Software Solution Engineer · Web Development · Python/PHP Dev · AWS · DBA · System Architect · Spelthorne, Surrey · steve@mapestech.co.uk

Steven Mapes

With 24 years at the cutting edge of IT leadership and innovation, I have mastered a diverse array of roles, from Head of IT and software solutions engineer to developer, architect, consultant, and network/database administrator. My experience spans several dynamic industries, including insurance, mobile, events, and marketing. I've consistently delivered powerful, high-performing platforms that energize both clients and organizations. Passionate about software solutions engineering, I specialize in crafting bespoke "back-office systems" and tackling complex technical challenges with ease. I lead teams of developers and system administrators, reporting directly to the board and effectively collaborating with both clients and internal teams. As an active participant in the Open Source community, I maintain my own packages and regularly commit pull requests to enhance other projects. My extensive skill set includes Python, Django, PHP, AWS, JavaScript, software architecture, database design and administration, automation, as well as expertise in SQL Server, MySQL, Neo4j, Docker, Memcached, Redis, Git, Linux, platform architecture, technical consultancy, web scraping, and the overall development of IT solutions.


Experience

Director / Lead Software Solutions Engineer

Mapes Tech Limited

I'm a dynamic web solutions developer with a specialization in mobile web, web services, API integration, development, SEO, SEM, CRO, analytics, social integration, social strategy, and the semantic web. With over 20 years of professional experience, I am equipped to collaborate with you in architecting and building innovative web applications and services. My expertise extends to automating processes, providing IT consulting, designing and administering databases, and enhancing business intelligence and reporting services.

I thrive in environments ranging from in-house enterprise systems and hosted solutions to public and private clouds. My diverse client portfolio includes recruiters, digital marketing agencies, research firms, solicitors, e-commerce platforms, corporate software houses, independent professionals, event organizers, and retailers.

Technologies I employ include:

  1. Webservers: Apache, Nginx, Flask
  2. Programming Languages: Python, Django, Flask, Javascript, PHP
  3. Databases: MySQL, MSSQL, Neo4J, Memcached, Redis
  4. Operating Systems: Linux (Ubuntu, Mint), Windows Server 2008/2012
  5. Cloud Solutions: Amazon Web Services
  6. Version Control: Git, GitHub, BitBucker
  7. Front-end Development: HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, Bootstrap, Foundation 5, DataTables
  8. Other Skills: Bash scripting, screen scraping, API development & integration

Highlighted projects include high-velocity/high-volume tracking platforms for ads and events, event and recruitment CMSs, Warehose Management Systems, mobile apps for homecare and WMS, e-commerce systems, questionnaire platforms, and AWS platform architecture. I also offer technical SEO audits, ELT tools and data analysis, technical consulting, database performance tuning, and comprehensive front-end and "back-end" development.

For more in-depth insights into these projects, kindly explore the Projects section. Let's connect and explore how we can transform your digital aspirations into reality!

January 2022 - Present

IT Software Solutions Engineer

Steven Mapes T/A Jigsaw Tech - Self Employed

Prior to forming a Limited Company I traded as a sole-trader

Please refer to the Projects section for further details.
October 2012 - January 2022

Director & Co-Founder / CTO

TFNation Ltd

TFNation® is a multi-day, family-friendly events for fans of Transformers® and other robot brands. The convention takes place each August in Birmingham, England.

I helped found TFNation in 2015 and officially became a director in 2020.

May 2015 - Present

Director & Co-Founder / CTO

More Than Merch The Eye Ltd

B2B and B2C Pop-Culture Merchandise supplier.

March 2018 - October 2021

CTO & Co-Founder

Event Nation Limited - (Evena)

I co-founded Event Nation after spotting a space in the market for a highly-connected event platform, which could maintain a persistent online present whilst putting the data back into the hands of the event organisers. This was especially noticeable within the pop-culture event industry where there is a strong community feel and the traditional "fire and forget" websites do not provide event owners long-term value for money as the sites are normally pulled down after the event.

We designed a new event system using the Neo4j graph as a backend that would allow for highly connected data. This meant that fraud detection was easier, as was ensuring limited ticket allocations were kept, profiles of groups of attendees (anonymised) could be created and patterns discovered. This gained added usefulness with our built in e-commerce platform that allowed not only for ticket sales but also for the sales of general merchandise. Because a graph was at the heart of the platform it was easy for us to create a recommendation engine for tickets as well as merchandise based on similar attendees. The platform allowed us to connect attendees’ social data, where they gave permission, and discover which attendees were more likely to have friends/connections that would also be interested in attending our clients’ events.

