Hello, I make things.
I work on all parts of a modern web application; from the infrastructure it's hosted on, the technologies powering its backend, all the way to the frontend code. I like to tinker with the new while maintaining a healthy respect for the tried and tested. I believe things should be built to last for a sustainable future.
I support the #WorkAnywhere movement and I am fully equipped to be digitally present wherever technology can take me.
Skills
Web Development
I'm experienced with building and managing modern web applications from scratch with multiple backend and frontend technologies. I have extensive experience in Python, Django, Flask, and Go in the backend. I have experience with web-based frontend technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery.
I've some experience in handling PHP code, chiefly for system integration and data exchange.
System Administration
I have extensive experience with Linux systems, being a Linux hacker since 2004. I began with the friendly Ubuntu (a Debian variant) distribution before I started exploring the open source ecosystem. So far I have experienced a number of Linux flavours including Fedora (a Red Hat variant), Gentoo, Arch Linux and Linux From Scratch. I have experience with handling web servers (Apache, Nginx), mail servers (Postfix, Sendmail), file servers (Samba, ftp), system security (SELinux, AppArmor, netfilter) and a variety of other services a Linux system is capable of hosting.
I have been heavily leaning on Docker for productivity and ease of orchestration in deployment ever since it came out. We were one of the early adopters of the container-based virtualisation in our daily workloads from development to production.
I have some experience with Microsoft Windows operating systems, mostly involving some minor troubleshooting and recreation.
Database Administration
I'm experienced with handling modern database systems including MySQL and PostgreSQL. I also have experience with ORM systems such as SQLAlchemy and Django ORM.
Other Proficiencies
I use the Git version control system to keep track of my work. I have some experience with automated CI/CD systems implemented in Jenkins and Travis CI.
I have moderate experience with other programming languages including Bash (Unix Shell), C, C++, C#, Go, and Lua.
Experience
Code Argo
Partner / Co-Founder
January 2017 - Present
Code Argo continues the work started at Knowledge Ashram with the same gusto but with a renewed focus and leadership.
Knowledge Ashram Pvt. Ltd.
Chief Technical Officer / Co-Founder
August 2012 - January 2017
BITS Pilani (WILP) / eLearn Portal — Duration: Up and ongoing since 2014
The BITS Pilani university, as an organization, hosts a number of services for its clients. These services have organically evolved over time and most of them came to have their own way managing users and authentication. However, this mandates that users remember a separate set of login credentials for each service. To improve service, the university realized the need for a Single Sign On system where users could be authenticated in a variety of services with the notion of a global identity.
This essentially required an Identity Management System which facilitates central management of users with the ability to service authentication and authorization requests from other applications. For this project, we decided to implement an open protocol backed by the tried and tested LDAP directory server.
The project has now culminated into an online portal which is serving more than 25,000 users every day. This portal also serves as a platform for targeted delivery of news and announcements with new features continually integrated into it.
BITS Pilani (WILP) / OnlineLab — Duration: 3 months
The BITS Work Integrated Learning Programmes allows professionals to enhance their academic qualification while gaining significant professional experience at their respective employing organizations. Our work involved implementing an Online Lab Environment, providing students with a better interface to try lab exercises on the online portal itself.
This project required us to work with the existing LMS (Moodle) in use. A primary concern was having a parallel user authorization / authentication system if we create the new environment from scratch. We mitigated the issue by interfacing directly with Moodle and letting the current LMS handle user metadata without needing to duplicate anything. The process was further streamlined with the introduction of single sign on using Google's OpenID authentication system for the BITS Pilani domain.
BITS Pilani (WILP) / Open edX — Duration: 6 months
The edX project is a MOOC initiative by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in collaboration with the edX consortium. The consortium has open sourced the platform which is now available as Open edX for anyone to use and possibly contribute to its development. The platform itself presents a lot of new innovations in the way content is authored and consumed, which in turn, deeply interests the BITS Pilani university.
We were engaged in implementing and managing the technical aspects of deploying the platform and integrating it with the existing services and workflows that exist within the university.
The Knowledge Ashram E-Learning Platform — Duration: 13 months
Knowledge Ashram began its roots with a self conceptualized e-learning platform, bringing the best of study material on the web on a single portal for higher education students around the country.
We leveraged a number of technologies in the open source domain to achieve our mission. My role involved implementing and managing the technical aspects of the project and ensuring the content development team had everything they needed to research and compile educational material. This included the content development platform, customized tools for data extraction and processing, remote deployment cum feedback systems and other miscellaneous support systems.
Shri Sadguru Seva Sangh Trust — Duration: 3 months
Shri Sadguru Seva Sangh Trust (SSSST) is a humanitarian organization, established in 1968 on the premise of selfless service to mankind. The organization includes a number of schools, one of which gave us a chance to impart our technical skills to empower their mission.
I participated in the development of an online Content Management System for the institution; where teachers could collect study material from multiple sources and the system would make it available on the institute's local network using various acceleration and caching methods.
FoodKing Online — Duration: 2 months
FoodKing is a multi-cuisine restaurant inside the BITS Pilani campus. The establishment wanted an integrated solution to manage Point of Sale and Inventory Management with an online component capable of receiving orders from the internet.
This project required us to implement a system capable of operating in intermittent network connectivity. Additionally, the staff was not too inclined towards learning a new system so the new solution would have to accommodate all the requirements without compromising their existing workflow.
We leveraged a number of technologies to achieve our goals, including some very recent innovations such as IndexedDB and Google App Engine.
CP Project — Duration: 4 months
The client wanted a customised solution for Online Grievance Redressal. The platform allowed separate signups for the service providers (onsite authentication) and end users (social authentication) where it facilitated real time collaboration and ticket resolution in a web-based environment.
This project required a custom real time chat application where each chat session evolves into a support ticket, eventually leading to grievance redressal. We used the latest technologies available to us to ensure the project's longevity, including but not limited to, websockets, asynchronous request handling, and a pub/sub content delivery model.
SHArP Edge Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Team Lead - Content Deployment Platform
March 2012 - August 2017
SHArP Class — Duration: 6 months
SHArP Class is a technology platform for engineering students which seamlessly integrates the traditional chalk & talk method with smart classrooms based on cognitive learning methodology.
My role involved overseeing the customization and implementation of an open source e-learning platform for the company. I was also responsible for imparting technical training to a team of four, ensuring skill parity and role normalization.
SHArP Tutor — Duration: 2 months
SHArP Tutor is an offline device for engineering students to facilitate self-paced learning while enhancing their experience with multimedia rich content.
I was involved in implementing the authentication and authorization backend for this project, including generation and management of product keys and DLC.
HR management system — Duration: 1 month
The company required an in-house HR management system to manage employee attendance and occupancy. The system required users with multiple roles and access methods to function.
My team implemented an open source HR management system (OrangeHRM) with some customizations for our specific use case.
Tech Support — Duration: 6 months
Being a small company with little resources to spare, I was also the in-house tech support lead for a staff of thirty. My repertoire included Windows Domain and Active Directory management, network troubleshooting and server maintenance.
Freelance Projects
January 2011 - Present
Jyoti Advertising — Duration: 1 month
The client deals in advertising and fielding tenders from various corporations. One such corporation, BSNL, issues tenders on their online portal and this client required a solution to fetch relevant tenders in an automated fashion.
This was a solo project, and I was responsible for building a data mining tool to automate their business process and notify them whenever required.