Zscaler

DevOps Architect

Bluebeam, Inc.

Software Architect

Recharge Payments

-   Participated in the Architecture Board, which governed best practices, cross-cutting concerns, and technical proposals
-   Introduced a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to address quality issues and reduce production incidents by 90%+
-   Led the organization of the first Architecture Summit to discuss high-level concerns and processes
-   Increased batch job processing throughput by 4x through hands-on troubleshooting and developer coaching
-   Designed API throughput performance improvements for a 10-15x reduction in deployment resources and related costs
-   Mentored engineers by sponsoring technical designs, offering career guidance, and enhancing technical skills
-   Promoted methodologies for performance testing and data-driven decision making
-   Developed strategies and systems for decomposing a monolith into microservices
-   Collaborated with the event bus team on designs for eventing and serverless functions
-   Improved testing frameworks and guided developers on Test Driven Development (TDD)
-   Worked with the Security Team to address security concerns and implement secure coding practices
-   Utilized Python, Google Cloud Platform/Functions, API First designs, Microservices, Dapr, Redis, Docker/container images, Kubernetes, MySQL, and ElasticSearch

Principal Engineer/Software Architect

Pulse Secure

- Served on the Architecture Board, responsible for determining overall software architecture and development practices
- Architected and led a team for the development of a Zero Trust microservice platform
- Coordinated security hardening, evaluation, and best practices for most Python-based software
- Designed and led the development of the Python framework at the core of most of the company's Python software
- Designed various features, including authentication token management, multi-tenancy, WebSockets, event messaging, RBAC, user management, certificate management/PKI, OpenAPI adoption, Docker image builds, Postgres migrations, async function queues, and inter-service APIs
- Advocated for Python Best Practices, API design, Test Driven Development, Continuous Integration, and Continuous Delivery
- Maintained several open-source projects core to the company's Python frameworks
- Coordinated Python 2 to Python 3 conversion of many microservices
- Utilized Python, Azure, AWS, Kafka, Redis, Kubernetes, Docker/containers, Postgres, MySQL, Nginx (Lua), OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, Terraform, MongoDB, and ElasticSearch

Principal Engineer/Architect

- Leader of team that converted newly acquired MobileSpaces's Mobile Device Management (MDM) software to Pulse Workspace
- Architect for Pulse One, a VPN server manager and orchestrator that is Docker based, SaaS and On-premise
- Team lead for conversion of Pulse One from a SaaS solution to a cluster-able, on-premise solution within 6 months. Its Docker based architecture can be installed on custom VPN hardware or ran in VMware

Senior Staff Engineer/Server Architect

Various startups and consulting roles

Through many years of software engineering, I gained a broad range of experience from various startups, consulting companies, and open-source projects. I've deployed to every major cloud hosting provider. I've been hands-on with every major programming language. I have developed SaaS, on-premise, desktop, and mobile applications. Some notable highlights include:

-   Co-founding a software contracting agency called Massive Forge, where we developed multiple applications using Python and Javascript. A client acquired the company.
-   Software Architect Consultant for several Hong Kong-based startups, including Libbler and Pingspot, where I developed applications using Python, Javascript, MongoDB, Redis, AWS, and iOS.
-   MapMyFitness (acquired by Under Armour), a fitness tracking SaaS and mobile app, where I primarily developed with Python and Django. I also worked with Hadoop, Cassandra, and Java for analytics.
-   Zenoss, IT monitoring software, where I designed a new event processing and service monitoring suite as part of a project to convert the software from Python to Java.
-   A fintech startup called Bancvue Interactive (now known as Kasasa), where I developed SaaS products for community banks and credit unions.

Additional Software Engineer Experience

Pingspot

Pingspot (http://pingspot.com/) was "A fun, new way to record and recommend your favorite businesses.". It's an iOS application with a Python backend. For Pingspot I developed the mobile application as well as designed and developed the backend. The app graphics were designed and created by Catchlight Productions (http://www.catchlight.com/).

Technologies used: Python with Flask and Celery, MongoDB, Redis, Foursquare API, Facebook API, iOS SDK, Heroku, Cloudinary

Software Architect Consultant

Libbler

Libbler (http://libbler.com/) is "The ultimate career launchpad for entry level professionals. Features include: resume builder and guide, comprehensive employer database for graduate, internship, entry level opportunities and practical industry advice to help develop career skills.". 

I designed and developed the original libbler.com from top to bottom -- except for the graphic design.

Technologies used: Python with Flask and Celery, Spine.js, Coffeescript, MongoDB, Redis, Oneall single-sign-on, Heroku and AWS

Massive Forge

A software contracting agency that I started with my business partners. We developed several applications, primarily with Python and Javascript. The company was acqui-hired by a client.