Jan 2017 - March 2019

Head of IT

Moko Social Media

Having bought AMV I was immediately promoted by Moko to Head of IT for Moko Social Media UK. My role consisted of managing and mentoring a team of developers and system administrators, leading the development of the mobile platform (LAMP stack), integrating with 3rd party companies from suppliers to billing providers as well as streamlining and automated the platform.

Reporting directly to the CEO, I was part of the management team taking day-to-day decisions on the direction of the company as well as giving SEO advise to the larger Moko group.

Jan 2012 - Oct 2012

Team Manager (IT)

American Mobile Ventures

As Team Manager I was responsible for managing, hiring and training a team of developers whilst continuing to lead the platform development.

AMV were purchased by Moko Social Media in December 2011.

May 2011 - Jan 2012

Senior PHP Developer

American Mobile Ventures

As a senior developer I worked on all aspects of the AMV platform(s) including connectivity, billing integration, mobile and website rendering, adult verification, mobile user identification, handset identification, multi-lingual support, regulation confirmation, templating, operator chat development and integration, tracking, dynamic content, search, reporting, marketing api's, migration of code base from procedural PHP4 into OO PHP5.

Database-wise, this role included working with tables in excess of 350 million rows which meant performance needed to be considered at all times.

Oct 2006 - May 2011

Windows System Engineer

Journey Travel Insurance

I started at Journeys Travel Insurance as a Claims Administrator and moved into a mixed role with IT Support the next year. From October 1999 I moved fully into IT working in a mixed role as a PHP Developer, SQL Server DBA, Window Sys Admin and 1st/2nd line support for the UK and Italian offices

Apr 2004 - Oct 2006

Systems Engineer / IT Support Co-Ordinator

Journey Travel Insurance

During this period my role consisted of administrating the Windows Servers (Windows Server 2K, MSSQL 6.5/7), working as a Developer (PHP, HTML, Javascript), as well as leading the support team.

Apr 2000 - Apr 2004

IT Support Analyst

Journey Travel Insurance

1st / 2nd line desktop and server support on a windows network. Including MS Office, Exchange 5.5, Windows NT, support of bespoke Delphi based application, training, ad hoc report writing using SQL Server.

May 1999 - Apr 2000

Claims Administrator

Journey Travel Insurance

It was my job to process incoming insurance claims and logging them into both the new and old platforms, process the documents sent by claimants and EMS companies.

Mar 1999 - May 1999

Skills

Software Development
  • Python
  • Django
  • PHP
  • HTML5
  • CSS
  • Javascript
  • jQuery
  • Windows Services
Database Dev / Admin
  • MySQL/MariaDB
  • SQL Server
  • Neo4j
  • Memcached
  • REDIS
  • ElasticSearch
System Admin / Architect
  • AWS
  • Linux (Ubuntu, Debian preferred)
  • Windows Admin
  • Docker
  • Platform Architecting
Workflow / General
  • Test-Driven Developement
  • GitHub / BitBucket
  • Git Flow
  • Grafana Cloud (Observability)
  • Mobile-First, Responsive Design
  • Agile Development
  • Team Management
  • Cross Browser Testing & Debugging
  • Technical SEO
  • Web Scraping / Automation
  • Technical / Developer Interview
  • Technical Consultancy

Projects

TPN - Extensiv Connect

Bacton Transport Services
Bacton had decided to start using the Extensiv 3PL WMS alongside their existing booking and tracking platform TPN Connect from The Pallet Network. They needed these two SAAS platforms to be integrated so that updates in one platform would be synchronised to the other in as close to real time as possible. They wished to have a platform that solve the issues of integrating the SOAP service from TPN with the RESTful service from Extensiv 3PL. The platform had to be secure, fast, scalable yet remain cost-effective.
The solution I architected used AWS as the middleware to connect the two platforms. Scheduled events would be used to poll the SOAP service for recent changes with the Extensiv platform being updated as required. Webhooks from Extensiv would be used to ensure the TPN Connect could be updated with any changes made within the WMS. A traditional RDBMS or NoSQL storage solution did not fit the requirements of this platform so instead S3 was used as the primary datasource, storing JSON file and thus allowing Athena queries to be used as and when required.
AWS Cognito was chosen to be used for the authentication layer with a management site being created using the Flask framework to integrate with O365 allowing emails to be sent via an authorised app.
Observability for the platform is performed by a combination of Grafana Cloud and AWS Cloudwatch
Technologies Used: Python, Flask, S3, Cognito, O365, Git, GitHub, SOAP, REST, Grafana Cloud
September 2023 - October 2024

