Thomas Kovacs

All around Webmaster and Creative Artist

Employments

Founder, personly OÜ

Tallinn, Estonia
9/1/2021 to Present

Designed and implemented concept for a modern personal matching platform that aims to be a suitable alternative to photo matching style applications. The foundational concept is a "tokenized personal" in which the user assigns a token amount to a new personal which determines how many other personals that personal can match. Tokens can be purchased on the platform for small amounts of fiat currency, allowing for traditional market dynamics to manage personal creation and matching.

Implemented several features critical for the functioning of the platform, such as the user registration system, personal management system including matching algorithm, image upload functionality, chat functionality, and others. The features are implemented across a set of web applications written using ReactJS as well as NextJS with backend connectivity and streaming powered by grpc with data storage in MongoDB.

Designed custom build system in order to automatically generate both Docker images as well as Kubernetes service, PVC and deployment files which integrate into the cloud provider DNS via external DNS Kubernetes service. The build system also generates PM2 process files for use during development as well as Docker Compose files for use in a staging environment.

Lead Developer, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Vienna, Austria
7/1/2020 to 8/31/2021

Working for the Vienna University of Music International Summer Academy (ISA), implemented a website which allowed students to log in and view upcoming and current events for the annual two week summer academy program. Students were also able to share links with their selected course professors. The associated student, professor and event data was imported from the front page CMS.

Designed and implemented a separate admin program which allowed users with the correct scope to manage both events and students. Both student and admin apps were implemented using React/Redux/NextJS for the GUI as well as GRPC/MongoDB/NodeJS for the backend architecture.

Created a release process using Lerna monorepo management tool along with NPM and Yarn workspaces package management to upload and maintain the private packages and their semantic versions. Created build process which automates Docker image creation by downloading, configuring, and building the private NPM packages into relevant Docker images.

Lead Developer, Vaultoro Limited

Berlin, Germany
9/15/2017 to 5/31/2020

Working as the lead developer for Vaultoro, designed and implemented the structures necessary to ensure the successful relaunch of the Vaultoro cryptocurrency and asset trading platform. The application backend is based on a micro service architecture relying on a popular protocol format used to facilitate both streaming and unary requests in order to facilitate order matching, price fetching, and wallet transactions processing. The front-end is based on ReactJS via NextJS with Redux as the data model. Additionally, developed and maintained the build system which allows for automatic generation of Docker images.

Working as the lead developer for Bar9 GmbH, designed and implemented the structures necessary to ensure the successful launch of the Bar9 web application for buying and selling metal assets at current market price. The application is written in Javascript and based on the widely available MeteorJS which provides both a backend runtime environment as well as frontend bindings for ReactJS where its custom socket protocol is used for data transfer.

Maintained product backlog for Bar9 using Jira via Github integration and worked closely with product owners to provide difficulty estimates regarding feature implementation length and complexity, as well as the relationship between features for the Vaultoro trading product. Was able to relate features to each other in a highly abstract way and provide critical feedback regarding feature dependencies. Performed code reviews as well as functioned as the unofficial team lead in a limited leadership capacity.

Software Developer, microDimensions GmbH

Munich, Germany
2/1/2014 to 5/31/2017

Main functions as a software programmer included designing and implementing C++ code relating to image IO, specifically reading image data from disk and writing image data to disk in an optimal way. Additionally implemented features related to image processing, such as Qt widgets for performing image export tasks as well as importing of large image files.

Created a prototype web application using Angular2, Typescript, OpenSeadragon, and Bootstrap, in order to view very large images online. The images and their associated metadata, as well as session information and image annotations, were accessible via a REST API implemented using Express, which asynchronously acquired image data via a NodeJS module that contained V8 engine bindings to our underlying image processing DLLs.

Played major role in bringing our desktop application functionality to the Internet via web applications. Main tasks included development of backend architecture such as a RESTful API designed using NodeJS as well as postgresql database interaction. Additional tasks included GUI development using Polymer 2.0 as well as Redux to provide the foundation for a single page application written in Javascript.

