Daniel Wylie

Software developer // Content creator

daniel@wylie.co.nz / https://danielwylie.me

Wellington, New Zealand

I was 10 when I asked my dad "How do you build programs?" He found a copy of VB6 For Kids for me and well, here we are. My entire teen and adult life has been spent playing around with technology and computers - from running my own Microsoft Exchange server when I was 13, launching my first product at 15 and having people use it to power their websites. I've been lucky enough to have the opportunities to explore a vast range of what makes the technology side of companies tick.

A full stack developer, I love working my way through the entire development stack from database right up to web and mobile UIs. Anything that has a bit of scale, some sort of data processing and challenging problems gets my interest - as well as being able to get on with the job without too many road blocks. I enjoy figuring out how stuff works - how to build something I've never done before and applying cool technology to come up with cool solutions. I enjoy big picture thinking and debates - I'm not scared to bring new ideas to the table or get dirty implementing said ideas. Being part of a social team where conversation is free flowing and encouraged is important to me to both create friendships and to have an enjoyable workspace.

Outside of my day jobs I've always had side projects on the go, generally to play around with tech I've been interested in learning - as with most side projects, the majority of them don't see the light of day - but some ideas have crossed into successful implementations elsewhere. Being a fairly new dad I try to get away from the computer where possible and explore the world with my family heading out four-wheel driving, camping and teaching little dude about life.

Spotlight Reporting

Team lead, 2022 - Current

Working as a team lead, I manage a small team of developers and get my hands dirty in projects - with the later being my preferred area. Focussing on app modernisation I've been pushing new patterns and thinking to open the door for the bigger projects that follow, whilst being more than happy to jump into the old code and get things done where needed.

Core tech
  • .NET Core C#
  • .NET Framework
  • MSSQL
  • Postgres
  • AWS
  • Github CI flows
  • Microservices

Overland NZ

Founder, 2018 - Current

Crossing my love of cars, photography, exploring and the outdoors with my tech skills, Overland NZ has grown from an idea to one of New Zealand's biggest four wheel drive outlets - and one of the coolest side hustles I could ask for.

I've honed my video production skills while producing content for Overland NZ - filming out in the field presents unique challenges, nothing is predictable.

It gives me the chance to wear all the different hats - from managing sponsor relationships to planning out future content, customer support for Navigator and financials - if there's a job that needs doing I'll figure out how to do it.

In 2019 we kicked off Overland Navigator - an overland companion app for iOS and Android. Powered by .NET Core on Ubuntu and Postgres behind the scenes, both apps are built in their respective native languages following guidelines set by Apple and Google. Seeing on average over 4000 active users a month, it's New Zealand's most visited offroad focused maps application.

Overland NZ Overland Navigator Youtube

Core tech
  • .NET Core C#
  • Postgres
  • VueJS
  • AWS
  • CircleCI
  • Mapbox
  • Spatial data
  • Apple iOS (Swift)
  • Android (Kotlin)
  • SASS
  • Ubuntu
  • NGINX
  • Final Cut Pro
  • Adobe Lightroom

HunchBuzz

CTO, 2018 - 2022

Taking over as CTO in 2018, I inherited a fairly crude PHP old school application with one goal: modernise and grow the product.

Working side by side with a junior developer we took on the task of modernising the application improving security, functionality and performance. Working with an external design consultant we refreshed the entire UI following modern SASS and BEM practices and building a UI component library for the entire app to use while still allowing for basic customer customisation.

We started moving towards a PHP/.NET Core hybrid model to help improve system stability in critical areas, leveraging AWS infrastructure such as SQS to build out a backend processing engine which took care of all the heavy lifting and processed items that responded well to eventual consistency. As part of attracting a wider range of customers we published native apps to both the App Store and Play Store written in their native languages.

The final major project I focused on was krunch - a simple version of the HunchBuzz product that integrated directly with Slack and Microsoft Teams and leveraged those platforms for authentication and user interaction. It is based on the existing HunchBuzz product with a new skin and has an easy upgrade path to the full product if the customer wishes to do so.