SchoolLeader360

SchoolLeader360
I was contracted to take over the development of a platform to replacement the existing Cake PHP solution. Larry was looking for a developer with strong Python and PHP skills, along with strong knowledge of administering linux servers. His original platform had was developed in CakePHP by a development team who could no longer support it and Larry had a new developer start work on a replacement system in Django. I was tasked with reviewing, fixing and completing the development work, upgrading the features, improving the UI and UX, increasing the performance and better leveraging new technologies as well as performing fixes and upgraded (PDF export) to the existing PHP solution.
Technologies Used: Python, PHP, Django, CakePHP, MariaDB, Centos, Memcached, Git, GitHub
September 2021 - Present

HiQuest / ScanCloud

Horizon International / Scan Global Logistics
Scan Global Logistics purchased Horizon International in late 2021, from July 2022 the project became known as ScanCloud
I had the privilege of collaborating with Scan Global, formerly Horizon International, to develop an innovative web portal designed for seamless use by internal staff, clients, and agents worldwide. This cutting-edge platform, engineered for scalability and global accessibility with minimal latency, supports a wide range of devices. It expertly manages data validation, shipment reporting, and tracking, ensuring swift and secure integration with Scan Global's existing systems via a secure VPN connection.

Key functionalities include a WMS, shipment tracking, PO management, stock control, a robust document repository, a powerful mass emailer, and an efficient EDI layer that leverages OCR technology to process data and images from PDFs. It dynamically generates XLSX and DOCX files and seamlessly interfaces with APIs to ensure accurate database storage. Additionally, the portal interacts fluidly with Scan's back-office freight systems and their client interfaces through APIs, custom Windows services, and VPN integration.

This project not only enhances operational efficiency but also underscores Scan Global's commitment to leveraging technology for superior service delivery.
Leveraging the power of AWS, our advanced solution is built to deliver exceptional performance and reliability for global operations. The architecture features a multi-AZ RDS backend with read-replicas, ensuring robust data management and availability. Web servers are strategically positioned behind an application load balancer, while ElastiCache (Memcached/Redis) is employed to turbocharge caching and performance speeds.

For seamless static file delivery, we harness the capabilities of S3 and CloudFront, with S3 also serving as the backbone for binary file storage. Global Accelerator plays a critical role in minimizing latency, enabling users in Japan to connect with the Tokyo AWS region, while U.S. and European users benefit from local AWS endpoints, firmly routed across AWS's swift global network.

Our platform utilizes AWS Textract for intelligent PDF parsing and precise image orientation correction. The core stack is crafted with Nginx, Gunicorn, and Django, with the Django Rest Framework facilitating both public and private APIs.

Version control is meticulously managed through Git, with Bitbucket Pipelines driving continuous integration and deployment, complemented by custom shell scripts for refined server-based logic. Vigilant security measures are deployed via Snyk.io and PyCharm's security plugins, ensuring third-party dependencies are thoroughly vetted for vulnerabilities.

Moreover, resource-intensive tasks are efficiently offloaded to run-on-demand instances, optimizing performance while maintaining cost efficiency. This sophisticated infrastructure offers a potent, scalable platform that exemplifies innovation and operational excellence.
Technologies Used: AWS, Python, Django, MySQL, Memcached, SQS, S3, Cloudfront, Elastic Load Balancer, VPC, VPC-Peering, AWS Global Accelerator, SNS, RDS, AWS Textract, SES, Windows Services (compiled from Python), Linux services, Django Rest Framework, BitBucket, Snyk, Docker, Gunicorn, nGinx, Bootstrap, jQuery, ECMA6, Grafana Cloud
Jan 2020 - Present

CRM

Galago Group (Nursdoc, Nursing Direct, QuickTemp)
I designed and developed a cutting-edge internal CRM system with remarkable power and flexibility, designed to manage candidates effectively before transitioning them into the existing legacy back-office software, Aspire. This CRM streamlines the entire candidate management process, from the initial application through compliance, offering comprehensive data insights for management and audit purposes. Once candidates are fully managed within the CRM, they are seamlessly imported into the back-office system for booking along with 3rd party SaaS solutions for HomeCare management.

