Michael J.
Love

Technology Enthusiast

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"Perfection [in design] is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Profile

Senior Lead Web Developer with over 15 years experience leading teams to successfully deliver large scale web projects on time.

  • PHP 5/7/8 • 10+ years
  • PHP MVC Frameworks • 10+ years
  • MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Druid.io • 10+ years
  • Javascript/ECMAScript/TypeScript • 10+ years
  • Css/Sass/Less • 10+ years
  • HTML • 10+ years
  • AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) • 1+ years
  • Java 6/7/8 • 5+ years
  • Maven, Hibernate, JPA, Jackson • 5+ years
  • Objective-C iOS development • 10 years
  • Strong RESTful API Skills • 10+ years
  • Senior Architect specializing in High Availability Scalable projects • 10+ years
  • DevOps Engineer with extensive experience with large AWS deployments • 10+ years
  • Continuous Integration, Configuration Automation (Puppet), Vagrant • 5+ years
  • In-depth understanding of Linux Administration, Networking, TCP Protocols • 10+ years
  • Scripting in Bash, Perl, Python, Sed and Awk • 10+ years
  • Git, Subversion, cvs • 10+ years
  • Agile Methodologies, Scrum Master, Atlassian Tool Suite (Jira, Confluence, BitBucket...) • 5+ years

Summary

Hands on project leader, architect, mentor and developer. Very self-motivated, experienced developer with a proven record for coding, launching and maintaining high traffic scalable web and mobile applications.

Possesses an in-depth understanding of emerging technologies with a passion for continuing education and hands on evaluation of the latest advances in the industry.

Extensive experience in Linux, Apache/Nginx, MySQL, MongoDB, PHP and Java development using modern development workflows.

Lead architect and senior developer for several highly scalable multi-million dollar web and mobile projects.

My current Stack of choice is Laravel / VueJS.

Latest Projects

https://www.honeyfund.com/
Honeyfund's online wedding gift registry makes it easy to give and receive the perfect wedding gift — cash!

http://happygrasshopper.com/
From instant automated responses to long-term keep-in-touch campaigns, Happy Grasshopper's unique approach to email follow-up is proven to help salespeople convert more leads and generate more referrals easily.

http://beachfront.com
Video Advertising platform processing billions of requests daily.

http://beachfrontreach.com/
Video distribution platform for the delivery and monetization of video content.

http://www.mycourtcalendar.com/
Web Application to allow Officers of the Court to schedule Law Enforcement officers to appear as witnesses in court.

http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/
Converting old web sites containing over 10,000 flat documents to use a custom, searchable content management system for the Hillsborough County Public Schools. Coded in PHP using MVC Framework and JQuery with a MySQL DB.

Education

  • Computer Science Engineering

    McGill University - 1995-1996

  • Professional Photography

    Dawson College - 1988-1991

  • Creative Arts

    Dawson College - 1986-1988

Training & Certificate

  • Aerospike Administrators
  • Aerospike Developers
  • MongoDB Developers

Work Experience

I was brought into Happy Grasshopper to assist in migrating their existing code base into a more modern framework.

  • Migrated legacy CakePHP 2 code to Laravel
  • Optimized code to for sending emails to increase capacity 1000 times, using the same existing infrastructure.
  • Created a jobs queue for processes using external API calls so they would no longer fail if the external service was not available. Upon any failure the jobs reschedules itself to process again.
  • Secured the production environment and implemented the use of OpenVPN
  • Reduced number of config files to maintain for each workflow environment, allowing for easier changes to configs. Previously had 27 sets of configs to maintain.
  • Introduced the development team to local development environments using Vagrant and allowing the use of XDebug within their IDEs.
  • Assisted remote dev team in optimizing their code by assisting in implementing Traits and View Presenters.

Senior Lead Developer

Happy Grasshopper

Jan 2017 - May 2017

Happy Grasshopper specializes in turning contacts into contracts.

