Portfolio
A curious and self-driven software engineer expanding knowledge and pushing boundaries.
- parthshandilya.com
- parth1989shandilya[at]gmail[dot]com
- Basel, Switzerland
Skills and Interests
- Programming Languages: Python, TypeScript, SQL, NoSQL, Golang, JavaScript
- Frameworks: Pytorch, Flask, Django, React, Angular, EmberJS, ExpressJS, Semantic UI, D3.js, Next.js, shadcn, Tailwind CSS
- Developer Tools/Environment: Linux, Git, Docker, Kubernetes, ElasticSearch, PostgreSQL, Redis, Heroku, Helm, ArgoCD, GCP
- Machine Learning: NLP, Deep learning, DP SGD, Classification, Segmentation, Computer Vision, Multimedia Retrieval
- Leadership: Open Communication, Strategic Thinking, Time Management, Creativity
- Natural Languages: English(Bilingual), Hindi(Native), French(Elementary), German(Elementary)
- Interests:Hiking, Biking, Mobile Photography, DJ House Music
Professional Experience
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Software Engineer II
October 2021 - August 2023 | Geneva, Switzerland
Worked on CERN Analysis Preservation (CAP), a service for researchers to preserve and document components of physics analyses, ensuring outputs are preserved, findable, and accessible by collaborators in the future.
Platform Development
- CAP Client CLI: Designed and implemented a command-line interface to interact with CAP APIs, enabling 10,000+ researchers to use the service efficiently.
- ADL Parser: Developed a parser for Analysis Description Language (ADL), facilitating particle physics data analysis and onboarding 3,000+ researchers.
- Search Functionality: Enhanced search capabilities using Elasticsearch's painless scripting, implementing customizable sorting options to improve result relevance.
- Code Quality: Introduced automated workflows to enforce PEP 8 standards, improving developer experience.
DevOps & Infrastructure
- Health Check System: Implemented a health status page for CAP APIs in Python, deployed on Kubernetes with cron and sidecar containers for real-time monitoring.
- CI/CD Optimization: Reduced end-to-end testing time by 50% by leveraging pre-built Docker images in continuous integration workflows.
- Infrastructure Migration: Migrated from Elasticsearch 5 to OpenSearch with zero downtime, ensuring uninterrupted service and improved infrastructure resilience.
Documentation
- Documented the CAP architecture to streamline onboarding for new developers.
- Created a detailed CAP CLI usage guide to support the research community of 10,000+ users.
Challenges & Solutions
-
Onboarding New Experiments:
- Challenge: Integrating varied experiments from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) into CAP, each with unique workflows and data requirements.
- Solution: Designed personalized JSON schemas for each experiment, seamlessly aligning with existing collaboration workflows.
-
Infrastructure Resilience:
- Challenge: Ensuring minimal downtime and robust performance for CAP's infrastructure.
- Solution: Created QA and test instances using Argo CD and comprehensive end-to-end tests for new features.
-
Data Search & Retrieval:
- Challenge: Improving the accuracy and relevance of search results within CAP.
- Solution: Leveraged Elasticsearch painless scripting to provide customizable sorting options in JSON schemas.
-
Access Control:
- Challenge: Implementing granular access permissions to manage sensitive analysis information.
- Solution: Designed custom permission levels within the schema, ensuring secure and appropriate data accessibility.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, JavaScript, Flask, React
- DevOps Tools: Docker, Kubernetes, Redis, Celery, PostgreSQL, Argo CD, Helm
- Search & Monitoring: Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Kibana
Leadership
- Led backend development by collaborating closely with the product manager and project team lead, ensuring alignment with physicist requirements and technical goals.
Software Engineer I
August 2020 - Sep 2021 | Geneva, Switzerland
Worked on REANA, a reproducible analysis platform enabling scientists to run containerized data analysis pipelines on remote compute clouds, and on CERN Open Data, a platform simplifying user access to 3 PB of particle physics data.
REANA Platform Development
- REANA Client CLI: Built a command-line interface for REANA APIs, supporting 10,000+ researchers in running reproducible analyses.
- Job Resource Management: Developed a feature to customize job memory limits at the API and CLI levels, improving resource allocation for the Kubernetes backend.
- Data Persistence: Ensured durability of RabbitMQ message queues, preventing data loss during pod failures.
CERN Open Data
- Search Optimization: Improved search functionality by introducing nested facets in Elasticsearch, enabling better usability and exploring 3 PB of particle physics data.
Challenges & Solutions
-
CLI Development
- Challenge: Addressing security concerns and ensuring input parameters were validated correctly in the REANA CLI.
- Solution: Implemented validation and pre-check mechanisms on the client side, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring smooth server-side operation.
-
Job Management
- Challenge: Memory exhaustion and inefficient resource allocation during computational tasks.
- Solution: Enabled customizable job memory limits for the Kubernetes backend, optimizing performance across varied workflows.
-
Data Persistence
- Challenge: RabbitMQ queues lost data during pod failures, impacting workflow execution.
- Solution: Made RabbitMQ queues durable, ensuring data persistence and platform reliability.
