AI-Native Software Engineer

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I’m a 16+ year Software Lead, specializing in Flutter.

Working with me, you’ll get someone who prizes constant communication, both with outside stakeholders and inside the team. Someone who digs to find solutions that solve multiple problems. And someone who considers fine details alongside the big picture.

Chat with me anytime: tony@tonydowney.ca

Praise from my managers, direct reports, and co-workers…

Étienne Bélanger
Software Director @ Ditch Labs
[My direct supervisor for 2 years]

“… consistently demonstrated exceptional expertise and enthusiasm for Flutter development …”

I highly recommend Tony for any Flutter development role. During his two-year tenure at Ditch, Tony consistently demonstrated exceptional expertise and enthusiasm for Flutter development. He tackled challenges with determination, welcomed feedback, and proactively sought out opportunities for learning and improvement.

Tony’s professionalism and collaborative spirit were evident in his interactions with our team, making him a valuable asset to our project. With his passion for his work and dedication to continuous growth, Tony would be an excellent addition to any development team. I wholeheartedly endorse him and would eagerly collaborate with him again in the future.

James Perih
Software Development Manager @ Clickspace / Budvue
[My direct report and ultimately my direct replacement]

“… I have not met someone nearly as cognizant to the small details of a project and its implementation as Tony …”

Tony is determined, detail-oriented, and dedicated to the success of people in his care. Did I mention detail-oriented? I have not met someone nearly as cognizant to the small details of a project and its implementation as Tony.

He has set the bar for careful and effective problem solving, and can help someone (such as myself) think about all the perspectives of a challenge, thoroughly and yet quickly. I’d work with him again in a heart beat.

Laurent Laferrière
Co-Founder & CEO @ Ditch Labs
[The captain of the Ditch Labs ship]

“… His positive attitude, teamwork, and commitment to excellence left a lasting impression …”

I had the pleasure of working with Tony at Ditch Labs, where he consistently demonstrated exceptional skill and dedication as a developer. Tony’s technical expertise and innovative problem-solving made a significant impact on our projects. His positive attitude, teamwork, and commitment to excellence left a lasting impression. Any team would be fortunate to have Tony, and I highly recommend him for any future opportunities.

Ben Grimsrud
President @ Budvue
[My partner for all Budvue operations]

“… not only an asset but a catalyst for synergy and productivity …”

I had the privilege of collaborating with Tony Downey for over five years at Clickspace, where he served as our CTO. Tony was instrumental in establishing and nurturing the growth of Budvue, a tech startup in the newly legalized cannabis space. We faced constant changes in customer needs, legislation and market maturation.

Tony’s contributions were invaluable throughout our collaboration. His adeptness in conceptualizing and strategizing for new products was evident, as he demonstrated a remarkable ability to articulate complex plans to solve the many challenges with clarity and precision. Tony’s responsiveness and receptiveness to feedback from all quarters fostered a collaborative environment where ideas flourished and innovations thrived.

What set Tony apart was not just his competence in executing tasks, but his unwavering commitment to excellence. Time and again, I entrusted him with critical responsibilities, confident in his capability to deliver results of the highest caliber. Tony possesses a rare talent for discerning the root cause of challenges and possesses a creative acumen that enables him to devise quick and clever solutions.

Furthermore, Tony’s interpersonal skills are exemplary. His capacity to collaborate within a team setting while being able to thrive independently underscores his versatility and adaptability. His presence is not only an asset but a catalyst for synergy and productivity.

In summary, Tony Downey is an exceptional professional whose proficiency, dedication, and collaborative spirit make him a valuable asset to any organization. I wholeheartedly endorse him and am confident that he will continue to excel in all his endeavors.

Jye-Ying Chooi
Full-Stack Software Developer @ Clickspace / Budvue
[My direct report, and my first hire]

“… Tony’s contributions are equivalent to the work of at least five people …”

I had the privilege of working with Tony for over 3 years. During this time, he was my team lead and managed a team that grew from 2 to 12 developers. Tony’s ability to manage an enormous workload while maintaining the quality of the work is truly commendable.

Tony’s dedication to the team is remarkable. Despite his busy schedule, he always made time for us, answering questions, providing quality training, and conducting thorough code reviews. His support and mentorship were invaluable, significantly contributing to our professional growth and the overall success of the team.

Before I joined the team, Tony was the sole developer for 7 years, maintaining over 400 code repositories. He wore many hats - he was handling support tickets, improving and maintaining API integrations, working on large-scale projects, and collaborating with managers and designers. His ability to manage these diverse responsibilities is nothing short of extraordinary. Tony’s contributions are equivalent to the work of at least five people, making him truly irreplaceable.

I highly recommend Tony for any leadership or technical role. His dedication, skill set, and ability to manage complex projects while fostering a supportive and high-performing team environment make him an invaluable asset to any organization. I am confident that he will continue to excel and make significant contributions wherever he goes.

Marvin Tolentino
Animator @ Clickspace / Budvue
[My 9-year collaborator for all things digital signage]

“… His leadership and development skills shone through in his management style and innovative projects …”

Nine years flew by while I worked alongside Tony Downey at Clickspace. His leadership and development skills shone through in his management style and innovative projects like Second Guess Trivia, where we made a great team. Pivoting our digital signage platform for Budvue, a versatile tablet app for interactive shopping, showcased his expertise in secure API integrations, which were a game-changer. Tony’s dedication and technical talent were a major asset to our team’s success. I wholeheartedly recommend him.

Ryan Laidlaw
Director of Advertising @ Clickspace / Budvue
[My digital signage partner handling our clients]

“… articulate and concise, even when describing complex development-related issues to a layman …”

I had the pleasure of working closely with Tony Downey for over three years as our CTO. Tony consistently demonstrated remarkable responsiveness and efficiency, handling critical requests with impressive speed and accuracy. His ability to manage an enormous workload while maintaining impeccable prioritization skills is truly commendable.

