You are Unconventional
Bold
You want to Shake up the World

Helping people
With ancient wisdom
And fresh ideas

You need someone technical to help you pull it off

Welcome to your Help

I am Radical
Creative
Willing to do things
others are afraid to try.

I don't work in a nice office
with a foosball table.

You're as likely to find me

on the ocean, teaching kayak skills,
as writing mobile device code.

Been an I.T pro for over 25 years,

but I don't eat, sleep and breathe code.

I eat from the land, I sleep on the Earth
and I breathe clean air.

And I produce excellent technical results.

Because I believe in balance.

You like that.

Because you're building something
that meets real needs,
something that people will use.
And money is just one tool for you.
It's not your bottom line.

And the economy?
All that is just some numbers
we try to write on a throbbing green Earth.

Everything is changing now. You get this.
Your mission of service is your highest priority.

I can help you.

Inspiration from Nature

Thinking out of Box

Technology for Human Beings

Distilling what's Essential in a a Complex World

Full Stack Software Development

"As much as software engineering is about machines, it is also about people."

Architecting highly usable user interfaces across platforms
Touch-screen and User Interaction design and flow
Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing
Audio, video and digital signal processing
Real-time location-based services
GIS and mapping systems
Medical tech, HIPAA compliance, privacy, security and authentication systems

Technical Skills


Cross-Platform Mobile Development	React Native, C#, Xamarin / .NET MAUI, Swift, SwiftUI, Objective-C, UI/UX development, Device features (GPS, photos, maps, notifications), 3rd party library integrations, Profiling and Optimization
Frontend Development	ReactJS, Angular, TypeScript, HTML5 / CSS3 / JS, Frontend Optimization, TDD (Jasmine, Selenium)
Backend Development	Python, Celery, Redis, Pusher, MySQL / PostgreSQL, Django, Node JS
Machine Learning	PyTorch, Transformers, LLMs - GPT-3, BLOOM, BERT, spaCy
Patterns	REST, SOAP, AJAX, TDD, MVC, Grand Central Dispatch, async/await, blocks and closures, factory patterns, composition, inheritance, concurrency, web workers, locking and lock-free designs
Process Tools	Jira, TestFlight, Protoshare, ConceptBoard, TargetProcess, Scrum, Kanban, FogBugz, Bugzilla
GIS Tools	QGIS, OSM, ogr2ogr, SpatiaLite, PostGIS, Qgis2threejs

Soft Skills

I am a technical person who understands business.
I am a programmer who gets users.

I am resilient: Always adapting creatively
to challenges and change.
Strong facilitation skills.
Training in compassionate communication, team work,
critical conversations, and presentations.
Good conflict resolution skills.
I practice working with tension between people
by listening for needs and feelings.
I explain complex things in plain language.
I hear the real concerns of people outside the technical.
I bridge diverse stakeholder perspectives
across your organization.

2014-present

Inventor / Engineer, Search Beacon

Built a mobile app that matches and connects people together based on shared needs.
Leveraged leading edge AI models, such as transformer-based LLMs (BERT, BLOOM, GPT-3), and Diffusion Models, to understand peoples' needs and connect them in real-time.
Implemented a cross-platform app prototype using Expo / React Native [front-end], Node.js / Express [backend], and Python / PyTorch [machine learning services].

2015-present

Mobile Team Lead, Resilience Inc

Using Angular, built a configurable dashboard engine that allows visualization of aggregated student performance metrics

Designed and built a flexible tool for visualizing and exploring Family Medicine student field performance, on a touch surface (NLTK natural language toolkit, HTML5 canvas, and app embedding)

Maintained and upgraded a case logging, analysis and reporting tool for surgeons, using Python, Turbogears, SQLAlchemy.

From complex, high performance reporting calculations in the backend, to distributed worker coordination (both human and digital), to dynamic client applications (both native and js), Mark consistently proves he is up for a challenge.

I had the pleasure of working with and leading Mark during his time at Resilience Software as a contractor and found him considerate, conscientious, innovative, and pragmatic. As a consummate polyglot, his adaptability when it comes to tech stack and problem domain has proven of immeasurable value when working in an extremely agile organization.

He’s a pleasure to lead thanks to his results focused approach and his comfort with full feature ownership and accountability. I’m positive he will contribute the same technical advancement to any organization lucky to have him.

Simon Laalo
Technical Lead

Resilience builds best-in-class medical systems for surgeons and medical students, that help improve student learning and patient outcomes.

My business is developing their innovative mobile learning app for medical students.

Continuously improving security, accessibility, branding, notifications, platform upgrades
Completely customizable form structures driven by metadata
Making significant contributions to front-end user experience
Ensuring the app works in a variety of medical environments including while offline

Communicating with stakeholders, designed interactive rapid pretotypes to iterate towards an improved student-teacher evaluation workflow.
Worked with a consultant to develop the new workflow into a prototype app, using iOS and Swift.

2018-present

3D GIS Mapping of BC

Layered geological, ecological, oceanic, indigenous, biodiversity and land use spatial data into a GIS system and built custom interactive 3D maps for field work and navigation.

3D mapping with GPS geolocation on a mobile device while offline.
Processing large geo-spatial datasets.
Finding mountains, forests, backroads, trails, vegetation cover, lakes, streams, oceans, ocean currents, kayak routes, wildlife and plant occurrences, private property, indigenous traditional territories, fishing and hunting areas, while in the field, without access to the Internet.

2012-2014

Senior App Engineer, Teligence Inc

Built a unified platform with
three global brands and feature sets.
From a hut in the Amazon jungle, built an online dating App (iOS, real-time, GPS)

Clearly communicated with the team online via Skype, Jira.
Rebuilt the legacy App for smooth clean user experience.
Worked with REST APIs while off-grid by extending a Node.js proxy server.
Did it on budget.