Software Developer, Transact GmbH, a division of epay

Munich, Germany
8/1/2013 to 1/31/2014

As a software developer working within the Back Office team, assisted in the creation of reports to assist in customer invoicing. The reporting application front-end was created and maintained in C++ using Borland compiler suite, while thereporting data was generated using complex SQL queries.

Assisted in development of new web based customer facing portal to provide our customers with better control regarding their accounts with the company as well as to view reports. The system was designed using Zend 2 framework (PHP) along with Angular 1 as well as Bootstrap. A restful API was implemented using SOAP to access the critical customer data.

Software Developer, University of Graz

Graz, Austria
10/1/2012 to 5/31/2013

As a software developer working within the Business Informatics department at the university, oversaw the implementation of a “Digital Almanac” website which provides information on digital communications such as historical data as a metric used to identify upcoming trends. The website was implemented using Wordpress.

Created an application in C++ to transform raw CSV data files into a format suitable for use with Google Public Data. The application also generated optimised Javascript from a Google DSPL XML file in order to provide an optimal navigation experience for users viewing the visualisations embedded in the Almanac website.

Created a small custom Javascript framework to power the Digital Almanac website. The framework was able to dynamically load content via AJAX, and allow a user to share link parameters describing a current visualisation state. It also handled mobile device use cases such as bandwidth constraints and various screen sizes.

Software Developer, Identum Communications GmbH

Vienna, Austria
2/1/2011 to 3/31/2012

Lead development effort for a Facebook social media management tool called fimpl. fimpl, short for "Facebook. Simple" was able to manage multiple pages and profiles on Facebook before such functionality on Facebook existed. Additionally, it was possible to schedule posts, comments and likes for publication across multiple pages and profiles at a future date, thus allowing agencies to better schedule and manage their clients Facebook social media presence.

The product was implemented using jQuery and vanilla JS for the frontend, while the backend was implemented using PHP and MongoDB, as well as Gearman job scheduler to schedule and execute tasks for updating Facebook pages and profiles via the Facebook graph API.

Junior Software Developer, Globalstar Canada Satellite Co.

Mississaugua, Canada
5/1/2010 to 12/31/2010

Assisted in development and maintenance of Globalstar e-commerce shopping cart platform which included both the satellite phone as well as SPOT products. The shopping cart was developed using Zencart and was integrated into the main Globalstar website in preparation for the relaunch of the entire Globalstar worldwide website network. The work was primarily PHP focused with additional client side functionality written in vanilla JS and jQuery.

Support Technician, Magna Automotive Holding AG

Graz, Austria
1/1/2009 to 12/31/2009

Worked closely with management at the Magna IT Global Help Desk to create a small ERP tool which assisted the support team in tracking status of fulfillment requests, such as procurement of key fobs for various employees across the Magna campus. The small system, written using PHP and MySQL in the backend as well as vanilla JS and jQuery in the frontend, contained a basic interface for managing the status of the requests including a small user specific area.

Assisted the IT Help Desk in supporting various employees across the worldwide Magna network in solving issues relating to usage of the Magna network, such as problems with email, Blackberry activation, system login, etc. Typically assistance was provided via phone, internal chat tools provided by Lotus notes and on occasion on-site assistance in terms of key fob delivery.

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personly OÜ

personly is an anonymous personals matching service which matches other personals instantly, making it super easy to meet people for any activity.

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University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

ISA is a department of the MDW which runs an international music academy for young aspiring musicians.

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Vaultoro Limited

Vaultoro is a cryptocurrency exchange specializing in gold and silver trading along with popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

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microDimensions GmbH

microDimensions was a biotech company specializing in digital pathology applications.

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Transact GmbH, a division of epay

epay is a part of Euronet which is a global payment provider offering a myriad of payment services.

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University of Graz

University of Graz is one of the largest universities in Austria and home of many renowned scientists.

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Identum Communications GmbH

identum is a creative agency based focused on traditional print media design and advertising

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Globalstar Canada Satellite Co.

Globalstar offers connectivity beyond cellular with global mobile satellite phones powered by their low orbit satellite network.

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Magna Automotive Holding AG

Magna International Inc. is a Canadian parts manufacturer for automakers.