To facilitate this integration, innovative Windows Services were developed to establish connections and directly import data into SQL Server, ensuring smooth data transitions into the closed-off Aspire system.

Continuously evolving, the CRM has been enhanced with robust new features, including email monitoring and management capabilities, a multi-faceted email sending system that supports Azure integration and AWS SES, and the ability to dispatch SMS messages. Additionally, it allows for file uploads and the processing and extraction of content from diverse file types, including PDFs, Word Documents, Excel spreadsheets, images, and sound files. The CRM also efficiently extracts data from Aspire, maintaining perfect synchronization between both platforms. This CRM stands as a testament to the dynamic blend of innovation and operational prowess.
Technologies Used: Python, Django, NeoModel, MySQL, Neo4j, Memacached, Redis, Gunicorn, Nginx, Apache, S3, Cloudfront, Lambda, SNS, SQS, ELB, Qlikview, Windows Server, Windows Services, Linux Services, ElasticSearch, Redis, Grafana Cloud
September 2018 - Present

Target Flow

Target Flow
I was contracted consult and develop the initial architecture and code that would go into the Target Flow system.
Technologies Used: AWS, Python, Django, MySQL, sqlLite, Memcached, Git, GitHub
September 2021 - October 2021

Video Outreach

Video Outreach
I was contracted to offer technical consultancy regarding the technology stack to use for Video Outreach along with performing code reviews anc ensuring the development team were following best practice.
Technologies Used: GCP, AWS, Python, Django, MySQL, Postgres, Memcached, Git, GitHub
November 2020 - December 2020, Various Months 2021

Homecare App

Galago Group (Nursing Direct)
I created an Android and iOS app for Homecare workers to view their rota for the week, check-in/out of appointments, create and view notes and contact the office. The apps tracks the location and duration of visits, sending notifications to internal staff if the carer’s location is outside of a user-configurable distance of the appointment location.
The app’s management integrates into the CRM platform I built allowing consultants to build rotas and manage both clients and carers.
The app uses SMS based pin authentication, supports foreground and background location tracking (interval and state-change triggered) and talks to an API hosted on AWS.
Technologies Used: HTML5, CSS, Javascript, OnsenUI, jQuery, TransistorSoft, Cordova, PhoneGap Build, Python, Django, MySQL, Neo4j, AWS, S3, SQS, SNS, ELB, EC2, RDS, ElasticCache, Memcached, JSON, SMS, OpenStreetMap
September 2018 - March 2019

Booking And Management System

Chalet Servoz
Chalet Servoz were a client of Evena, now transferred over to Springbourne Tech. We designed and built a new reservation booking and management system for Chalet Servoz.
Technologies Used: Python, Django, MySQL, Memcached, Django Storages, AWS, S3, EC2, Linux
September 2018 - March 2019

TFNation

TFNation Limited
I co-founded TFNation as an event company within the pop-culture event space. Our main event focuses on the Transformers fan community. I worked as both an organiser, IT consultant, IT directory, customer service lead as well as being in charge of marketing (social and physical) including our takeover of Forbidden Planet stores across the country in April 2016.
Initially the TFNation event platform was provided by Evena however the platform was then rebuilt form scratch in December 2019.

Technologies Used: Django, Python, Neo4j, MySQL, Memcached, Linux, Nginx, Gunicorn, Javascript, SQS, Git, SES, S3, Cloudfront, Route53, ELB, Grafana CLoud, Cloudwatch

