Dave M.

I am an experienced freelance software developer with over 15 years of experience. To adapt to the rapidly changing tech landscape, I have evolved my workflow to combine my deep background in manual coding with integrated AI tools. This hybrid approach, driven by continuous self-development and personal AI projects, allows me to deliver highly efficient, robust, and productive code much faster than traditional development methods. Although my availability is extremely limited, I am actively taking on select new projects - particularly those with a strong AI development focus or highly complex data extraction requirements. My core expertise remains in automated web scraping of extremely hard-to-get data. I write custom Python code to extract information from unstructured sites, large-scale platforms, and targets using heavy 'scraping protection' (like CAPTCHAs, Distil, and obfuscated protocols). Simply put: I scrape the sites that no one else can. I work most effectively given well-defined specifications, including target URLs, keywords, preferred output formats (usually CSV or SQL), and update frequencies. My source code is built for longevity and reliability. I strictly follow Agile and TDD software design techniques, utilizing Git, Selenium, and various APIs to maximize productivity. Beyond modern web scraping, my technical background includes machine learning and statistical analysis (using R, C++, and Matlab), database management (SQL, MongoDB), and Linux administration. I also have legacy experience with Perl. I have a strong track record of delivering multi-threaded applications, notification systems, and complex API integrations (Dropbox, Twitter, Twilio, Sendgrid). If you have a challenging project and well-defined requirements, please get in touch to discuss. Thanks!