Using professional writers, Happy Grasshopper creates personalized email content to assist in keep in touch with your contacts at regular intervals. Through long term keep-in-touch campaigns they help convert more leads and generate referrals easily.

Happy Grasshopper

VP Engineering

Beachfront Media

April 2015 - December 2016

Beachfront Media is a full stack video technology company that distributes video, monetizes video, and makes video apps across our products. Beachfront and its technology makes anything pertaining to video easy for you - across desktop, mobile web, mobile apps, and OTT apps.

Beachfront products include Reach, a video syndication platform; Beachfront Rise, an OTT and mobile app solution that brings content to mobile devices and connected TVs and Beachfront.io, a cross-screen video supply platform (video SSP) for cross-screen monetization.

Beachfront has over 30 billion monetizable video opportunities a month

Beachfront Media

I was hired by Beachfront Media as a Senior Software Engineer to get their Beachfront Reach video syndication project back on schedule as they had a large client waiting for the service. After 3 months of being with Beachfront, I was offered the position of VP of Engineering managing a team of 12 developers.

While at Beachfront I accomplished:

  • Single handedly converted existing frontend PHP code over weekend to integrate a modern PHP MVC Framework and then introducing the benefits to the dev team.
  • Implemented usage of Composer and Bower for dependency management.
  • Introduced Agile Methodology, Scrum and Sprints to project manager.
  • Introduced modern IDEs to dev teams using proper debugging tools and procedure.
  • Moved existing JS to use unified Kendo UI JS Framework and taught usage of framework to dev team.
  • Implemented usage of Unit Testing and Continuous Integration (Jenkins).
  • Scaled out AWS infrastructure to handle billions of requests daily.
  • Took on Java developer role when unable to acquire local talent.
  • Key leader/architect as well as contributor to all projects (PHP, iOS, Android, Java, BrightScript).
  • Created deployment tools to facilitate application deployment, history logs and allows easy and immediate rollbacks by any authenticated manager.
  • Encouraged continuing education with developers with lunchtime presentations, rewards for highest grades in online classes etc.
  • Architected Machine Learning Application using Kafka, Spark, and ElasticSearch to predict highest revenue ads.
  • Introduced Ad Targeting data store with less than 1ms response time by introducing Aerospike.
  • Created custom Java ELT processes and implementation of Airflow to author workflows as directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) of tasks.
  • Automated and standardized server configurations using Puppet.
  • Created local development environments using Vagrant to allow developers more insight to the complete solution and facilitate debugging of applications.
  • Setup infrastructure monitoring using Nagios including writing custom plugins.

Florida Tech Pros was my company for B2B contract work.

  • Created custom PHP CMS using PHP MVC Framework to migrate over 10,000 static documents to CMS with searchable content for the Hillsborough County School Board. Taught current school board employees usage of modern development tools and flows.
  • Coded PHP application using MVC Framework to allow court officers to be scheduled as witnesses for court dates with reminders being sent out through SMS, email or site notifications.
    I also worked on the clients other properties slowly migrating them towards more modern structures based on Modernizing Legacy Applications In PHP.
  • Created school website in PHP with admin area for publishing lunch menus, student activities, school news as well as a secured system to allow parent to view video feeds of their children in class.
  • Created multilingual online retail and marketing website for a skin care line with advanced parallax effects custom coded in JavaScript. Site was mirrored in USA and China. http://www.brand.dermasensa.com/en/home/?scene=products
  • Wrote C++ application to allow the tracking of sanitation vehicles using RFID to track containers and report serviced customers for customer service and billing.

Senior Led Developer

Florida Tech Pros

Jan 2013 - April 2015

Florida Tech Pros is a software development service company specializing in creating professional web applications to local and international clients.

Adopting the best technology frameworks and proven methodologies, PHP solutions offered by Florida Tech Pros offers scalability, flexibility and improved collaboration.

