Joseph Lubinda, A Data Scientist, AI Engineer, & Software Engineer who believes continuous learning is vital for ensuring delivery of high-quality solutions

COMESA Secretariat

Apr 2022 – Present

Lusaka, Zambia

Software Engineering Consultant

I was tasked with building a system for merchants to apply for certificates of origin for their goods and thus allow them to sell them in any COMESA country without paying incurring waived charges like duty, a benefit for being a producer of products in the COMESA region. The requirements dictated that the solution had to be built using PHP, MySQL. Prior to my engagement, the system had been built to some degree, but only met 16% of the requirements and did not follow engineering best practices. The design did not support the huge number of transactions it had to support, and was not very secure. My task was to overhaul the system and make a minimal version available to users within 4 weeks. As of the time of posting this job, I had achieved more than 50% of the initial task and am on course to deliver the minimal version a week early.

Payrix

Oct 2021 – Mar 2022

USA (Fully Remote)

Data Engineer

I was tasked with building the Data Lake and Data Marts using AWS Glue, AWS Lake Formation and AWS S3. AWS Athena was to be used for querying the data. Version control was done using Git on GitLab. Other tools used were Jira, for Project Management, and Confluence for documentation. The Glue Jobs were coded with Python and used the Apache Spark Engine, utilizing a shared library I built to automate and standardize the Glue Job creation process. This ensured consistent quality of the Glue Jobs, while simplifying the code for quick and effective audit-ability. It also made it possible to quickly build Glue Jobs that adhered the required standards. Data was pulled from designated sources and saved in S3 Buckets, Parquet Format, with Glue Crawlers automatically scanning the schema and making it available for querying using AWS Athena or other Glue Jobs. Python, SQL and AWS Glue were used in the building of the ETL pipelines to make them easily audit-able by other engineers.

The Real Meats Company Limited

Nov 2019 – Sep 2021

Lusaka, Zambia

IT Consultant

This role was different from previous roles in that rather building Software, I was tasked with managing and monitory computer software, hardware and network infrastructure for the company’s sites across the city of Lusaka. It involved setting up networks physically and logically. I setup a firewall using a Linux machine, with which I created VLANs to interface various sites and control them all using the firewall. I further setup a company VPN to allow specific officers access to the local area network from anywhere in the world, allowing them work remotely effectively. I created multiple scripts for identifying and banning access to elicit sites using Python. I also used the firewall to block access to social media and other website which they designated as “unproductive sites”.

Zuha Learn Limited

Jun 2016 – Oct 2019

Lusaka, Zambia (Partially Remote)

Lead Software Engineer

Besides being the ensuring all the infrastructure was operating in good order, my role had a focus on creating and training teams of developers, overseeing the systems analysis, design, development, and maintenance process. I also performed all Data Science tasks including all ETL processes and Quality Assurance (QA). I had the privilege of working with officials from the Reformed Open Community Schools (ROCS) - Zambia, Roger Federer Foundation, Zambia Open Community Schools (ZOCS), and Development Aid from People to People (DAPP), among others, coordinating all research, and development operations and personally performing Data Science related tasks and some of the Backend Development, in cases where other developers failed to achieve the required outcome.

Payitapp Limited

Dec 2015 – Jun 2016

Lusaka, Zambia

Lead Software Engineer

This role requiring me not only to spearhead critical programming tasks, and training a team of developers but also meeting stakeholders to ensure all activities of the company and its partners aligned well. Also tasked with managing several projects, leading the efforts of securing funding, and identifying and getting the buy-in on all the necessary stakeholders, to ensure the success of the projects. Had the privilege of securing, and working with partners like the International Labour Organisation, NECOR Zambia Limited, Postalline In Communities, and Stanbic Bank. Putting the team together, composed of two, developers, a business development expert, a banking and finance expert, an administrative expert and paralegal, and an Agricultural Market Expert.

Citydrive Rent A Car Limited

Mar 2014 – Nov 2015

Lusaka, Zambia

Software Engineering Consultant

I was contracted to build and ERP, a website and a Car Sharing marketplace (VehiclePortal), all of which communicated with each other via REST/RESTful APIs. As such, I handled the Research, Systems Design, Software Development as well as System Maintenance for the company. The platform was built with React and HTML5 on the Front-end and REST/RESTful API developed using Python and Flask for Annime Car Hire ERP, and PHP for VehiclePortal. The systems initially all used MariaDB as the Database engine but this was later swapped for PostgreSQL. In the Front-end, data was persisted using IndexedDB, the NoSQl storage system. The company loved the platform as it reduced the amount of manual operations they had to do. It also allowed them to scale easily as it allow for real-time monitoring of their new offices around the country, which led them to becoming one of the top 3 car rental services in Zambia. They also won an international award for best car hire company in Zambia.

COMESA Secretariat

Nov 2011 – Feb 2014

Lusaka, Zambia

Lead Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer contracted to spearhead/lead the Software Development efforts required to rebuild the Yellow Card Management Information System. The requirements indicated that it had to be built using PHP, and SQL, with some JavaScript, making use of a MySQL database. I insisted on going out, doing some research on the expectations of users, and created requirements documents as a guide for the development process and had the system overhauled, rebuilding it from the ground up. Before being commissioned to the task, the system had been abandoned by users because it simply didn't meet their requirements. After overhauling the system, users adopted the new system at such a high rate, they had to scale up the servers to ensure it kept up with the huge demand. The system became the most used COMESA system at that time. COMESA was so happy with the outcome that they granted another contract for the building of their Regional Customs Transit Guarantee System (RCTG).

Joseph Lubinda

A Data Scientist, AI Engineer, & Software Engineer who believes continuous learning is vital for ensuring delivery of high-quality solutions

Skills