Steve
I completed my Higher Diploma in Software Engineering and earned my Computing degree (with Honours) from the University of Staffordshire. Over the past five years, I have gained extensive experience in modern software development with C#.NET and Azure, including roles at multinational companies (MNCs). I have supported the eSPICK system for the central bank (Bank Negara) and worked with commercial and investment banks. Currently, as a Senior Software Engineer at Arvato, I focus on writing clean, maintainable, and testable code. I enjoy exploring modern technologies, and recently, I have been exploring GenAI / MLOps.

Skills / Technologies and Knowledge

ℹ️
Server-Side (Back-End)
Data and Tools (Back-End)
  • RDBMS Database Design and SQL
  • Entity Framework Core (ORM)
  • ADO.NET
  • JSON
  • XML
  • Datawarehouse / DataLake
  • SQL Server
  • Stored Procedure
  • SQL Management Studio
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • PHPMyAdmin
  • Db2
  • pgAdmin
  • DBeaver
  • SQLite
  • NoSql
  • MongoDb
  • Elasticsearch and Kibana
Client-side (Front-End)
Generative AI
  • Google Colab
  • Python
  • Machine Learning Basics
  • Azure Machine Learning
DevOps and Others
Design Principles / Design Pattern / Software Architecture
  • REST and SOAP
  • Layered Architecture
  • Monolithic Architecture
  • Microservices Architecture
  • Clean Architecture
  • Domain Driven Design
  • DRY
  • KISS
  • SOC
  • SOLID
  • YAGNI
  • Repository pattern
  • Data-centric architecture
  • OO Design Pattern
  • MVC and MVVM
Domain knowledge
  • Media and Broadcasting
  • Technology
  • Investment banking
  • Property (Real Estate)
  • Manufacturing
  • Payment
Learning Goals 2025
  • RAG
  • MlOps
  • Agentic AI
  • Python / Panda
  • Azure
  • Design pattern
  • Software architecture

Experience (17 years)

ℹ️

Microsoft .NET Developer (Senior-Level) | Arvato Systems Malaysia (MNC) | Nov2023 - now

Arvato Systems Malaysia is a part of Arvato Systems, providing IT solutions and services to support digital transformation, focusing on industries like media, retail, utilities, and healthcare.

Key Responsibilities

  • Coding & Development: Write clean, efficient, and maintainable code.
  • Testing & Debugging: Write automated unit and integration tests, and fix bugs to ensure software quality.
  • Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams, including designers, product owners, and QA engineers.
  • Documentation: Create technical documentation like database schema diagrams, sequence diagrams, flowcharts, and state diagrams for future reference and team use.
  • Performance Optimization: Improve the efficiency of the CI pipeline.
  • Process: Participate in Agile Scrum processes, including daily standups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and PI Planning to ensure effective collaboration, continuous improvement, and successful project delivery.

Implemented Solutions

  • POC Implementations (2024): Led two POCs:
    • Azure Monitor / Application Insights for enhanced observability.
    • Google Ad Manager API Dev Tool to accelerate development and testing for Digital Sales.
  • Completed POC (2025): Completed Hangfire-based centralized Job Scheduling in .NET 10.
  • Ongoing POC (2025): Developing AI Model Monitoring & Automated Retraining for Google Ad Click Prediction.
  • Repository Optimization: Reduced repository size by 24% by cleaning up the package folder.
  • Critical Blocker Resolution: Enabled line item status transitions, eliminating the need for costly external consultancy.
  • CI/CD Optimization: Implemented a file-based test-skipping mechanism, reducing CI pipeline time by 66%.

Extra Initiative

  • AI Hackathon Participation: Competed in Arvato Systems Malaysia: AI Hackathon 2024, collaborating on an AI POC for support ticket management using Python, Google Colab, and JIRA API integration.
  • Team Engagement: Volunteered to organize a team-building event for the BMS team during counterpart visits to Kuala Lumpur.
  • Knowledge Sharing: Regularly bring out topics for cross-team alignment for improvement. Engaged in discussions on improving code quality with counterparts, introducing:
    • Strategy & Factory Method patterns for better maintainability.
    • Pure unit testing as a new approach.

Accomplishments

  • Performance Recognition: Successfully passed 6-month probation with strong results and achieved a good performance review for 2024.

