Justin Blecher Email & Phone Number

Hartford, Ct, Us

Hartford, Ct, Us

Us

- Shaped the broad technical architecture and strategy for a 6-month to 2-year horizon- Successfully advocated for an event-driven (Pub/Sub) microservice architecture to decouple domains and reduce system latency and load/costs- Elevated code quality across multiple squads via peer programming, code review, and presentations- Mentored and developed fellow engineers to help them realize their potential- Planned, led, and executed numerous vendor, data, and system migrations with zero-downtime- Collaborated with stakeholders across departments and domains to launch key sitewide initiatives- Significantly enhanced the observability and traceability of the overall system by building an easy-to-use log correlation tool for use by all engineers.- Identified problematic “hot spots” in codebases, then methodically refactored and improved abstractions to reduce codebase churn and make it easier to reason about- Aligned and improved the codebases of 15+ Node and Python microservices by introducing key patterns and eradicating anti-patterns- Guided engineers towards ergonomic GraphQL schema and REST APIs (JSON API) design- Demystified complex concepts and untangled confusing systems via presentations and workshops- Contributed key improvements to DX and tooling, reducing friction and creating a “pit of success”

Us

- Worked solo on existing ecommerce (Ruby on Rails, Heroku) and content (Wordpress, AWS) apps- Produced technical documentation as I acclimated myself with the apps- Codified local development environments via Ansible + Vagrant; Improved deployment reliability of - Triaged a backlog of issues; fixed dozens of bugs; refactored codebase to make new features possible- Worked with stakeholders to develop new site features focused on improving conversions- Improved on-page SEO and implemented richer analytics- Developed proof-of-concept Wordpress plugin to showcase content from the Rails app

New York, Ny, Us

- Managed 8-12 person technology department (hiring, mentoring, review, etc.)- Led numerous technology projects (often overlapping) and juggled shifting cross-client priorities- Provided technical strategy and guidance to producers and partners- Defined processes to alleviate technology/production/communication issues- Contributed to and participated in new business pitches- Adapted internal processes to accommodate responsive design (RWD) and agile development methodologies- Estimated effort, complexity, and risk of projects- Decomposed complex functionality into vertical slices- Strategized technical implementation- Supported producers and developers with technical writing and documentation- Planned and executed major multi-team site launches- Managed and delivered code releases- Acted as subject matter expert for accessibility, analytics, etc.- Ensured quality of deliverables (performed code review, managed QA team, etc.)- Produced developer documentation for style guides, standards, and anti-patterns- Developed initial prototypes and proof-of-concept code- Built and managed technology & development infrastructure (blend of custom & SaaS/PaaS)- Spearheaded move to modern developer tools/workflow (Git, JIRA, Heroku, Node, etc.)- Provided support for legacy projects/systems- Gardened wikis and evangelized their use

New York, Ny, Us

- Led and managed team of front-end developers; Mentored junior team members- Developed a set of internal code libraries for reuse- Contributed to development and extension of a custom CMS based on Radiant, a Rails app- Built and deployed numerous projects based on Radiant- Built front-ends for a variety of projects/sites- Consulted with designers and producers to refine the UX

New York, Ny, Us

- Prototyped and built initial iteration of Gawker Stalker via the Google Maps API- Prototyped and built the UI and front-end for Kinja, a 'weblog search engine' (Note that the name "Kinja" has since been re-used for another, unrelated project.)- Implemented various site features for GM properties- Managed external front-end developers

New York, Ny, Us

- Worked as part of a large team building Urge, the MTV Digital Music Service (DMS)- Developed the JavaScript framework that drives the front-end of the DMS- Conceived and implemented SPERF (Synthetic Page and Event Reporting Framework), a JS-based analytics and reporting framework for callable from JS or Flash- Worked on MTV Overdrive implementing advertising logic and plugin interaction in JS- Consulted to other internal teams advocating best-practices for front-end projects

New York, Ny, Us

- Coded the front-ends of 80+ web sites produced by Digital Pulp- Developed & managed coding guidelines for the HTML production department- Spearheaded the campaign to educate clients on the importance of accessibility and web standards- Detailed front-end interface feature sets and functionality for sites- Worked with 3rd party and internal developers to integrate and then QA front-end code for large-scale e-commerce and content sites; Co-developed a CMS product with developers