My role at HunchBuzz had a wide focus - ranging from helping our junior developer progress his career, managing the AWS infrastructure, rolling out modern development and deployment practices, system architecture, front end development - pretty much everything from database to UI, idea to deployment.

HunchBuzz krunch

Core tech
  • .NET Core C#
  • PHP
  • VueJS
  • MySQL
  • Neo4J
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • CircleCI
  • Stripe
  • Elastic Search
  • Apple iOS (Swift)
  • Android (Kotlin)
  • Redis
  • SASS
  • Ubuntu
  • Bash
  • NGINX
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Middleman

Shnappy

Founder, 2014 - 2017

Shnappy kicked off as a small side project to solve a problem I was having distributing my photos to clients, that there was no easy way to deliver large numbers of photos online - something I discovered after shooting a few different weddings for clients.

Built in NodeJS with MongoDB sitting behind it, Shnappy ran on Microsoft Azure and heavily leveraged Dropbox as the storage mechanism customers would interact with. The process was fully automated from the customers side. All they had to do was upload photos to Dropbox - Shnappy would then take care of processing the images - creating thumbnails, watermarking them and getting them presentable in the client interface.

Dealing with large photos being uploaded fairly quickly was an awesome challenge - most of the heavy lifting occurred outside the main web app in a backend worker which could scale up and down as required inside of Microsoft Azure.

Despite being a side project, it was fully setup with continuous deployment, unit tests and Stripe integration

In 2016 I embarked full time on Shnappy to see how far it would go - and to try wear all the different hats required to run a small business.

Core tech
  • NodeJS
  • MongoDB
  • Angular JS
  • Azure
  • CircleCI
  • SASS
  • Ubuntu
  • Jekyll
  • NGINX

Raygun

Senior software developer, 2015 - 2016

My role at Raygun crossed full stack development with massive data processing, something that interests me hugely. I joined the Raygun team at a time of high growth and the interesting challenges that come with that.

My core focus was on the error reporting application and the ingestion of data from our customers in the most efficient and cost-effective way we could achieve - and third party integrations with the various alerting systems we supported.

I also spent a sizable chunk of time on customer support tickets with other developers helping them integrate their products with Raygun. Priding myself on being able to communicate clearly with both tech and non-tech people, it provided a nice variety during the day.

Core tech
  • .NET Framework
  • NodeJS
  • MySQL
  • Javascript
  • Postgres
  • RabbitMQ

NV Interactive

Technical Lead, 2013 - 2015

I ran a small development team of three people - me, an intermediate developer and a junior developer focussing on building bespoke applications for clients. I was the face of the technology side when presenting and communicating with clients, which being an agency was common. Working with the likes of Air New Zealand, Family Planning and Environmental Protection Agency I got the chance to experience how organisations of different types operate when engaged with external development partners.

During my time at NV I modernised their development practices, introducing GIT and continuous deployment and pushing for newer code standards and patterns to help new developers get up to speed quickly.

The technical lead role allowed me to work closely with the other developers and help them grow and learn which was hugely rewarding and something I've tried to do ever since - my passion for helping new developers grew from my experience at NV.

In 2017 I returned to NV for three-month contract to work on a virtual reality project for Time Inc.'s LIFE VR brand. Working with a VR speciality design agency in Auckland and the Microsoft VR team we built out the solution using Unity3D and the beta tools Microsoft were developing at the time. The challenge of beta hardware and libraries created for a challenging but interesting time which was highly rewarding.

Core tech
  • .NET Framework
  • MSSQL
  • Azure
  • Umbraco
  • KnockoutJS
  • Windows Server
  • IIS

Xero

Software developer, 2006 - 2013

I started at Xero in 2006 while still at high school as their IT support person - building computers, getting developers setup and generally supporting the staff. After completing year 13 I started as a full time C# developer.

Over my years there I worked on a wide range of projects from the core app, internal tooling and bank feed processing. The range of projects allowed me to work with a huge range of people who had vast experience in their areas.

Core tech
  • .NET Framework
  • MSSQL
  • Windows Server
  • IIS
  • Javascript
  • Huge dataset processing