About John Ayres

About me

As a senior software engineer and team lead with over 20 years of experience in software and iOS development, I have directed, architected, and implemented complex, high-quality, and innovative mobile applications for various domains, such as identity, travel, and hospitality. I have also mentored and instructed junior and senior developers on best practices, design patterns, and SOLID principles, as well as collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure a consistent and seamless user experience across all platforms.

My mission is to work on products that have a positive and meaningful impact on people's lives, using the most advanced and emerging technologies available. I am passionate about learning new skills, exploring new challenges, and solving problems creatively and efficiently. I am looking for new opportunities to join a growing, successful company with a vision and culture that aligns with my values and goals, and where I can contribute to the development of cutting-edge, high-tech products with a team of smart, motivated, and passionate colleagues.

Experience

Senior Software Engineer / Team Lead

Blockchains, Inc.

April 2021 - Dec 2023

Worked with a team of 9 developers and QA engineers as the defacto team lead and manager for the mobile team (both iOS and Android). Directed the development of the Equs application at the technical level for both platforms. Mentored and instructed junior and senior developers on SOLID concepts and design patterns. Worked closely with the product, UI/UX, backend, and web teams to coordinate development of features and provide a consistent UI across all platforms. Architected the Equs app in the iOS platform, a Web3 application that provides access to the Self-Sovereign Identity backend platform based on blockchain technology. The app architecture is a variation of VIPER, using a variety of design patterns (MVVM, builder, command, etc.).

Job responsibilities/daily activities:

• Team management, including delegation of development duties, writing tickets, approving time off, conducting employee reviews, and managing off-shore contractors.

• Conducted interviews of potential new hires, including technical assessment of iOS and Android experience.

• Worked closely with other iOS engineers as an active contributor to the code base.

• Designed and built a reusable iOS framework, providing an SDK for developers that abstracted underlying RESTful API calls into a simple library for easier access to backend functionality. This design was based on a ‘fluent’ coding style that made adding new API calls very simple.

• Implemented biometric face scanning technology using the FaceTec toolkit.

• Consumed web-based API (REST) calls over WIFI from iOS.

• Extensive use of localization techniques for international distribution.

• Designed and created build pipelines in GitLab for test builds.

• Assisted IT in implementing BlackDuck and SonarQube scans in the build pipelines for iOS.

• Evaluated the results of BlackDuck and SonarQube scans, deciding if results are actionable, and delegating work to fix various findings as appropriate.

• Used a wide variety of development tools (Swift, SwiftUI, Objective-C, XCode, SourceTree, GIT, Confluence, Jira, Postman, Microsoft Teams, Azure, JSON, MySQL).

• Earned the “Mobile App Heavy Lifting” company award in 2022 for leading the mobile team as a manager while also providing major contributions to the code base as a developer.

Mobile Application Developer

World Ventures Holdings

Feb 2019 - March 2021

Worked with a team to bring their legacy DreamTrips iOS app back in-house after several years of outsourcing. Added major functionality to the app, including a ‘Daily Deal’ drop-down control integrated into the social feed section that used a RESTful web API to retrieve data. Mentored and instructed junior developers on SOLID development concepts and design patterns. Worked closely with other teams, such as backend and web UI, to coordinate web API and ensure a consistent look and feel across web and mobile platforms. Architected the new DreamTrips iOS app in Swift to replace the legacy version written in Objective-C, working with the team to port all of the most important functionality into the new application.

Job responsibilities/daily activities:

• Designed and developed major sections of the legacy DreamTrips iOS app via the Agile methodology using OOP techniques and design patterns.

• Designed and implemented a radial navigation menu system featuring a primary button that, when pressed, animates to the center of the screen and displays additional menu buttons in a circular layout around the central button. This complex control was designed using the Strategy pattern so the actual layout can be easily changed by simply creating a new layout class.

• Designed and implemented a new UICollectionViewLayout class that arranges subviews in a Mondrian (i.e. Mosaic) style, but in a manner where the edges always come out even. At the time, there were no controls on the market that did anything similar.

• Architected the new DreamTrips iOS app in a modified VIPER style, using various design patterns (MVC, Command, Decorator, etc.).

• Designed and developed numerous dialogs and other interfaces throughout the iOS frontend.

• Made use of the PhotoKit framework to develop classes that give callers an easy API for accessing photos and video, and to capture photos and video from the device camera.

• Made use of the MapKit framework to provide an interactive map displaying local merchants (restaurants, bars, and spas) that participate in the DreamTrips Local program.

• Created dozens of animated, interactive iOS UI elements, such as highly stylized buttons, advanced text labels, progress indicators, range selectors, and container view controllers.

• Consumed web-based API (REST) calls over WIFI from iOS.

• Extensive use of localization techniques for international distribution.

• Helped design and create Azure build pipelines for test and production builds.

• Used a wide variety of development tools (Swift, Objective-C, XCode, C#, Visual Studio, SourceTree, GIT, C++, .NET, Jenkins, BitBucket, Microsoft Teams, Confluence, Azure, JSON, MySQL).

• Launching the new DreamTrips app saw an adoption rate of approximately 80% of users on the first day (around 12,000) with no major issues reported by App Center.