-
Search Optimization
- Challenge: CERN Open Data searches lacked usability for exploring large datasets.
- Solution: Introduced nested facets in Elasticsearch, greatly enhancing the search experience and usability for researchers.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, Flask, Click, JavaScript, React
- DevOps Tools: Docker, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ
- Search & Monitoring: Elasticsearch, Kibana
Leadership
- Took ownership of defining project requirements and delivering the REANA CLI as per the needs of researchers, ensuring the platform was user-friendly and efficient for thousands of users worldwide.
Working Student / Part Time
Kadoa
Machine Learning Engineer
Oct 2024 - Present | Basel/Zurich, Switzerland
Working at Kadoa, an AI SaaS platform for unstructured web data extraction, focusing on optimizing workflows, cloud infrastructure, and LLM query performance.
Platform Development
- Data Extraction and LLM Query Optimization: Improved image preprocessing techniques (e.g., binarization, resizing, bi-linear interpolation) to boost LLM accuracy for PDF-to-Markdown conversion, reducing errors in finance reports and ensuring high-quality outputs.
- Accuracy Benchmarking: Designed an MVP with structured test cases for validating markdown outputs, including numbers, percentages, and currencies, against complex reference PDFs.
- Cost Aggregation Pipeline: Aggregated data from Google Cloud SQL into Supabase with batched queries and CLI-based tools for scalability.
- API Development: Created detailed user cost insights via endpoints and designed transparent usage ledgers.
- Scalable Architecture: Introduced data aggregation pipelines with modular designs for daily, weekly, and monthly chron tasks using GitHub Actions.
Challenges & Solutions
- PDF Parsing: Overcame layout challenges with preprocessing methods, ensuring accurate results for clients.
- Slow Query Performance: Improved query speed by batching and optimizing SQL operations.
- Cost Tracking: Built a lightweight, cost-efficient data aggregation solution from scratch.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, TypeScript, Next.js
- Data & Infra: PostgreSQL, Google Cloud SQL, Supabase, GCP, BullMQ, ScyllaDB
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions
Weblate
Software Engineer II
September 2023 - May 2024 | Remote
Contributed part-time to Weblate, a web-based continuous localization platform supporting over 2,500 libre software projects and companies in 165+ countries.
Platform Development
- Screenshot Synchronization: Introduced a feature to automatically sync screenshots from the git repository, ensuring up-to-date visual references for translators and reducing manual workload for maintainers.
- Webhook Development: Designed and implemented webhooks to trigger, sync, and log events across projects, enabling seamless integration and improving configuration synchronization at project-wide and component levels.
- Add-on Management: Enhanced configuration by introducing project-wide and site-wide add-ons, simplifying management across large-scale localization projects.
Challenges & Solutions
-
Synchronization Issues
- Challenge: Screenshots in the repository often fell out of sync with the code, leading to outdated visual references for translators.
- Solution: Implemented an automated syncing mechanism that aligned screenshots with the latest version.
-
Configuration Complexity
- Challenge: Maintaining add-ons across numerous components was time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies.
- Solution: Developed features to enable centralized add-on management at the project and site levels, reducing complexity and ensuring consistency.
-
System Integration Complexity
- Challenge: Integrating external systems via the REST API required syncing with individual translations, which was inefficient.
- Solution: Introduced webhooks to streamline and automate integration tasks, minimizing errors and saving maintainers' time.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, Django,, Bootstrap
- Tools & Technologies: REST APIs, Git, Celery, Redis, PostgreSQL
Leadership
As an advocate of the open-source ecosystem, I took ownership of impactful features, directly enhancing user workflows and reducing maintenance burdens. My contributions reflect a commitment to improving usability and efficiency for thousands of Weblate users.
Internships
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
January 2020 - June 2020 | Geneva, Switzerland
- I worked on the Indico, used daily at CERN to manage more than 600,000+ events of different complexities and 200+ meeting and conference rooms.
- The United Nations also uses Indico to handle more than 180000+ participants in conferences happening worldwide and thousands of visitors.
- My work was focused on implementing category-scoped groups and improvements in registration/abstract statistics in Indico.
- Tech stack: Python, Flask, JavaScript, React, PostgreSQL
Premiere Digital Services
September 2019 - December 2019 | Remote
- I worked on Storefront, which is the world's most powerful SaaS platform for managing global content for 20+ platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Disney, and many more.
- Worked in bugs & enhancement team, which involved resolving bugs and improving features according to client requirements.
- Tech stack: Python, Flask, ElasticSearch, Redis
Perpule (Acqu. by Amazon)
May 2019 - July 2019 | Bangalore, India
- I worked on the innovative cloud-based POS (point of sale) that enables offline stores in India to manage better their inventory, checkout process, and overall customer experience.
- Developed APIs for real-time syncing of store and cloud, allowing clients to seamlessly checkout analytics impacting 30+ offline big multi-chain retail stores in India.
- Tech stack: Python, Django, JavaScript, Angular6, Docker, Kubernetes
Google Summer of Code 2018
April 2018 - August 2018 | Remote
- I worked on FOSSASIA's Badgeyay project, which enables event organizers to generate badges of events, impacting 100+ event organizers and 1000+ events.
