Torsten Müller

Work history

ThoughtWorks

Senior Consultant, Munich, since November 2020

  • Traffic analysis, architecture and implementation of performance tests using Gatling for a microservice platform of a major German industrial company.

ARS Computer & Consulting

Team Lead, Munich, November 2017 - October 2020

  • Designed frontend architecture based on Domain Driven Design (DDD) for Angular application of a large government department. Implement application to interface with a Java Backend.
  • Created UML documentation (sequence and class diagrams) for and extended authorization mechanism of web application to prevent extraneous web traffic, improve user experience and make functionality easier to trace and understand.
  • Develop architecture and implement an Angular system to dynamically decide, based on initial server response, whether to retrieve server data on a page-by-page basis or to buffer an entire data set and return slices of the cached data.
  • Create and conduct pilot course of a 2-week advanced training class in web technologies for a major German technology company. Topics include: Functional Reactive programming, domain-driven design, micro services, Java Spring, Kafka, ngRx state store, advanced JavaScript debugging (memory leaks and event loop blocking).
  • Perform code reviews and develop prototypes to demonstrate clean architectures to junior developers.
  • Running a 2-week introductory class in web technologies to retrain C# developers in web-based technologies using Java Spring and Angular 2.

Veact GmbH

Senior Developer, Munich, May until November 2017

  • Plan a modification of the platform’s system architecture.
  • Develop a module using domain-driven design for managing and selling service options.
  • Serve as subject matter expert in client meetings.
  • Extend the existing platform with multi-country capabilities, supporting the management of multiple currencies for offered services.

Dow Jones/News Corp.

Senior Developer, Minneapolis, USA, July 2015 - January 2017

I developed front- as well as back-ends, using the following technologies: Scala/Scalatra, Cassandra, Node, JavaScript, Rs, React.js, Nginx and Docker. Project management followed Scrum and Kanban processes.

  • Work with project architect to develop the domain model for a micro service using event sourcing and domain driven design.
  • Implement a micro service for managing customer data using Scala and Cassandra as part of a team of four-developers.
  • Select technology, develop the architecture and implement an authentication system compatible with OpenID standards, which managed 300 requests per second in a single-core server.
  • Initiate a collaboration with newsroom editors, graphic designers and project managers to improve the usability of a planned web application allowing users to manage their investment portfolios. Perform UX analysis and create user stories and wireframes.
  • Develop a web frontend to allow readers to see the value of their investments in real time. Lead a project team of 5 developers.

Periscope advertising agency

Technical Architect, Minneapolis, USA, April 2013 - July 2015

In addition to implementing marketing sites, I led developers in projects and served as contact for the agency’s designers, customers and account managers

  • Determine architecture for and develop a multi-lingual application enabling users to find social services in their vicinity. Based on node, Angular, MongoDB, Google Maps API, this project was developed by a team of two programmers and a UX designer.
  • Develop a multi-tenant, modular application allowing customers to find points of sale for a company’s products. The data sources were configurable and extensible and the administrative interface relied on CQRS principles. The application’s graphic design can be adjusted on a per-client basis.

Fusion Room

Senior Developer, Minneapolis, USA, April 2012 - April 2013

  • Developed with a team of nine developers a web application for consumers to customize their garage door designs. Led the team, collaborated with the customer.
  • Implemented advertising sites using the Drupal CMS

The Nerdery / Sierra Bravo

Developer and UX designer, Minneapolis, USA, June 2008 - April 2012

Develop both front- and back-end for advertising sites and web applications. Temporarily worked in the UX department, creating designs for web applications. A few highlights are:

  • Develop a web application using Google Maps allowing military veterans to record their tours of duty with stories as well as images.
  • Fix a writing application for schools with severe security issues and rewrite a major part to make it more maintainable, less error prone and easier to use.
  • Develop a complete site structure and wireframes for a materials testing company wanting to clearly communicate their capabilities.

MidwestWeekends.com

since June 2006

  • Create a custom CMS, including a user forum and allowing the administrator to create, send and manage email newsletters.
  • Implement a module allowing customers to manage sponsored content using Elm, Scala and MongoDB.
  • Reduce request times by over 30% through migration to and configuration of Amazon AWS, using Cloudfront CDN and Route 52 services.
  • Site administration

Involvement in development community

  • Gave several hour-long presentations about functional reactive programming (Rx) at local conferences and meet-ups.
  • Volunteered as mentor to students at the Prime coding academy, a local coding bootcamp in the Twin Cities area (US).
  • Regular visitor at technology meet-ups

Education and Certificates

  • Certified Professional for Software Architecture, iSAQB, Munich, August 2018
  • M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, semiconductor and solid state physics, University of Minnesota, December 2004
  • Diploma, Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, July 1996

Professional accomplishment highlights

  • Identified and fixed a race condition in a base module of a micro service, which would have permitted invalid states under certain conditions. Dow Jones, 2016, Scala
  • Reduced the response time of an API end point by 30% through refactoring and the replacement of an inefficient secondary index in Cassandra with a primary index. Dow Jones, 2016, Cassandra
  • Implemented a prototype of a server-based simplification of the OpenID interface to Auth0 within a week. The system hides the OpenID complexities behind a simple URL. It was presented to the company’s technical directors and served as the foundation for further development. Dow Jones, 2016, JavaScript/node.js
  • Internationalized a pricing module to support foreign currencies and developed a roadmap for how to implement missing concepts and release the module without breaking functionality. Veact, Scala, 2017
  • Created the architecture and implemented an agency’s first software product, interfacing with customer data to allow consumers to find merchants selling a company’s products. Periscope, January 2015, node, MongoDB and SASS