Software Engineer

NCR Corporation

July 2012 - Nov 2018

Responsible for design and implementation of functionality in the Silver Pro, Restaurant Edition Point-Of-Sale system, a complex, international software product running on iOS devices (iPad) with a web backend. Worked with a geographically diverse team located in Fort Worth, Atlanta, and Prague. Accompanied the product owner to various restaurants during the initial launch phase to gather requirements. Regularly implemented features in every component of the system, both frontend and backend. Helped to bring the product from concept to fully realized solution through the use of XCode, Visual Studio, Objective-C, and various industry standard tools and practices.

Job responsibilities/daily activities:

• Designed and developed major sections of the Silver Pro, Restaurant Edition Point-of-Sale system via the Agile methodology using OOP techniques and design patterns. This included:

• Implemented Open Order/Shift Reconciliation, a complex dialog that uses several subsystems to present a list of open orders and shifts, ordered chronologically. The user (typically a manager) can recall and manipulate open orders or close out entire days.

• Implemented the Modifiers and Add-Ons subsystem of order entry, this interface allowed the user to modify line items. Implementation followed sophisticated rules governing what and how items are modified, including numerical limits and nested add-ons/modifiers.

• Implemented the complex rules of the NCR Aloha POS survey system to provide the same survey functionality on customer receipts. This included generation of a proprietary code printed on receipts that hooked into the Aloha backend allowing the user to provide surveys to customers.

• Designed and developed numerous dialogs and other interfaces throughout the iOS frontend.

• Extensive use of Core Data to store and retrieve information.

• Created dozens of interactive iOS UI elements used in many dialogs on the iPad, such as paged grid controls, graphically customizable buttons, and progress indicators.

• Controlled various receipt printers, such as Epson and Bixolon, over WIFI directly from iOS printing formatted receipts that included both barcodes and QR codes.

• Interfaced with the Socket Mobile 7 barcode scanner, controlled over Bluetooth from iOS.

• Consumed web-based API (REST) calls over WIFI from iOS.

• Worked closely with QA on elevated customer issues requiring extensive research of debug logs and intimate system knowledge to fix complex but critical bugs discovered in the field.

• Developed various non-production tools and utilities using Swift

• Used a wide variety of development tools (C#, Visual Studio, SourceTree, GIT, C++, JavaScript, .NET, SQL, Google Protocol Buffers, Python, Objective-C, XCode).

• Taking a pro-active role in development, helped bring the product from initial implementation to a successful system used by over 3700 sites across the globe, including some well-known chains (such as Which ‘Wich).

• Successfully took charge of and implemented a complex cash rounding feature where financial interactions that were paid by cash only are rounded to a specific denomination (i.e. nearest nickel, dime, quarter, etc.), opening up new overseas markets where these laws are in effect.

Lead Developer

Sentry Enterprises

April 2024 - Present

Worked on mobile applications (both iOS and Android) to support various Java Card products that feature biometric security (i.e. fingerprint detection). Designed and authored the SentrySDK for both iOS and Android that provides functionality for 3rd party developers to communicate with the Java Card products using NFC and APDU commands. Created various iOS applications to showcase the SDK use and demonstrate communication and functionality between the phone and the Java Card. Worked closely with the product and backend teams to coordinate development of various features.

Job responsibilities/daily activities:

• Management of outside Android contractors, coordinating functionality between Android and iOS applications.

• Development of the Sleev iOS mobile application, a full featured crypto wallet application that provides access to our Sentinal Wallet Java Card product, supporting nearly a dozen different crypto currencies, utilizing a RESTful API backend.

• Created the SentryCard Enroll iOS mobile application, available on the app store. This allows users to enroll and verify fingerprints on the biometric Java Card products.

• Authored the SentryCard Admin iOS application, available on the app store. This provides necessary functionality for various administrative duties involving the Java Card products, such as resetting biometric registration. This is architected as a ‘white label’ application so customers can use their own branding.

• Developed many different proof-of-concept applications in exploration of different capabilities of the Java Card products, including a rewards card program, an EBT/SNAP fraud prevention program for South Carolina, an integration project with PrivateID to perform face scanning and KYC functionality, and secure communications built on top of the open source Signal application.

• Used a wide variety of development tools (Swift, SwiftUI, Eclipse, XCode, SourceTree, GIT, Confluence, Jira, Postman, Microsoft Teams, Java, GlobalPlatform, Metal shaders, JSON, Lottie, APNS Push Notifications).

Ancient History

Senior Software Engineer

Symon Communications

August 2006 - July 2012

Worked on Windows based LED display rendering engine and the server that drives the engine.

Consultant

Symon Communications

November 2005 - August 2006

Windows based point of sale system used mostly by the Little Cesare's franchise.

Senior Software Engineer

Custom Game Design

September 2004 - November 2005

Design and developmed high-volume server systems for the Indian gaming and Texas redemption games industries.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is your experience level?

I have over 20 years of experience in software and iOS mobile development across various industries.

What services do you offer?

How can I contact you?

Do you work on custom applications?

You can contact me by submitting your inquiry down below.

I have worked on applications in finance, travel, and point of sale, among other industries.

I offer mobile app development, consulting, and support services for various platforms.