Michael Thessel
Software Engineering Consultant at Aratec
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMichael Thessel is a seasoned software engineering consultant with over 20 years in IT and 13 years of professional software experience, combining systems administration roots with extensive web and backend development. Based in Whitehorse, Yukon, he has delivered solutions for small and large teams—from large-scale web apps and Magento shops to tight-budget short-term contracts—and co-founded an application-level intrusion detection startup. He contributes to notable open-source scholarly publishing projects (PKP’s OJS and pkp-lib), where he’s improved core backend features like archival workflows and reviewer access, showing attention to data handling and workflows. Equally comfortable with database schema changes and server-side fixes, he pairs pragmatic system-level thinking with clean, maintainable code practices evidenced in Java and PHP contributions. His background running a custom furniture business suggests a practical, hands-on problem-solving approach and comfort switching between creative and technical disciplines.
13 years of coding experience
20 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Computer Science, Computer Science, Bachelor of Computer Science, Computer Science at University of Cooperative Education Dresden
German, English
Stackoverflow
706reputation
58kreached
32answers
3questions
Github Skills (18)
back-end-development10
java10
javas10
php10
database-design10
backend10
code-formatting10
postgresql9
security9
mvc9
apidoc8
api8
constants6
jquery6
regex6
Programming languages (17)
Github contributions (5)
pkp/pkp-lib
Mar 2013 - Nov 2014
The library used by PKP's applications OJS, OMP and OPS, open source software for scholarly publishing.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:150 commits in 1 year 8 months
Contributions summary:Michael implemented an archive feature for submissions. This involved modifications to the database schema to support archived submissions, along with updates to several controllers to include a view for archived submissions, and the ability to decline a submission. The user also adjusted the status messages and filtering to handle declined and published submissions. These changes reflect additions to backend submission handling processes.
securityapplication-libraryweb-applicationpkp
pkp/ojs
Mar 2013 - Nov 2014
Open Journal Systems is open source software to manage scholarly journals.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:35 commits in 1 year 8 months
Contributions summary:Michael primarily focused on back-end code modifications within the Open Journal Systems repository. Their commits include merging conflicts, moving shared validation code, and fixing method names. Furthermore, they contributed to one-click reviewer access functionality, including implementing and fixing related components. These changes indicate a focus on improving the system's core functionality and features.
journalopen-access
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