Technology Stack

  • Languages & Frameworks: C#, .NET Framework 4.8, .NET 8, Web API
  • Backend Tools: Swagger (Swashbuckle), Hangfire, Serilog, Seq
  • Databases: SQL Server, Entity Framework Core 8
  • Cloud & DevOps: Azure Container Registry, Azure DevOps, Docker
  • Monitoring & Testing: Azure Application Insights, NUnit (Unit Test, Integration Test)
  • Frontend: JavaScript
  • Design Patterns & Principles: Monolith, Factory Pattern, Strategy Pattern, Query Object Pattern, Repository Pattern, DRY, YAGNI, SOC, OOP, Dependency Injection (DI), MVC
  • Others: Scrum, Agile, Confluence, MermaidJS, SonarQube / SonarCloud, Google Colab, Python

POCs and Experiments | Aug2020 - now
Microsoft .NET Developer (Senior-Level) | Quantum Storage Malaysia (MNC) | Aug2022 - Nov2023

Quantum Corporation sells scale-out storage, archive, and data protection solutions for capturing, sharing, and preserving digital assets in physical and virtual environments.

Key Responsibilities

  • Coding & Development: Write clean, efficient, and maintainable code.
  • Testing & Debugging: Write automated unit and integration tests, and fix bugs to ensure software quality.
  • Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams, including designers, product owners, and QA engineers.
  • Documentation: Create technical documentation like database schema diagrams, sequence diagrams, and flowcharts for future reference.
  • Performance Optimization: Improve the efficiency of applications.
  • Automation: Automate manual processes by implementing generic background microservices.
  • Data Migration: Perform ETL data migration to ensure seamless data transfer across systems.

Implemented Solutions

  • Automated Fulfillment: Developed a background microservice to reduce manual processing.
  • IT Asset Management: Built a CMDB system for better IT asset tracking.
  • Automated Testing: Introduced and implemented automated unit and integration tests.
  • ETL Migration: Developed a .NET 6 ETL service to migrate data from MS Dataverse to SQL Server, cutting Azure costs by ~$3,000/month.
  • Performance Optimization: Upgraded ETL migration (40M records) from .NET 6 to .NET 8, achieving:
    • 16% faster bulk operations (7.3M records)
    • 30% faster smaller transactions (630K records)
  • Process Automation: Built a static HTML email utility and Power Automate workflows to streamline internal tasks.

Extra Initiative

  • Tech Exploration: Researched SonarQube (code quality) and Dagster (data orchestration) for future improvements.

Accomplishments

  • Cost Reduction: Cut Azure costs by ~$3,000/month through ETL optimization.
  • Performance Gains: Boosted ETL efficiency by up to 30% in .NET 8 with no added infrastructure cost.

Technology Stack

  • Languages & Frameworks: C#, .NET 6, ASP.NET Razor Pages, MVVM
  • Backend Tools: Hangfire, Entity Framework Core
  • Databases: SQL Server, MS Dataverse
  • Monitoring & CI/CD: Azure App Insights, Health Checks, GitHub Actions

Full-Stack Software Engineer (Mid-Level) | Affin Hwang Investment Bank | Aug2020 - July2022

AFFIN Hwang Investment Bank Berhad provides financial services. The Company offers stock brokerage, asset management, treasury bonds, currency exchange, financial advisory, and investment banking services.

Key Responsibilities

  • Coding & Development: Write clean, efficient, and maintainable code.
  • Testing & Debugging: Write automated unit tests, automated integration tests, and fix bugs to ensure software quality.
  • Collaboration: Work with solution architect, CTO, front-end tech lead, back-end tech leads, business analyst, UI/UX designer, data engineer, and end-users.
  • Documentation: Create technical documentation like database schema diagram, sequence diagram, and flowchart for future reference.
  • Performance Optimization: Improve the efficiency of applications or services.
  • Interviewing: Conduct interviews for software engineers.

Implemented Solutions

  • Microservice Development: Replaced a monolithic legacy system (.NET Framework 4.x) with a microservice-based automated data ingestion solution using .NET Core 3.1, improving scalability and efficiency.
  • Performance Optimization: Enhanced the performance of eInvest Go and the Retail Online Platform by optimizing both front-end and back-end services for better responsiveness and reliability.

