordPress instance and infrastructure.
• Improved page serving speed and concurrency with back-end caching
• Managed web and database servers, particularly configuring Apache properly to handle a large number of requests in a server round-robin configuration.

Tech stack: Wordpress, PHP, MariaDB, Apache, Linux.

Designed and implemented a web-based management system and scoreboard for an online gaming tournament.

• Results were collected from Battlefield 2 matches and input into the system by game administrators.
• The scoreboard would then tally and aggregate the scores to correlate them to a virtual map, determining which one of several factions owned an area at a given time, and displaying both aggregate and detailed result sets.
• Wrote the backend, front-end, and designed/implemented the database for the scoring system.
• Wrote elaborate text parsers that would organize data about game servers collected from the web.
• Managed web and database servers for the website and vBulletin forums.

Tech stack: PHP, Apache, MySQL, JavaScript, vBulletin, RedHat Linux.

• Wrote fixes for and added functionality to a custom forum system; optimized its speed
• Managed and tweaked a Wordpress instance, optimizing page serving speed many-fold
• Managed web and database servers with an eye towards low resource usage.

Tech stack: PHP, MySQL, WordPress, Apache, Linux.