Tony’s ease of interaction and strong communication skills made collaborating with him a fantastic experience. He is articulate and concise, even when describing complex development-related issues to a layman like myself, making him not just a great colleague but also a fantastic leader. His talent and dedication to his work are evident in every project he undertakes.

Tony Downey is, without a doubt, an all-around professional. I would highly recommend him for any leadership role in technology.

Sharon Cheema
Sales Executive @ Clickspace / Budvue
[My peer in management]

“… consistently supported us in strategizing, troubleshooting, and guiding the company …”

I had the pleasure of working with Tony Downey for approximately three years. During this time, we were both part of the leadership team—he served as CTO while I was a Sales Executive. As a fellow leader, Tony consistently supported us in strategizing, troubleshooting, and guiding the company in the right direction.

Tony’s excellent communication skills made complex technical issues easy for non-technical team members like myself to understand, which I greatly appreciated.

Throughout the three years I worked with Tony, he managed a heavy and complex workload with confidence and efficiency. Despite his demanding schedule, he always provided invaluable training and mentorship to his team. His patience and calm demeanor were tremendous assets as our company grew.

I would highly recommend Tony for any technology leadership or management roles.

Products I’ve worked on…

Ditch Labs App

Flutter • Firestore • Bluetooth (BLE)
2022 - 2024

Ditch Labs app screenshot 1 Ditch Labs app screenshot 2 Ditch Labs app screenshot 3

Flutter app paired with the DitchPen medical bluetooth device

Ditch Labs is helping people quit smoking with the DitchPen - a custom vape device that dispenses less and less nicotine as the treatment goes on. To motivate and assist in the journey to kick the habit, the companion app has distractions, activities, articles, journaling, statistics, and more.

Fully accessible and ISO compliant, it was built to the highest standards, as you would expect from a medical app. The most complex piece is the custom encrypted background Bluetooth communication with the DitchPen, to track the user’s treatment over several months.

I outpaced the medical team; the app hit a 1.0 release well before the first clinical trial.

Budvue Digital Signage

Dart • HTML / CSS • Firebase
2018 - 2022

Budvue menu board screenshot 1 Budvue menu board screenshot 2 Budvue menu board screenshot 3

Custom cannabis menu boards showcasing available products

Canadian cannabis dispensaries became legal in October 2018 and turned to digital signage to showcase their products. Budvue was there on day one, with point of sale integration so we could show up-to-the-moment inventory and pricing. Each client got a completely unique theme (or multiple themes) for their menu boards, as well as feature boards that showed dynamic promotions depending on inventory.

The most complex back-end piece was managing as many of four sources of truth for inventory - the point of sale info, a shared database of Canadian products, batch level THC and CBD levels, and the client’s rules and preferences over what data was most reliable. The premium feature of entirely custom theming also led to per-client code repositories, each one business critical, so I quickly went from being the sole developer to being the lead of 12 new development and support hires.

Every third-party integration evolved as fast as we did with the early cannabis industry; new functionality or breaking changes happened weekly.

BudGuide In-Store Menu Tablets

Flutter • Firebase • RESTful APIs
2019 - 2022

BudGuide tablet screenshot 1 BudGuide tablet screenshot 2 BudGuide tablet screenshot 3

Branded cannabis inventory guide for customers and budtenders

Shortly after legalization, cannabis dispensaries in Canada had the inventory variety of a liquor store, with none of the shelf space. BudGuide was created to assist with product discovery and self-directed browsing, so patrons or staff could quickly find and compare products in stock.

Built for ease of use, a new customer could quickly find the best bang for their buck in just one or two taps. Staff could use more advanced features to find products with a specific terpene profile or exact THC to CBD ratio. And because it was built in Flutter, it was easy to migrate to the web and turn into a full eCommerce solution.

Flutter let us have a single code base with custom rules, assets, and features per client, a great white label tool.

Clickspace TV

Dart • Drupal • HTML / CSS
2012 - 2022

Clickspace TV screenshot 1 Clickspace TV screenshot 2 Clickspace TV screenshot 3

Digital Signage for pubs; entertainment mixed with ads

I was hired to take ownership on a Adobe Flash based digital signage product for bars and pubs, with just one client. The concept was combining high quality animations with dynamic text and pricing, set via a separate website.

Over the next few years, I rebuilt the product in Dart and HTML, and our animator and I added social media walls, custom and licensed entertainment, YouTube integration, and hundreds of custom slides like sports scores, raffles, and New Year’s countdowns. For smaller clients, we became their in-house advertising team, and for larger clients, we expanded their brand across their TVs and let them control their atmosphere.

I chose Dart because it shared syntax with Flash’s Actionscript; migration was mostly copy-paste.

Second Guess Trivia

Dart • Angular • Firebase Functions
2017 - 2020

Second Guess Trivia screenshot 1 Second Guess Trivia screenshot 2 Second Guess Trivia screenshot 3

On-demand trivia, displayed on a TV and played via phones

“Butts in seats” was the project goal. Our bar and pub clients needed people to stay longer, return more often, and bring more friends, but without adding any job duties to their already overworked staff. A trivia game running on their TVs on demand was my very successful solution.

Playable from phones, the game would start whenever someone joined in. The answers players picked were shown on the TV in real time - and players could pick multiple answers too - leading to both second guessing your own answer, and a whole added layer of strategy around bluffing. I built a custom back-end, but moved to Firebase real-time database once we had a hit on our hands.

One of our hires later revealed that Second Guess Trivia was mentioned on his Tinder profile. It was a conversation starter, apparently!