Richard Nienaber
Senior Software Engineer at vTail
Backend Development: Typescript/Node.js, Ruby, Go
DevOps: Docker, Terraform, Ansible, HAProxy, Zabbix, AWS, GCP, Pulumi
Databases: MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, Mongo, DynamoDB
Methodologies: Agile, Scrum, DevOps, TDD, BDD
2020-12-28 to Present
Senior Software Engineer at vTail
vTail (Series A start up) is a mobile app for health clinicians and sales representatives. Working on the AWS serverless backend, including DevOps.
Standardized database access to DynamoDB and use of EventBridge
2018-09-30 to 2021-03-31
Senior Software Engineer at Warner Media
Worked in an agile team that owned content portals including warnerbros.com. Reduced operating costs of content portals by 75%.
Migrated from hosted Drupal to JAM stack
Developed content delivery system from Drupal to AWS S3
Primary engineer for DevOps/Terraform work
Migrated search from Solr to ElasticSearch
Introduced and maintained real-time monitoring (Zabbix/Sentry)
Ensured <a href='https://www.spacejam.com/1996/'>spacejam.com</a> continued to function in all its 1996 glory
2018-05-31 to 2018-08-31
Senior Backend Developer at Mixtiles
Mixtiles converted a user's photo albums to wall photos. Was responsible for backend systems including retail, order processing, manufacturing and delivery tracking for a multinational product.
Worked on integration with 3rd party systems dealing with payments (Stripe), customer service (Front), delivery tracking (EasyPost) and image processing (Cloudinary)
2018-01-31 to 2018-04-30
Senior DevOps Engineer at Salesforce
Streamlined workflows with Chef and Windows Server deployment onto GCP.
Created Ruby gem to simplify MFA registration for department
2016-07-31 to 2017-12-31
Senior Node.js Engineer at RentReporters
RentReporters improved users rental scores by reporting their rental payments to credit bureaus. Took a leading role in developing and maintaining microservices to support a rewrite of a legacy PHP application.
Researched and implemented zero-downtime deploys
Implemented configuration management with Ansible
Setup monitoring (Zabbix) and observability (StatsD/Graphite)
2015-01-31 to 2016-06-30
Technical Lead at Currencycloud
Currencycloud provides an international payments API for companies around the world. In this role, I was responsible for shaping the direction of software development.
Developed technical plans for new product features e.g. direct debits
Prototyped and oversaw improvements to FIX trading system
Managed technical debt by consensus of multiple development teams
Ensured frameworks and libraries in all applications were kept up to date
2014-01-31 to 2015-03-31
Team Lead:
Development was expanded to Ukraine and was one of two team leads that helped manage the outsourced developers.
For a period of time, managed 2 teams of 4 developers and 2 testers
Functioned as a remote team lead and conducted standups, reviewed code and elaborated on requirements
Developed the specification for v2 of the API and oversaw its implementation
2012-07-31 to 2013-12-31
Senior Software Engineer:
Took part in the full software development lifecycle
Introduced code reviews and a testing culture
Mentored other developers in the team
2011-06-30 to 2012-07-31
Senior Software Developer at Spotlight
Spotlight is an online directory that connects performers, agents and casting directors. Worked as a fullstack engineer on multiple applications.
Tasked with speeding up the site with caching
Created a real-time dashboard for caching server
2009-02-01 to 2011-06-30
Software Developer at The Travel Corporation
Worked on a legacy ASP.NET booking system with a focus of introducing new features while managing technical debt.
2008-08-31 to 2009-01-29
Developer at SkillsMarket
Worked as a C# developer maintaining a backend system responsible for processing thousands of CVs per day.
2008-01-31 to 2008-08-31
Consultant at NorthPoint Solutions
Developed and supported financial portfolio management systems
2005-08-31 to 2007-12-31
Software Engineer at Korbitec
Worked on a web service that helped attorneys communicate securely between themselves and financial institutions.
2005-01-31 to 2005-07-31
Developer at lianolink
Developed a back-end system that allowed satellite users to connect to a server to send and receive email and view news
2001-01-01 to 2004-12-31
Nelson Mandela University
B. Tech: Information Technology