Mark is an exceptional iOS app developer. I've worked with a number of developers who have worked remotely and few have been as easy to work with and as conscientious as Mark.

Sean Ryan
Product Owner

2014-2015

Senior Web Developer, Pixel Union

Built an intelligent engine that uses
natural language processing and search engine data
to discover insights into what customers are looking for
and how to optimize the wording of products.

Built a next-generation dashboard UI
using Angular JS, HTML5, and SASS / CSS3,
for rapid development of product ideas.

Built a robust back-end database, with administration,
that stores customer insights.

Built the back-end from the ground up
using Python, Django, Django Rest Framework,
Redis, Celery, Pusher, and PostgreSQL.

Integrated with Shopify and Google Analytics APIs.

2011-2012

Senior App Engineer, SMART Technologies

Part of a small, focused team,
I built SMART's next generation mobile learning platform,
for iPad and web.

We built a modular, object-oriented, write-once codebase
leveraging both web and mobile technologies
(iOS SDK / HTML5 / Javascript / CSS3 / SVG).

Design and implementation
for lesson and page navigation,
draw tools (multi-touch pen, text editor),
iOS/WebView communication APIs,
asynchronous document storage,
emailing, embedded links.

I worked closely with Product Management,
UX Designers, and visited schools
to learn about our customers first-hand.
I mentored junior developers,
challenging them and encouraging excellence.

I optimized HTML5 vector graphics
using GPU acceleration for smooth motion.
I built a performance test framework
graphing the speed of key features
(render, load, and layout times)

Mark is an incredibly talented developer.
He constantly strives for and achieves
excellence at all levels of his work, and he possesses a rare ability to see beyond the bounds of the current problem to the larger issues surrounding the products he works on.

Christopher Fedak
Principal Software Engineer

2009-2011

Lead Engineer, Userful Corporation

Working in an agile team, I developed
the next-gen Multi-Seat computing solution
for schools, businesses, and governments.

As user interface lead, I developed a web-based tool
for managing stations in real-time.
As project lead, I mentored junior developers and worked with management to clarify business use cases.

Using Java, Python, GWT, and HTML/CSS, I developed our frontend layer, server-side logic, build system, and Selenium tests.
I established best practices around internationalization, localization tools, and usability.

Mark played a key role in creating
a new user-friendly UI for the company's flagship product. He is a good team worker, and a take-charge person who is able to present creative ideas and communicate the benefits with people at various levels in the company.

Roger Zhang
Senior Product Manager

2005-2007

Lead Engineer, Unity Organ Systems

Developed pipe organ software
for large organ installations.
Created a rock-solid Linux audio engine
that an organist can play.
It simulates the sound of wind-blown pipes
and delivers it to a multichannel speaker array.

Developed a rich organist user interface
that was easy-to-use for non-technical musicians.
Managed all aspects of development,
from low level hardware interfacing
to high level UI and real-time signal processing.

2006-2008

Lead Engineer, Be The Game Inc

Spent two years building a groundbreaking
real-time interactive music teaching application
(Objective-C, C++, Mac OS X)
Created an elegant GUI with live rendering of player hands
and a live scrolling score display
Developed algorithms for real-time music data processing
and adaptive recognition of music parts.

1999-2009

Inventor & Engineer, Freewheeling

Conceived of and developed Freewheeling, an open-source live composition environment for musicians.
Developed a unique, flexible engine that makes recording, overdubbing, and arranging loops seamless and easy for a live musician.

Developed a mobile version with a USB LCD display.
Continuously responded to user suggestions and implemented new design ideas.
Featured twice in Linux Journal magazine

1999-2000

Java UI Engineer, Java Mail

Working on a 10 person team,
built a Java web app messenger
with rich multimedia tools.
Created / optimized paint tools
(draw, text, fill, animation, edit)

1998

Co-op Software Developer, DCIEM

Work on a helicopter pilot training simulator.
Working with pilots, redesigned the motion platform to more accurately mimic the way a helicopter responds in the air and on touchdown.
Refined 3D graphics models and animations, using GNU C++ and OpenGL on SGI machines.

1996

Co-op Software Developer, CAE

Implemented live satellite weather graphics
onto an air traffic map.
Redesigned and optimized the display system
so that the entire air traffic of North America could be viewed at once.
Created a TCP/IP link to a live satellite feed providing aircraft position.
Demoed the system to FedEx and CAE won the contract.

I've worked with dozens of co-op students over the years, and Mark stands out as perhaps the most brilliant one I've ever worked with. The speed with which he grasped the complexities of CAE's Air Traffic Management software, followed by the scope and quality of his software development contribution surpassed many of the full-time developers we had on staff.

Manoj Prasad
Senior Software Engineer

Building Awesome Websites

You have a vision and a mission,
and you want to share what you're doing with others.

You need a clear, usable website
to reach people around the world
with your unique story and mission.

I can help you navigate the technology

I get what it is to be driven by a mission.
I've built websites for years:
From non-profits to professional portfolios.

E-Commerce
Sell Your Products or Services Online to a global audience
Interactive Portfolios
Showcase your work elegantly
Blogs
Share your story with news, pictures and video
Event Calendars
Manage regular and one-off events with optional sign-ups

Payments
Receive payments in person and online
Social Media
Link your Facebook and Twitter Pages to your website
Forums
Create Community through your Website
Crowd Fundraising
I can help you raise money through
online platforms like Indiegogo.

Contact me for a quote

for your project!