June 2015 - Present

Evena

Event Nation Limited
Event Nation was formed to create a new event ticketing and e-commerce system built for events and event organisers who wanted control of their data and understood the need to keep historic event details on the web for marketing and SEO. We spotted a space in the market, especially the pop-culture event area, where there is a strong community feel and the traditional B2B players "fire and forget" websites do not provide the event owners long-term value for money as the sites are normally pulled down after the event. Some organised can spend 12-24 months adverting and marketing for an event only for it to disappear from the internet afterwards. This makes follow-up marketing difficult especially for those events where their attendees wish to engage and revisit the website for image galleries, videos, forums etc. We designed a new event system using the Neo4j graph as a backend that would allow for highly connected data. This meant that fraud detection was easier, as was ensuring limited ticket allocations were kept, profiles of groups of attendees (anonymised) could be created and patterns discovered. This gained added usefulness with our built-in e-commerce platform that allowed not only for ticket sales but also for the sales of general merchandise. Because a graph was at the heart of the platform it was easy for us to create a recommendation engine for tickets as well as merchandise based on similar attendees. It also allowed us to connect attendees’ social data, where they gave permission, and discover which attendees were more likely to have friend/connections that would also be interested in attending our clients’ events.
What also separated us form many of our competitors was that the ticket software was fully branded as our clients’ websites rather than being an Evena event portal. This meant that we ensures that client data was always kept separate and belonged to them with only anonymised data being pulled into a central system for analytics and global profiling.
Technologies Used: Django, Python, Neo4j, MySQL, Memcached, Linux, Nginx, Gunicorn, Javascript, SQS, Git, SES, S3, Cloudfront, Route53, ELB, Lambda, Cloudwatch
Jan 2017 - Mar 2019

Optic Questionnaire Platform

Instinctif Partners - via Springbourne Tech Limited
Instinctif Partners are an international business communications consultancy , whom specialise in reputation, influence and communication. They required a new questionnaire platform to be built to allow them to perform regulatory compliance reports for clients on an on-going basis with tailored question and answer sets.
Instinctif Partners are an international business communications consultancy , whom specialise in reputation, influence and communication. They required a new questionnaire platform to be built to allow them to perform regulatory compliance reports for clients on an on-going basis with tailored question and answer sets.
Due to the highly connected, highly flexible nature of questionnaires we architected the platform to be built primarily on-top of the graph database Neo4j.
Technologies Used: Neo4j, Django, Python, Linux, AWS
Jul 2016 - Sept 2016

Ampere Analysis

Ampere Analysis Limited - via Springbourne Tech Limited
For this project I was subcontracted by Springbourne Tech Ltd to work with them on a development project for their client Ampere Analysis.
Ampere Analysis are a media research and analytics subscription business. The project was designing, building and delivering a bespoke web platform which could be used both as a public blog / CMS whilst also offer paid access to in-depth reports, data discovery and business intelligence tools over a highly scalable system.
The website was developed in Python and Django and integrated with QlikSense to handle authentication for Qliksense as well as to provide a more powerful export API. Due to the connected data we chose to use Neo4j as the based for the platform.
In 2020 v2 of the website was launched which removed the need for a graph database replacing it with a pure RDBMS / Caching system as the connected data was no longer required.
Technologies Used: Django, Python, AWS, Apache, Nginx, MySQL, Neo4j, QlikSense, Javascript, Elasticsearch, Memcached.
Feb 2015 - Jun 2015 & March - August 2020

Tenancy Deposit Checker

Deposit Recovery Claims
Deposit Recovery Claims wanted to create an online tool where members of the general public as well as staff could check to see if their deposits were registered within one of the three UK-based schemes. They wanted to have a central place to perform the search rather than having to perform each one independently.
Technologies Used: Django, Python, EC2, Lambda
April 2016 - Present

Wordpress Extension - Gravity Forms Enable Tracking From Cookies

Deposit Recovery Claims
Allows Gravity Forms fields to be populated with values read from cookies that are themselves taken from QueryString parameters passed to any page on the website. An example use case is to store the GCLID passed from Google Analytics, or other tracking parameter such as an affiliate id.
Technologies Used: PHP, Wordpress
April 2016 - Present

Mobi-Force Platforms

Mobi-Force
I designed and developed several mobile ad platforms for Mobi-Force including a bespoke lightweight ad server using just Nginx, an high-velocity, high volume, ad-tracking/routing platform, an affiliate platform, remarketing platform, ad exchange platform and more for use both by internal staff as well as external clients. The platform has to accept request for adverts, determine the best fit and server within a with 0.15 second response time.
Technologies Used: PHP, Linux, Nginx, Apache, Memcached, MySQL, Message Queues, Javascript, jQuery, AWS, EC2, EBS, ELB, RDS, SQS, SNS, Lambda, S3, Cloudwatch, Elasticache.
Oct 2012 - Oct 2017

Open Source Projects

Django AWS API Gateway Websockets

Project Owner - Status: Live
It is the aim of this project to create a uniform way to record websocket connections, associate the Django user who established the connection and then retrieve that user within each request.