Co-Founder/CTO

MapMyFitness

- Maintained and developed new features for primary website platform using Python/Django and MySQL
- Developed new API platform using Python and Flask while utilizing Django ORM
- Developed new live race tracking platform using Flask and integrated with remote tracking services using Python and RabbitMQ
- Created APIs for mobile developers to integrate with race tracking
- Maintained fitness statistics reporting engine using Hadoop, Cassandra, and Java
- Created and maintained new unit test infrastructure using py.test
- Developed continuos build solution for development virtual boxes using VirtualBox, Vagrant, and Python

Senior Software Engineer

Zenoss, Inc.

Zenoss provides dynamic system monitoring for IT services across physical, virtual, and hybrid cloud infrastructures. The core of Zenoss is open source and built on Zope/Python, Ext JS, and MySQL.

- Helped wrap up development of UI refresh for 3.0 release
- Developed Dynamic Service View using Flex and yfiles
- Use Agile methodologies for software development
- Design new event processing and service monitoring suite which uses Java, RabbitMQ, SOLR/Lucene, and Neo4j.

🔸Unpacking Software Architecture

I help people deploy more value with less code.

Mike Thornton

Multiple Clients

I work with CEOs and CTOs of growing SaaS companies to enable their engineering departments to generate more business value. These are some common problems I can help you solve:

🤦‍♂️ Our engineering department doubled in size, but productivity hit a brick wall!
🤷‍♂️ We’re totally dependent on the agency that developed our MVP!
🤑 Engineering is a Cost Centre instead of a Profit Centre!
🙏 Engineering Management Guidance Needed

Hire me as your CTO in a fractional capacity, or to troubleshoot a specific problem.

CTO | Coach & Mentor for Engineering Execs

CTO Logic

Writing a newsletter that delivers pragmatic, hard-earned advice for professionals at the intersection of software engineering, tech management, leadership, and business.

Chief Logician

Logiq Labs

✅ Managed 120 people (~90 engineers and product managers), across multiple sites internationally. 
✅ Led development of a FinTech B2B2C SaaS asset trading platform and scaled it to handle $180+ billion in annual trading volume.
✅ Led deployment and scaling of internally developed Marketing Automation platform (B2B2C SaaS) to successfully handle 9 million monthly unique visitors.
✅ Doubled the size of product & engineering department; led organisational transformation through mergers, spinoffs and implementation of Agile methodology. Member of executive management team. VP Engineering and VP Product reported to me.
✅ Managed comprehensive re-architecting, rewrite and successful deployment of internally developed B2B2C payments processing solution.

Chief Technology Officer

Responsible for engineering department of 40 people.

Director of Research & Development

Morpheus Games

✔ Set up the company's engineering department and grew it to 13 members, in Israel and Kyiv, Ukraine.
✔ Worked with my teams to deliver the company's lottery tickets and betting e-commerce platform, and first B2C product, within 8 months (industry typical: 1 year).
✔ Provided technical and managerial oversight (and mentoring where required), and guided architectural decisions.
✔ Established standard and consistent processes for recruiting, evaluating employee performance, designing new functionality, managing the software development life-cycle (SDLC), controlling technical debt, deploying code, handling and resolving production issues.
✔ Invested heavily in automating every step of the development, testing and deployment pipeline (JIRA, GitHub, Jenkins, Docker, AWS EC2 and ECS) to support CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment).
✔ My department successfully passed multiple audits mandated by relevant governmental regulatory and standards bodies, based on the ISO 27001 information security standard. These examined both our internal engineering methodologies, processes and information systems, as well as the security of the deployed product, including undergoing (and surviving) penetration testing. These efforts also contributed greatly to being able to achieve PCI/DSS compliance.

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Jargon for keyword bingo players: Angular 5, Amazon Web Services, Node.js, microservices, using AWS SNS/SQS as an event bus, ELK (Elasticsearch / Logstash / Kibana) for logging and monitoring, Agile.

Director of R&D

Snappers.tv

Finalist - 4YFN competition at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona 2016

http://www.snappers.tv

Independent Consultant

✔ Development of web apps (Google Closure Library/Compiler, AngularJS, Bootstrap) including backends (Google AppEngine (Python), Node.js, Firebase, PHP, Heroku, Amazon EC2 & various cloud services) and even Outlook Add-ins (VB).
✔ Worked with a long term client on a concept that challenged conventional assumptions, and iterated it until it was mature enough and successful enough to be mainstreamed into production at the client's IT department.
✔ Work remotely, coordinating and collaborating with client teams.
✔ Experience with analytics and multivariate testing to increase conversions.
✔ Experience with spreadsheet & visualization techniques to support data driven decisions, for both engineering decisions and determining business goals.
✔ Worked with lawyers / corporate counsel to minimize client risk exposure, ensure compliance with relevant regulations, and to compose EULAs.

Technology & Product Management Advisor / Full Stack Developer

Claritude Software

Claritude Software's mission is to help busy people overcome email overload and increase their productivity. Our first product is SpeedFiler, a powerful add-in for Microsoft Outlook that makes it extremely easy to file incoming and outgoing email. SpeedFiler's super-fast, find-as-you-type folder selection window makes filing almost effortless, even if you have a deep hierarchy of hundreds of folders. When you send a message, SpeedFiler can prompt you to select a folder in which to file it, so you don't have to dump it in Sent Items. Supports Outlook 2003 and 2007. Ideal for busy people with full inboxes.