Florida Tech Pros

http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/

IT Director

Yellow Pages Group

Feb 2010 - Sep 2011

Yellow Pages Group is a Canadian digital and print media company. Through their platforms, they offer SMEs an easy and effective way to market their business and offer people a smarter way to discover their neighbourhoods.

Yellow Pages Group

Managed the integrations of RedFlagDeals.com and YP.com data after the acquisition of RedFlagDeals by Yellow Pages.

  • Developed SSO solution between RedFlagDeals and YP.com users.
  • Integrated YP.com business data into RedFlagDeals using RESTFul APIs (business hours, business descriptions etc.)
  • Integrated RedFlagDeals coupons and other marketing data into YP.com using RESTful APIs.

Lead Architect and developer for Canada’s largest deal site RedFlagDeals.com. Ranked in the top 100 traffic sites for Canada by Alexa. (LAMP, Sphinx, Memcache, AWS, Perl, C++).

  • Single handedly created PriceCanada.com. A price comparison website importing and scraping hundreds of retailer data daily.
  • Migrated RedFlagDeals.com from ExpressionEngine to custom PHP MVC framework to remedy constant scaling issues.
  • Migrated bare metal infrastructure to an elastic cloud solution using RightScale over AWS to allow for instant scaling from 100 instances to over 1000 instances to handle holiday traffic.
  • Created RedFlagDeals iOS App.
  • Created DailyDeals, a GroupOn type product for Canada.

VP Technology

Clear Sky Media

Sep 2005 - Feb 2010

Clear Sky Media is a Toronto-based firm that provides unique online channels for marketers to reach consumers with its sites: RedFlagDeals.com and PriceCanada.com.

RedFlagDeals.com harnesses the power of community to scour Canada for all of the latest shopping information.

PriceCanada.com is a shopping comparison search engine and Clear Sky Media’s newest site. The site allows users to search dozens of online retailers, compare products, and then make a purchase.

RedFlagDeals

VP Technology

Conceptis Technologies

May 2000 - Sep 2005

Conceptis, based in Montreal, is a leading provider of online and offline medical education and promotion aimed at physicians and other healthcare professionals.

The Company is best known for its pioneering, Internet-based “digital communities” that serve healthcare professionals in key medical specialties, including: theheart.org, jointandbone.org and thekidney.org.

In addition to news and research, the communities provide continuing medical education (CME), physician education, research extracts, and online forums.

Conceptis is the leader in the creation of on-line medical communities as well as medical education through the Internet, specializing in the field of cardiology. I am responsible for all aspects of technology from the network, servers, databases and security, including participating in the design and implementation of our products.

We work in a SUN/NT environment with our applications using Oracle8i/Intermedia as a back end. I currently supervise a staff of 15 and am the applications architect and lead software developer for our Clinical Trial Central project, an on-line clinical trial management tool.

  • Migrated first version of TheHeart.Org from Lotus Notes to Oracle and PL/SQL-C.
  • Migrated TheHeart.org to Java.
  • Created our Clinical Trial Central project, a PHP based on-line clinical trial management tool.

E-Design was a pioneer of the early World Wide Web. I started a web development company with one other associate. We created many on-line tools for a variety of different businesses from on-line dating agencies to the production of on-line newspapers.

We grew the business to a staff of 20 when it was sold to Quebecor Multimedia. At that time it also included an ISP/hosting service under the name Quebec.Net.

VP Technology

E-Design

Dec 1995 - Jun 2000

E-Design Inc., located in Montreal, is a service oriented company committed to helping companies and organizations successfully integrate their marketing and sales strategies into the rapidly growing World Wide Web and Internet.

E-Design's services include Web presence design incorporating advanced HTML, CGI, VRML and Java programming and content authoring, Web site hosting, site maintenance, content updates and database design and integration.

In addition, E-Design provides extensive market research and media planning for cross promotion in traditional media. For its larger corporate clients, the company offers turnkey systems including server installation and configuration.

