Hey! I am
David Peterson!
I'm a
Developer. Web Designer. Freelancer. Photographer. Marketer.
Based in Melbourne, Australia. A Ruby/JavaScript developer at heart with a large dollop of internet marketing.
I'm looking for a fully-remote full time or contract role in any Australian time zone.
My Skills
Software Development Proficiency
My primary proficiency is software development with a focus in recent years on Ruby and TypeScript/JavaScript languages, using various frameworks including Rails and Vue. I have over 20 years of combined experience in other programming languages including Elixir, PHP, Python, Perl and ELM. I have developed for a myriad of platforms throughout my career including web, mobile and desktop.
Languages
Ruby, TypeScript/JavaScript, Elixir, PHP, Python, Perl and Elm
Frameworks
Rails, Vue, Phoenix, Wordpress, GraphQL
Databases
PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis
Automated Testing
TDD, Rspec, Cypress, Capybara
Front-end Web Development
Webpack, Yarn, HTML, CSS, Sass, responsive design
Preferred developer tools
Vim, Tmux, VSCode, Docker
Skills
Operating Systems and Platforms
Windows
Linux
AWS (inc Terraform)
Docker
Programming Languages
Ruby
JavaScript/TypeScript
Elixir
HTML/CSS/JSON
PHP/Wordpress
GraphQL
Relational Databases
PostgreSQL
MySQL
Frameworks
Rails
Vue
Phoenix
Marketing
Stripe (including subscriptions)
PayPal API
Adwords
Adsense
Analytics
Autoresponders
About Me
I've been self employed since 2000 and I am always looking for new challenges. I understand there are many forces pulling on a software project such as feature creep, cost and time pressures. I know how to obtain a good balance while writing code that's maintainable.
With my 'customer first' attitude, I provide extensive experience within both technical and marketing spheres. Because I've run my own consulting and hosting business, I have a great understanding of DevOps as well as Front-end and Back-end systems.
I've been working remotely from my home office since 2006. I feel extremely thankful that I can work every day in a field that I love. If I wasn’t getting paid to write software I would still be doing it in my spare time. The craft of programming is definitely one of my main passions, along with music, home automation, caravanning, reading and gaming.
- Name: David Peterson
- Address: Near Melbourne, Australia
- Email: dp@vivitec.com.au
Resume
Education
Bachelor in Science (Computer Science)
Monash UniversityI taught myself programming during high school so graduating from Uni was easy. While the programming skills I learned are now out-of-date, I did learn the value of working in a team, and how to interpret a client's wishes.
Internet Marketing
Self TaughtI have studied Internet Marketing for over 15 years. I've tried it all from hard-sell and soft-sell (which works better for me) to changing the UI to increase conversions. Who knew the color Orange helps people to purchase! My most effective lesson was learning the importance of tracking everything.
Technical Writing
Self TaughtEarly in my career, I was the editor for an in-print technical newsletter, and wrote many how-to articles. I have often been praised for my ability to simply explain complex concepts. In the last few years, I have written hundreds of articles for my Photography website. I've received hundreds of glowing testimonials from customers I have helped.
Experience
2017 to present 
Paradigm Global Solutions
Lead DeveloperI have been working as a fully remote lead developer using Ruby on Rails in the FinTech industry. In this role, I have worked closely with the CEO to understand the requirements of a number of greenfield projects. We use Agile principles including TDD and refactoring along with a service-based approach to keep the codebase clean for future features.
As part of this role, I have provided consulting and programming services to Paradigm clients in the FinTech industry. For example, for Allan Gray we designed and implemented a customer portal providing a financial information dashboard and the ability to transact shares and managed funds. This is a highly fault tolerant system that regularly passes penetration tests.
Neo
Internal FinTech site aggregating investor managed fund holdings.
Ruby on Rails Vue and Typescript Postfix GraphQL AWS EC2
Allan Gray
Portal providing dashboard data and linking Allan Gray Customers to stock management.
Ruby on Rails Postfix (Aurora) AWS (Terraform)
2017-2019
Firehose Project
MentorI discovered my love of mentoring in 2017. I joined The Firehose Project (now part of Trilogy Education) as a mentor in their coding program. The role entailed helping students who were learning programming in our weekly Zoom meetings. I enjoyed watching the students succeed, and it’s a great feeling when you see them do well.
2006 to present 
Digital Photo Secrets
Owner, Manager and CTOIn 2006, I started creating new online businesses from my hobbies. First was Digital Photo Secrets, giving away free photography tips and selling ebooks and courses I created for sale online.
This website is self-running and uses Internet Marketing techniques to soft-sell my products while giving away lots of valuable information. Over 700,000 readers have signed up to my weekly newsletter and free tips. Over 10,000 customers have purchased my products over the years.
I have hired 7 remote part time contractors from all around the world (England, South Africa and the USA) to help me with the running of the site. During this time, I open-sourced the Shutterstock (photo library) API wrapper I created.
Digital Photo Secrets
Free Photography Tips, EBooks and Videos.
Ruby and Sinatra Postfix AWS EC2 Internet Marketing
2007 to 2018 
World of Warcraft Websites
Owner, Manager and CTOWhile recovering from illness, I started raiding in World of Warcraft. I wanted to know what the most popular class talents were for my alt toons, so I built a website that scraped the Blizzard Armory website and summarized this data. The scanner and site were written in Ruby/Sinatra and constantly summarised over 30 million toons and 500 thousand guilds.
I open-sourced the wrapper I wrote to the WoW API. Ultimately the shrinking player-base of World of Warcraft, and the large cost of servers to call and summarize the WoW API meant that I could no longer afford to keep running these sites, so I shut them down in 2018.
GuildOx
Warcraft-based Guild and Toon progression. The site is no longer live, but can be viewed through the Wayback Machine
Ruby and Sinatra Perl Postfix Blizzard's API AWS EC2
Wow Popular
Warcraft-based site ranking specs, gear and talents. The site is no longer live, but can be viewed through the Wayback Machine
Ruby and Sinatra Mysql Dedicated server