$ loading…
whoami
brian-best · principal software developer · kitchener, ontario
cat ./about.md
~/about/
# production ai that holds up after the demo
I’m a Principal Software Developer at Axonify — 12+ years full-stack, last 3+ in production AI. My current work is owning technical strategy for AI-driven automation across the platform: an internal platform of LLM coding agents and customer-facing LLM features that have to survive enterprise compliance, evals, and on-call — not just a demo.
My path here was not the usual one: radio broadcasting, then web development, then co-founding a startup (raised CAD $75k, Propel ICT accelerator), then six years at Axonify growing from developer to principal. The through-line is communication — years of live, unscripted radio turn out to be excellent training for explaining complex systems to anyone.
My working philosophy: production ai requires enterprise compliance, not just cool demos. focus on reliability, observability, and real business outcomes. I build the kind of software that holds up when the demo ends.
git log ./career
2026 — presentcurrent
01Principal Software Developer — Axonify
Own technical strategy for AI-driven automation across the Axonify platform — internal agent platform and customer-facing LLM features — with compliance, observability, and rollout as first-class concerns.
2026 — present
current
Principal Software Developer — Axonify
Own technical strategy for AI-driven automation across the Axonify platform — internal agent platform and customer-facing LLM features — with compliance, observability, and rollout as first-class concerns.
01
2022 — 2026
02Senior Software Developer — Axonify
Promoted to technical lead. Built the foundational retrieval and context-gathering infrastructure that now powers the platform's LLM agent capabilities, and stood up the first generation of AI-assisted support tooling.
2022 — 2026
Senior Software Developer — Axonify
Promoted to technical lead. Built the foundational retrieval and context-gathering infrastructure that now powers the platform's LLM agent capabilities, and stood up the first generation of AI-assisted support tooling.
02
2020 — 2022
03Software Developer → Intermediate Software Developer — Axonify
Shipped customer-facing features across the Axonify learning platform on Google Cloud Platform, growing into systems-level ownership and earning successive promotions.
2020 — 2022
Software Developer → Intermediate Software Developer — Axonify
Shipped customer-facing features across the Axonify learning platform on Google Cloud Platform, growing into systems-level ownership and earning successive promotions.
03
2017 — 2020
04Frontend Developer — Combinaut
Built marketing platforms and customer-facing web frontends for a US hospital client in a regulated healthcare environment.
2017 — 2020
Frontend Developer — Combinaut
Built marketing platforms and customer-facing web frontends for a US hospital client in a regulated healthcare environment.
04
2016 — 2017
05Software Engineer — Ubique Networks
Led a web development team building an Angular + Node.js application backed by Express and WebSockets.
2016 — 2017
Software Engineer — Ubique Networks
Led a web development team building an Angular + Node.js application backed by Express and WebSockets.
05
2014 — 2016
06Co-Founder & CTO — Phased.io
Co-founded an early-stage venture, raised a CAD $75k angel round, and was selected for Propel ICT's Build accelerator. Built the product on a MEAN stack with Firebase real-time data plus iOS/Android, and managed a remote team.
2014 — 2016
Co-Founder & CTO — Phased.io
Co-founded an early-stage venture, raised a CAD $75k angel round, and was selected for Propel ICT's Build accelerator. Built the product on a MEAN stack with Firebase real-time data plus iOS/Android, and managed a remote team.
06
ls ./skills --group-by=confidence
## strong17
✓MCP (Model Context Protocol)ai/llm
✓LLMOpsai/llm
✓LLM Engineeringai/llm
✓Agentic AIai/llm
✓RAGai/llm
✓Vector Searchai/llm
✓Conversational AIai/llm
✓JavaScript/TypeScriptlanguages
✓Javalanguages
✓SQLdatabases
✓Node.jsbackend
✓Reactfrontend
✓Google Cloud Platformcloud
✓Docker & Docker Composecloud & infra
✓System Designarchitecture
✓Technical Leadershipsoft skills
✓Communicationsoft skills
## moderate7
~Pythonlanguages
~Vue.jsfrontend
~Angularfrontend
~Linux (Arch, Ubuntu)cloud & infra
~AWScloud
~MongoDBdatabases
~GraphQLapi
## gaps3
–Mobile Developmentfrontend
–Low-level Systemsengineering
–Data Engineeringdata
$ gaps listed on purpose — honesty beats keyword-stuffing
cat ./background.txt
›
Former radio broadcaster and Director of Production at INDI101
Developed exceptional live communication skills, content creation abilities, and comfort with public speaking
›
Student Union Chairman representing 14,000 students with $3.1M budget
Leadership experience at scale, budget management, stakeholder communication, and governance
›
Co-founded Phased.io, raised $75k angel round, completed Propel ICT accelerator
Entrepreneurial mindset, fundraising experience, startup operations, and product thinking
›
Non-traditional path: Radio -> Web Dev -> Senior Dev -> AI/LLM Specialist
Demonstrates adaptability, continuous learning, and ability to reinvent and grow
education
Ontario College Graduate Certificate, Interactive Multimedia
Sheridan College · 2012-2013 · graduate with honors · valedictorian
UIT Startup Immersion
Cape Breton University · 2014-2015
Ontario College Diploma, Radio Broadcasting
Mohawk College · 2008-2010
awards
Graduate With Honors
Sheridan College
Valedictorian
Sheridan College
SSUI Values Award
Sheridan Student Union
Sheridan Student Union Chairman
Governance of a $3.1M budget and a 14,000-student constituency
Brian’s AI
Want the interactive version of this page?
My AI has read everything here — the career history, the skills matrix, the gaps — and answers honestly. Ask it anything, or paste a job description for a fit check.
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