Information Systems Consultant

Quebecor Multimedia

Nov 1994 - July 1995

Quebecor Multimedia, headed by Erik Peladeau, was created in 1994 as a holding company for new aquisitions in the multimedia sector for Quebecor.

They quickly acquired several leading new media technology companies: St. Remy Media, Intellia, E-Design, Informission.

Quebecor Multimedia

My main responsibility at Groupe Quebecor was to create Quebecor’s WAN to offer Internet services. I maintain the Sun Sparc 10s and administer the system in whole. (Postmaster, hostmaster, webmaster, gophermaster etc.)

I was responsible for setting up the TCP/IP network from scratch as well as the services needed to run the network (Sendmail, BIND, httpd, gopherd, qi, etc.). I also develop utilities to aid in the production of WWW pages from our daily newspapers and CGI’s to better access these services.

Other duties include evaluating projects submitted by our affiliates, offering technical support for these sites and teaching the other members of the technological team how to maintain and benefit from Quebecor’s WAN.

I was offered a six-month contract at Le Journal to implement and train the technical staff in the latest systems being used for desktop publishing.

My main duties revolved around the CTEXT classified system. However, I often aided in other environments as well, teaching the production team shortcuts in pagination, developing many utilities in Pascal and C to reduce production time, troubleshooting the servers, imagers, and network.

I evaluated new software and implemented it. I also taught the technical staff how to access resources on the Internet and other on-line services. I aided other consultants by creating scripting additions for their AppleScripts, explaining in detail the Macintosh toolbox.

Production System Consultant

Le Journal de Montréal

Jun 1994 - Nov 1994

Le Journal de Montréal, a daily newspaper distributed in Montréal and across the province of Québec, has the largest circulation and readership of any Québec daily, with 1.9 million copies sold and 2 million readers per week.

Le Journal de Montréal features numerous sections (weekend entertainment, tourism, travel, home, business) and over a hundred special supplements per year.

Journal de Montréal

Senior Graphic Artist

Mont-News Printing (Div. of Quebecor)

May 1993 - Jun 1994

I produced both advertising and editorial pages for North-Americas largest francophone daily newspaper, Le Journal de Montréal.

Shortly after, I became part of the technical team that managed and maintained the systems used, including Macs, Sun Sparc 10 workstations, Micor 486s running OS/2 and Windows, Autologic’s APS system, and the Novell Network. This included finding and testing out new software packages, writing and developing utilities to aid in the production of the newspaper, installing and optimizing existing software, as well as many other tasks. I also managed the CTEXT classified ad system.

I wrote software for the Mac automating the layout of pages, reducing by 10x the time it would take to layout certain pages. I also wrote software to replace placeholder images with high-resolution images allowing easier manipulation of pages on Desktop workstations and to mirror content between sites.

While I was there I automated the creation of an online web edition of The Journal de Montreal, the first daily French newspaper on the web.

I started off at The Downtowner (weekly newspaper) as a part-time photographer. Shortly after, I took over the position of Art Director.

My duties included the preparation and creation of all advertising material and editorial layout, on a Macintosh computer system as well as manual paste-up and repro on a stat-cam. I oversaw and trained the position of Assistant Art Director and controlled the consumption of all materials required by the art department.

I also managed the local network, as well as, a CRM database that I created, keeping track of customer histories and sales performances.

Maintaining both the Mac and PC computers were also part of my duties.

Art Director / Photographer

The Montreal Downtowner Newspaper

Dec 1990 - May 1993

Skills

Blog Posts

Deploying Your Projects with Git

Deploying Your Projects with Git

We already use git for source revision, why not use git to deploy as well.

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PHP Faster in Array

PHP Faster in Array

Optimize your array searches in PHP to make them lighting fast!

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SSH The Easy Way

SSH The Easy Way

Do you ssh from the command prompt frequently? Make the task a lot easier by using ssh_config.

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Contact

Palm Harbor, FL 34684
U.S.A.
Email: michael.love@aboutmikelove.com Phone: 386.588.9476