Extra Initiative

  • Process Improvement: Initiated and developed productivity tracking reports in Jira to monitor team performance.
  • Versatility: Transitioned from backend to full-stack development by successfully taking over frontend responsibilities in Vue.js, despite the challenging learning curve.

Accomplishments

  • Consistently High Performance: Consistently exceeded expectations in performance appraisals from Aug 2020 to Dec 2022.
  • Business Impact: Improved system reliability through REST API development and automated testing, leading to a 20% increase in online trading account openings (eInvest GO).

Technology Stack

  • Backend (70%): C# Web Api, .NET Framework 4.x, .NET 2.2, .NET Core 3.1 , EF Core 3 , NUnit, Xunit , Specflow and Living Doc.
  • Frontend (30%): VueJs (SFC), Vuex, Javascript, Jquery, Bootstrap, Pug, Scss, NPM, Gulp, Razor Pages.
  • Others: Git, Atlassian Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, IIS, Figma, Elastic Search, Kibana, NEST, Google Cloud Storage (Google Cloud Platform), mermaidJS, MarkMap.

Software Engineer cum Trainer | Eduvo Sdn Bhd | Jun2015 - Aug2020

Eduvo is a vocational school for IT and Business courses.

Key Responsibilities

  • Design and develop training programme (Prof. Diploma in Software Engineering).
  • Conduct classroom training for software engineering courses: Object-Oriented Programming, Database Design, Web Programming, System Analysis and Design, Data Structure and Algorithm, and Software Architecture.
  • Design, develop, and maintain School Management System.
  • Lead Education & Operation division.

Implemented Solutions

  • Developed a School Management System from scratch using C#, including an automated timetable generation feature that schedules all courses for the entire year and assigns each course to a lecturer.

Accomplishments

  • I pioneered and was the first to design and develop the Software Engineering Prof. Diploma programme.
  • Software engineering student enrollment grew by 300%, with graduates now employed as full-time programmers in software houses.

Technology Stack

  • Backend (70%): C# MVC, Entity-Framework (Code-First), SQL, LINQ
  • Frontend (30%): Javascript, CSS, HTML.

QC Manager | GHL Systems Bhd | Dec2012 - Jan2015

GHL is a leading payment service provider and one of the top merchant acquirers in the ASEAN region. We provide world-class payment services and solutions. My job scope are:

  • Reported to CTO.
  • Created complex monthly IT Resource Utilization report for CTO.
  • Managed Product Management department.
  • Ensured product gets certified, especially Terminal Quality Management (TQM).
  • Handled software and product documentation, i.e user guide, sequence / process flow diagram and matrix diagram.
  • Ensured proper source control and software repositories backup and replicated for all the regions (Malaysia, Thailand, Philipinnes and Wuhan).
  • Planned and coordinated training for Level 1 and Level 2 Support.
  • Maintained maintenance agreement.
Software Consultant | BCS Information Systems | Aug2008 - Dec2012

BCS Information Systems is the systems integrator for real-time payment infrastructure for central and commercial banks. My job scope are:

  • Provided L2 application support for the cheque clearing banking system, ensuring stability and smooth operations.
  • Monitored and maintained key components of Cheque Clearing Banking System:
    • CTCS Gateway Interface (GWC):
      • EPKI – Outward (GWC & Bank Host)
      • Inward Downloading (ISC, GWC & Bank Host)
      • Transmission (OCS & GWC, OCS & PODClient)
    • Bank & BNM Web Modules: Branch and Routing Policy Request processing.
    • Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Backend Host:
      • Inward Generation
      • Billing & Settlement File Generation
      • File & Data Archival
      • Reporting
    • Other Systems: CSS (Billing & Settlement), RBE, FMS.
  • Investigated problem logs, analyzed root causes, and provided resolutions to customers.
  • Created and updated technical documentation, including sequence diagrams and process flows.
  • Diagnosed and fixed system bugs, conducted System Integration Testing (SIT), and released patches.
  • Developed enhancements to improve existing system modules.
  • Technology Stack: Java, J2EE, EJB, JSP, VB.NET and DB2 database, SQL.

Job Status and Preference

Education

Languages

Interests

References

[References can be provided upon request. I have seven individuals who can serve as references.]
Updated: 2025-03-28 |
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