Omar Derkaoui

– Joined as the first backend contributor on a B2B fintech platform serving a major Middle Eastern bank, where AI-driven asset managers build, rebalance, and oversee investment portfolios for the bank's clients. – Owned end-to-end design and delivery of the onboarding and KYC module, integrating with the bank's legacy SOAP APIs – reverse-engineering undocumented endpoints without a sandbox environment to ship a working flow into UAT. – Designed Oracle database schemas from scratch for authentication, user onboarding, notifications, and messaging modules; optimized critical queries through targeted indexing strategies. – Built the notifications and messaging subsystems, including background jobs and queue-based dispatch for asynchronous delivery at scale. – Implemented JWT/Passport authentication, login and registration flows, and instrumented services with Prometheus for production monitoring. – Took 6 features through UAT and pre-production while collaborating across a 24-person engineering organization (backend, frontend, DevOps, QA).

– Contributed backend features to an iOS social-trading platform that combines messaging and trading workflows in a single mobile experience. – Designed and built the WhatsApp Business API integration and the surrounding business logic, enabling traders to engage with the platform through a familiar messaging channel. – Implemented real-time chat assistance using Socket.io, allowing traders to communicate with support agents and other users without leaving the app. – Modeled the PostgreSQL tables required for the messaging and integration features, and shipped them as part of the production backend. – Implemented authentication flows with JWT and social login providers; collaborated remotely with a team of 3 backend, 2 frontend, and 1 DevOps engineer.

– Delivered full-stack web projects end-to-end for international clients – from requirements gathering and architecture through development, deployment, and handover. – Built backend services with Node.js and Express alongside modern React frontends, handling authentication, data persistence, and third-party integrations. – First commercial software engineering role; transitioned full-time into tech in February 2024 after 1337 Coding School.

– Taught mathematics to high-school students for three years while transitioning into software engineering through 1337 Coding School – developed strong skills in breaking down complex concepts, which now translate directly into clear technical communication and documentation. – Designed lesson plans, assessments, and progress tracking, demonstrating autonomy and rigor that carry over to backend system design.

– Coached chess to children aged 6-10 at one of Beni Mellal's largest schools, designing age-appropriate exercises to develop strategic thinking and concentration. – Competitive player with a peak blitz ELO of 2300.