✔ Identified the problem and corresponding market niche and devised a product (SpeedFiler) with a simple, streamlined UX/UI that masked complexities of the solution.
✔ Sold multiple enterprise licences (1000+ seats) and tens of thousands of small business licenses.
✔ Developed partnerships with industry-specific enterprise resellers.
✔ Set up website; wrote sales and suppport content; integrated with credit card / invoice processing system; used web analytics and multivariate testing to improve conversions.
✔ Set up a blog to help market the product by becoming recognized as a thought leader in the relevant space. This led to quotes in other blogs, print magazines, radio shows and even a book!
✔ Worked with outsourced contractors to produce various components.

Founder & CEO

Finjan

Finjan Software (www.finjan.com), since acquired by Trustwave (www.trustwave.com), is a leading provider of proactive secure content management solutions for global enterprises, protecting over 4 million enterprise users from existing and future Internet threats.

✔ Member of executive team, reported to CEO 
✔ Initiated product management function; recruited and nurtured a cohesive team of 3 product managers and 2 technical writers
✔ Led migration of product portfolio from software to appliances; developed vision and requirements for an innovative next-generation product line and supervised its successful execution
✔ Acted as catalyst for development of revolutionary technology for the new generation product line
✔ Overall strategic and tactical responsibility for 9 products
✔ Active participant in strategic sales efforts to global corporations (including multiple successful deals of over 100,000 seats/$3M each) and in OEM and technology partner relationships
✔ Spokesman for press interviews, webinars, etc.

VP Product Management

Alchemedia

Alchemedia Technologies developed enterprise security products that prevent information theft by trusted insiders - today's costliest information security problem.

After leaving Alchemedia, I participated in the design review for Microsoft Windows Rights Management platform in Redmond. Microsoft has recently (2005) licensed Alchemedia's technology for use in their security products.

✔ Joined as Senior Product Manager; promoted to Director; reported to VP Marketing
✔ Initiated product management function at the company; built, trained, managed and mentored a team of 3 product managers and 2 technical writers
✔ Overall tactical responsibility for the product line; feature roadmaps, functional specifications, delivery schedules and marshalling products through Engineering and QA; technical white papers
✔ Cooperated with partners on integrated products 
✔ Held pre/post-sale contacts with global corporations; participated in sales/business development activities.

Director of Product Management

Better On-line Solutions

Better On-line Solutions (www.bosweb.com, NASDAQ: BOSC) develops Voice-over-IP Telephony solutions and networking products for personal and IBM mid-range computers.
 
✔ Managed an e-commerce development product for IBM platforms, developed in cooperation with IBM.
✔ Responsible for technical relationship with IBM; coordinated development with senior IBM staff, including the chief security architect and managers of the HTTP and FTP server products. 
✔ Defined the functional specifications, designed the system architecture, object model and user interface. 
✔ Represented company at trade shows; delivered lectures and presentations at distributor and customer conferences. 
✔ Interviewed and hired prospective team-member candidates.

Product Manager / Team Leader

Engineering Management Expert • Fractional CTO • Remote • 🇮🇱

I help CTOs and Engineering VPs become indispensable by teaching them how to deliver high impact business outcomes, based on a strategic approach and tactical execution, through two 1:1 weekly programmes:

1. Indispensable CTO — Deliver High Impact Business Outcomes — You'll be able to recalibrate your tech department, and optimise it to produce business value that impacts the right metrics.

2. Sharper CTO — Sharpen Your CTO Skills — You'll sharpen up your decision-making abilities, leadership skills, deepen your collaboration with other executives, improve processes in your department, and optimise it for scaling up.

More details → itzysabo.com

I'm a product and engineering executive leader and manager, having alternated between Product and Engineering for much of my career.

As a business oriented software CTO and executive leader, I have experience across a broad range of industries (cyber, fintech, gaming, productivity), business models (B2B, B2C, B2B2C SaaS) and company growth stages.

I help CEOs, CTOs, Engineering VPs, Engineering Managers and teams deliver more business value in less time, by working with them to identify and solve systemic problems that are holding them back, and to align engineering with the company's business goals.

I have built engineering organisations from scratch, managed departments up to 120 people in size, and learnt how to execute hypergrowth, mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs, as well as reorganisations and downsizing.

I have also successfully prepared organisations for audits, certification and licensing in regulated industries.

I am highly analytical, organised and systematic. 

My superpowers include:
- Sharpened problem-solving instincts.
- Leading and managing teams remotely.
- Hiring trustworthy people, then trusting them.
- Proceeding with confidence through labyrinths of uncertainty.
- Communicating effectively with people at all levels of an organisation.
- Seeing the bigger picture, but able to dive into details where necessary.

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The Battle

Mike Thornton

Itzchak Sabo

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