This project is designed to work exclusively with AWS API Gateway.

It is not intended to be a replacement of Django Channels instead this project allows you to add WebSockets support into your project by writing normal HTTP request-response views whilst allowing AWS API Gateway to worry about the WebSocket connection.

This project introduced a new Class-Based-View to handle connections, disconnections, routing, basic security checks and ensuring that the User object is available within every request.

The project will keep track of which users created which WebSockets, which ones are active and will allow you to send messages back down the socket to the client via Boto3.
Technologies Used: Python, Django, AWS, AWS API Gateway, Websockets

Django MySQL DBConstraints

Project Owner - Status: Concept
Custom MySQL backend that extends the default Django backend but adds in support for acutal database level constraints.

Django currently applies constraints at the Python level rather than allowing the MySQL database backend to enforce these constraints. In some cases Django can actually cause MySQL to create the wrong constraint when dealing with ON DELETE actions such as CASCADE. This backend fixes that problem which the Django team are not going to do.
Technologies Used: Python, Django
Not Yet On GitHub

Django Multifactor

Co-Maintainer
I have submitted various accepted pull requests to this project to fix bugs, to update the fido2 package, to add support for Django 3.2 and to allow the post login message to be customised as well as to be hidden

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Django Fernet Encrypted Fields

Contributor
I submitted an accepted pull request to this project to add in support for rotating the SALT used within the encryption. Previous only one salt could be specified meaning that if you wanted to change the salt, say to a longer one, you would not be able to read the encrypted values. With my changes you can now specify a list of salts to use where the first salt is used when saving and the subsequent salts are used for decrypting. This allows the salt to be swapped and the encrypted values decrypted using the older salt and then saved again using the new salt simply by iterating the queryset and calling the standard save method.

I submitted a pull request to fix a reported bug where Django Admin would raise an Exception upon saving when you had Encrypted fields in use. The solution was to overload the fields clean method, create a semaphore property, call the super() then destroy the semaphore property. Within the already overloaded to_python method I then added a check for the semaphore property and, if it exists, the decryption is then skipped.

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Django Decorator Include

Lead Maintainer
As of 2024 I'm not the lead maintainer of this project

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Django Money

Contributor
I submitted and accepted pull request for this project to add support for Django 3.2's default_auto_field

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

svgMap

Contributor
I submitted and accepted pull request for this project to update the documentation with how to use polyfill to gain IE11 support for the project

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Django Simple History

Contributor
I submitted and accepted pull request for this project to update the documentation detailing how to make the project work with BitBucket Pipelines

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Django Debug Toolbar Template

Contributor
I submitted a pull request for this project to update compatibility for Django 3.1 through to Django 4.1.

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Amazon Textract Response Parser

Contributor
I submitted a pull request for this project to update the version of marshmallow whilst keeping the required support for Python 3.6

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

drf-yasg

Contributor
I submitted a pull request for this project to update the test matrix with Python 3.11 support.

View PRs
Technologies Used: Python

Testimonials

Larry Lobert
Larry Lobert
Developer of School Leader 360
Larry Lobert and Associates
TBA

Steve is an excellent, dedicated, meticulous developer.

He is one of the hardest-working developers I have worked with, and no matter what issues you throw at him, he will always tirelessly investigate until he has a solution. He goes above and beyond to help, and his knowledge of his trade is excellent. He's also a good guy which is an added bonus!

Krystyna Walker
Head of Business Solutions
Galago Group
Sept 2020
Krystyna Walker
Dan Stevenson
Dan Stevenson
Managing Director
Ampere Analysis
Sept 2020
Steve has worked with Ampere since we set the business up six year's ago. He's carried out consistently good work work in developing our core client database and licencing system, alongside the implementation and management of AWS. Steve is a great problem-solver and expert in his field - he's also reliable and easy to talk to (for a non-techie like myself).
Steven worked for me at Journeys Travel Insurance. He is an effective IT professional with a natural feel for the technology. He works hard, listens to what is required and makes useful contribution to discussion. He was great to have him in the team and I know he earned the respect of our users too.
Simon Hooper
CEO/Inventor
Productive Technology
Oct 2014
Simon Hooper
Siva
Siva Ganesmoorthy
Engineering Manager
NatrualMotion
Oct 2012

When I first joined AMV as a Technical Developer back in November 2010, I feared the worst within the first week of me joining. The system AMV had was complex, not least complicated. It had a mix of procedural code as well as Object Oriented code. I also had to grasp new terminologies in the Mobile world, one that I was quite green on.

