Alex Kalderimis

Background

About

I am an experienced backend developer who has built reliable high-performance tools for a range of applications
in several languages, including Haskell, JavaScript and Ruby.

I have a particular interest in functional languages and secure, efficient back-end services. I believe in iterative
development and thorough test suites. Where possible, I enjoy being able to work on my own tools, and believe
that building tools for developers is a great way to make a meaningful contribution.

I have worked fully remotely since 2019.

Work Experience

Senior Backend Engineer,
May, 2019 - Mar, 20233 years 10 months
Building a platform to make software development more efficient.
- A maintainer of the main Rails application and several published libraries
- Led the open-sourcing of declarative-policy, the GitLab authorization framework
- Redesigned the GraphQL authorizations system, eliminating performance issues
- Became a GraphQL technical expert, involved in setting direction for API planning and design
- Improved web-hook reliability with the introduction of system to detect failing endpoints
- Developed system to model design proposals, integrating them into the interface for issues
Quantitative Developer,
Nov, 2016 - Apr, 20192 years 5 months
Developing tools to support modern finance
- Worked on introduction of microservices cluster
- Protoyped collateral analysis tool
- Built tools to analyse web-service performance
- Main developer for large FX pricing tool
Senior Software Engineer,
May, 2015 - Oct, 20161 year 5 months
Architected and implemented back-end services to provide industry-leading features and performance
- Implemented standards-compliant citation engine in GHC Haskell, exceeded performance targets.
- Designed and implemented sortable hierachies. This involved adding complex recursive structure to the data-model, backed by an efficient SQL schema. I designed and lead this effort, from back-end services, to overseeing front-end implementations on web and Android.
- Advocated for functional programming, giving tech talks and training workshops
- Built and maintained micro-services in Haskell, Ruby and NodeJS.
Lead Developer,
May, 2010 - May, 20155 years
Lead open-source data-warehouse system through period of growth. Starting as a junior developer, I rose to become lead developer and external advocate.
- Developed new RESTful APIs to expose graph query functionality
- Wrote and published API clients in various languages, and provided external training
- Extended the core query functionality
- Built client-side JS application backed by public API services
- Implemented OAuth2 authentication and other API web standards
- Ran external training seminars
- Represented InterMine at conferences and meetings

Skills

Haskell
Language interpreters

Monad transformers

Stack

HSpec

QuickCheck

WAI
GraphQL
API

Performance

Security
Ruby
Rails

RSpec

Grape

API development
Web application development
REST

API

Haskell

Java

Clojure

Ruby

Unit Testing

12-Factor
Database
PostgreSQL

SQL

Education

Latin, DPhil (not completed), Oxford University
Sep, 2005 - Jun, 2008
Latin, MSt, Oxford University
Sep, 2004 - Jun, 2005
Classical Studies & Modern Languages, BA Hons, Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
Feb, 1999 - Nov, 2002

Awards

Woolf-Fischer Scholarship ,
Awarded on: Jan 01, 2004
Funding to study at Oxford.

Publications

InterMine: a flexible data warehouse system for the integration and analysis of heterogeneous biological data, Bioinformatics
Published on: Dec 01, 2012
InterMine: extensive web services for modern biology, Nucleic Acids Research
Published on: Apr 01, 2014
BioJS: an open source standard for biological visualisation – its status in 2014, F1000 Research
Published on: Jan 01, 2014
BioJS InterMineTable Component: A BioJS component for displaying data from InterMine compatible webservice endpoints, F1000 Research
Published on: Jan 01, 2014