Ben Nortier

Cape Town, South Africa
ben@bjnortier.com
github.com/bjnortier

Introduction

Mission-focused software engineer who is a fast learner, a team player, and gets things done.

I’ve worked in many programming languages (Javscript, Typescript, Python, Swift, Objective-C, C, C++, Java, Ruby, Erlang, Lisp), databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, CouchDB, Riak, MongoDB), operating systems (MacOS, Windows, Linux), web and desktop environments.

I value high quality software with comprehensive automated testing where practical.

Work Experience

Averly, Cape Town. Dec 20 - June 21

System audit (Security, Database design, platform implementation). Integration of Machine Learning models into system. Deployment of ML models into production. Introduction of continuous integration and testing. Introduction of 12 factor methodology. Python, Flask, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL.

Aquacheck, Cape Town. 2016 - 2021

Full stack design and implementation of system to manage and capture sensor data from 10k moisture probes globally. Reverse engineering and replacement of TCP vendor system. New HTTP system for new in-house hardware. Web UI for device management and telemetry capture. Created comprehensive test suite on unit, api and functional levels. Highly available multi-node deployment on AWS. Javascript, React, NodeJS, PostgreSQL. Created Open Source UI component library, Minimui.

Usonia Labs, London. 2014-2020

Created a suite of WebGL 2D and 3D thermal simulation applications. Developed a simplified 3D CAD system for parametric model creation. Transformation of models to Energy+ simulation specification. Created Javascript DXF parsing & SVG rendering library. Javascript, NodeJS, React, WebGL, Three.js.

Ubimake GmbH, Berlin. 2013-2016

Interim CTO of startup funded by Siemens. Developed web-based 3D CAD tools for 3D printing. Integration of existing tools and libraries into user-friendly 3D CAD environment. JS, NodeJS, Angular.

Other

• Future Ad Labs, London, 2013-2014.
• Sky, London, 2011-2012.
• StudiVZ, Berlin, 2010-2011.
• Zuhlke Engineering, London, 2007-2010.
• National Bioinformatics Network, Cape Town, 2006-2007.
• Electromagnetic Software & Systems, Stellenbosch, 2004-2006.

Education

• Udemy: Python Deep Dive.
• Udemy: Complete Self Driving Car Course.
• Deep Learning in Python, 2nd Edition.
• Coursera: Structuring Machine Learning Projects. 2017. ID BJM4UZ9CWE29
• Coursera: Improving Deep Neural Networks: Hyperparameter tuning, Regularization and Optimization. 2017. ID FBSHHWDNBALZ
• Coursera: Neural Networks and Deep Learning. 2017. ID KXRHVDHL8FP5
• Stellenbosch University: M.Sc. Eng (EE + Comp. Science) 2003
• Stellenbosch University: B.Eng (EE + Comp. Science) 2003

Experiments

• Hello Transcribe, a speech transcriber using OpenAI Whisper.
• Synthetic development of robots using NVIDIA Isaac Sim.
• Building a 4 legged robotic doc.
• Created a WebGL 3D CAD system called Shapesmith.

Hobbies & Interests

• Very keen athlete, I love cycling & running & triathlon. I’ve completed multiple Ironman races, and have competed in multiple Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
• Science Fiction books.