Steve's thirst for sharing knowledge was key to my steep learning curve. His continuous dedication to his work and determination to help others learn had been an invaluable asset to AMV. In the 12 months I had been a developer with AMV, I had learnt a lot from Steve. As a leader and manager, he loves making sure that new developers learn the system all the time. He ensures that he shares as much information with them to make their stay at AMV easier.

I would recommend that anyone looking for technical projects, speak to Steve as he is a source and wealth of technical information waiting to explode! I would be happy to work with Steve again on technical projects in future.

Steve is an absolute pleasure to work with, conscientious, hard-working and extremely dedicated he goes above and beyond the call of duty. Steve has a fantastic knack of understanding the commercial requirements within the business, which enabled us to develop sound products and services with the right technical support. Never one to say no, Steve always found a technical way around the Commercial ideas and ensured these technicalities were communicated in such a way that everyone understood exactly how it worked. A real blessing for those without in-depth technical knowledge. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Steve and would be delighted to work with him again in the future.
Leila Kassner
SVP Global Partnerships
Boku Inc
July 2012
Leila
Lee
Lee Hudson
Acquisition Media Lead EMEA
Adobe
Nov 2012

It was an absolute pleasure working with Steve during my time at AMV/MOKO. Whilst Steve worked in IT, a subject which is pretty alien to me, Steve always managed to explain things in simple terms which made it very easy for me to understand.

Nothing was too much for Steve, any problem or query you had, not matter how small, Steve would always make sure he'd explain it to you and ensure that the problem would be resolved.

Steve is a big loss to the company and I'd snap up the opportunity to work with him again!

Steve is a highly skilled, patient and goal oriented person who will be an asset to any team. He has the unique ability to think outside the box, push the envelope on technical development and never take no for an answer. He is also highly respected by his colleagues and has the ability to marshal troops around him.
Praful Krisna
CEO
Coseer
Jan 2012
Praful
Hardy
Hardeep Kapoor
CEO
WebEquator
June 2011

Steve is a great developer and is capable of handling projects very efficiently. It was great working with him. I would highly recommend Steve if anyone is looking for solutions in LAMP.

I worked with Steve for about 5 years at Journeys Travel Insurance and saw him progress from a Support role to a Developer and DBA role. Steve has a knack for learning technology fast and is very committed in getting things done.

Steve would be a valuable asset for any organisation and has my highest recommendation.

Joseph Lee
Senior Cloud Data Architect
Cloudreach
Dec 2009
Joe

Interests

When I'm not immersed in client projects or exploring my own business ventures, I indulge in a variety of passions. I'm proud to play cricket for the Early Cricket Club, where I bring my skills as a left-arm swing bowler to the field. Whether it's hiking through nature or cruising on my Kawasaki Z1000SX motorcycle, I'm drawn to the exhilarating embrace of the great outdoors

When indoors, I follow a number of sci-fi and fantasy genre movies and television shows, as well as playing various boardgames with my friends.

Indoors, my interests gravitate towards sci-fi and fantasy films and TV series, along with engaging in exciting board game sessions with friends. I also manage several pop-culture websites, including a couple dedicated to The TransformersVisionaries: Knights of the Magical Light. You can explore it at TheVisionaries.net. Excitingly, I'm in the process of developing a Visionaries-themed coffee table book, which I plan to bring to the public through a thrilling crowd-funding campaign.


Awards & Certifications

Over the years I have completed various certifications covering many aspects of IT from network, architecture, database design, database admin, server admin and software development

  • Cypher Fundamentals
  • Graph Data Modeling Fundamentals
  • Neo4j Fundamentals
  • Amazon Web Services Solution Architect Associate
  • Amazon Web Services Solution Architect Associate
  • Amazon Web Services Solution Architect Associate
  • Amazon Web Services CLoud Practitioner
  • Zend Certified Engineer (PHP)
  • Certified MySQL Developer
  • Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)
  • Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)
  • Microsoft Certified Profession (MCP)
  • Cisco Certificate Network Associate