Taras Novak

Current

• RIA Consultant at Random Fractals, Inc.

Past

• RIA Architect/Director at UBS
• VP of Development at Pathfinder Development
• VP of Platform Architecture at Knotice, Ltd.

• Sr. Architect at Niku Corporation
• Software Developer at Omeda Communications

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Education

• University of Illinois at Chicago

Recommended

1 person has recommended Taras

Connections

70 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Taras Novak’s Summary

Cross-platform Software Architect with design skills and hands-on experience in .Net, J2EE, AJAX, ActionScript, Flex, AIR and mobile web technologies.

• Possesses team-oriented leadership skills with emphasis on agile software development and user experience design.

• Over 9 years of professional experience working with remote clients and distributed teams delivering sophisticated web applications and public-facing online services.

Taras Novak’s Specialties:

Delivering scalable RIA solutions in Flex/AIR, Java EE and .Net.

Areas of expertise:

• Data Visualization
• Information Dashboards
• Geo-mapping
• New Media
• Mobile Web

Taras Novak’s Experience

• RIA Consultant

  Random Fractals, Inc.

  (Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

  September 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)

  • Developed Virtual Data Center 3D application with Away3D for a private company specializing in high-end computer systems integration.
  
  • Designed USB TurnKey SaaS solution for Custom USB that enables usage of standard USB devices as security keys for accessing exclusive and private content.
  
  • Created Tile Swap – picture puzzle application for BlackBerry Storm.

• RIA Architect/Director

  UBS

  (Public Company; UBS; Financial Services industry)

  March 2009 — June 2009 (4 months)

  • Developed real-time Portfolio Dashboard and Data Visualization framework for sales traders to track market moves and investment changes.
  
  • Designed Adobe AIR chat client prototype for traders to communicate trades in progress.
  
  • Standardized Flex development practices. Introduced Adobe Flex platform to the standard global development environment for rich internal application development.

• VP of Development

  Pathfinder Development

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  November 2006 — September 2008 (1 year 11 months)

  • Established .Net and RIA consulting practices for Pathfinder Development LLC.
  
  • Developed Verbatim Viewer market research tool for BuzzBack LLC that won 2007 MRS/ASC Technology Effectiveness Award.
  
  • Designed AIR Kiosk application for a 42'' touch-screen LCD, installed in the lobby of Rotary International, showcasing their donors and global philanthropic efforts.
  
  • Architected .Net 3.5 SOA solution for NAL Worldwide providing access to the entire supply chain, inventory management, shipments and warehouse reporting.
  
  • Researched and prototyped interactive geo-mapping technology behind the Beer Hunger application on destinationbeer.com
  
  • Designed .Net architecture stack for developing cost-effective web solutions.
  
  • Led design and development of numerous .Net and Flex client projects.
  
  • Engaged in the RFP reviews, presentation and proposal submission sales cycles with the potential clients.
  
  • Recommended infrastructure components and collaboration tools for in-house agile software development.
  
  • Led migration of numerous Portfolio Media publication sites and administrative tools to a scalable high-availability environment.

• VP of Platform Architecture

  Knotice, Ltd.

  (Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  January 2004 — November 2006 (2 years 11 months)

  Composed patent-pending Concentri platform -- enterprise solution for Personal Relevance Marketing:
  
  • Designed a multi-channel content publishing system that can scale to the marketing needs of a global enterprise.
  
  • Developed mobile technology platform for bi-directional communication and content delivery to mobile devices via text messaging (SMS), WAP Push and mobile Web.
  
  • Created custom Google-like Search Engine utilizing Lucene.Net framework for content, marketing campaign messages, and image searching.
  
  • Designed Web Mail Client for gathering marketing campaign responses, featuring email filtering, spam analysis, message categorization, storage, creation and forwarding.
  
  • Developed System Administration modules for managing web farm server instances and viewing system statistics. Created Content Replication Services for broadcasting content changes.
  
  • Incorporated agile methodologies and tools for improved product development and team collaboration.
  
  • Implemented business processes for product development, documentation, testing, release and issue tracking.
  
  • Established best application design and coding practices for the development team.
  
  • Evaluated and recommended software and hardware purchases for the Concentri platform.
  
  • Worked closely with the service group to gather requirements and identify enhancements to streamline the creation and deployment of online marketing campaigns.

• Sr. Architect

  Niku Corporation

  (Public Company; NIKU; Computer Software industry)

  April 2000 — December 2003 (3 years 9 months)

  As a member of the RAD Architecture team made the following contributions to the Clarity product line:
  
  • Participated in web design and development of a portal framework featuring scalable service-oriented architecture.
  
  • Developed portal customization engine with administrative modules for managing application menus, page layout, Portlet catalog, application UI Skins and Themes.
  
  • Designed Data Visualization UI layer capable of producing different SVG and html-based charts and graphs from arbitrary data sets.
  
  • Conducted research, provided training and guidance on emerging web technologies and best methodologies for rapid web application development.
  
  • Produced abstracts, feature specifications, design documents, and developer guides describing various application and architecture aspects.
  
  • Conducted performance testing and tuning. Evaluated, recommended, and integrated XML parsers, XSLT processors, and open source frameworks for data visualization and display.
  
  • Contributed Ant scripts for continuous integration, testing, code coverage, and deployment.

• Software Developer

  Omeda Communications

  (Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 1998 — April 2000 (2 years 1 month)

  • Developed Project Management solution to improve customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and communication between various departments.
  
  • Implemented an e-mail multicasting system for personalized notifications and marketing promotions.
  
  • Web-enabled existing mainframe-based data store providing chart views, tabular, and hierarchical representation of statistical data.
  
  • Designed Form Wizard IDE plugin to automate the process of creating online forms and polls.

Taras Novak’s Education

• University of Illinois at Chicago

  Bachelor of Science , Computer Engineering , 1996 — 1999

  Overall and Major GPA: 4.75/5
  Distinctions: The National Dean’s List

Additional Information

Taras Novak’s Groups:

•    Rich Internet Applications (RIA)
•    RIA Developers
•    Software as a Service (SaaS) Group

Taras Novak’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch