Neil Kandalgaonkar

Help people to cooperate at internet scale.

Java, Javascript, Perl, Python, PHP, XSLT
XML, HTTP, HTML, SMTP
Apache, mod_perl, Java servlet engines, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server
Unix (Linux, Solaris, *BSD), Windows (most variants), Mac OS X
Knows Agile/Scrum and GoF, but not a fanatic

I joined the Upcoming.org team, one of the company's recent acquisitions. Upcoming.org is a collaborative events calendar, allowing users to publicize and discover events via their network of friends. Major accomplishments:

• Replaced confusing, overlapping "metro" tags with a robust geographic system (solving #1 user complaint)
• Many interface improvements, especially in eliminating page reloads
• Integrated Upcoming.org events into main Yahoo search results
• Won "Best Use of Data" award at Yahoo Hack Day Q3 2007 for as-yet-unreleased innovation

I was part of the team that launched Google Checkout, an online payments system. My primary job was to get Google Checkout ready for non-US markets, partly by coding and partly by coordinating. I touched almost every part of Checkout, and also many related systems:

• Modified Google's user accounts system for Checkout's unique requirements.
• Made many changes to the frontend experience and checkout flow, especially the AJAX-driven portions.
• Redesigned parts of the data store, a hybrid of relational and other technologies.
• Extended the XML API used by merchants, plus documentation.

Enfold Systems provides consulting and enterprise tools for Plone, an open source, Python-based content management system. I left the company amicably when I got a job offer from Google.

At Enfold, I helped streamline build processes, added some features to their web proxy product, and improved the usability and genericity of the product install system.

Lickr was the first complete AJAX interface for Flickr, implemented as a Greasemonkey extension for Firefox. Previously, Flickr had relied on Flash and it was an open question whether an AJAX interface was even possible or desirable. Flickr followed soon after with their own mostly-AJAX interface for all browsers.

Vision2Hire Solutions provides online human resources software, based on Perl. I created reporting systems, a US Equal Employment Opportunity compliance module, and integrated their site with partners using Web Services.

Along the way I refactored much of their codebase into cleaner and more testable object-oriented modules, and also instituted various modern coding practices.

ActiveState caters to professional developers working with scripting languages such as Perl, Python and PHP. I moved across the country for the chance to work with their stellar team. I started in web development, and later moved into Language Technologies.

• Standardized API and configuration system for a spam filtering and email processing engine.
• Re-engineered Programmer's Package Manager Server, a core advantage of the company's developer tools. This system searches for and installs scripting language add-ons.
• Helped architect the ActiveState Programmer Network, both a portal website for developers and an online product licensing system.

At Stylus, I designed and programmed web applications for some of Canada's most successful corporations.

• Webmaster and web applications programmer for Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), and subsidiaries such as BCE Emergis, Bell Canada International, and CGI Group.
• Created synchronized video/slideshow systems to broadcast corporate events over the Internet, at dialup modem speeds.
• Re-engineered a major text-based wire news service for multimedia capabilities.
• Motorsports race news website, enabling real-time collaboration among photographers, journalists, and translators around the globe.

• Fire art troupe member, Fire Arts Festival 2007 and Burning Man 2007
• Volunteer tutor with Frontier College, at Britannia High School in East Vancouver, 2005
• Font designer, A Handbook of the Cherokee Verb: A Preliminary Study, Cherokee National Historical Society, 2002
• Webmaster, Concordia Computer Users Group, 1995-6
• Production Manager/Editor/Webmaster, various university and college publications, 1989-95

Bachelor of Arts, Communication Studies, Spring 2000
Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

English, French

Available upon request.