- Developed the Restful APIs in Python.
- Implemented database models and schemas.
- Developed the front end of the badge generator in EmberJS.
- Tech stack: Python, JavaScript, EmberJS, Flask, PostgreSQL
Research Publications
Scalable declarative HEP analysis workflows for containerized compute clouds
Co-authored with Dr. Tibor Simko et al. DOI: 10.3389/fdata.2021.661501
- The paper described a novel approach for experimental high-energy physics (HEP) data analyses centred around the declarative rather than imperative paradigm when describing computational tasks for analysis.
- Contributed to the REANA platform development by improving support for several workflow specifications.
Ventures
Unus Imaginari
Co-Founder and Seed Investor - January 2022 - Present | India
Unus Imaginari is a modern, socially-conscious Indian streetwear brand inspired by quality craftsmanship, natural fibres & the power of human connection.
- Co-founded a team of creative & imaginative minds who design soothing & aesthetic fashion clothes.
- Managing the online shop and financial operations.
- Brainstorming on brand values, Identity design system and consumer research.
- Launched 50+ products with consistent 1.5 lacs (1.5k CHF) MRR (Updated: 2024).
Open Source Project Contributions
OpenEBS - Kubernetes storage simplified
April 2021 - June 2021 | Remote
- OpenEBS is entirely native to Kubernetes and is implemented using microservices. OpenEBS can be installed via kubectl or Helm Chart and managed via Kubernetes custom resources.
- Worked on improving the usability of OpenEBS and focused on implementing a user-friendly OpenEBS CLI (similar to kubectl) to perform various operations to get information from cStor volumes.
- Tech stack: Golang
Rocket Software
May 2020 - July 2020 | Remote
- I worked on Zowe desktop documentation viewer to implement a document viewing feature using a native VS code editor that impacts 4000+ Z-OS users.
- Zowe provides modern interfaces created to host technologies that benefit the Z platform to modernize the Mainframe, simplify the user experience, and make the Mainframe more easily accessible.
- Tech stack: JavaScript, React, ExpressJS
Software Consultancy
Codementor
August 2018 - September 2019 | Remote
- Helped 100+ clients fix bugs and resolve Python-related issues through pair programming and live coding sessions.
- Tech stack: Python, JavaScript
Conference Speaking
Web Accessibility In Django
PyCon Australia - 2019 | Sydney, Australia
Chirps: A Twitter Bot Framework in Python
EuroPython - 2019 | Basel, Switzerland
PyCon US - 2019 | Cleveland, US
Creating Badges with Badgeyay
FOSSASIA Summit - 2018 | Singapore
Education
MS in Computer Science: Semester Exchange Program
ETH Zurich - February 2025 - Present | Zurich, Switzerland
-
I am actively focusing on cloud computing architecture and 3D vision.
-
Research project in computer vision and learning group on 3D data analysis with LLMs and VLMs.
MS in Computer Science: Distributed Systems and Machine Intelligence
University of Basel - September 2023 - Present | Basel, Switzerland
-
I am actively engaged in the exploration of subjects related to Distributed Systems and Machine Intelligence.
-
Courses: Pattern Recognition, Multimedia Retrieval, Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning
-
Master Project: Evaluating the Performance and Privacy of the segmentation of retinal images with the convolutional neural network U-Net.
Entrepreneurship: From Research to Startup Success
Talent Kick : ETH Zurich - February 2024 - August 2024 | Zurich, Switzerland
-
Participated in a dynamic seminar to convert research innovations into viable startups.
-
The curriculum encompasses building interdisciplinary teams, engaging customers, crafting MVPs, market identification, and effective scaling strategies, with guidance from industry leaders.
B. Technology: Computer and Communication Engineering
The LNM Institute of Information Technology - 2016 - 2020 | Jaipur, India
-
Studied various subjects from Data structures, Algorithms, Probability, Statistics, Operating Systems, Software Engineering, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Information Visualisation, Computer Networks & Database management systems.
-
Accomplishments
- CNCF Scholarship
- Linux Foundation Scholarship
- Facebook Udacity Scholar
- Google Udacity Scholar
- Google Code-In Mentor 201{7,8}
- 1st Place - FOSSASIA Codeheat Coding Competition 2018
- 1st Place - UNESCO Open Science and Data Hackathon 2018
- 4th Place - LNM Hacks 2.0 Hackathon 2017
Non Tech Work
FreeCodeCamp & Hackernoon
Technical Writer - December 2017 - March 2018 | Jaipur, India
- Implementing of CI/CD pipeline for a Python project
- TC39 and its contributions to ECMAScript
- Writing Unit Tests for REST API in Python
- Parallelizing Builds In Travis CI
Excellion Capital
Video Editor - June 2017 - July 2017 | Jaipur, India
- Created promotional videos for the company, which involved working with Adobe Premiere Pro.
Kydz Adda
Designer - January 2017 - March 2017 | Bangalore, India
- I have created cool designs for Kids, which involved working with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Thanks for reading until here :)