Étienne Fortier-Dubois
Programmer and writer based in 📍 Montreal, Quebec
I am a generalist at heart. Over the years I’ve been involved in scientific research in evolutionary biology, cancer care data, fiction and blog writing, and natural language software.
I been programming less than I would have liked in the last year or two, so I’m now looking for work in a tech company with fun people. My main work experience in tech is macOS development and iOS development, which I enjoy and would be glad to work on in a professional setting. I would also be happy to branch out to other kinds of software engineering, particularly natural language processing. I’m currently following the fastAI course to refresh my knowledge of machine learning and deep learning.
Email / Personal website / Blog / Twitter / LinkedIn / GitHub
💼 Work Experience
Independent Projects | February 2021–present
In early 2021, I quit my software job to try my hand at various independent projects.
- iOS freelance work, mostly debugging and improving an app for car dealership auditing, has been my way to keep a foot in the programming world and help support myself.
- The Journal of Accessible and Well-Written Science: JAWWS was a project to improve the quality of science writing that is aimed at other scientists. I have been researching ways to make a paper less cognitively demanding, as well as examining how the current norms in scientific publishing came about. As of now the project is on hiatus, but visit the website I created or the newsletter to read my writing on these topics.
- Creator Cabins: This is an organization devoted to creating physical spaces for online creators. In the fall of 2021, I spent one month at the cabin near Austin, Texas, as part of a residency to work on JAWWS. Since then I have also been an active member of the online Cabin community and I have been contributing some writing and editing work, including leading a team to create content on the Cabin publishing platform. I have also helped host an event at the Austin cabin.
- Interintellect: Interintellect organizes intellectual discussion salons. I worked for five months to help set up the company’s website (on Wordpress) and other behind-the-scene tasks. I am also an active host in the community, having organized more than ten salons, online and in person, since December 2020.
- Blog — Atlas of Wonders and Monsters: I write a weekly blog post on various topics. In November 2020, I committed to publish every Wednesday for 100 weeks (until October 2022), and I have maintained this cadence so far. Feel free to subscribe.
- The Classical Futurist: A monthly magazine to think about the future from the lens of classical antiquity that I co-founded with two friends.
- Fiction: I finished and edited a novel about New France and Quebec historical cinema. It’s currently in the hands of potential publishers. I also occasionally write short stories.
- Druide is a Montreal-based tech company that makes the software Antidote, a grammar and spelling aid for French and English.
- I worked specifically on a macOS application used within the company to manage and update lexicographic data. I worked closely with linguists and dealt with many concepts from natural languages from a computer science point of view.
- Main programming languages used: Swift, Objective-C, Python
- During this time I also taught myself iOS programming in Swift as a personal weather app project.
Data Administrator at Rossy Cancer Network | January 2017–January 2018
- I managed and analyzed data from cancer patients with a goal of helping physicians improve the outcomes of cancer care in the McGill University hospital network.
- Main tools: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access
Fun Small Jobs From My Deep Past
- Helped with the online inventory of a classical music CD vendor (2013)
- Was a camp counsellor for teenagers in French immersion for the summer in Quebec City (2012)
- Worked with hazardous materials data at two Canadian military bases (2010-2011)
- Showed visitors around and handled the telescope at a small astronomical observatory (2009)
🎓 Education
McGill University | Bachelor of Science, Computer Science | 2017–2018
- In 2017, I went back to school to get a full degree in computer science
- Spent the summer of 2018 on a research internship under prof. Joelle Pineau. I used machine learning and natural language processing to mine data from the medical literature on frailty.
Uppsala University and University of Montpellier | Master of Science, Evolutionary Biology | 2014–2016
- A European master’s program intended to gain research experience at various universities. I spent two non-consecutive semesters at Uppsala, Sweden; one at Montpellier, France; and one at Harvard, Massachusetts.
- In France, I worked on theoretical modelling of biological innovation.
- In Sweden, I worked on paleontological data from Siberia.
- At Harvard, I worked under prof. Joe Henrich on phylogenetic trees in the context of cultural evolution in human societies.
McGill University | Bachelor of Science, Honours Biology | 2010–2013
- Minor in computer science
- Undergraduate thesis on toads and sexual dimorphism
- Highlight: a field course to learn about dinosaur paleontology in Saskatchewan
- Spent the summer of 2013 on a research internship to model food chains; I coded a simulation in Java
📚 On the Side & Other Skills
Languages
- French: native
- English: near-native level
- Rudimentary knowledge of Spanish and Swedish
- I like to learn new writing systems (Greek, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic)
Computer skills
- Apple frameworks (Swift, Objective-C, UIKit; I’ve done both macOS and iOS programming)
- Python
- Wordpress setup and customization
- Jekyll static websites
- Git, GitHub, GitLab
- Databases, SQL
- I know the basics of blockchains and crypto
Fiction
- I have written four complete novels, none of which have been published (but I’m hoping the latest one will be)
- I have published three short stories in various literary magazines, one of which was adapted into a short film
Skills I’ve gotten rusty at, but could pick up again if I needed to
- Typesetting: LaTeX
- Programming languages: Java, C, C++
- Data science: R, some Python libraries, machine learning (which I’m currently reviewing)