Simon Lang
Pretty good programmer
Pretty good programmer
I'm fullstack software engineer from Brisbane, Australia. I have a Software Engineering degree, and more importantly, nearly 20 years of industry experience.
I specialise in modern TypeScript development, but also have experience with a wide range of web technologies, and always love to learn new ones.
I have developed applications across a range of industries including e-commerce, online gaming, education, health, scholarly publishing and patents. More examples area available under employment.
When not programming I'm most likely spending time with my twin daughters.
Most of these positions have examples of work available in my portfolio
This year I joined iCare (formerly Oculo) to develop screening software for the early detection of eye disease using AI.
Security and privacy of patient information is crucial, as is creating a highly performant and pleasant user experience. The engineering and product teams are very capable and a joy to work with.
Projects use: TypeScript, React, Serverless, Kotlin, Spring, Ruby on Rails, AWS
Since 2016 I have helped the non-profit Lens.org with their mission to map the world's scholarly and patent data.
The Lens provides patent and scholarly search with detailed filtering, collection management and analysis tools.
Projects use: ES6, React, Redux, D3, Backbone, Angular, Java, Spring, ElasticSearch, REST
Starting in 2012, I worked full time for Codeworx, producing a mobile web client for the Merge Gaming Poker network. The client is a single-page application that communicates in real time directly with the game servers using web sockets. Performance, security and usability are highly important.
Project uses: Coffeescript, NodeJS, Socket IO, Browserify, Mocha, Jade
After returning from Scotland I immediately started working for a .NET Agency in Spring Hill called Digicon (now part of Deloitte). They produce large websites, intranets and apps for corporate type clients.
ASP .NET, C#, IIS, Responsive Design, Backbone JS, Sitecore, Orchard CMS, MongoDB, SQL Server, Entity Framework.
While living in Scotland, I briefly worked for the Edinburgh .NET software house Open Platform. Corporate-level web tools for big financial insitutions and similar types of clients. Their software is very high quality. While working there I brushed up a little on my C# and SVN, got familiar with .NET MVC & IIS but mainly focused on creating the front-end of their new website, using jQuery and CSS3.
One year working primarily through oDesk. Mostly 2-3 major projects and about 8-10 smaller, shorter ones. Almost all web applications.
When I joined Kintek there were only two other staff members. They taught me how to produce professional websites. The company grew to about 10 employees while I was there, and began to specialise in making highly advanced web applications. It was great team and I count myself lucky to have been a part of it. It was during my time at Kintek that I developed a real passion for Software Development, and the web as a platform.
At University I worked as a tutor for a third year Web Information Systems course (INFS3202), and even received a tutoring excellence award which I was pretty proud of. The course covered topics such as HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, JSP, Oracle, MySQL and making basic web apps. It was a relatively easy subject for a lot of students but I believed it was a good, practical course unlike a lot of the other subjects I took.
During high school and university holidays I worked as a trainee to the systems administrator of a local newspaper of about 100 staff. I really enjoyed this job. My main role was to provide technical support to the staff. My boss, the sysadmin was great and I learned plenty about troubleshooting, networking and computer hardware. I also gained a bit of insight into the print industry.
More information on the employers mentioned available under employment
Since 2016 I have helped the non-profit Lens.org with their mission to map the world's scholarly and patent data.
Projects use: ES6, React, Redux, D3, Angular, Backbone, Java, Spring, ElasticSearch
A toy project that started as a coding interview test but which captured my imagination, and I spent the better part of a weekend working on. It uses open source NASA APIs to fetch Mars Rover mission manifests and their associated photos.
During 2014 - 2016 at Codeworx, we built a Daily Fantasy Sports site for MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA.
Project uses: Coffeescript, Web Sockets (PubSub/RPC), AngularJS, SemanticUI, Browserify, Jade, Less
During 2012 - 2014 I worked full time for Codeworx, producing a mobile web client for their poker network.
Project uses: Coffeescript, NodeJS, Web Sockets, Browserify, Mocha, Jade, Stylus
In 2014 I consulted for a Brisbane business who producied web applications. I reviewed one of their apps and codebase and produced a 10 page report covering the following aspects of their implementation of one particular project:
In 2014 I assisted a Queensland business to produce a prototype for a unique web-based drafting type tool. The prototype was used in several early demos then turned over to full time developers to refine and make feature complete.
The project uses cutting edge web technology and I found it to be a fascinating example of stretching the capabilities of the modern web.
Reporting was done on a weekly basis via screencasts.
Technologies Used: SVG, D3.js, AngularJS, SocketIO, NodeJS, MongoDB
Weekend projects for experimenting with new technology. Designed by a mate of mine,Jason Corbett
Projects use: Coffeescript, NodeJS, Socketsteam, Mocha, Jade, Livereload
A small functional prototype
Project uses: Coffeescript, NodeJS, Browserify. Trello for project management.
A quiz game I made to help me practice conjugating verbs in Spanish
Runs both as interactive command line app or web interface
For a few months while living in Edinburgh I worked for a .NET agency (see Employment for more details). One of the projects I worked on during that time was a redevelopment of their own site.
Prior to 2010 I worked for an agency, so I can't claim any of their sites or apps as purely my own work. Head over tokintek.com.au to see the sites we developed as a team between 2006 and 2010. My main role was backend and frontend programming, so I also can't take any credit for any of their beautiful designs! =)
I'm the lucky father of identical twin girls. So as passionate as I am about web development, I'll always choose my family over working late. If you're looking for someone willing to put in 60 hour work weeks, I'm not the right choice.
If I ever get time to myself, you'll find me working on my garden.
