Burak Kanber

hello@burakkanber.com

CTO specializing in high-leverage software teams. Expertise in software architecture, cloud infrastructure, SaaS product management, and machine learning. Also an author and educator.

Tidal Labs

Founder and CTO, 2009 - present
https://tid.al

Tidal Labs is an enterprise influencer marketing product used by dozens of popular brands. I'm responsible for both the long term technology strategy as well as the day to day technology, product, and software operations. I implemented a high-leverage technology strategy to keep Tidal Labs competitive without dilutive capital.

Among many other things, my responsibilities are:

  • Recruiting, training, and managing employees,
  • Developing the software architecture for a very large enterprise product,
  • Leading the product design and engineering process,
  • Managing a scalable, cost-effective, and resilient cloud infrastructure,
  • Maintaining an information security management system and GDPR compliance, and,
  • Overall business strategy.

Niqos, Inc

Principle Technology Consultant, 2006 - 2009

Niqos, Inc was a software consulting firm that catered to NYC startups with tricky software problems. Our work fell into two categories: refactor/turnaround jobs, and difficult or scientific algorithms. I worked with dozens of NYC startups to solve problems like:

  • Recovering from botched outsourced work,
  • Analyzing results from chemical mass spectrometers,
  • Using dynamic programming to solve difficult optimization problems, and,
  • Developing one of the first podcast search engines.

Technology Consultant and Other Work

Since 2005 I've worked as an independent software and technology consultant with over fifty different organizations including local businesses, Jo Frost "The Supernanny", the NBA Retired Players Association, and a U.S. Congressman. These engagements are varied, but typically involve either software development, technology management, or data analysis. Some of the more interesting projects included:

  • Developing speech analysis software to help ESL speakers hone their pronunciation,
  • Data analysis to determine the best use of resources for a door-to-door Congressional campaign,
  • Saving an organization $1M+ per year on extraneous technology costs and maintenance,
  • Developing a webapp that several NYC public schools used to manage homework assignments and parent coordination, and,
  • Developing a video player for one of the first TV networks to offer web streaming.

Publications

Hands-on Machine Learning with JavaScript, Packt, 2018

Genetic Algorithms in Java Basics, Apress, 2015

Developing an Extensible and Concise Simulink Toolset for Hybrid Vehicle Modeling and Simulation, SAE International, 2011; DOI 10.4271/2011-01-0755

Education

I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where I focused on automotive engineering, hybrid vehicles, control systems, and robotics.

Other Skills and Trivia

  • I have a mastery of modern PHP and JavaScript, though I'm proficient in several other programming languages,
  • I'm very good at minimizing AWS/infrastructure costs,
  • My blog series "Machine Learning in JavaScript" (which predates the book) has been read over 1 million times,
  • I love teaching, and have taught courses or tutored in software, music, physics, and math,
  • My early work experience includes Best Buy's Geek Squad, a corporate IT firm, and a private music school,
  • I know Morse code, I make bread from scratch, and I love reading physics textbooks.